Geohot tells PS3 owners to not update to latest firmware that removes "other OS" support

hopefully this CFW will also take off absurd restrictions on other OS feature...way to go Geohot!

This better be a sad joke.

If this is legit, this is EXACTLY what Creative did with the Vision:M. They advertised its feature of recording FM radio then in an updated they pulled it. The anger and fury was swift and just. Creative caved and restored the advertised feature again.

Again, this better be a sad joke.

Why would they remove it anyway?

because they hate us.

Originally posted by OmriSama:

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Why would they remove it anyway?

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"Security issues". Just a bunch of BS.

Originally posted by OmriSama:

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Why would they remove it anyway?

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methinks the reason for disabling the otherOS feature of the ps3 is coz sony are pissed off at groups buying dozens of ps3s to link together for a bit of supercomputing and have absoloutley no intention of purchasing the overpriced games, where they make the profit.

"Hacking isn't about getting what you didn't pay for, it's about making sure you do get what you did. " Damn right.

Originally posted by beanos66:

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Originally posted by OmriSama:

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Why would they remove it anyway?

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methinks the reason for disabling the otherOS feature of the ps3 is coz sony are pissed off at groups buying dozens of ps3s to link together for a bit of supercomputing and have absoloutley no intention of purchasing the overpriced games, where they make the profit.

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The U.S. Government being one of those such groups using them for supercomputing and not gaming. Maby the morons at Sony should just build a computer derivative of the PS3 sans gaming features and sell that. Instead of disabling the feature touted and advertised.

Geohot, your the man!

this is his fault this is being taken of, I don't think it was a popular option anyway & the new slim PS3 comes with out it anyways. why tell everybody if it was not meant for piracy.

"I never intended to touch CFW, but if that's how you want to play..."

Hehe, go GeoHot! While you are in there, can you add MKV and FLAC support? I know I didn't pay for them, but they are free codecs that sony could add easily if they did not hate their customers so much.

"Why would they remove it anyway?"

I assume it has something to do with a potential weakness that they found. Probably something that might one day be used towards copying PS3 games. Remember that right now sony has something very valuable to offer publishers..."If you make your game a Playstation 3 exclusive, no one will pirate it". As a bunch of monopolistic bastards, Sony loves this almost as much as microsoft loves shelling out $50 million for some DLCs.

Sony is not good at learning lessons. Their limited linux support on the PS2 was one of the things that led to it being cracked-n-hacked to the point where you don't even need a modchip to play copied games...and now they pissed off the man who took down the iPhone!

I hope he hurries so I don't have to be offline too long.

Nice! I expect to be on FF XIII for the next month or 2 anyway. Don't need to get online for a while :P

I Hope if they do release CFW it will support the PS3 slims i would like to install linux on it but i dont really care all that much as i have linux on my computer

Originally posted by beanos66:

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Originally posted by OmriSama:

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Why would they remove it anyway?

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methinks the reason for disabling the otherOS feature of the ps3 is coz sony are pissed off at groups buying dozens of ps3s to link together for a bit of supercomputing and have absoloutley no intention of purchasing the overpriced games, where they make the profit.

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Those who bought the older model for PS3 Linux clusters aren't affected as they don't update the firmware in them anyway. They only ever see the Game OS when initiating the Linux install...or if they have to force reboot one and re-set it to boot Other OS.

Yeah I was thinking that there may be a way to hack the ps3 through linux but I know nothing about if it is possible, just a thought though.

It might be possible to do some kind of hack to the PS3 using linux, but it was not known. Thanks to this, GeoHot is working hard on a CFW that will crack the thing without linux. I kinda hope that this leads to a lot of piracy...just to make an example out of sony once again.

I've had my PS3 for over 2 years now and have had every intention to install Linux. Just never had the time or desire to reformat and stuff. But I want the option to be there when I am ready. I was getting ready to throw in a spare 80GB that I have lying arounnd instead of reformatting and creating partitions. I was even going to possibly buy a slim as my gaming machine and mess arouns with the fat for Linux.

Originally posted by emugamer:

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I've had my PS3 for over 2 years now and have had every intention to install Linux. Just never had the time or desire to reformat and stuff. But I want the option to be there when I am ready. I was getting ready to throw in a spare 80GB that I have lying arounnd instead of reformatting and creating partitions. I was even going to possibly buy a slim as my gaming machine and mess arouns with the fat for Linux.

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That's where I am at now. I have a Slim & an 80gb w/BC that I will sacrifice to the new update as they are in areas that get use and need to access the Net/PSN while my original 20gb will be packed away sitting and waiting with FW 3.15 & YDL with The Zero Game Project on it until maybe the day that a CFW is ever released.

yea I agree

Awwww, did GeoNOT's feelings get hurt by Sony protecting their product? I respect your work dude, but why get mad? You has already stated that you WILL NOT work on a hack, but the work you have done already could allow others to continue if they wish and have the knowledge (which we all know is what will happen. Second, who really needs Linux and will use it on their PS3? 1% of all owners maybe? So the CFW will only allow the use of another OS...nothing else...so what's the point? Even if they were to release a full hack (softmod or otherwise) tomorrow you have to remember not everyone has a Blu-Ray burner, and/or can afford one along with blank Blu-Ray discs to burn the games. Even if a full hack were released I would rather keep my original content. To each his/her own.

Geohot is saying nothing at all supporting any hack that enables pirating games on the system; try rereading that article a few more times. I don't see how restoring a function that was advertised at the time of sale is anything but laudable.

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So the CFW will only allow the use of another OS...nothing else...so what's the point?

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Err... You gain the use of your rather expensive game console as *cough* an actual, generally useful, rather powerful computer, for *no* extra cost (assuming you use a free Linux distro), which was advertised as a feature at time of sale. Why is it so confusing that someone would want this, even if you don't?

If you don't need the CFW and never intend to run Linux, why do you even remotely care, either way? Just don't download it! And what does having a BD-burner have to do with Linux, for heavens' sake?!

april fools!

Maybe so, maybe not ^^, I won't assume either 'til the 2nd.

Personally I think this is a great idea however i have updated my PS3 and only cause i was not planning to use another Operating System at all.
But having an option is always a good thing. :)

This firmware update changes the Sony PS3 from a general purpose computer to a game console. Sony would do this to avoid current and/or potential issues with export control.

I guess that whole, "It only does everything" marketing campaign was a failure. The new campaign: "It does not do anything".

BTW...Linux is not the only "OtherOS" out. So don't just say that this kills of linux support. It also kills of the HD encoder OS support.

Our children told us to buy the Sony PS3 to play HD Movies on Blue Ray discs. A dedicated player cost about the same as the Sony PS3. Our children latter told us that the Sony PS3 was a game console.

Originally posted by crazzyjoe:

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Awwww, did GeoNOT's feelings get hurt by Sony protecting their product? I respect your work dude, but why get mad? You has already stated that you WILL NOT work on a hack, but the work you have done already could allow others to continue if they wish and have the knowledge (which we all know is what will happen. Second, who really needs Linux and will use it on their PS3? 1% of all owners maybe? So the CFW will only allow the use of another OS...nothing else...so what's the point? Even if they were to release a full hack (softmod or otherwise) tomorrow you have to remember not everyone has a Blu-Ray burner, and/or can afford one along with blank Blu-Ray discs to burn the games. Even if a full hack were released I would rather keep my original content. To each his/her own.

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This is not about game piracy. It's about taking something that is not theirs. I bought my console with otherOS support. If they want to take it awaay, give me back $100. Your comments are ignorant. Where the hell did you get 1%??? This is about privacy and consumer rights. They may as well send someone to come to my house and plant a bug in my phone. Geohot has every right to be infuriated (if he really is). This is Big Business raping the customer. Maybe some don't care enough if a broomstick is shoved up their ass, as long as there is enough lube to go around. I personally don't like it. I love my PS3, but this really angers me. What really pisses me off is the "you don't have to update if you don't want to" disclaimer. They truly think we are all half-wits. Sony is a douche, and so is anyone who defends this move of theirs.

I think that it is ironic that Geohot is mad because Sony it taking away something that was previously offered (OS). If Geohot had not of cracked the PS3 through the OS, Sony would not have been removing the OS option.
I think that it is funny in that respect.
I however hate it for the People that actually use the OS for its intended purpose. They need to be reimbursed for their loss.
If Geohot had not been peeking through the window, Sony would not have boarded the window up. But I see that blaming Sony is apparently the right thing to do.

Originally posted by crazzyjoe:

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Awwww, did GeoNOT's feelings get hurt by Sony protecting their product? I respect your work dude, but why get mad? You has already stated that you WILL NOT work on a hack, but the work you have done already could allow others to continue if they wish and have the knowledge (which we all know is what will happen. Second, who really needs Linux and will use it on their PS3? 1% of all owners maybe? So the CFW will only allow the use of another OS...nothing else...so what's the point? Even if they were to release a full hack (softmod or otherwise) tomorrow you have to remember not everyone has a Blu-Ray burner, and/or can afford one along with blank Blu-Ray discs to burn the games. Even if a full hack were released I would rather keep my original content. To each his/her own.

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Heh, if this move led to "piracy" $ony would only have themselves to blame.... your comments are naive, expect a big rise in blu-ray burners and blank sales if that happens.

Originally posted by glassd:

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I think that it is ironic that Geohot is mad because Sony it taking away something that was previously offered (OS). If Geohot had not of cracked the PS3 through the OS, Sony would not have been removing the OS option.
I think that it is funny in that respect.
I however hate it for the People that actually use the OS for its intended purpose. They need to be reimbursed for their loss.
If Geohot had not been peeking through the window, Sony would not have boarded the window up. But I see that blaming Sony is apparently the right thing to do.

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Again, reread the article:

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I never intended to touch CFW, but if that's how you want to play...

Two things, some people seem to think CFW will enable some sort of piracy. It won't. It'll just be a custom version of 3.21 that doesn't lose OtherOS support. Hacking isn't about getting what you didn't pay for, it's about making sure you do get what you did.

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Geohot has not previously written even ONE hack that enables piracy for the PS3. Sony is removing the OS option mainly because some buyers - more than 2200 consoles to the US gov't., for example - have been buying them en masse to set up super-cheap distributed-processing supercomputing networks.

While the Cell processor itself at full spec can achieve 200+ GFLOP (billion floating-point operations per second), the PS3, while around half as fast, is far, far cheaper per GFLOP. In fact, Sony, like MS with the XBox family, makes little to no profit on the console itself; their profit is in the games, which the gov't. doesn't ever intend to buy.

I know that he did not hack it, he just cracked it and presented it to the rest of the world to hack. The OS option was already removed @ the Slim. So, Sony is not removing it to prevent people or the Gov from buying it to make super computers.

I dont use the OS but if I did I would blame geohot for loosing the option. Once again, i feel sorry for thoes who actually use it for its intended purpose.

Bozobud, i agree with your point as far as why the Slim does not have OS.

Originally posted by glassd:

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I know that he did not hack it, he just cracked it and presented it to the rest of the world to hack. The OS option was already removed @ the Slim. So, Sony is not removing it to prevent people or the Gov from buying it to make super computers.

I dont use the OS but if I did I would blame geohot for loosing the option. Once again, i feel sorry for thoes who actually use it for its intended purpose.

Bozobud, i agree with your point as far as why the Slim does not have OS.

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OK ... so security did prove a problem. This security problem, I assume, is the ability to duplicate copy-protected optical media. So, I withdraw my suspicion about Linux's becoming non lingua grata.

Still, is this the fault of the buyers of 'fat' PS3s? I hesitated to buy a 'fat', for the combination of high-resolution DVD and Linux: it was to be my only computer. The heating problems & lack of Wi-Fi made me hesitate until only the 'slim' was available.

Why does the consumer always 'take the fall'? It would be interesting to compare the features useful to the consumer of 'fat' and 'slim', and compare their prices. Certainly 'a GNU/Linux computer with tens of thousands of applications' is a significant 'feature' to lose. I'm surprised Sony thinks the potential losses are worth the legal gamble against a class-action suit: any seller of illegal copies isn't going to be affected.

As soon as he's done working his magic, matbe we all could get a 5.9 bootloader unlock. The would be real choice.

Originally posted by Bozobub:

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Maybe so, maybe not ^^, I won't assume either 'til the 2nd.

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I meant we are the fools.

Originally posted by Gneiss1:

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I hesitated to buy a 'fat', for the combination of high-resolution DVD and Linux: it was to be my only computer. The heating problems & lack of Wi-Fi made me hesitate until only the 'slim' was available.

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The only model that didn't have WiFi was the 20gb at launch. And the "heating problems" only affects an average of 1-3% which is perfectly acceptable within industry standards. Not sure where you are getting your info from but it is misguided.

I own three "FAT" PS3's, I won't update any of them....which sucks...because I'm missing the Warhawk tournement...which is online only.

Funny, I don't use the other OS....but I don't want to lose it.

Originally posted by PantherM:

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I own three "FAT" PS3's, I won't update any of them....which sucks...because I'm missing the Warhawk tournement...which is online only.

Funny, I don't use the other OS....but I don't want to lose it.

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You could try using the LG5tool Proxy bypass tool here or the one posted in the PS3 section on aD here. It has a high compatibility rate for games, PSN Store, friend access plus more and should get you through for now.

Originally posted by Oner:

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Originally posted by Gneiss1:

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I hesitated to buy a 'fat', for the combination of high-resolution DVD and Linux: it was to be my only computer. The heating problems & lack of Wi-Fi made me hesitate until only the 'slim' was available.

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The only model that didn't have WiFi was the 20gb at launch. And the "heating problems" only affects an average of 1-3% which is perfectly acceptable within industry standards. Not sure where you are getting your info from but it is misguided.

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He's not misguided about it not doing Linux any more sport.

Tsk, I had plans on building a render farm using them for a pending contract. Gonna have to look at a GPU "Tesla" type solution I suppose.

Originally posted by Jemborg:

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Originally posted by Oner:

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Originally posted by Gneiss1:

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I hesitated to buy a 'fat', for the combination of high-resolution DVD and Linux: it was to be my only computer. The heating problems & lack of Wi-Fi made me hesitate until only the 'slim' was available.

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The only model that didn't have WiFi was the 20gb at launch. And the "heating problems" only affects an average of 1-3% which is perfectly acceptable within industry standards. Not sure where you are getting your info from but it is misguided.

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He's not misguided about it not doing Linux any more sport.

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I fail to see exactly where I discussed ANYTHING about Linux. I commented on specifically what I quoted about the "heating problems" & WiFi. Nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. Is that clear enough for ya ~ "sport"...

Too bad they dont do any more sport :(

Originally posted by Oner:

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Originally posted by Gneiss1:

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I hesitated to buy a 'fat', for the combination of high-resolution DVD and Linux: it was to be my only computer. The heating problems & lack of Wi-Fi made me hesitate until only the 'slim' was available.

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The only model that didn't have WiFi was the 20gb at launch. And the "heating problems" only affects an average of 1-3% which is perfectly acceptable within industry standards. Not sure where you are getting your info from but it is misguided.

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Sorry for my confusing people. Since programming in 1966, I've never bought a Microsoft product; but when Microsoft streamed NetFlix's movies to me, they accidentally encrypted them with their DRM 'enhancement'. So, by WiFi I meant IEEE 802.11n WiFi, fast enough to view streamed movies at 'DVD' (VHS) quality.

I didn't know that about 2 out of each 100 fat PS3s went out in flame. That's acceptable? Wow! I'm still running APL on my 1983 IBM PC. I tried a new computer when the PPC Apple PowerBook came out. Some small percentage was known to have a heating problem that reduced its MTBF. However, my MTBF (mean time between flaming little balls of solder) was 2 years. So, I calculated the probability of this to be a small percentage raised to the fourth power, and interpreted 1 - this probability to be the probability that I was 'cursed by the gods'. Guess which was larger. So, even 1-3% wouldn't make it. :-) The cell processor was fascinating for my scientific work; but only if my compiler accessed it.

While I was researching these horrible little details, my wife, hearing I was shopping for a GNU/Linux computer, bought a Wii game machie for our granddaughter. :-) All for the best: she loves it.

Now I've learned I can stream NetFlix in VHS on the Wii (!), using a USB network port ... just as soon as this news reaches NetFlix in Northern California.

Obtained my principal information from Sony, Wikipedia, AfterDawn PS3 forum.

Originally posted by Gneiss1:

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I didn't know that about 2 out of each 100 fat PS3s went out in flame. That's acceptable? Wow!

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Um actually yes it is well within Industry Standards for electronics devices. The Wii's failure rate is the same so I'm sorry to break that news to you about your recent Wii purchase. Anyway here is some interesting info done by Consumer Reports to think about ~

Repair rates for 3 to 4 year-old products



From the above ~

Desktops over 30%
Laptops over 40%

Additionally ~
Electronics as a whole averages out to about 15%

So for the PS3 & Wii to be @ 2-3% I have to say I was partially wrong...they are actually FAR BETTER than the Industry Standard.

Originally posted by Oner:

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Originally posted by Gneiss1:

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I didn't know that about 2 out of each 100 fat PS3s went out in flame. That's acceptable? Wow!

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Um actually yes it is well within Industry Standards for electronics devices. The Wii's failure rate is the same so I'm sorry to break that news to you about your recent Wii purchase...

Desktops over 30%
Laptops over 40%

So for the PS3 & Wii to be @ 2-3% I have to say I was partially wrong...they are actually FAR BETTER than the Industry Standard.

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Thanks! Here's my only 'in apropos' supplement.

Yes, well Americans have known for many years that mechanical engineering is a lost art ... or the engineering of pre-timed failure is a newly found one. When I couldn't find legitimate work in my own profession, I used to consult in computing for IT centers; but especially for small businesses, which included software & hardware repair.

Most hardware error messages were software problems (every Windows application started itself automatically upon installation, or MS's Basic library caused a competing application to fail), and most hardware repair were usually caused by abuse or cheap peripheral devices. Overheating was limited to hot modems, hotrodded processors, & broken fans.

Currently, I'm borrowing my granddaughter's 20-year old, two cm-thick laptop (with Debian GNU/Linux on its original 6 GB hard drive), a hand-me-down that has never had a problem.

Recent laptop problems are often failures of their tiny hard drives of huge capacity, and heat prostration caused by the on/off recycling of circuit boards. These 'new' boards were built, essentially, in pizza ovens. At high temperatures, the electronic components are stuck to the circuit board with very short leads (flat surface technology) using arrays of tiny balls of solder along a grid (ball grid arrays). At room temperature, contraction of the leads & board itself cracks or dislodges the solder balls.

Much of this is so our 'svelte' laptops can be one cm thick rather than two. This form of construction requires very fine quality control.

I'm sad to read the Wii suffers as much from heat-related problems as the fat PS3s: I'll tell my wife. However, as she bought it, it likely will have no problems.

Consider the PowerBook: if 45 of 100 people (a number I estimated with help of your list) suffer PPC Mac laptop failures in two years from cracked solder balls, the probability of this happening 4x in a row is about 0.041, which makes the probability 0.959 that the god of silicon has me on his list. I don't expect my wife to have any problems, and ... well, remember I'm writing from 'fluffy', my granddaughter's laptop. :-)


The list is useful to those who would extend their warranties. I'll take it! Thanks!

Originally posted by Oner:

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Originally posted by Jemborg:

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Originally posted by Oner:

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Originally posted by Gneiss1:

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I hesitated to buy a 'fat', for the combination of high-resolution DVD and Linux: it was to be my only computer. The heating problems & lack of Wi-Fi made me hesitate until only the 'slim' was available.

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The only model that didn't have WiFi was the 20gb at launch. And the "heating problems" only affects an average of 1-3% which is perfectly acceptable within industry standards. Not sure where you are getting your info from but it is misguided.

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He's not misguided about it not doing Linux any more sport.

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I fail to see exactly where I discussed ANYTHING about Linux. I commented on specifically what I quoted about the "heating problems" & WiFi. Nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. Is that clear enough for ya ~ "sport"...

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That was glaringly obvious... I made a contextually placed rhetorical refection before I moved on to make my own on-topic comment buddy, it did not beg an "answer", no need to get your knickers in a knot or to be rude. If you scan it carefully you'll find that actually I did not contradict you.

{Perhaps I should have kept the post as one paragraph so this innocent remark could not be so easily misconstrued as criticism of sorts and lifted out of it's conversational context.}

@Gneiss1... ROFL at the god of silicon equations. :D

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Recent laptop problems are often failures of their tiny hard drives of huge capacity, and heat prostration caused by the on/off recycling of circuit boards. These 'new' boards were built, essentially, in pizza ovens. At high temperatures, the electronic components are stuck to the circuit board with very short leads (flat surface technology) using arrays of tiny balls of solder along a grid (ball grid arrays). At room temperature, contraction of the leads & board itself cracks or dislodges the solder balls.

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Not to mention the quality of that cheap lead free solder.

"Science and skill will win out over ignorance and superstition."

"Test as you fly and fly as you test."

When the bean counter makes decisions that should be made by engineers you have a less than optimal solution to the technical issues for your product. When an excessive number of products fails under warranty a bean counter reduces the time product is covered.

Have you ever noticed that a water heater fails 30 days after warranty expires?

Originally posted by john_swan:

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Have you ever noticed that a water heater fails 30 days after warranty expires?

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In my day, we called that "planned obsolescence".

I had the impression that M$ overdid it for the X360, and then had to pay for it with the extended warranty... but Phony got it just right. :D

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"Science and skill will win out over ignorance and superstition."

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In my day we called that "wishful thinking".

I know I was guilty of it myself. But just head over to answers.com to see how the creationists have taken it over.... don't bother trying to contradict them you'll just be edited out.

I didn't update my PS3 out of hope of CFW being released. Tell me though. What cool things could I do with CFW? Is it worth my while waiting? Thanks.

Originally posted by Jemborg:

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That was glaringly obvious... I made a contextually placed rhetorical refection before I moved on to make my own on-topic comment buddy, it did not beg an "answer", no need to get your knickers in a knot or to be rude. If you scan it carefully you'll find that actually I did not contradict you.

{Perhaps I should have kept the post as one paragraph so this innocent remark could not be so easily misconstrued as criticism of sorts and lifted out of it's conversational context.}

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It's the connotation or overtone of the "sport" & "buddy" within which insinuates it as a negative. That is where the rudeness, and supposed misconstrued criticism laid which in turn affected mine (but that is a fault of "internet coldness" and lack of a sarcasm font if intended as such) and not from a contradiction (since there was none as you said) of the point. But this is actually quite funny now as it seems to be more of an intellectual discussion of an explanation of words that were said more than being on topic. But I don't hold anything against you Jem. I just disagreed with WHY you said that when I didn't address or comment anything about what you said.

Either way it seems there is more to the topic that has arose since last night with the supposed dumping of the PS3's GameOS which has been leaked publicly while at the same time taking GeoHot down a peg/notch ~

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Today JaicraB (linked above) with the help of DemonHades have done what GeoHot failed to do, dump and publicly leak the PS3 Hypervisor LV2 (GameOS) for the entire PS3 scene to begin reversing and examining for new holes, exploits, etc!

But wait, there's more... they also plan to share a guide soon detailing how the LV2 dump was done (see HERE for the LV1 dump leak) so that everyone in the PlayStation 3 development community can join in on the fun!

This is indeed refreshing news in comparison to a lone glory hound out only for himself instead of the PS3 scene, seeking attention while blinded by his own e-fame from the notion that others in the community are just as capable, if not moreso, as will surely be demonstrated in coming months.

BIG PROPS to both JaicraB and DemonHades, you guys deserve it and we are honored to see your willingness to share with everyone to further PS3 development. You truly are shining examples of what the scene is all about, and you will be remembered for this.

Read more: http://www.ps3news.com/PS3-Hacks/ps3-hyp.../#ixzz0kKnCCmet

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Edit: I don't know who added/edited my quote to add the "read more" since I had linked/added the url to a sentence above thus making it a bit redundant.

And now Geohot supposedly shows a 3.21 FW PS3 running OtherOS and believes it would work on a Slim but will confirm that once his Infectus chip arrives ~ Video here and Info here

Oo, "OtherOS" support on Slims and later PS3s?! OK, damn, I may have to buy a PS3, if it works.

*Slobbers over Cell CPU running Linux*

I don't get the hate JaicraB and DemonHades have for Geohot, but I also haven't followed any of this much, until now, since I knew newer PS3s didn't support OtherOS. Whatever they say, if Geohot pulls it off, he deserves praise.

I've Yellow Dog Linux on my PS3 and I've also Linux on my two computers. Anyway, the PS3 can't do flash videos on firefox due to the lack of functionality between power pc and flash which is a pain because the PS3 browser is so crap. I'm interested in customised firmware and the ability play PS3 games from the hard disk. I know a huge hard disk would be needed because PS3 games are so big but it would be cool. So does anyone think that Geohot or someone else could release cfw that would make this possible?

Originally posted by htorihpeS:

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... Anyway, the PS3 can't do flash videos on firefox due to the lack of functionality between power pc and flash which is a pain because the PS3 browser is so crap...

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There are some free Linux applications that support the PPC: Fedora, Debian, &c). (Used by Sony for writing malware.) Also, my MacOS 10.4 ran Flash videos just fine (on Safari & Firefox), using Adobe's application. The PPC or OpenGL language shouldn't be a problem. The newer kernel of Linux runs .swf & other flashy files nicely (on Firefox) using FlashPlayer clones, though 'Fluffy' is too small to try videos.

However, I'm here just to note two other possible reasons for downgrading the PS3 from a computer to a game player. It's true Sony is somewhat paranoid about security, but also true is appears to have a contractual marriage with Microsoft (open source is unethical).

Here's a third opinion on penguinppc.org:

'Sony claims this move is a reaction to the recent PlayStation exploit, but given that the exploit requires hardware expertise and doesn't enable piracy, it seems more likely that the company is using security as a convenient excuse to reduce expenses.'

Here is a very interesting statement from the PS3 article on the Wikipedia:

'Furthermore, it raises questions about the millions of Euros Sony saved over the years on import tax in Europe, thanks to being able to declare the PS3 a computer rather than a game console -- game consoles carry an import tax, while computers do not.'