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PlayStation 3 Secrets

The purpose of this webpage is to provide information (a majority are secret or are hard to find) on the PS3. If you think you know all there is to know about the PS3, read the following and you might learn a thing or two that you didn't know before. It is updated as new information is uncovered in the public, so visit often if you wish to keep up to date on the latest secrets. Please link to this webpage rather than copy the contents. And do remember that the ads support this page so visit them if they interest you.

PS3 Discussion Forum

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PS3 Model Differences
PS3 Audio
PS3 Video
PlayStation 3 Hardware
PS3 Peripherals
PS3 Security
Linux on PS3
Programming on the PS3
The Future
Super Secrets
Feedback and Donation

Clicking on a link in the Table of Contents takes you to the selected topic, and while there, if you click on the topic title, it will take you back to this Table of Contents.

PS3 Model Differences

The following chart describes the basic differences between various PS3 model numbers. For PS2 compatibility, models using software emulation have less compatibility with PS2 game titles than models with the Emotion Engine (hardware chip). The chart is semi-ranked from most important to least important feature, taking into consideration possibility of adding back a missing feature. For example, PS2 and SA-CD compatibility are ranked first and second because once not in the system, it is not there forever. Meanwhile, harddrive capacity and memory card readers allows for upgrading or adding of the capability later.

Model (Prefix)	PS2 Compatibility	SA-CD	WiFi	Cell	Max Watts	Display	USB Ports	Memory Card Readers	Harddrive Capacity	Chrome Trim
CECHA	Hardware	Yes	Yes	90nm	200	NTSC	4	Yes	60GB	Yes
CECHB	Hardware	Yes	No	90nm	200	NTSC	4	No	20GB	No
CECHC	Software	Yes	Yes	90nm	200	PAL	4	Yes	60GB	Yes
CECHD	Software	Yes	No	90nm	200	PAL	4	No	20GB	No
CECHE	Software	Yes	Yes	90nm	200	NTSC	4	Yes	80GB	Yes
CECHF	Software	Yes	Yes	90nm	200	PAL	4	Yes	80GB	Yes
CECHG	No	No	Yes	65nm	140	PAL/NTSC	2	No	40GB	Yes
CECHH	No	No	Yes	65nm	140	NTSC	2	No	40GB	Yes

Note that the model number prefix from above needs a two digit number appended at the end to designate a region. Therefore, append a two digit Code (suffix) from below to arrive at the actual PS3 model number. For example, a Japanese 60GB PS3 would be designated CECHA00, while the one in North America would be designated CECHA01.

Code (Suffix)	Region	First Release Date	First Model Released	Blu-ray Region	DVD Region	PS2 Region	PS Region
00	Japan	Nov 11,2006	CECHA00	A	2 NTSC	NTSC-J	NTSC-J
01	North America	Nov 17, 2006	CECHA01	A	1 NTSC	NTSC-U/C	NTSC-US
02	Australia / New Zealand	Mar 23/23, 2007	CECHC02	B	4 NTSC/PAL	PAL	PAL
03	U.K. / Ireland	Mar 23, 2007	CECHC03	B	2 NTSC/PAL	PAL	PAL
04	Europe / Middle East / Africa	Mar 23/22/23, 2007	CECHC04	B	2 NTSC/PAL	PAL	PAL
05	South Korea	Jun 16, 2007	CECHE05	A	3 NTSC	NTSC-J	NTSC-J
06	Singapore	Mar 07, 2007	CECHA06	A	3 NTSC	NTSC-J	NTSC-J
07	Taiwan	Nov 17, 2006	CECHA07	A	3 NTSC	NTSC-J	NTSC-J
08	Russia / India	Apr 20/27, 2007	CECHC08	C	5 NTSC/PAL	PAL	PAL
09	China			C	6 NTSC/PAL	NTSC-C	NTSC-J
10	?
11	Mexico	Aug 27, 2007	CECHE11	A	4 NTSC	NTSC-U/C	NTSC-US
12	Hong Kong	Nov 17, 2006	CECHA12	A	3 NTSC/PAL	NTSC-J	NTSC-J

Special PS3 Models

The PS3 also comes in two different flavors for developers and retailers. Developers get a PS3 Test Unit that allows it to run unsigned code and install a software development kit for creating PS3 games. Retailers can obtain a PS3 Demonstration Unit for display that puts the machine in a special mode that allows playing PS3 games for only a limited time before rebooting. Each unit can have its firmware updated. For the PS3 Demonstration Unit, you need to connect to the internet and upgrade online (which is an upgraded Test Demonstration firmware). Although the PS3 Demonstration Unit is locked into demonstration mode, you can unlock this mode by entering a secret unlock code (those with firmware less than version 1.5 need not enter code). To unlock, navigate the XMB and highlight the Settings->Security Settings icon. Then press and hold these four buttons: L2, R2, Select, and Square. If the PS3 has firmware less than 1.5, the machine should be unlocked from demonstration mode. For firmware 1.5 and greater, you will be prompted to enter a four digit security code. Depending on the firmware installed (displayed on the corner of the screen), the codes are (NTSC and PAL PS3 may have different codes for a given firmware):

Firmware Version	Security Code
1.5x	5202/8604
1.6x	7568
1.7x	0506
1.8x	7712/7259
1.9x	2737
2.0x	0219
2.1x	2464

You can force the machine to go back to demonstration mode by pressing the four button combo again, or turning off and on the PS3.

Future PS3 Models

Every once and a while, new PS3 models are released by Sony. If you wish to know ahead of time what the new models are, you can visit:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

Enter for Grantee Code: AK8
Enter for Product Code: CEC

You should get a listing of the products released by Sony pertaining to the PS3. Check the latest dates to verify rumors of upcoming products. Although they are mainly for peripherals, you may need to leave out the CEC and go through all the list (unfortunately a lot of them) to pinpoint down the products models for PS3. This is how the PSP rumors were confirmed, by enter PSP into the Product Code and leaving AK8 as the Grantee Code.

Blu-ray, DVD, PS3, PS2, and PlayStation (PSone) compatibility with PS3

The above PS3 Model chart also displays the compatibility of PS3 with the various video and games formats.

Game compatibility

PS3 games (on Blu-ray discs) are not region locked, but they are released and labelled with numerical regions codes (which seems to match DVD region codes). Any PS3 game from any region will play in any PS3. However, there is the special situation when you try to play back the game in Standard Definition. If the PS3 game only has Standard Definition and Enhanced Definition for either PAL (576i and 576p) or NTSC (480i and 480p), your PS3 must have the same Standard Definition and Enhanced Definition format support, or you won't be able to play it. This is not a problem if you play the game in High Definition (720p, 1080i, 1080p), but there exists the possibility to region lock (based on Blu-ray game region) games if the publisher decides to do so. All PS3 games have a serial number containing a four character prefix, followed by a five digit suffix. The following are the common prefix for PS3 games:

Prefix	Description
BCAS	First Party, Asia
BCJS	First Party, Japan
BLAS	Third Party, Asia
BLJM	Third Party, Japan
BLJS	Third Party, Japan
BCUS	First Party, US
BLUS	Third Party, US
BCES	First Party, Europe
BLES	Third Party, Europe

The first letter indicates the storage format. Normally, it is B for Blu-ray disc format. Other formats may include S = DVD. The second letter indicates if the game is first party (C = Sony), or licensed from third party (L = others). The third letter indicates: A=Asia, J=Japan, U=United States, or E=Europe. The last letter indicates the type: D = Demo, S = Game, M = ?. Note that for some third party games, Sony may take it and repackage with appropriate material for other territories, thus the game become first party as well.

PS2 games are divided into four main regions (NTSC-J, NTSC-U/C, NTSC-C, PAL) and two formats (NTSC or PAL) locked. Note that the PS2 game discs can be single or double layer, although there are very few dual-layer PS2 games (like Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance). The PS3 supports both.

PS (PSone) games (disc-based) are divided into three main region (NTSC-J, NTSC-US, PAL) and two formats (NTSC or PAL) locked. Most early PS (PSone) games are not protected, but later releases (like Metal Gear Solid Integral) have special marks that require special CD lens to read. The PS3 supports reading these protected discs. Note that PS games downloaded from the PlayStation Network store are not region nor format locked as long as you are able to pay (if not free) and download them from the store.

Movie compatibility

For Blu-ray video, the discs are divided into three (A, B, or C) main regions which must match the region of your PS3 for playback. The initial Blu-ray discs that were released supported region codes, but were not enforced, so a PS3 can play Blu-ray discs from any region (this might change in the future).

For DVD playback, the discs are divided into six (from 1 to 6; note 0, 7, and 8 are special cases) main regions and two formats (NTSC or PAL). Not only must your PS3 match the region, it must also support the format as well.

Compatibility Notes

Note that Blu-ray and DVD uses different region coding methods and country division, and they should not be confused with each other. Also note that the above table only applies if you have the latest firmware version installed, which can remove or add format or region lock for DVD playback. For example, the Hong Kong PS3 originally only played back NTSC Region 3 DVD, and with an update supported both NTSC and PAL Region 3 DVD playback. Likewise, the European PAL PS3 gained the ability to play NTSC Region 2 DVDs (essentially Japanese DVDs). This indicates that the trend is for all PAL PS3 to be able to playback both DVD formats (NTSC and PAL discs in same region as PS3 or Region 0), whereas the NTSC PS3 (with the exception of the Hong Kong PS3) can only play the NTSC DVD format (all assuming same region, or disc with Region 0). The situation is not 100% accurate, so provide feedback if you note otherwise.

As for model releases and dates, note that although the PS3 was not officially released in China, the majority of them are actually made there, so you can find all sorts of models in that country. The region codes for China designate what they should be if an official PS3 was released.

PS3 Audio

The PS3 supports many different audio formats, either disc based, network streaming, or via fixed and removable flash storage like the internal harddrive and external memory cards. In addition, because most of the advanced audio support is done via software on the Cell, the feature list is constantly changing. The following information is based on the latest firmware at the time of this writing. Feel free to come back for updates to the compatibility charts that follows. Also, because of limited analog output options for surround sound (the AV Multi analog cable only has stereo left and right channels), you need to purchase an Audio (and/or Video) Receiver that support "HDMI in" to enjoy 5.1 or 7.1 surround channels. TOSLINK (optical digital) AV Receivers are not recommended because it has a lower bandwidth and it is also an unprotected link, restricting output of high bandwidth and protected audio. Basic HDMI 1.1 that has 7.1 analog outputs for speakers (and a passthrough HDMI for the video to your HDTV) is recommended. Because of the various ways to connect your speakers to the PS3, how you choose the connection determines the quality of the audio output. Analog storage of music became obsolete with the introduction of the Compact Disc (CD). Now all retail music is stored digitally. Because of this, there are three stages to get audio (in digital form) to your speakers (in analog form).

Stage	Process	Resultant Format	PS3 Connection	Connection Type
1	Obtain digital audio (encoded and compressed) from storage device	Bitstream	HDMI, TOSLINK	Digital
2	Decode and uncompress digital audio	Linear PCM	HDMI, TOSLINK	Digital
3	Convert digital audio (decoded and uncompressed) to Analog audio	Analog	AV Multi Cable	Analog

Digital versus Analog

The PS3 can do all of the stages above, but depending on the connection, it may skip some of the later stages if you have the right equipment that can handle it. The three main audio output options on the PS3 are the HDMI, TOSLINK (optical digital), and AV Multi cable. HDMI and TOSLINK are digital connections, whereas the AV Multi cable is analog. Both HDMI and TOSLINK can support more than two channels of audio (up to 7.1 for HDMI and 5.1 for TOSLINK), while the AV Multi cable can only support two analog channels (left and right) for connecting directly to the two RCA jacks that lead to your speakers.

Bitstream versus Linear PCM

The PS3 provides options for either "Bitstream" or "Linear PCM" when outputing the audio signal. This option is located in the "Settings->BD/DVD Settings->BD/DVD Audio Output Format(HDMI)" and "Settings->BD/DVD Settings->BD Audio Output Format (Optical)" settings of your XMB. Linear PCM is audio data that is not encoded (nor compressed) and is in it's pure digital form, ready for conversion into analog for the speakers. A regular CD stores all its songs in Linear PCM form. Most audio starting with the DVD store digital data encoded and compressed (like Dolby Digital or Digital Surround). If "Bitstream" option is selected, the PS3 will take this undecoded and uncompressed audio and send it untouched to the HDMI or TOSLINK cable for your external decoder to decode. In other words, the receiver at the other end of the HDMI or TOSLINK must have special chips that can decode and uncompress formats like Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround, and then convert the resultant Linear PCM to analog (via a DAC) for the speakers connected to the external decoder. If "Linear PCM" option is selected, the PS3 will actually decode the audio into Linear PCM first, before sending it to the HDMI or TOSLINK. In this case the receiver on the other end of the HDMI or TOSLINK only needs to convert the Linear PCM to analog for the speakers connected to it. Because of the current bandwidth limitations of TOSLINK, choosing Linear PCM (the decoded and uncompressed signal) on this connection limits you to only two channels of audio. For multichannel (like 5.1) over TOSLINK, you must use "bitstream", which uses smaller bandwidth of compressed and encoded data.

Audio Storage Formats

As disc based storage medium became popular it was feasible to store audio digitally. In order to store multiple channels (up to 7.1) efficiently, many formats that took advantage of compressing and encoding were invented. The first digital format was basically the CD (redbook), which stored 44.1kHz of Linear PCM (unencoded and already decompressed). The DVD introduced 48kHz sample rate, and many types of encoding. The following table describes the various audio formats (those in pink are not supported by PS3).

Storage Type	Audio Format	Storage Format	Compression Format	Channels	Bits	Sampling frequency	Bitrate	Protection
Blu-ray Disc	Linear PCM	Linear PCM	None	7.1	16	48kHz	4.6Mbit/s	AACS
Blu-ray Disc	Dolby TrueHD	Dolby TrueHD	MLP (Lossless)	7.1 (max 14)	up to 24	96kHz (max 192kHz)	up to 18Mbit/s	AACS
Blu-ray Disc	Dolby Digital Plus	E-AC-3	Perceptual Coding (Lossy)	7.1	~20 (16 - 24)	48kHz	up to 1.7Mbit/s	AACS
Blu-ray Disc	Dolby Digital	AC-3	Perceptual Coding (Lossy)	5.1	~20 (16 - 24)	48kHz	640kbit/s	AACS
Blu-ray Disc	dts-HD Master Audio		Lossless	8	up to 24	96kHz	up to 25.4Mbit/s	AACS
Blu-ray Disc	dts-HD HR Audio			8	up to 24	96kHz	up to 6Mbit/s	AACS
Blu-ray Disc	dts Digital Surround	Coherent Acoustics	Perceptual Coding (Lossy)	5.1	~20 (16 - 24)	48kHz	1.509Mbit/s, 754kbit/s	AACS
DVD Disc	Dolby Digital	AC-3	Perceptual Coding (Lossy)	5.1	~20 (16 - 24)	48kHz	448kbit/s, 384kbit/s	CSS
DVD Disc	dts Digital Surround	Coherent Acoustics	Perceptual Coding (Lossy)	5.1	~20 (16 - 24)	48kHz	1.509Mbit/s, 754kbit/s	CSS
SACD Disc	SACD	DSD	DST (Lossless)	2, 5.1	1	176.4kHz		PSP
DVD Disc	DVD-Audio	Linear PCM	MLP (Lossless)	2	16, 20, 24	44.1kHz - 192kHz	9.6Mbit/s	CPPM
DVD Disc	DVD-Audio	Linear PCM	MLP (Lossless)	5.1	16, 20, 24	44.1kHz - 96kHz	9.6Mbit/s	CPPM
CD Disc	dts 5.1 Music Disc	DTS	Perceptual Coding (Lossy)	5.1	16	44.1kHz	1.411Mbit/s	None
CD Disc	HDCD	Linear PCM	None	2	20	48kHz		None
CD Disc	CD	Linear PCM	None	2	16	176kHz	1.411Mbit/s	None
Virtual	AVCHD
Virtual	DivX
Virtual	WMV (VC-1)
Virtual	MP4
Virtual	MP3			5.1		16kHz - 48kHz	320kbit/s
Virtual	AAC			48		8kHz - 96kHz

"Bitstream"ing of Dolby TrueHD audio is currently not supported on the PS3. The PS3 must decode the signal internally and only the HDMI cable is supported. In addition, 7.1 channels are downmixed to 5.1 channels of Linear PCM. TOSLINK not supported because of bandwidth issues.

dts-HD Master Audio is supported via "Linear PCM".

dts-HD High Resolution Audio (dts-HD HRA) is a lossy format and is supported in the PS3. However decoding is supported for "Linear PCM" in the PS3. dts-HD HRA is dts Digital Surround (the Core) plus any extra frequencies or channels up to 7.1. However, the PS3 will downmix 7.1 channels to 5.1 channels before sending it down the HDMI or TOSLINK. If selecting "Linear PCM", TOSLINK can only output stereo channels.

HDCD support in PS3

HDCD support is provided via the "bitstream" option. Note that because there is no specific CD option for turning on or off "bitstream", you must trick the PS3 into doing it. Since the CD is already in Linear PCM, the PS3 will normally just output the data (expecting it to be already decoded). HDCD has hidden bits in the Linear PCM that will trigger the external decoder to process the extra 4 bits. So as long as you choose HDMI or TOSLINK, and you use an external decoder that accepts HDCD, you should hear 20bits instead of plain 16bits.

dts 5.1 Music Disc support in PS3

dts 5.1 Music Disc (dts-CD) is supported if 44.1kHz is selected as the only output frequency, and you use an external decoder. Choosing 44.1kHz can be done via the "Music Settings" and "Sound Settings" inside the "Settings" menu of the XMB. The PS3 normally treats all CDs as unencoded Linear PCM and will just take the Linear PCM untouched from the CD and send it down the HDMI or TOSLINK, or convert to analog first before sending it down the AV Multi cable. Because the dts-CD Linear PCM on the CD is actually encoded 5.1 channels (or 6.1), you must trick the PS3 into sending the data untouched to an external dts-CD decoder via HDMI or TOSLINK (NOT the analog AV Multi). To accomplish this, you must turn off upconversion (48kHz, 88.2kHz and 176kHz must not be selected), otherwise, your signal will sound like FM noise.

DVD-Audio support in PS3

DVD-Audio is not supported in the PS3. However, if the DVD-Audio has a DVD-Video section, the PS3 can play the Dolby Digital, dts Digital Surround, or Linear PCM from it.

Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) support in PS3

The PS3 does support SACD (SA-CD) in models CECHF and lower. This is an important feature that unfortunately got removed in some of the later models (CECHG and higher). SACD is basically a DVD disc containing high definition audio. This audio can be in either stereo channel or 5.1 channel, or both. SACD uses DSD (Direct Stream Digital) audio format, which is basically 1-bit encoding at an extremely high bitrate (2.8224MHz) and is compressed in lossless DST (Direct Stream Transfer) format. Many SACD discs are now usually sold as a "hybrid SACD" containing two layers (one DVD layer and one CD layer both on the same side). Do not confuse "hybrid SACD" with "DualDisc" (this format has the two layers on opposite sides). A "hybrid SACD" has the DVD layer containing the SACD portion, while the CD layer contains the regular CD portion (for backwards compatibility with normal CD players). The SACD portion contains both high definition 5.1 channel and high definition stereo channel versions of the songs, while the CD portion contains only the regular stereo channel version of the songs. So if you pop in a hybrid SACD into a PS3, you should see three disc icons: one for regular CD; one for stereo channel SACD; and one for 5.1 channel SACD (note some multichannel SACD can come with less than 5.1 channels).

SACD over HDMI connection

Note that to play back 5.1 channel SACD (lossless), you need to use the HDMI interface (which has multiple pins for decoded multiple Linear PCM channels). You can get maximum 176kHz stereo channel or 5.1 channel Linear PCM output using HDMI. Note that some receivers have limited bandwidth and may downsample to 88.2kHz on multichannel 5.1. Please provide feedback if you cannot obtain 176kHz multichannel 5.1.

SACD over TOSLINK (Optical Digital) connection

The PS3 supports the option for TOSLINK output of SACD audio, however only in stereo channels. The TOSLINK is not fast enough for all 5.1 decoded channels. In an earlier firmware (pre-2.01), choosing TOSLINK will force the PS3 to re-encode the decoded SACD 5.1 channels into DTS 5.1 (lossy) for output (via bitstream) to your external DTS 5.1 decoder. In these earlier firmware, you can avoid the lossy conversion over TOSLINK by deselecting "DTS 5.1 ch." in the TOSLINK "Sound Settings". However, you are then relegated to only two channels of Linear PCM over TOSLINK and PS3 will downsample to 44.1kHz for copy protection measures. Note that conversion to dts 5.1 was REMOVED in firmware 2.01. Downsampling to stereo 44.1kHz is the only option supported in current firmwares.

SACD over AV Multi cable connection

If you choose the AV Multi cable for output, you can only get stereo channels, but they can be up to 176kHz. The PS3 will convert first to Linear PCM and then to analog for your two channel AV Multi cable.

Audio Compatibility Chart

PS3 Compatiblity	Bitstream (HDMI)	LPCM (HDMI)	Bitstream (TOSLINK)	LPCM (TOSLINK)	AV Multi
Linear PCM 7.1	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes (Stereo)
Dolby TrueHD 7.1	No	Yes (5.1)	No	Yes (Stereo 44.1kHz)	Yes (Stereo)
Dolby TrueHD 5.1	No	Yes	No	Yes (Stereo 44.1kHz)	Yes (Stereo)
Dolby Digital Plus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Stereo)	Yes (Stereo)
Dolby Digital	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Stereo)	Yes (Stereo)
dts-HD MA (7.1)	No	Yes (5.1)	No	Yes (Stereo)	Yes (Stereo)
dts-HD HRA (7.1)	No	Yes (5.1)	No	Yes (Stereo)	Yes (Stereo)
dts Digital Surround	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Stereo)	Yes (Stereo)
SA-CD 5.1	No	Yes (176kHz)	No	Yes (Stereo 44.1kHz)	Yes (Stereo)
SA-CD Stereo	No	Yes (176kHz)	Yes (Stereo 44.1kHz)	Yes (Stereo 44.1kHz)	Yes (176kHz)

For dts, backward compatibility is built into format. The dts Digital Surround (5.1) is the basic core of dts, which is 48kHz at 5.1 channels. dts-HD High Resolution Audio is lossy, but provides 24bit/96kHz for 8 (7.1) channels. dts-HD Master Audio is the only lossless version of dts at 8 (7.1) channels. These two dts-HD formats both contain the basic dts Digital Surround (core 5.1) as a fallback for older decoders. Therefore, in the chart above, when playing dts HD HRA or dts HD MA audio formats via bitstream, you may end up with the fallback core dts Digital Surround via TOSLINK because of bandwidth limitations. Also, notice that for TOSLINK (optical digital), selecting Linear PCM will result in only stereo (2) channels (even if the original audio format was lossy like Dolby Digital and dts Digital Surround). Decoded and uncompressed 5.1 channel LPCM data from lossy Dolby Digital and dts Digital Surround consume too much bandwidth for the TOSLINK to handle.

For Dolby Digital, selecting bitstream output of Dolby TrueHD will force the PS3 to output regular Dolby Digital at 640kbps.

PS3 Video

PlayStation 3 High Definition support

The PlayStation 3 has support for "full HD", which is generally defined as supporting the resolution of 1920x1080p. The "p" signifies progressive, rather than "i" for interlaced. You can find out more about this at the HDTV resolutions page. Progressive means each image is shown from top to bottom rather than interleaving odd and even lines during each screen cycle (field). Below is a video showing the PS3 displaying in "full HD".

The PS3 provides a few basic resolutions:

1920x1080p
1920x1080i
1280x720p
720x480p
720x480i

It is important that you get a display that has the highest resolution possible (1920x1080p). Because your HDTV will scale and stretch any signal that is not native to its display size, you should also purchase games or video that can be output in the resolution of your display. Many PS3 games these days are able to software scale and stretch so the signal matches 1920x1080p, but the internal rendering resolution is actually lower. In many cases, the buffer is rendered in multiple passes before it gets passed to the HDTV. Each pass may be software scaled and stretched, or not, so you may get blocky and non-blocky images together on your display.

The standard software development kit from Sony given to game developers provide the following basic resolutions that can be scaled and streched to 1920x1080p via API calls:

1600x1080p
1440x1080p
1280x1080p
960x1080p

Note that the developer can always directly render to the buffer at a higher resolution in separate passes to provide better details like for example the Heads-Up Display and detailed photos and images inside the game.

PlayStation 3 Hardware

PS3 Motherboard

The original PS3 used a motherboard revision of 1-871-868-22. A major revision was made for the PAL territory release (1-873-513-21), which basically removed PS2 Emotion Engine chip and substituted them with software based emulation. For the CECHG and CECHH models, PS2 hardware were completely removed, so hardware allowing even PS2 software emulation was taken out.

CECHA: COK-001 1-871-868-22
CECHC: COK-002 1-873-513-21
CECHC: COK-002 1-873-513-31
CECHG: SEM-001
CECHH: DIA-001 1-875-938-11

The architecture of the PS3 motherboard divides the main pieces of the system into 256MB XDR memory, Cell, RSX, and 256MB GDDR3. The HDMI display is connected to the 256MB GDDR3 (the video memory). The communication path also lines up in that order. Therefore, communication with the 256MB XDR memory must go through Cell, and communication with the GDDR3 must go through the RSX. Below has more info on each of the components.

Main System Memory

The PS3 has 256MB of 400Mhz Rambus XDR main system memory . While the earlier models used Samsung chips, the newer models starting with CECHG uses Elpida. Note that another 256MB of GDDR3 memory is located in the RSX and is separate. When running, the operating system uses up 64MB of the XDR, leaving 192MB for games and applications (32MB are also taken from the GDDR3 video memory). It seems possible to increase available system ram, as the current OS takes a smaller 80MB total footprint (XDR and GDDR3), with the ability to pre-empt even more modules that are not needed. Games needing extra features (like in-game XMB) will of course do the opposite and will reduce available ram.

Cell Broadband Engine

The Cell CPU has one 3.2Ghz PPE (Power Processor Element) with two threads and eight 3.2Ghz SPE (Synergistic Processing Elements). The PPE is a general purpose CPU, while the eight SPE are geared towards processing data in parallel. One SPE is disabled to increase yield, so the PS3 can have at most 9 threads runnings at the same time (2 from PPE and 7 from SPE). Note that one SPE is reserved for the hypervisor, so PS3 programs can take advantage of 8 threads. The Cell was introduced at 90nm and later PS3 model numbers starting with CECHG uses the 65nm version.

1 PPE (Power Processor Element)
- 3.2Ghz
- 2 threads (can run at same time)
- L1 cache: 32kB data + 32kB instruction
- L2 cache: 512kB
- Memory bus width: 64bit (serial)
- VMX (Altivec) instruction set support
- Full IEEE-754 compliant
8 SPE (Synergistic Processing Element)
- 3.2Ghz
- 1 SPE disabled to improve chip yield
- 1 SPE dedicated for hypervisor security
- 256kB local store per SPE
- 128 registers per SPE
- Dual Issue (Each SPE can execute 2 instructions per clock)
- IEEE-754 compliant in double precision (single precision round-towards-zero instead of round-towards-even)
90nm (235.48mm² die size) technology (CECHF models and lower)
65nm (174.61mm² die size) technology (CECHG models and higher)

RSX - Reality Synthesizer

The RSX is a graphical processor unit (GPU) based off of the nVidia 7800GTX graphics processor, and is a G70/G71 hybrid with some modifications. The RSX has separate vertex and pixel shader pipelines. The following are relevant facts about the RSX...

8 vertex shaders at 500Mhz
28 pixel shaders (4 redundant, 24 active) at 550Mhz
28 texture units (4 redundant, 24 active)
8 Raster Operations Pipeline units (ROPs)
Includes 256MB GDDR3 650Mhz clocked graphics memory
- Earlier PS3 Models: Samsung K4J52324QC-SC14 rated at 700Mhz
- Later PS3 Models: Qimonda HYB18H512322AF-14
GDDR3 Memory interface bus width: 128bit
Rambus XDR Memory interface bus width: 56bit out of 64bit (serial)
258mm² die size
90nm technology

More features are revealed in the following chart delineating the differences between the RSX and the nVidia 7800 GTX.

Difference	RSX	nVidia 7800GTX
GDDR3 Memory bus width	128bit	256bit
ROPs	8	16
Post Transform and Lighting Cache	63 max vertices	45 max vertices
Total Texture Cache Per Quad of Pixel Pipes (L1 and L2)	96kB	48kB
CPU interface	FlexIO	PCI-Express 16x
Technology	90nm	110nm

Other RSX features/differences include:

More shader instructions
- Extra texture lookup logic (helps RSX transport data from XDR)
- Fast vector normalize

Note that the cache (Post Transform and Lighting Vertext Cache) is located between the vector shader and the triangle setup.

A sample flow of data inside the RSX would see them first processed by 8 vertex shaders. The output are then sent to the 24 active pixel shaders, which can involve the 24 active texture units. Finally, the data is passed to the 8 Raster Operation Pipeline units (ROPs), and on out to the GDDR3. Note that the pixel shaders are grouped into groups of four (called Quads). There are 7 Quads, with 1 redundant, leaving 6 Quads active, which provides us with the 24 active pixel shaders listed above (6 times 4 equals 24). Since each Quad has 96kB of L1 and L2 cache, the total RSX cache is 576kB. General RSX features include 2x and 4x hardware anti-aliasing, and support for Shader Model 3.0.

Speed, Bandwidth, and Latency

Because of the aforementioned layout of the communication path between the different chips, and the latency and bandwidth differences between the various components, there are different access speeds depending on the direction of the access in relation to the source and destination. The following is a chart showing the speed of reads and writes to the GDDR3 and XDR memory from the viewpoint of the Cell and RSX. Note that these are measured speeds (rather than calculated speeds) and they should be lower if RSX and GDDR3 access are involved because these figures were measured when the RSX was clocked at 550Mhz and the GDDR3 memory was clocked at 700Mhz. The shipped PS3 has the RSX clocked in at 500Mhz (front and back end, although the pixel shaders run separately inside at 550Mhz). In addition, the GDDR3 memory was also clocked lower at 650Mhz.

Processor	256MB XDR	256MB GDDR3
Cell Read	16.8GB/s	16MB/s
Cell Write	24.9GB/s	4GB/s
RSX Read	15.5GB/s	22.4GB/s
RSX Write	10.6GB/s	22.4GB/s

Because of the VERY slow Cell Read speed from the 256MB GDDR3 memory, it is more efficient for the Cell to work in XDR and then have the RSX pull data from XDR and write to GDDR3 for output to the HDMI display. This is why extra texture lookup instructions were included in the RSX to allow loading data from XDR memory (as opposed to the local GDDR3 memory).

PS3 Flash memory

The PS3 has 256 megabytes of flash memory, using two 128MB flash chips (K9F1G08U0A). The firmware data can be downloaded automatically from the internet via the PS3, or manually for install (location: http://www.jp.playstation.com/ps3/update/ ) The firmware data is interleaved between the two flash chips, and when you upgrade, the previous firmware version is retained. Below is a layout of the directories inside the flash:

data
ps1emu
ps2emu
sys
external
internal
vsh

Obviously, PS (PSone) and PS2 emulation code on PS3 would reside in ps1emu and ps2emu. Most of the executable files have extension .sprx and are encrypted, (most likely decrypted using the reserved SPE of the hypervisor).

Firmware versions

1.00 - Nov 11, 2006 (Original firmware in Japanese PS3)
1.01 - ?
1.02 - Included in "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07" and "Madden NFL 07"
1.10 - Nov 12, 2006
1.11 - Nov 28, 2006
1.30 - Dec 06, 2006
1.31 - Dec 13, 2006
1.32 - Dec 21, 2006
1.50 - Jan 23, 2007
1.51 - Feb 02, 2007
1.54 - Mar 01, 2007
1.55 - Included in New PS3 promotional package
1.60 - Mar 22, 2007
1.70 - Apr 19, 2007
1.80 - May 24, 2007
1.81 - Jun 14, 2007
1.82 - Jul 05, 2007
1.90 - Jul 13, 2007
1.92 - Sep 04, 2007
1.93 - Sep 13, 2007
1.94 - Included in "Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction"
2.00 - Nov 08, 2007
2.01 - Nov 20, 2007
2.10 - Dec 17, 2007
2.16 - Included in "Gran Turismo 5 Prologue"
2.17 - Mar 13, 2008
2.20 - Mar 25, 2008
2.30 - Apr 15, 2008

PS3 HDMI chip

The PS3 uses the Silicon Image SiI9032, which transmits HDMI 1.3 protocols. It supports deep color and advanced audio transmission. There is currently debate whether the SiI9032 supports bitstream transmission of Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio.

Blu-ray Drive

The Blu-ray drive in the PS3 supports dual-layer Blu-ray discs. One layer can store 25GB, so a dual-layer disc can store at a maximum of 50GB. The filesystem is UDF V2.5. There is a mandatory AACS encryption on all Blu-ray discs. In addition, it supports ROM Mark and BD+ encryption systems. The ROM Mark stores decryption keys on the disc that are not readable or writeable by ordinary means (analog). BD+ allows new encryption codes to be stored on a per Blu-ray disc basis, thus the Blu-ray drive could run new code off of the disc and remove the code when the disc is ejected. BD+ can also be used to upgrade and patch cracked firmware. The drive contains a BGA-sized firmware, with the contents encrypted. In addition, each drive's EEPROM contains a unique identification number.

PS3 Peripherals

PlayStation Eye

Model No.: SLEH-00201
DC 5V, 500mA

This is a camera for the PS3 that supports capturing images at 120 frames per second at low resolution and 60 frames per second at high resolution.

Sixaxis

Model No.: CECHZC1J - Made in Japan
Model No.: CECHZC1H - Made in China
DC 3.7V, 30mA

The standard gamepad that came with the PlayStation 3.

DualShock 3

Model No.: CECHZC2J
DC 3.7V, 300mA.

Same as the Sixaxis that came with the original PlayStation 3, but provides vibration.

PlayStation Card Adapter

Model No.: CECHZM1J
This adaptor allows you to plug in PlayStation and PlayStation 2 memory cards into the PS3. The adapter itself connects to the PS3's USB port.

Blu-ray Disc Remote Controller

Model No.: CECHZR1J
Allows you to control the Blu-ray playback via a more standard controller, rather than using the Sixaxis.

Others

The PlayStation 3 supports many USB peripherals, including those originally sold for the PC. For example, you can plug in the wireless dongle from one of Microsoft's wireless Keyboard/Mouse system and end up using only one of the USB ports for two devices (mouse and keyboard). In addition, you can purchase USB PC versions of PS2-like controllers, and they would work on the PS3 (but would be missing the middle PlayStation 3 button). In addition, you can link up bluetooth devices to the PS3 (bluetooth earpieces from mobile phones for example).

PS3 Security

Additional features that the PS3 advanced from previous generations are the included extra security features. The main ones are listed below.

Blu-ray Disc encryption
Harddrive encryption
Generic data encryption
Hypervisor

To help with the security, the following hardware are also included inside the Cell:

Hardware root key
Hardware decryption routine
Hardware random number generator

Data from the Blu-ray disc can have a disc-based encryption on it. The encryption key (128-bit) is hidden inside the disc as a ROM Mark, and requires special Blu-ray reader technology to read it. After decrypting the disc, the file data themselves can also be encrypted (a second generic encryption layer). The harddrive is also encrypted like the Blu-ray disc. In addition, there is another security layer called the Hypervisor running on the PS3. The Hypervisor can be considered the lowest layer of the operating system and runs on the PPE and the one reserved SPE with the highest priviledge. Encrypted code can be secured by having it run on the one reserved SPE, which uses hardware root key and hardware decryption routine for decryption. The PPE would take the encrypted code (can be analogous to an application file from the decrypted Blu-ray disc, or something from the flash memory) and setup a SPE to go into secured (isolation) mode. In this mode, the hardware decryption routine takes over, grabs the encrypted code, decrypts it using a hardware root key, and puts the decrypted code inside the SPE's local store. Note that an SPE in isolation mode cannot have its whole code and data read or written externally (not even by the PPE that started it up), with the exception of a small area of the local store for communication purposes. The only thing the PPE can do is kill the SPE process (along with the SPE local code and data). The hardware random number generator in the Cell is there so that you can timestamp sessions keyed to a random number to prevent replay attacks.

Harddrive Layout

The PS3 harddrive (dev_hdd0) layout looks as follows:

data
- bootflag.dat
drm
game
- GameFolderName1
  - USRDIR
    - EBOOT.BIN
  - ICON0.PNG
  - PARAM.SFO
  - PIC1.PNG
  - PS3LOGO.DAT
- GameFolderName2...
home
mms
vsh
widget

Installed games would have its own folder under the game folder, and EBOOT.BIN from each game's USRDIR would be run to boot the game. Games downloaded from the PlayStation Network are actually one large packaged .pkg file. When you install the .pkg file is expanded and dumped into the /game directory of the harddrive in its own folder. The contents hierarchy of the .pkg file would look like the above (residing in its own /game folder of course). There is a limit of 4GB per file on the harddrive (same as on the Blu-ray disc). Game demos (because they are packaged in a .pkg file) cannot exceed 4GB in size. The /data/bootflag.dat most likely tells the PS3 to boot into XMB or the OtherOS (linux).

PS3 Network

The PlayStation 3 has a Gigabit Eithernet port (some models include Wi-Fi to connect wirelessly via an Access Point), allowing connection to the internet for websurfing and downloading games off of the PlayStation Network (PSN). PSN requires these open ports: TCP: 80, 443, 5223. UDP: 3478, 3479, 3658.

PS3 Error Codes

The PS3 gives out error codes for problems encountered during certain operations. The error codes are 8 hexidecimal digits in length. It is a very long list, but here is a sample of a few of them.

Error Code	Description
8001050B	Error playing game off of harddrive.

Linux on PS3

One of the most interesting things about the PS3 is that it allows you to install a separate operating system on the internal harddrive. There are now many flavors of Linux that runs on the PS3. The first official one was Yellow Dog Linux (ver 5.0, now ver 6.0), and that is recommended as it has extensive experience with POWER architectures (which the Cell is based on), and comes with drivers for most of the important hardware, with the exception of the graphics processing unit, wireless networking (802.11bg), and SIXAXIS motion detection (regular button detection possible via wired USB cable). Therefore if you were to install Linux, you must use a wired eithernet if you wish to access the internet to install things online. Other Linux flavors include Fedora, Gentoo, and Ubuntu. Yellow Dog Linux is actually based on Fedora. Any of these Linux OS's will provide their own version of OS booter to take over from Sony's PS3 "other os" booter, but you can usually swap one for another if they are all Linux.

One of the major complications new users on Linux will encounter is that everything is usually manually done via commands issued on a terminal. This is similar to how MS DOS was before Windows started taking over more and more of the mudane tasks with each new release. The difference with Linux is that although there are graphical windowing programs like KDE, Gnome, and others, they are treated more like an add-on that takes over some of the tasks. In windows most of the code for the operating system is in directory "C:/windows", and the programs in "C:/program files", and documents in "C:/documents and settings". Under Linux, there is no such thing as a C: or D: or E: drive. There is just a big drive with no label and it starts with "/" at the top. If you have another media or drive, you mount it to a location under "/". For example, you can mount your memory stick under "/mnt/memorystick/" and your optical disc drive under "/mnt/dvd/". Afterwards, if you go into those directories, it will point to the root of your memory stick or your drive.

Yellow Dog Linux on PlayStation 3

The internal harddrive is actually encrypted with the exception of the linux (or other os) partition. In other words, the data that is written on the PS3 area of the harddrive are encrypted via an algorithm before being written, while "what you see is what you get" for the other os partition. This means that if you were to take out the harddrive and try install it on a personal computer (which is possible), the data on the PS3 partition will look garbled. The harddrive is actually a standard SATA notebook 2.5" harddrive (not IDE) available on the market. You can actually use any speed (4200rpm, 5400rpm, or 7200rpm) and any capacity for the drive. Note that getting a very fast drive (7200rpm for example) won't improve speed by much as there is probably an encryption layer happening on-the-fly in the background that is providing a bottleneck.
Before installing Linux it is wise to understand how the PS3 goes about making this happen. The main XMB menu of the PS3 contain (under the system settings) options to format the harddrive, install another OS, and set the default bootable OS. When the PS3 boots up, it looks under a specific area of the harddrive for information on an operating system to boot. When you set the default OS to boot up, this is the area that is changed. By default it boots to PS3's own operating system (XMB), but if you change it to boot "otheros", this area will point to a new OS booter that Sony provides (called otheros.self). This otheros.self provides the capability to boot code by other OS manufacturers (otheros.bld) and let them take over after PS3 starts up. Because this otheros.bld can't be installed manually, you must use the PS3 side's "install other os" option to get otheros.bld and otheros.self installed on a special boot otheros section of the harddrive. After installing, it stays there until you use PS3 side's "install other os" option again to install another otheros.self and otheros.bld. During install, the PS3 side will read from a special directory from a removeable media ("/ps3/otheros/") for both otheros.self and otheros.bld. After installing, there is a priority on where otheros.bld looks for bootable linux code. In fact depending on the build, the otheros.bld can either try to read the DVD drive (like Yellow Dog Linux), or put you into a minimal shell prompt for you to install manually (other linux flavors). The default after installation is to look under "/etc/kboot.conf" on the harddrive for the correct instructions. This file usually points to "/boot/" directory for the linux OS code to execute. You may be wondering, what about otheros.bld? Didn't that provide a linux prompt already? Yes, but that one is a minimal subset of linux with commands to load up a real full blown linux under "/boot/" directory. In other words, you can change versions of linux by simply modifying files in "/boot/" directory and pointing to them from "/etc/kboot.conf".

Gentoo Linux on PlayStation 3 from memory stick

It is possible to install Gentoo manually without ever burning a disc. Just copy over the tar'ed directory tree to a memory stick. When PS3 puts you into the kboot prompt, manually mount your flash drive or memory stick, partition the harddrive for linux swap and main, then untar the files from the memory stick onto the harddrive. If you make a mistake and wish to start over with a clean slate you can simply delete the linux partition. One way to delete an old OS partition (under linux) is to use fdisk command to delete the partition (make sure you write commit your changes). Try not to use Yellow Dog Linux's otheros.bld for manual install in this case because it will try to read off of the blu-ray drive. The trick on making directories and copying files is to "cd" into the directory first. You can "cd .." to go up the directory tree. "///" can be used to refer to the root of the harddrive. After un'tar'ing, you chroot to your newly created directories and use the commands inside to do a "proc" (to create required things in /proc directory for proper linux functionality).

Setting up FULL 1080p Displays on Linux

One of the commands that came with the PS3 is ps3videomode. What is unknown by many people is that you can use either fullscreen or non-fullscreen mode. In fullscreen mode you actually get to use more of the available space on your display under linux. If you do not use fullscreen mode, there is a black border on all four sides of your display and they take up valuable display space. But note that if you go this route your display must be capable of using the "full over scan" of the display. This is usually settable via the display's internal menus. If you are already in a linux prompt and logged in as root, you can activate fullscreen mode using ps3videomode, just add 128 to the video mode provided in the standard documentation. Below is a summary with mode description following the commands...

ps3videomode -v 1           black border mode  480i  
ps3videomode -v 2           black border mode  480p
ps3videomode -v 3           black border mode  720p
ps3videomode -v 4           black border mode 1080i
ps3videomode -v 5           black border mode 1080p

ps3videomode -v 129         fullscreen mode  480i
ps3videomode -v 130         fullscreen mode  480p
ps3videomode -v 131         fullscreen mode  720p
ps3videomode -v 132         fullscreen mode 1080i
ps3videomode -v 133         fullscreen mode 1080p

If you have installed Linux on PS3 successfully, then it should have a file "/etc/kboot.conf". This file contains information for the otheros.bld to follow after taking over from Sony's booter. Think of it as autoexec.bat under MS Windows. The "default=ydl" tells the other OS to look for "ydl" for the default boot options, and in this case it boots up 1080p (see mode 133 below and above).

# kboot.conf generated by anaconda

default=ydl
timeout=10
root=/dev/sda1
ydl='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3 initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3.img root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init video=ps3fb:mode:133 rhgb'
ydl480i='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3 initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3.img root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init video=ps3fb:mode:129 rhgb'
ydl1080i='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3 initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3.img root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init video=ps3fb:mode:132 rhgb'
ydltext='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3 initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3.img root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init 3'

After you have changed this and rebooted (type reboot), you will find that your graphical windowing will have a screwed up display if you use 1080p. So before you reboot, you need to fix a few more things. Reconfigure X windows (the underlying windowing module under Gnome, KDE, and others like Enlightenment) to use the current display and not try to set a special mode or resolution. Again, if you have configured YDL to start in graphical mode, then it is advised that you also modify the X stuff below before you reboot upon finishing editing "/etc/kboot.conf". The X windows module resolution configuration file is actually located in "/etc/X11/xorg.conf". You should edit it to remove the resolution modes for the current 24bit display so that it defaults to using the current display already set by you in "/etc/kboot.conf". Here is the modified section of "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"...

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        DefaultFbBPP     32
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     8
                FbBPP     32
                Modes    "1920x1080" "1280x720" "720x576" "720x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     16
                FbBPP     32
                Modes    "1920x1080" "1280x720" "720x576" "720x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
                FbBPP     32
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Note that in the code above, the line "Modes..." line is missing for the Depth of 24. This forces the X windows to just use the current settings defined in "/etc/kboot.conf".

YUM and PUP (emerge and apt)

One unique quirk of the Linux operating system is that to install new software you would actually download the source of the program and compile and install. This is because a majority of the code on the Linux system is free and not bought. This was the case in the past and is slowing changing as new ways to package the software was created. Since there are many flavors of Linux, there are many different ways of packaging the files. One of the early ones is RPM. Files got packaged in RPM and you would simply use "rpm" to find, download, and install the software. Because using RPM packages sometimes require other RPM packages to exist before it can be compiled or installed, you sometimes get error messages that require you to look for its dependencies and download and install them first. This became Linux's version of "dll hell". To alleviate the whole mess, things were built on top it to take care of the dependencies so that it automatically would handle download and install of dependent modules. Gentoo calls it emerge. Red Hat calls it apt. Yellow Dog Linux calls it YUM, and a separate OS updating module called PUP. Yum superceded apt, and is the choice for Red Hat Linux distributions now. By default Yellow Dog Linux has them installed and they are renamed under the "Applications->System Tools->Software Management" menu option as "add/remove software" for YUM and "software updater" for PUP. They are equivalent to "yum" and "pup" commands under linux shell prompt.

One thing broken with the Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 DVD iso was that it did not have the correct settings for YUM and PUP to work. You needed to manually edit some files they depend on for location of correct repositories on the internet to work. In fact, if anytime that you can't use them it is because of not having an internet connection, or the URL for the repositories are not valid (either the site is down or you forgot to reboot). In short, the following files need to be created or edited and placed inside directory "/etc/yum.repos.d/" (Note: the files have been updated to reflect the newer 6.0 version of Yellow Dog Linux.)

"/etc/yum.repos.d/yellowdog-base.repo"

[base]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 Base
baseurl=http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/yellowdog/yum/6.0/base/
#mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-base-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

"/etc/yum.repos.d/yellowdog-extras.repo"

[base]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 Base
baseurl=http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/yellowdog/yum/6.0/base/
#mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-base-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

"/etc/yum.repos.d/yellowdog-updates.repo"

[updates]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 Updates
baseurl=http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/yellowdog/yum/6.0/updates/
#mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-updates-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

Note that you can replace the URL's above with functioning ones if one of them should go down. Once they are edited, you should be able to use yum and pup commands or via the "software management" menu. After you have verified that they work, you can try searching for important things left out of the Yellow Dog Linux distribution.

If you wish for more control, you can issue the yum commands inside a terminal. The following are commands to upgrade, remove a package, and install a package, respectively.

yum upgrade
yum remove NAME
yum install NAME

VideoLan-Client (vlc) on Yellow Dog Linux for PS3

One of the main problems with the PS3 was it's inability to playback PAL DVD-ROM from an NTSC machine, or inability to playback NTSC DVD-ROM from a PAL machine. Apparently, the PS3 XMB side actually does a check on the resolution and mode of the DVD-ROM (if it is a movie) and displays an error if it encounters a difference with its own machine type. Apparently this is a software check and with the european release of the firmware this problem is already non-existant. Those wishing to playback DVD can always use videolan client (vlc) for linux. This program can support user burned DVD-ROM and commercial DVD discs as well. To get it to work you need to set up additional YUM repositories available from Fedora linux (at least until it gets moved over to the Yellow Dog Linux repositories whenever this may be). These extra files need to be added to "/etc/yum.repos.d/". After adding the files below (reboot is a good idea), go to the yum (use gnome or enlightenment if you are using YDL) link under "software management" and do a search for "videolan-client". Select it and hit "Apply" and it should get installed automatically.

"/etc/yum.repos.d/freshrpm-frpm.repo"

[freshrpm-frpm]
name=Fresh RPM Master
baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/5/ppc/freshrpms/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

"/etc/yum.repos.d/livna-ppc.repo"

[livna-stable]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (stable)
baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/5/ppc/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

"/etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-core.repo"

[fedora-core]
name=Fedora Core
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/5/ppc/os/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

"/etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-extras.repo"

[fedora-extras]
name=Fedora Extras
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/5/ppc/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

After installing you can run the command "vlc" and it should bring up the program. Note that you can now get rid of these special repositories by deleting them or renaming "enabled=1" to "enabled=0" in each of the files.

RPM introduction

In case there are no YUM for resolving rpm package dependencies, you may need to manually install using the "rpm" command from a terminal prompt. To install a package (for example abc.rpm), you would enter the command...


rpm -i abc.rpm

Sometimes you have an updated version of an existing package. In that case you can use the update command...

rpm -Uvh abc.rpm

XMAME

Because Linux lack games that you can purchase at retail, many people resort to running emulators for old arcade machines. One of the most popular is a program called XMAME. This program can be installed by simply doing a search for xmame from yum (the graphical version) after you have added the extra files that point towards the new rpm sites (listed above for VLC).

Programming on the PS3

The following section is under construction...

The Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 DVD iso came with Cell SDK 1.2, and if you wish to use Cell SDK 2.0 from IBM, you need to remove old packages and install new ones. Since the yum repository does not reflect these newer stuff, you need to manually use rpm (or equivalent) to install and remove. The following are simplified instructions until someone is willing to create a new yum repository for the increasing YDL PS3 linux users...

rpms after install:

libspe2-2.0.1-1.ppc.rpm
libspe2-2.0.1-1.ppc64.rpm
libspe2-devel-2.0.1-1.ppc.rpm
libspe2-devel-2.0.1-1.ppc64.rpm



rpms added
mesa-libGLU-devel-6.4.2-6.FC5.3.ppc.rpm
freeglut-devel-2.4.0-4.ppc.rpm
elfspe-1.1.0-1.ppc.rpm
netpbm-devel-10.33-1.fc5.ppc.rpm

files copied
cp /lib/modules/2.6.16-20061110.ydl.2ps3/build/include/asm/ps3*
/usr/include/asm/

deleted
spu-binutils-3.2-6 spu-gcc-3.2-6.ppc
spu-utils-1.0-1.ppc
spu-gcc-c++-3.2-6.ppc
spu-newlib-3.2-6 spu-gdb-3.2-6
libspe-devel-1.2.0-0.ppc
libspe-devel-1.2.0-0.ppc64

Installing Cell SDK 2.0
./cellsdk install --nosim

Using RPM, if you get dependency or conflicting library, you can quit the script, fix the problem, delete the sdk folder in the /tmp folder and rerun the script.
If you are itching to try out a PS3 Linux homebrew, you can download ps3lines.zip.

The Future

The PS3 is a difficult product to evaluate unless you have digged deep into all of its features. However, there seems to be no end to the feature list as half of the promise of the machine is still being written into firmware. Luckily the leftover size of the firmware flash chip this time around is more than half empty, so we can expect this features list to grow. One of the major growth path of the PS3 is upgrading to HDMI compliant HDTV and AV receivers that can handle next generation audio and video formats. The inclusion of Linux makes the PS3 an exciting question mark in the future because you can create any graphical operating system on top of linux. You might say next generation user interfaces and operating systems via the Linux doorway may outshine any limitations of the XMB given enough time. Since the 3D capability of the RSX GPU can now be taken advantaged of from the Linux doorway, the PS3 is now an open box. It is now possible to create anything on the machine, even substitute the Linux section with a full blown multitasking next generation operating system with high performance 3D user interface at its core. Perhaps using the sixaxis to navigate in 3D "Matrix" space, or hook into 3D avatar based operating environments may be the key to next generation 3D operating systems. The only missing piece for accomplishing this goal is a simple install procedure for new applications. Linux is currently limited in user-friendliness, and this is why a new species of 3D operating systems may open up the computing world for the next generation computer enthusiasts. The PS3 fills the void in the home, while the PSP fills the void for mobile computing.

Note that there is a possibility that hardware access to the RSX may be removed in future official firmware revisions. This may lead to users hanging on to lower versions of firmware to keep hardware accelerated 3D graphical access available via Linux. The ultimate goal, however, is to replace linux with a more user friendly operating system for installation and running of programs, preferably with RSX direct hardware access. This may open up another market for programmers similar to how the PC did in the past.

Super Secrets

With the PS3 power switch in the off position, turn it on while holding and pressing both Eject and Power buttons.

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