PS3 Slim loses Linux, gains HDTV linkage

By Richard Leadbetter Published 19 August, 2009

Digital Foundry explores the tech.

Sony has confirmed that the changes made to the new PS3 Slim SKU are not just cosmetic: additional features have been added, and OtherOS functionality has been removed.

In this press release, the company confirms that support for the Linux platform has been completely omitted in the new unit, but also reveals that perhaps more usefully, the new unit now interfaces directly with Sony's own Bravia HDTVs, allowing users to take control of the XMB via their television remotes. It also allows you to turn off both display and PS3 using just a single press of the standby button. All that is required to utilise this feature is for the new PS3 to be connected to the display using the standard HDMI connection. The new functionality essentially makes the PS3's enviable media-playback facilities that much more accessible and user-friendly to those who also buy into Sony's range of screens.

The omission of Linux is a little more puzzling, but perhaps not completely surprising. Actual take-up of Linux amongst the core audience has been slight, and perhaps some of the blame for this lies with Sony itself: installing the OS is time-consuming, the partitioning system on the internal hard disk is a bit of a pain, and access to Linux once it is installed is annoying to deal with, as there is no easy way to switch quickly between the PS3 GameOS or the installed OtherOS. The fact there is little to no meaningful access to the RSX graphics chip has also frustrated Linux users.

Sony's blurb states that the focus of the PS3 Slim is "on delivering games and other entertainment content" and that this is the reason for OtherOS omission, but the fact is that Sony's business lives and dies on its installed base buying games for their new hardware, and a PS3 bought exclusively for running Linux does the company no favours from a financial perspective. Right now, the PS3 Slim is still more expensive than buying an entry-level Dell which would perform better with the OS, but with console hardware in general and PS3 Slim in particular, the only way is down price-wise, and sooner or later PS3 would become an irresistible prospect as a cheap desktop PC, or even server... uses which sound cool but won't boost Sony's bottom line.

What the axing of Linux does mean however is that interesting projects such as the CodecSys h264 video encoder will not work on the new PS3 SKU, and any similar projects aimed at utilising the Cell CPU in a project not licensed and approved by Sony are now less likely to make it to the public. However, from Sony's perspective, the removal of OtherOS functionality also has other benefits. For example, it means that the PS3 can now no longer be used to rip Blu-ray movies to hard disk...

Picture of Richard.

About Richard Leadbetter

Rich has been a games journalist since the days of 16-bit and specialises in technical analysis. Commonly known around Eurogamer as the Blacksmith of the Future.

Read more articles from Richard by visiting the Richard Leadbetter archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • NorUraeus #1 3 years ago

    I guess its a bit early, but I did expect some more juicy technical details from a Digital Foundry article. Mostly general musings about the announced changes such as this is a little beneath the dignity of DF isn't it? :)

    But to join in I am happy to see the Bravia integration, not that I have a Sony TV, it is just that I have never understood why Sony hasn't tried harder before at creating some more synergy between their different business units, but with this and the upcoming Aino phone from Sony Ericsson it seems Sony finally is going to try at least.

  • CivilD #2 3 years ago

    I'm actually quite surprised that they've removed Linux support. I think it's pretty much a given that Linux support out of the box is the single largest reason why the PS3 hasn't been 'hacked', and piracy is currently non-existent. Removing it from the new model is simply enticing Linux geeks into hacking it to get Linux running on it, and as a side-effect opening up avenues for piracy.

  • Darren #3 3 years ago

    I don't think the PS3 is losing much by dropping Linux as I suspect only a small percentage of people bothered with it.

    I originally reserved a 10 GB partition for Linux on my original 60 GB HDD and even downloaded and burnt the operating system to a DVD to install it but never got round to it. In the end I realised that the extra space was better used for the games and content so I never bothered with it. Even though I now have a 320 GB HDD in my PS3 I've never considered installing Linux. One of the reasons, which is mentioned in this article, is that there's no easy way to switch between the PS3 and Linux and with the RSX effectively crippled, what's the point anyway?

    If you want to use Linux you'd be far better installing it on a PC where you'll have access to more memory and features.

  • Ranger101 #4 3 years ago

    Err better buy an old model ps3 now that it doesn't have linux support.

  • schnide #5 3 years ago

    There's never been a generation with this many models of the same consoles with such major revisions.

  • danathjo #6 3 years ago

    So I don't have any idea what you could do with Linux on your PS3 anyway...anyone?

  • GamesConnoisseur #7 3 years ago

    Piracy as implied in the article is what Sony seemed to be concerned about and dropping Linux? Ripped BD movies?

    Not that I had tried it or bothered with Linux but that would be understandable move and yet goes against the grain of their previous position of PS3 being all in one inc linux PC.

    Still enough functionality so we dont need to be that bothered by the omission.

  • oreillymj #8 3 years ago

    Looks like the scientists that were buildnig cheap super-clusters out of PS3's are SOL.
    Of course, when the PS3 was being sold at a huge loss, Sony were effectively subsidising their research.

    I wonder how much (if any) loss Sony are taking on each PS3-Slim sold. You really do wonder why the X360 is still so big.

  • NorUraeus #9 3 years ago

    @danathjo : the main value of linux on the PS3 was twofold. First of all it let anyone who wanted to start learning about cell programming do so. So for instance computer science students who wanted to get a job in the games sector could learn about the Cell and get a good bullet point for their CV. The other was that the Cell is a really good number cruncher, so quite a few people have made PS3 clusters for scientific computations etc.

    Sony always crippled the first part a little due to not enabling the GPU for linux users, and the second while helping boost Sonys sales number do on the flip side contribute to lower attach rates etc.

    Sony I think ever only cared about one, but at this point it doesnt matter much anymore, as the small demographic we are talking about here could easily get a original PS3 somewhere, like gamestop or ebay.

  • RamblinSydRumpo #10 3 years ago

    I like the sound of the Bravia integration, but I'm pretty sure a fair few people (like me) have connected up via an AV receiver so they aren't just getting sound from the TV speaker. And I'm reasonably sure that will break the Bravia thing, so not much use really.

  • mal #11 3 years ago

    schnide wrote:There's never been a generation with this many models of the same consoles with such major revisions.

    The PS2 had 16 hardware revisions between 2000 and 2007. The PS3's had something like five or six mainboard revisions since 2006, which is pretty comparable. Of course, all the different sizes of included hard disc mean more SKUs, but they're not really different - just as Core/Arcade, Pro and Elite consoles from the same mainboard rev aren't really different apart from the included hard disc and a paint job.

    What's different this gen is that it's become news. With the PS2, a new rev just meant a quieter fan or the removal of some ports no-one used (or the PS2 slim, of course). This time there's the BC issue for Sony and the RROD for the xbox that have made different revisions slightly more newsworthy.

  • Kaminari #12 3 years ago

    Linux support has not been removed from the Slim: it has apparently been removed from XMB 3 itself, which means ALL PS3 models will lose Linux support in two weeks.

  • BritishBlue1 #13 3 years ago

    As much as omitting linux support is unfortunate you have to ask just how many PS3 users will actually use this function? Probably a miniscule amount of people. I'm more annoyed about the lack of backwards compatibility which will be more useful to the user base.

  • Shadders #14 3 years ago

    This Bravia link up made me think; why don't Sony integrate the entire PS3 harware into some of their sets, buy the TV get the BR player and console built in.

  • The_Mountie #15 3 years ago

    I don't see how removing the linux possibility is a good thing.

    I used it for playing emulators in my room on my HDTV.
    I used it for listening to music with PROPER organiser/playlist linux applications on my HDTV.

    The sony GameOS is still crap for playing/searching/modifying/organising music.
    And SNES and Mega Drive emulators aren't going to make their way to the GameOS any time soon either.

    .

    So much for the much touted "all-in-one" PS3 media experience, Sony.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #16 3 years ago

    Linux support has not been removed from the Slim: it has apparently been removed from XMB 3 itself, which means ALL PS3 models will lose Linux support in two weeks.

    That's not what the press releases implied.

    Have you seen explicit confirmation from Sony about this?

  • SeedOfEvil #17 3 years ago

    are you telling me that Bravia sync is exclusive to the Slim?
    isn't it suppose to be added to all PS3's with the 3.0 firmware?

    Geez someone please clarify this

  • danathjo #18 3 years ago

    cheers NorUraeus, kinda made sense to my feeble brain :p

    hopefully there's enough info about the PS3/teh Cell out there now that the function isn't missed too much

  • lukaz #19 3 years ago

    Super_Secret told us some time ago. Sadly he was right and OtherOS is gone. What a stupid move.
    Happy PS3 hacking!

  • hesido #20 3 years ago

    I don't think ripping blurays to harddisk using linux has been the real concern here, the cat is out of the bag and there's no way they can stop the existing 20 or so million ps3's do that, there's simply no point. However, since they will be still selling at a loss, they do not want large corporations buy the cell power that much easily, at least that'd be my guess. I expect a linux enabled sku that costs higher for this, they can start selling them with a slight profit.
    Edited by 1 at 19/08/09 @ 19:03

  • Eiskis #21 3 years ago

    Sony never knew what they were doing with PS3. They're starting to have a clue and streamlining their product, but I dare say it's getting a bit late. They should have had a clearer focus on delivering a simple-to-grasp, long-lasting, unified line-up and supporting it - that's the whole point of console industry. The hassle with all the different models of the original PSP that will co-exist with PSP Go, and all the different models of PS3 (with different features), gradually going for PS3 Slim (with yet again different features) and even the PS2 still selling... well, I can't even finish a sentence that has all the current PlayStation products mentioned.

  • makattack #22 3 years ago

    You don't need a PS3 to rip a BluRay Disc. Just any PC with a BRDrive and linux will do:
    http://ww w.engadget.com/2007/02/17/blu-r...

    Sony didn't do this to stop piracy. They did this so that consumers wouldn't be confused and to better target the PS3 as a game console. It's purely for marketing purposes, I would imagine. I also suspect there will be a community to unlock the PS3 Slim so that an alternate OS can be installed.
    Edited by 1 at 19/08/09 @ 19:56

  • napalm68 #23 3 years ago

    The Guest OS omission is odd, but not as odd in my mind as the original inclusion of the feature...

  • womble #24 3 years ago

    "Wow, that told us almost nothing about the PS3 slim tech LOL "

    Do you have a link to your blog, where you discuss the technical attributes of the Slim?

    If not, STFU and maybe say thanks once in a while to people who do provide such information for free.

  • Doctor_What #25 3 years ago

    I second SeedOfEvil's question: is the Bravia sync exclusive to the PS3 Slim? Will it be available via a firmware upgrade?

  • Darren #26 3 years ago

    @Doctor_What - Sadly, I think Bravia Sync is exclusive to the PS3 Slim due to its redesign which probably includes the hardware needed to complete the link to Sony's HDTVs. If it was possible to do via a firmware update then I'm sure Sony would have done it by now as it isn't something new, it's been around for a while now (almost three years I think). I have a standalone Sony BD player that has Bravia Sync for example.

  • Kaminari #27 3 years ago

    @ Darren: you're naive, aren't you. The only reason why Sony didn't include BraviaSync support in the PS3 OS until now is because the PS3 remote control is a very popular item. It has nothing to do with hardware support (current PS3 systems could be identified as generic BD players).
    Edited by 1 at 20/08/09 @ 15:56

  • penhalion #28 3 years ago

    I thought they originally allowed OtherOS in order to get around some tax laws that didn't apply to computers but, did apply to consoles. By allowing the other os option, they could claim that the PS3 was a computer. I take it that they lost that argument and so now don't need to pretend that the system was a general use computer.