PS3 to be Your Next Home PC?

June 10, 2005 11:48 AM

It appears Sony is trying hard to hammer in the point that the PlayStation 3 will not be just a game machine. The PS3's outspoken father, Ken Kutaragi, recently revealed a few surprises about their "entertainment supercomputer" to the Japanese media. First it was that the hard drive (sold separately) would come with a version of Linux pre-installed, allowing it to be recognized as computer. However, that will not be the only operating system that it could theoretically run.

IPCW: So Linux can be run on the Cell? KK: Linux is legacy, but it will be a start. In the case of the Cell, operation systems are applications. The kernel will be running on the Cell, and multiple OSes will be running on top of that as applications. Of course, the PS3 can run Linux. If Linux can run, so can Lindows. Other PC Operating Systems can run too, such as Windows and Tiger (Max OS X 10.4), if the publishers want [them] to do so. Maybe a new OS might come out.

On top of that, Kutaragi suggests that some hardcore PC apps could be more useful on a PS3, such as non-linear video editing software or visual graphics programs. It appears that the idea he's trying to get across is that with an open source product like Linux installed, it'll allow developers and hobbyists to expand the PS3's repertoire.

Alec Matias

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firethorn

 reply
June 10, 2005 11:51 AM

While it's a nice dream I don't believe it at all. Take Sony's PSP -- how many apps have they allowed to exist on it to-date? None. They've not supported "developers" that I can tell.

I simply cannot imagine Apple licensing Tiger onto a Sony system (unless of course Steve Jobs becomes president of Disney/Sony/Pixar).

I will get the PS3, it looks like it's going to be a great machine, but this just sounds retarded.
- laidback
  
   reply
  June 10, 2005 12:05 PM
  
  There have already been rumors of talks between Apple and Sony about creating an interface for an iPod to interact with a PS3, so licensing Tiger or some lesser version of it isn't completely out of the question.
  - Awun
    
     reply
    June 10, 2005 12:17 PM
    
    I would say that it is so close to being out of the question that quantum physics would be used to describe how close it is....
    
    This is based on a long history of Apple controling what hardware that their software runs on to ensure stability and asthetics that are up to Apples standards. This is further proven by Steve Jobs stating that they would not let OS X tun on just any x386 platform, that it will be an Apple product.
    
    I am not saying that it could not run on a PS3, I am saying that Steve is so anal retentive that he wont let it.