PS3 support.

nevertell · n00b Joined: 10 Jun 2009 Posts: 6

Since the summer holidays are here, I thought I could make my ps3 a bit more useful. I was planing on using an ubuntu server build for the ps3 (9.04) and then compiling xorg, gui and pretty much everything else from source. Of course, before doing that I'd install the libraries provided by IBM to take advantage of the spe's. But, since there are no great tutorials on how to compile xorg, I was suggested to try gentoo. But, before I plunge in to the unknown lands or bytes of gentoo, I have some questions to ask.
1. Will it have WPA support out of the box ? I don't need it during installation, but it is crucial to have it once it's up and running.
2. Will it have xorg installed by default ?
3. Does it use the cell-sdk that makes the gcc compile stuff to make stuff use the spe's ? If it doesn't, can I install the lib using emerge ?
About the 1st, I'd prefer if I could connect to my ap with iwconfig.

DONAHUE · Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:31 pm Post subject:

http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/ppc64/ps3/
http://ps3wiki.qj.net/index.php/Gentoo_Howto

and more from googling ps3 gentoo

nevertell · n00b Joined: 10 Jun 2009 Posts: 6

Well, that 1st link IS a little outdated, and I wouldn't have come here if I had found sufficient information using google, now wouldn't I ?
And the thing I am most interested in is the cell-sdk. It is useless to use gentoo without this library, then it wouldn't be a ps3 with cell, then it would be a g5 mac with games. The reason I'd like to use gentoo instead of anything else, is that I wouldn't need to compile and modify with the cell-sdk everything I had to if I'd use, for example, ubuntu.

Raptor85 · Apprentice Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 208

I haven't touched my ps3 install for a while so I can't really answer about cell-sdk, i don't remember if it was in the stage or I installed it.

From the ps3 install page linked to you, regarding the stage4 tarball

nevertell · n00b Joined: 10 Jun 2009 Posts: 6

My main concern is whether they are compiled with or without 'em cell-sdk libraries.

jeanfrancis · Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:12 am Post subject:

Hi nevertell,

I'm a bit late on answering your questions, but I come with good news (or not

).

Here they are: I also found that all the things I found googling Gentoo PS3 were REALLY outdated, so, starting my own installation on my PS3, I did make a wiki page. I restarted an installation two days ago so I updated this page again (and it wasn't really old). You may take a look at it : http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Installation_on_Sony_PS3.

If you need more information please ask.

Also, for your information:

- Gentoo doesn't come with anything preinstalled but the things you extract from the stage3 tarball. Follow the handbook I link in the wiki page to avoid errors like forgetting to install a dhcp client and having to reboot a LiveCD to correct it, etc...

- I didn't try wireless yet, so I don't know if it works out of the box.

- The IBM Cell SDK doesn't come by default. IBM don't provide any ebuilds (Gentoo package files), they only provide RPMs. Depending on what you want to do, you may simply extract the RPMs and if you're lucky, everything you need will work out of the box. I successfully use BLAS, linked to CBLAS using the Gentoo "cblas-reference" package, linked to GSL (GNU Scientific Library). The thing that I still can't figure out is how to have it linked to numpy (python numerical library) without having the "ALF" IBM package fail.

Let me know if you need more information!