Many people like Gentoo, ask ps3hax member asong26, this is what he uses.
This installation is not really appropriate for Linux N00Bs, try YDL 5.0 first.
FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS
Installing Gentoo on a PS3 ¶
Given the hardware inside the PS3, the preferred method for installing Gentoo on a PS3 is to start with a stage4 tarball. The stage4 tarball will contain more precompiled binary packages and therefore can be setup faster.
The rest of this document describes the setup procedure. It assumes a certain level of experience with both Gentoo and Linux. If you have questions, ask and clarification can be made.
Obtain the Install media ¶
To complete the install, you can either
Install cd ¶
While you can install Gentoo from the kboot prompt, it is far more convenient to do so using a minimal Install CD. The install CD is available from the Gentoo mirrors under the experimental directory as an ISO image. For example: [Please register to see this link. ]
Stage 4 tarball ¶
On a PS3, you can either run a 32bit-userland or a 64bit-userland. Both run 64bit kernels. The choice of which userland to use depends on what you intend to use the PS3 for. Many people find the 32bit-userland more desktop-friendly. You can find the tarball on the Gentoo mirrors under the experimental directory. To find a mirror near you, use this url: [Please register to see this link. ]. You can download the stage4 now and store it somewhere locally or download it later during the install.
The tarball contains a normal stage3 install plus several required applications which are already compiled for you, like X, vim, eject, the kernel, and even the fluxbox window manager. It also contains a kboot.conf example and a working xorg.conf file.
Optional ¶
The following items are optional and not required. The author finds having these make the setup faster:
You may find it more convienent or perhaps faster to use a portage snapshot. Snapshots of portage can be found on your favorite Gentoo mirror under the snapshots directory.
Put the stage4 and a portage snapshot on a USB memory stick in a vfat or ext3 filesystem.
Prepare your PS3 to boot another OS ¶
Before you can install Linux on your PS3, you must prepare it to run another operating system (hereafter referred to as otheros). This is done through the PS3 operating system (hereafter referred to as game-os) and requires that you also download the Sony Installer (otheros.self) and an otheros image (otheros.bld), which is also available from Sony or Gentoo PS3-capable Install media. Follow the instructions at [Please register to see this link. ] to complete this task.
Boot the Install cd ¶
The Install CD contains a PS3 kernel and the required applications to complete a Gentoo install.
* Insert the Install CD into the PS3 and power-on the PS3. * The PS3 will load the kboot kernel and you will soon see a "kboot:" prompt (hereafter referred to as the kboot prompt). * If you have not installed Linux on the hard disk before, you should be able to hit "tab" to scroll through the list of kernel labels until you find a label that has a resolution that most closely matches your TV or monitor.
Note: If you have installed Linux on your hard-drive before, the prior kboot.conf configuration file may interfere with the kboot configuration file on the Install CD. You can avert this by renaming or deleting the configuration file on the hard-drive, copying the kboot.conf from the Install CD to the kboot ramdisk, or by using e2label to rename the disk partition (i.e. e2label /dev/sda1 "") that contains it.
* Hit 'Enter' to boot the kernel. * The LiveCD will boot and automatically configure itself for the PS3 including network settings if you have a DHCP server on your network.
The rest of this procedure is very similar to a regular Gentoo install. The steps are grouped logically and little explanation will be given about them, unless it's a PS3 specific task
Prepare the hard disk for installation ¶
You must partition your hard drive for an install. You should make at least two disk partitions: one for the root filesystem and one for swap. At the time of this writing, the PS3 can only dedicate 10GB to another os. An example of partitioning looks like:
livecd ~ # fdisk /dev/sda
The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 10239.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-10239, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-10239, default 10239): +9000M
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (8585-10239, default 8585):
Using default value 8585
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (8585-10239, default 10239):
Using default value 10239
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 2
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 10.7 GB, 10737414144 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 10239 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 8584 8790000 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 8585 10239 1694720 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
livecd ~ #
Now you should format the root filesystem and swap, and then enable swap.
livecd ~ # mkfs.ext3 -j /dev/sda1
mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
1098880 inodes, 2197500 blocks
109875 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=2252341248
68 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16160 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 25 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
livecd ~ # mkswap /dev/sda2
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 1735389 kB
no label, UUID=56270620-3485-4396-b65b-269517a5451c
livecd ~ # swapon /dev/sda2
livecd ~ #
Lastly, mount the root filesystem so you can begin installing the software.
livecd ~ # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/
Install the base system ¶
The next series of steps will install the stage4 software on to your PS3 hard drive.
livecd ~ # cd /mnt/gentoo/
livecd gentoo # links2 [Please register to see this link. ]
From here, select the stage4 of your choice and download it. It should then be in /mnt/gentoo. Now extract the tarball.
livecd gentoo # tar -xjpf stage4-ppc64-ps3_32ul.tar.bz2
You now need to mount procfs and /dev for our chroot. Also, copy resolv.conf into the chroot so name resolution will work.
livecd ~ # mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
livecd ~ # mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
livecd ~ # cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc
You can now begin the chroot portion of the install.
livecd gentoo # chroot /mnt/gentoo/ /bin/bash
livecd / # export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"
chroot) / # env-update && source /etc/profile
--- 'profiles/arch.list' is empty or not available. Empty portage tree?
>>> Regenerating /etc/ld.so.cache...
At this point, you need to add the portage tree onto your hard drive. This can be done with a portage snapshot or over the network. The author chooses to get portage over the network with:
(chroot) / # emerge --sync
Alternatively, you can use a snapshot of portage. This can be an advantage when dealing with GRP packages later.
First obtain the snapshot from a mirror:
wget [Please register to see this link. ]
Then unpack the snapshot and update the cache:
tar -xjf portage-DATE.tar.bz2 -C /usr
emerge --metadata
Final configuration of your system ¶
The following steps are the minimum number of changes you need to make to have a bootable, working Gentoo install on your PS3.
Set the timezone ¶
You first need to select your timezone so that your system knows where it is located. Look for your timezone in /usr/share/zoneinfo, then copy it to /etc/localtime. Please avoid the /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT* timezones as their names do not indicate the expected zones. For instance, GMT-8 is in fact GMT+8.
(chroot) ls /usr/share/zoneinfo
(Suppose you want to use GMT)
(chroot) cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/GMT /etc/localtime
Configure the kboot bootloader ¶
In many cases, the otheros images depend on a label being set on the root filesystem partition. Usually it is set to "/". You can set the label using e2label. Using the disk partitioning scheme, you would set the label like:
(chroot) e2label /dev/sda1 /
Kboot's configuration comes from the file /etc/kboot.conf. An example kboot configuration has been provided in /etc/ of the stage4 tarball. Use it as a starting point for your configuration file.
(chroot) / # cd /etc
(chroot) / # cp kboot.conf.example kboot.conf
(chroot) / # vim kboot.conf
Note: For systems where 64 bit user space will be installed, make sure to change the kernel and initrd to kernel-genkernel-ppc64-2.6.16-ps3 and initramfs-genkernel-ppc64-2.6.16-ps3. (Notice the added '64')
An example kboot.conf file for the stage4 and 720p resolution could look like:
# The following is an example kboot configuration file. Edit it
# to suit your needs before attempting to reboot your system or
# you may be unable to boot the new install.
# default: the default kernel label to boot should the user not make
# a selection. Uncomment the following line and set a default kernel label.
default=gentoo
# timeout: number of seconds to wait for user input before the default
# kernel label is booted. Uncomment the following line and set timeout.
# timeout=20
# The format from this point on is within a kernel label. At a minimum,
# you must pass the kernel and root device. The syntax is as follows:
#
label='device:<path_to_kernel> initrd=device:<path_to_initrd> kernel_options'
#
# You should also pass the video options as well. An example of video
# options are as follows:
#
# 480i = ps3fb:mode:1
# 576i = ps3fb:mode:6
# 720p = ps3fb:mode:3
# 1080i = ps3fb:mode:4
# 1080p = ps3fb:mode:5
#
# You can review all possible video modes using the ps3videomode application
# provided by the ps3pfutils package. i.e. ps3videomode -v will display
# possibilities.
# The following is an example kernel label. Uncomment and edit as needed.
gentoo='sda1:/boot/kernel-genkernel-ppc-2.6.16-ps3 initrd=sda1:/boot/initramfs-genkernel-ppc-2.6.16-ps3 root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/sda1 init=/linuxrc video=ps3fb:mode:8 rhgb'
Edit /etc/fstab ¶
Given the prior disk partitioning scheme, you need to make sure /etc/fstab reflects the proper device naming. Here is an fstab entry with that assumption in mind:
/etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# noatime turns off atimes for increased performance (atimes normally aren't
# needed; notail increases performance of ReiserFS (at the expense of storage
# efficiency). It's safe to drop the noatime options if you want and to
# switch between notail / tail freely.
#
# The root filesystem should have a pass number of either 0 or 1.
# All other filesystems should have a pass number of 0 or greater than 1.
#
# See the manpage fstab(5) for more information.
#
# <fs> <mountpoint> <type> <opts> <dump/pass>
# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/sda1 / ext3 noatime 0 1
/dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0
#/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto 0 0
# NOTE: The next line is critical for boot!
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# glibc 2.2 and above expects tmpfs to be mounted at /dev/shm for
# POSIX shared memory (shm_open, shm_unlink).
# (tmpfs is a dynamically expandable/shrinkable ramdisk, and will
# use almost no memory if not populated with files)
shm /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid,noexec 0 0
none /spu spufs default 0 0
Set root password ¶
You must set the root password using the 'passwd' utility.
Add a default non-root user ¶
You should now add a default user, in this case John, and set his password.
(chroot) / # useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash john
(chroot) / # passwd john
Password: (Enter the password for john)
Re-enter password: (Re-enter the password to verify)
Exit the chroot, unmount filesystems, and reboot ¶
You can now exit the chroot in order to reboot. Be sure to unmount the filesystems prior to rebooting.
(chroot) etc # exit
exit
livecd mnt # cd /mnt/
livecd mnt # umount gentoo/proc/ gentoo/dev/ gentoo/
livecd mnt # umount /mnt/usb/
livecd mnt # reboot
Eject the Install CD when the PS3 power-cycles.
Enjoy! ¶
You now have a working install on your PS3. Remember this already has X, a working xorg.conf, and fluxbox on it so you can begin using it immediately.
Installing GRP packages ¶
Note: Due to a number of bugs in the current stable version of portage, you must use at least portage-2.1.2-rc4-8 to install GRP over the network. If you do not have this version of portage, you should add 'sys-apps/portage ~ppc' or 'sys-apps/portage ~ppc64' to your /etc/portage/package.keywords file and then 'emerge -u portage'. In the release of 2.1.2-r1, there will also be at least one fix in the dependency resolution of binary packages.
Our GRP packages are currently hosted on three sites:
[Please register to see this link. ] [Please register to see this link. ] [Please register to see this link. ]
Edit /etc/make.conf ¶
To begin using GRP packages, you must tell portage about the repository by adding a refernce to it in your /etc/make.conf file. Depending on your location and whether you are 32 or 64-userland, you would add something like this to your make.conf:
PORTAGE_BINHOST="[Please register to see this link. ]
FEATURES="parallel-fetch"
Installing packages ¶
To install a GRP file, you simply pass the -g flag to emerge. For example, to install xfce4 you would:
# emerge -G xfce4
With GRP installs, you might differences in the dependency resolution of the -G and -g switches. Consider trying both before performing the install the see the differences.
This is extremely important in making sure that your compilation environment will run in the most optimal way currently known. I am sure it will improve, but this is best so far. Also for beginners like myself, follow these directions for more detailed steps for partitioning. This was copied from another forum:
Quote:
livecd ~ # fdisk /dev/sda
The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 10239.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-10239, default 1): Press Enter
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-10239, default 10239): +9000M
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (8585-10239, default 8585): Press Enter
Using default value 8585
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (8585-10239, default 10239): Press Enter
Using default value 10239
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 2
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap / Solaris)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 10.7 GB, 10737414144 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 10239 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 8584 8790000 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 8585 10239 1694720 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
The above direction step by step will give you about 9GB of linux partition. However, if you want more, and you have a 60GB version, and you've allocated 10GB to the gameOS, you can maximize the rest of the partitions by replacing the above instruction line where is says "+9000M" with "44454"
That should give you around 47GB of linux partition with 512MB of swap space.
First, Gentoo has a very robust package management system. All it takes is a simple "emerge' command, followed by the name of the app, and it will download, compile install and update everything that's needed. It's simple as that.
Like hax said, it's not the most appropriate install process for noobs, especially if you have never experienced command prompt based installation. But, if you follow the below instructions key by key, it's easy. Once it's up and running, you can use the GUI to install and configure whatever you need.
I use KDE Desktop Manager because I am also a noob myself. I've had some x-term experience during college, but most of that knowledge and intuition has been replaced by Windows look and feel. And this is where KDE shines. Not only you can configure the look and navigation to be more windows like, but also the behavior of mouse clicks, menus, and just about anything else you can think of.
Give it a try. You won't regret it! This is coming from using YDL, Fedora.
I feel that I am headed to Gentoo myself because of the emerge method of installing apps. The reasons why I have NOT yet implemented Gentoo are the following:
- I want to optimize my apps in YDL first, mostly dealing with video/sound. Because YDL 5.0 is "tailored" for the PS3, and Terrasoft should have the latest and greatest information about PS3 design, drivers, components etc. they technically should be superior over the next 6 months in getting the most out of the PS3 if Sony lets them.
- I feel that we are all headed to dumping iso's from Blu-ray and it will take the magical iso loader (not yet developed) so the PS3 can read a Blu-ray iso from hard drive that has copy protection schemes enabled. This maybe platform independent, but perhaps YDL will be the first to release a driver for accelerated video (not available now) and of course their wireless driver is in beta test now.
Long Term: I like what I have learned about Gentoo and will migrate there eventually. I want this thread to be a repository of knowledge for Gentoo since it has so many user benefits.
song26, can you keep us informed on implementing VLC or equivalent, and whether you can drive a full-screen picture in HD with sound completely in sync? This is what we want to know, how you did it.
I agree with your points. But after using YDL, and now Gentoo, I feel that YDL is much behind. Things get update much quicker on Gentoo. Look at the new MythTV example, they're doing it on Gentoo!
Regarding the 1080P full screen: I feel that Gentoo has a lot to do with this as well. First thing I noticed on Gentoo, is that everything seems to respond quicker. Maybe it's just me... I'll definitely post here first once I get this driver conflict issue to go away.
1. is there a new stage 4 tarball that you recommend?
2. any updates to the CFLAGS or configs from above post?
3. any other recommendations or links for installing Gentoo?
4. how are you doing with your sound & vid drivers? any luck?
many thanks.
1. I do not recommend the latest stage4 tarball for now. The 64-bit userland is very sluggish with VLC and MPlayer. Also, it is vital to enable fbcon and directfb libraries for VLC and MPlayer. The bummer is that these two libraries are not available for the PPC64 version.
2. Here's my latest /etc/make.conf file contents. You should have good results with these settings for most of the apps including VLC and MPlayer:
Quote:
# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically
# built this stage.
# Please consult /etc/make.conf.example for a more detailed example.
# This should not be changed unless you know exactly what you are doing. You
# should probably be using a different stage, instead.
CHOST="powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu"
PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/root/livecd/overlays/portage"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp/portage"
PORTAGE_BINHOST="[Please register to see this link. ]
FEATURES="parallel-fetch"
3. Recommendations:
The GRP pre-compiled packes in the repository (PORTAGE_BINHOST="[Please register to see this link. ]) has pretty good stuff in it already compiled. For most part, these packages work pretty well on PS3. So, for the WMs such as GNOME, KDE and XFCE, I recommend pulling these precompiled packages, as there isn't really that big of a performance boost. But if you want functions that these binaries don't have, then you would need to compile your own. To check what has been enabled in these binaries do this (kdebase example):
'-' means that these were removed from the binary, and ones without the '-' means that these were enabled with the binary. So in the above example, the kde precompiled binaries will give you: arts cups ldap oepngl pam ssl If you simply do emerge -pv kdebase, you'll get feed back of what will be installed on your machine based on your use flags. But as you can see above, -pvG will tell you how that binary was already compiled using these settings. If the above settings are good enough for you, then just install it by simply removing 'p' (pretend) and do: emerge -vG kdebase. Same goes for GNOME, MPlayer and XFCE.
For me however, this wasn't good enough. OpenGL never really worked on framebuffer mode on any apps I've tested. Therefore, there is no need to have bloated openGL related items that will only make the file sizes bigger, with no added value in performance. It may even degrade performance. If you see my /etc/make.conf contents above, you'll see that I've added '-opengl' flag in the USE section. This tells portage that any apps that use openGL by default, to turn it off, and compile it without the openGL libraries, so on and so forth.
Installing samba should be the first thing you do if you want integrated networking with the windows within your WM environment. Once samba is installed, then you can install your WM (GNOME, KDE, XFCE). And since my /etc/make.conf file already has sama in it, samba integration to all WMs and any other apps will be built in automatically whenever you emerge an app that may leverage samba fire either streaming, or direct network access.
When using emulators, or media players, try to stay away from using GNOME and KDE. These two things are serious memory hogs. That's easier than said, since there are so many useful apps within these WMs. So here's what I do: I've installed KDE, GNOME, XFCE and Fluxbox. I use KDM so that I can choose which WM to log onto at the login screen. For the most part, I use XFCE. It has good enough 'eye-candy', and it can be compiled with gnome and kde flags in the USE flags. If you do this, then you'll be able to use XFCE (Very fast, and memory efficient) to integrated GNOME or KDE apps and tasks bars on the fly basis as you need them. For example: The command prompt in XFCE is a POS. Very basic, and simple (to reduce memory and CPU usage). But I enjoy having the ability to select text and copy / paste using my mouse on the command prompt as you can on KDE or GNOME variants. So, simply run XFCE, and use the command prompt on KDE or GNOME: Simply create a new menu, or type in 'kconsole' in the command prompt. This will bring up the KDE version of the command prompt. This is all possible, since the KDE and GNOME integrations were compiled. You can even use KDE's bars and docks within XFCE if you want. But, I keep it light, and only call the apps you need. For text editing, I use gedit from GNOME. Works like a charm.
Web Browsing: No need to compile your own. Just use the pre-compiled binary (emerge -vG mozilla-firefox) This will download and install the firefox 2 for you. However, if you want other flags included such as java, then you'd need to compile your own. On the 64-bit userland, there are some issues of compiling firefox, but on the 32bit side, there are no issues.
VLC and MPlayer. if you've compiled these apps as I have, don't muck around with audio device section of these apps. It will create problems. You can see from the above example, that I've disabled all sound devices such as SDL, OSS from the my system, and only allowed ALSA to compiled, then these apps will use whatever's available, and that's ALSA. There is no need to touch this settings. However, on the video front, you will need to make some changes. Only use x-11 display. Nothing else will work. Also, make sure that fbcon and directfb flags are enabled in the make.conf file above as I have done. These two libraries (fbcon for MPlayer, and directfb for VLC) are critical in improving frame buffering performance. You can just leave these 2 flags on the USE sections, and the applications will pick up whatever it needs that pertains to their own environment. This is the convenience of using a global flag (make.conf vs. /etc/portage/package.use)
Emulators: I am seeing some excellent results with xmame. However, xmame alone will not allow you to access all the features of mame very easily for every game. I would recommend emerging xmame first, and then gxmame. Once done, open up your /etc/groups file, and look for a line that says games. Add your username on there using other examples in that same file. This alone will not allow you to play the games. You'll need to set the correct permissions on the following directories:
/usr/share/games/
/usr/games/
I was too lazy to add user specific permission on these directories, so I've cheated using root's power. As root, I typed in:
chmod -R 777 basically tells the system to allow anyone from anywhere to come in and read / modify these directories, and anything else under them. It work for me, since I am not running a secured multiuser environment in my living room. I leave that work to my router.
For mame, the rom files can get pretty big. And if you have your roms stored on your windows computer, then use gxmame to specify the rom directory on your PC as mapped by samba application.
Samba: Install this, as this will allow you to access your PC as if it was your own PS3 file directory. Once samba is installed, use this command and modify it to suit your needs:
First, make a directory for your mountpoint.
mkdir /mnt/winD
From here, I am going to reserve this directory for mounting my Windows D Drive.
mbmount //mycomputer/D$ /mnt/winD -o username=windowsUserID,password=WindowsPassword,ui d=1000,umask=000
That's it. If you don't get an error, then it's successful. Now launch VLC or MPlayer, and open file, browse, and go to /mnt/winD directory. You should now see your D drive. From here, you can just open any media files, or even copy files back and forth via command prompt.
For gxmame, go to directories option, and add /mnt/winD/mame/roms/ to the roms path section. Obviously, your directory structure will be different, but you get the idea...
Until next time. Have fune! Oh, BTW: I highly recommend, you disable sound in KDE, and I double highly recommend that you use XFCE when playing videos or emulation, as it will not tax your system as much as KDE, and espcially GNOME (Biggest memory hog of all WMs)
I've wrecked my brains trying to figure this out. I have a video here on matroska that has full 720P resolution. But everything craps out. When I run this in a debug mode, I get an error complaining that there are too many packets in the buffer.
I believe this is due to the following reasons:
1. CPU is too slow (to handle everything under hypervisor)
2. Not enough VRAM (also limited by hypervisor)
Or both...
I've also tried that same file (720P Matroska movie with DD 5.1 a52 encoding), on XBOX Media Center on my modded XBOX. It also craps out. I think there are some discussions on the internet regarding creating an XBOX friendly matroska files that will slightly reduce the res, and sound.
I am still tweaking this thing to see if I can get it to work... There must be something in MPlayer that VLC doesn't have because I was able to get mplayer play the movie at a slower frame rate (19 FPS), but with no sound. On VLC, it craps out after few frames.
Unless Sony updates the hypervisor via firmware to give us access to more hardware resources, I just don't see this happening any time soon.
Hypervisor is the gatekeeper that's starving the system. I sincerely hope someone finds a way to bypass hypervisor and install straight linux on it.
Yes, agreed, there are too few resources in Linux. We only have 256 megs of RAM (other 256 megs are reserved by Hypervisor), no accelerated graphix driver, and Hypervisor running in the background policing everything when you boot into Linux.
Here is my target in 3-6 months:
The PS3 as HD media center PVR (running Linux) hooked to HD TV. This requires a massive external USB hard drive or and/or replacement of internal hard drive:
- able to record/playback HD TV content to harddrive with Myth TV
- able to rip Blu Ray DVDs to hard drive and playback in HD
- able to rip non HD DVDs to hard drive and playback
I hope the Gentoo community are leaders in this effort!
How to Install Gentoo Linux
