just thought it might be interesting to see what people think the possibilities will be for linux on the PS3

concidering sony made an official statement saying it will support linux, do you think sony will write drivers for the hardware in the ps3?

what with the sheer quantity of hardware in it: HD TV support, Imense graphics handling, the first cell processor, wifi and so on, we could see some great things come about

also what do you think the impications could be for desktop linux? i think that if there is hardware support and a user friendly ps3 specific linux distro featuring the new XGL technology it could have seriously positive influences on linux elsewhere. the ps3 will no doubt be popular, and in many peoples homes. if everybody sees this thing called linux producing effects like XGL, well i would be intrigued/excited if i wasnt already a linux fan.

(i assume this belongs in hardware, as the ps3 is new hardware...)

Yes, but it would be for their proprietary hardware.

They would only work with Sony's hardware. And either way, the drivers themselves will be proprietary; it's not like the community is ever going to get to see them.

If they never release the drivers for the Linux community (which they won't given all the fierce competition out there) then how will the effect ever be seen by Linux users? And how will the average person buying a PS3 ever realize that Linux is running the thing? How many game counsel owners do you even think look into this stuff? And last but not least, how many people in that minority who do realize that this thing they've never heard of before called Linux is running their counsel will look into it deeper? And how many of those people will try installing a distro? Perhaps a literal 1%. The people who rush out and buy these things aren't tech savvy enough to even install a distribution without nuking their Windows partition. Most of them have pre-built systems and can't do anything like this themselves. And even if there was a big red sticker on the front of the machine saying "POWERED BY LINUX" the people who see it will assume that it is some tech jargon thing they can't understand. Those who do know what Linux is either hate it or are already using it.

what do you mean? what other hardware would you like it to work with!? lol. unless you mean that the wifi wont work with normal wifi hardware, and the bluetooth wont work with normal bluetooth etc. in which case you're wrong because its all industry standard i think. at least i know the wifi is because the psp is industry standard, and the ps3 will be able to be used with the psp.

quite wether the ps3 will come pre installed with a version of linux is not yet known, but i was refering to the people who will install it themselves. and a lot of people will do that. it comes with a 60gb hdd, and sony will be promoting linux support 90% because it will piss off microsoft. so very shortly after it is released, there will be ps3 distros popping up.

maybe you're right, maybe no one will bother, but i dont think this will be the case. someone will make a distro that is easy to use and install, and then it will be all over the gaming networks on the internet. it will become popular very easily. i mean, with sony trying their hardest to stop it, the psp has become a homebrew goldmine.

im not saying they all are, but im not saying they're all not. even if it does nothing more than associate the word "linux" with the prettyness of XGL it will be benificiant

my point exactly. thats why i think the ps3 could be good for promoting linux