A blow to HPC enthusiasts
As Ars Technica reports, Sony has decided to pull the plug on experimentation with non-game-related software on the Playstation 3. The latest software updates to the Playstation prevent the user from installing Linux (even on older models that previously could do so), which is the first step for making the PS3 into a more general computer capable of more than playing games.
We’ve mentioned the Playstation 3′s enormous computational potential in the past, and so we’re sad to see this capability disappear. It’s easy to understand the need for the changes from Sony’s perspective; Linux installation allowed for a lot more video game piracy, which is especially important considering that Sony makes very little money from the PS3 unit itself. The PS3 is most likely a loss-leader for Sony’s much more lucrative game licensing business, so Sony decided the cost of supporting the relatively tiny community of researchers and hobbyists just isn’t worth the hit in revenue from allowing video game piracy.
In any case, the newest PS3s don’t have support for general Linux installation in any case, so the overall impact of this software update will probably be limited. Existing users won’t need to install the software unless they really want to play games online on the Playstation Network, and newer users won’t be missing much anyway. Still, the older PS3 was a relatively inexpensive way to obtain a test-machine that had IBM’s Cell processor, since Sony could aggressively price their PS3s through large economies of scale. It’s just too bad that the newest PS3s and older PS3s with the new software won’t be able to contribute to massive scientific computational projects for the betterment of mankind.