OtherOS Makes A Return! Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW Released

Submitted by greg; May 04, 2011

Back like a vertebrate, and even better than the 3.15 days, it's OtherOS (Linux) for PS3 firmware 3.41, 3.50 and 3.55! It's a bit of a process to get up and running, but all the tools are available and firmware PUPs pre-patched. A ready-to-use Linux distro image is in the works, but until then, read on... First, mad props to graf_chokolo and Geoffrey Levand. Levand has taken over the PS3 Linux effort after Sony slapped a judge-ordered TRO on graf, forcing him to trash everything. And because of that, you should donate, helping graf in his ongoing legal battle against the mega corp. All right, all that aside, from gitbrew.org: GameOS/OtherOS CFW Features

Into HV integrated OtherOS bootloader loader (compatible with OtherOS bootloader on 3.15)
OtherOS bootloader is booted directly from HV, no GameOS is involved.
Process of booting OtherOS bootloader loader is very similar to 3.15 method
Booting Linux from HDD/USB/BD/Network
Linux with GameOS rights
Full access to all HV SS services (Dispatcher Manager) from GameOS or Linux
Full access to all System Manager services
Ability to create/modify/remove repository nodes in LPAR 1 (e.g. with ps3dm-utils or ps3hvc-utils).
This ability gives you much power over the whole system because many layers of PS3 use repository nodes to exchange information.
Enabled QA mode in Update Manager
Downgrading without USB dongle or Service Mode
Ability to deactivate/activate HDD/VFLASH encryption (e.g. with ps3stor-utils)
Support for ps3-utils. You can flash new OtherOS bootloader from Linux e.g.

Notes

Tested 3.41 and 3.55 on PS3 Slim with Gentoo and Debian Squeeze but should work on PS3 Fat without problems
Bug reports are welcome, send it please to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Work in progress

Creating OtherOS partitions directly on HDD (not VFLASH)
Permanently disabling HDD/VFLASH encryption
Mapping of HTAB with R/W permission
SYSCON access from LPAR 2
FreeBSD support

Installing OtherOS bootloader

Tested ONLY on PS3 models with VFLASH
During deleting of VFLASH regions GameOS will ask you to reinstall firmware, don't do it, just press PS3 button and continue
I use petitboot as OtherOS bootloader. You could use a different one.
The following order of steps is important
Delete VFLASH region 6
Delete VFLASH region 5
Create VFLASH region 5
Create VFLASH region 6
Install OtherOS bootloader on VFLASH with "Install OtherOS"

Booting OtherOS bootloader

Run "Boot OtherOS"
Reboot GameOS with "Reboot"

Creating a VFLASH partition for Linux Notes:

Works ONLY on PS3 models with VFLASH
Warning: All your HDD data will be lost, so make a backup
I'm currently working on a solution for PS3 models with NAND flash
Resize VFLASH (creates a 40GB free space on VFLASH, if you need more then feel free to recompile it)
Reboot GameOS
Create VFLASH region 7

Installing Linux with petitboot Notes:

I used petitboot to install Debian and Gentoo on VFLASH
I used fdisk to partition ps3vflashh
Make sure you create a swap partition
Creating a ready to use Linux distribution images is a work in progress

Booting Linux with petitboot Notes:

USB driver in petitboot has problems on PS3 Slim. The problem lies in Linux USB driver.
Currently i'm trying to fix this problem in Linux kernel
I temporarily use my boot_linux.sh script to boot a Linux installed on VFLASH from petitboot

Download: OtherOS Tools Eat that Sony! This CFW was built using PS3MFW Builder. The used MFW tasks can be found here. - source: gitbrew.org

Tags: CFW, Custom Firmware, Dual Boot, GameOS, Linux, MFW, OtherOS, petitboot, PS3, vflash

Nice! I don't think I'll use it since I already have Linux (and currently using it) on my PC, but it's nice to see that they got the OtherOS option back for 3.41/3.5/3.55.

Still though, Sony remains a bit of a concern after seeing them pull rabid gerbils out of their asses. Let's see how long it takes before they start whippin' out their tiny dicks and tries raping people again.

# victor ortiz 2011-05-05 20:01

I have CFW 3.55 Rebug, Can I have with this a CFW(3.55) and OFW(3.60) on same PS3.
Sorry for my bad english.

# big_russ 2011-05-06 04:25

tell u waz irulz u iz da man telz heoz its iz.

# Scotty Dog 2011-05-06 06:55

just used linux on my ps3 to make a backup of my bluray movie sweet. With linux i can convert so i can watch it on my ps3. Got playtv and linux will make it a true media center. conclusion Linux is what i want and can use and benefit from

# Daniel Jones 2011-05-07 04:13

I have a question, I have 3.55 codename: Rebug, but before OtherOS was taken out, I had a 10gb partition with YDL on it... Is there another way to recover or relog that version of linux with some of the newer hardware compatibilty without losing any of my HDD data or without having to re-install linux? dunno if it is possible but would be a huge weight of my shoulders instead of losing th countless hours of data transfer. Or my movies, music, images, games add-ons ect... and having the PSN currently in limbo I'd hate to lose everything I have including the 10gb partition that lies dormant now :( does anyone know if there are tutorials to recover my linux partition and how to upgrade my device drivers on that OS without a clean reboot? Help would be much appreciated

# Jim Sfetoudis 2011-05-07 11:26

can someone tell step by step how to do that thing?

# Vincent 2011-05-07 11:31

whats the point sony said they are going to make a 3.61 update so you are forced to change password that cfw will be useless

# Alan Bowker 2011-05-08 05:01

Thank you Graf and Geoffrey. I've been kicking my ass for updating my phat after putting Ubuntu on my laptop. Of course, praise doesn't come without a few questions. Please, try not to get too technical on the responses. I don't claim to be a programmer, just a fellow modder. I understand various this and that mostly pertaining to Windows XP, but I'm extremely new to the Linux scene. Anyway, on to the questions:

1) With this mod, is it possible to run Ubuntu or does it require a specific distro? I'm on 10.10 at the moment and loving it (and yes, I am aware that 11.04 is out).

2) Before flashing the modified PUP files, should I return to OFW 3.55 or would it be okay to flash directly from KMEAW 3.55?

3) Is there a specific app that I should use to remove VFLASH versions 5 and 6 or will the included packages do that for me?

4) Will the firmware allow me to continue using my backups? My BD drive is broken on my phat, so the ability to run a few backups is nice. It'll be okay if it won't, as mine is hooked up as a PS1/PS2 at the moment anyway.

Thanks to anyone that decides to answer my questioning. I greatly appreciate it. Keep up the good work guys. I'll be donating $100 as soon as I can.

# Alan Bowker 2011-05-08 05:08

Ignore question 3. I realized it was a stupid question after looking at the download page with the packages. My apologies.

# Daniel Jones 2011-05-08 08:02

2 questions... how do u know if you have Vflash? and if you had a prior linux partition and installation, can you recover it with this tool, or atleast install a new copy over the old one?

# Sérgio Ferreira Araújo 2011-05-12 13:55

is it possible to install OSX instead of Linux?

# Decius 2011-05-15 03:47

Yes RSX (GPU) Is unlocked, we just need drivers which shouldn't take that long, CPU is already unlocked such as all the SPE's (co-processors).

The Ram is read/write not only the Main RAM but the Video RAM is write-able.

:)

# Frederik Hertzum 2011-05-15 20:37

Wait? What are the actual instructions for installing this? Something along the lines of, "download this {bunch of files}, places {this file} here and give it {this} name, power up the PS3 and do instruction A, then do instruction B, C and D." would be great (instead of this vague crap which has stuff not related to installing in the installation instructions)

# Jeffery Jiffy Grantham 2011-05-15 23:24

So could an old installation of ubuntu on the ps3 prior to updating to 3.21 and beyond be accessed again using this firmware update?

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OtherOS Makes A Return! Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW Released

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