I'm not 100% sold on this. I've been following the topic on some PS3 boards and while some hack of OS X or Darwin may get up and running on PS3, I can't see it being too practical given the limited RAM and CPU resources that have been designed pretty much specifically for gaming (I could be wrong though - and believe me, if it DOES work, I'll be one of the first to try it out). And Windows I'll believe when I see - the PS3 us running on a PPC-based architecture. Which, btw, leaves out the liklihood of getting any OS X upgrades to work after Tiger/Leopard, no?

If Apple buys into this it could work, but without Apple support it could only be a techie plaything with little practical use. People wanting their PS3 to do PC tasks would be best off with the supplied Linux.

So the big question is 'does Apple like this idea?' The PS3 hardware costs about the same as a Mac Mini, and has large plusses and minuses as far as ability. Apple likely doesn't want to sink much money into hardware that they don't control. It's hard to guess what will happen.

Windows does seem rather improbable though. This is hardly Vista compliant, after all.

One more thought: Microsoft might feel compelled to support windows on the PS3 just to prevent people from using Linux. There is probably little overlap between videogame buyers and current Linux users, so the PS 3 would be a huge boon for Linux.

I still think we're overlooking the fact that the PS3 runs a PPC based processor. How could Windows run without emulation?

Let's see... how many problems are there here?

-Neither Apple nor M$ wouldn't get on board for something like this.
-Both Windows and OS X are now x86-based and thus could not run on the PS3 without an emulator.
-The cell processor's highly specialized architecture would provide extremely inconsistent performance for the varied code execution patterns of a general operating system.

This will never take off. All this is is more Sony marketing hype. They are hell bent on trying to convince us that we are all lucky to get so much for such a low low price. We'll see what happens during the holiday season when the 360 is half the price of the PS3.

I totally agree - this is the Sony Hype Machine at work. However, that doesn't mean we won't see a hack to get Tiger up and running on the PS3. It would be a total novelty - but cool nonetheless.

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Biff wrote:
Let's see... how many problems are there here?

-Neither Apple nor M$ wouldn't get on board for something like this.
-Both Windows and OS X are now x86-based and thus could not run on the PS3 without an emulator.
-The cell processor's highly specialized architecture would provide extremely inconsistent performance for the varied code execution patterns of a general operating system.

This will never take off. All this is is more Sony marketing hype. They are hell bent on trying to convince us that we are all lucky to get so much for such a low low price. We'll see what happens during the holiday season when the 360 is half the price of the PS3.

First of all, Biff is right, the Cell processor would not be very practical. Although Mac OS is NOT x86 based now. Apple hasn't dropped PPC support yet! Leopard will come out for PPC and x86.

Remember that all Macs sold until January have been PPC. The vast vast majority of Mac users are still using PowerPC-based Macs, and that won't change for at least a couple year. It gives Apple enough incentive to offer upgrades for PPC Macs.

Second, Sony will "let" you install OSX, but OSX sure won't let you install on a PS3.

The Mac transition to x86 makes it unwise to assume that Apple will do the obvious thing. You never know what kind of number crunching Steve Jobs might do. Mac on PS 3 would mean supporting PPC for a few years longer, but it isn't an earth-shattering problem. And unlike supporting OS X on random windows clones, their won't be an infinite number of configs to support. So if Sony wants to pay Apple enough, (or offer something else Apple wants) it might fly.

I don't think people would expect a PS3 to have all the capabilities of a mac, so even limited OS X would be seen as a big plus.

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dburney wrote:
I can't see it being too practical given the limited RAM and CPU resources that have been designed pretty much specifically for gaming

There seems to be some confusion over the similarities between the cell architecture and the architecture of the G5. They are both "PPC derived" chips, but they are incredibly different. You could not run a PPC-based Mac OS on the PS3 without an emulation layer.

No existing OS or software will run on the PS3 without porting or emulation. Keep that in mind.

I'm pretty sure that Apple will be supporting ppc for another 2 years at least. I mean the current bigass machines are the quad g5s - which is generally about $4000s worth of macintosh.. in other words darn expensive PPC machines.. you really think apple would be nasty enough to stop bringing out PPC compatible software within the next 2 years?? But in any case Cell is not the same architecture as g5 and therefore ppc compatible software wouldnt run on it without being modified.

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dburney wrote:
I'm not 100% sold on this. I've been following the topic on some PS3 boards and while some hack of OS X or Darwin may get up and running on PS3, I can't see it being too practical given the limited RAM and CPU resources that have been designed pretty much specifically for gaming (I could be wrong though - and believe me, if it DOES work, I'll be one of the first to try it out). And Windows I'll believe when I see - the PS3 us running on a PPC-based architecture. Which, btw, leaves out the liklihood of getting any OS X upgrades to work after Tiger/Leopard, no?

Apple has committed to supporting the PPC for five years after the transition. So that's really a non-issue.

Ever since word came out that Sony and Microsoft would be using PPC processors in their gaming consoles, people have been talking about running OS X on them. The problem is that, while the chips are indeed PPCs, they are NOT G4s or G5s. The PS3 has a main processor that is very similar to a Mac chip, but that processor isn't what gives it its oomph — that comes from the many 'core' chips, which are very specialized and very different from anything in Macs. I imagine OS X could be compiled to run on the PS3's main processor easily enough, but it wouldn't give you incredible performance. Most of the PS3's power would be unused.

But even that seems to be missing the point. The point here is that Sony is trying to make it more "programmer-friendly" (whatever that means). And it would have to be, if they expect Windows to run on it! I have no idea what steps Sony could possibly take to make porting Windows the least bit practical, but...who knows? If they're not just blowing air, this could be interesting. But I'll need some convincing, personally. Without some specifics of their plan, it's impossible to get excited.

And, of course, if Sony thinks Microsoft is going to support the PS3 when they have their own console, then I worry for their health.

As for Linux, that goes without saying. If Sony didn't do it, someone else would quickly enough. Should be cool, but...Linux will never have broad appeal. Ever.

Ever since E3, I've been saying that the only way I'd pay $600 for a freakin' game console is if it could also replace my desktop computer. I guess Sony realized that a very large chunk of the market will feel the same way. Looks like they're trying to find ways to justify the obscene price. Good luck with that, Sony.


Edit: Oh, and the original XBox could run Windows easily enough, remember? It didn't change the world. And it was actually (semi-) reasonably priced!

You mean by Sony arbritrary announcing such a thing, Apple isn't going to assign 50 programmers to crank out an OSX 10.5 to run on the PS3 ... anything is possible but how likely?

No but I believe PPC versions of OS X will continue to be developed in the lab like the Intel version was and for the same reason--an "Ace in the Hole".

MS have done it before (back when there was still some threat of IBM defining the PC platform) and have certainly ported bits to other chips before (the CE and Mobile editions run on a variety of processors) - and there's the XBox 360.

(They also support AMDs x86 instruction set extensions as well as Intel's - it would be an error to presume MS only partner with Intel)

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JulesLt wrote:
MS have done it before (back when there was still some threat of IBM defining the PC platform) and have certainly ported bits to other chips before (the CE and Mobile editions run on a variety of processors) - and there's the XBox 360.

Mac Osx Is dual compiled PPC/X86 (Universal App) the cell Broadband engine is a PPC 970 (G5 Family) with 8 vector velocity engine) units and an inter connect bus for all of the internal chip communication
it's got XDR ram 256 MB And an HD and Sony and Apple have been kind of chummy the last couple of years you tell me it's not possible!

PS3 processor is a Cell (from IBM,Sony and Toshiba) which is PowerPC based (also from IBM).So in theory would be possible to install Mac OS X on it, but since Apple decided to have Intel processors on their Macs, Sony might not "allow it", in my opinion. But I'm hoping that it won't happen, because it's a great machine and to use it only for games would be way stupid. I'm a musician and I'm thinking on making my own home music studio and with PS3 and Mac OS X on it, would make one hell of a music production computer. Much better than many of the "professional" music computers. Unfortunely, Linux has no support in what comes to music production software. Maybe in the future. Who knows. Until then I just hope Sony makes it possible for us to use Mac OS X.

The PS3 costs no more than an XBox 360 with a hard drive and the HDVD drive added to it. If M$ is so intent on making HDVD the standard, they should have made the HDVD drive part of the system not an "add on" . Also because the HD and HDDVD is optional the software developers have no incentive to make there games with enhanced features that use them. All PS3's have Blue Ray drives and a hard drive. The apps will take advantage of this. Microsoft over the next year will suffer and Sony will be on top of the consoul market again. Mean while I will enjoy my Wii, PS3, 360, MAC and PC's while all you fanboys argue over what OS will run on a F!@#%^$ game consoul. Oh by the way I can play my PS3 game on my PSP with the remote controll function, and don't forget LFP.

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Biff wrote:
-Both Windows and OS X are now x86-based and thus could not run on the PS3 without an emulator.

Windows NT 4.0 Runs fine on my PS3, Very quick. Reminds me of that windows 95 feel.

Hi, i had Linux for a while on my PS3, it did work, so probably, i heard of some crack for Linux, things could work, this crack, is to be used in Linux, i have linux to run on a Mac, this is for a mac of the old architecture, in the time Mac had an IBM processor, and not the new better Intel processor.
I hope that some hardcore crackers would help us to work out this 'thought' of having Mac OS x on the PS3. Things look good if we check the hardware for a sec. The only thing wich could give problems is the 256 MB, given to other os's. I hope this could lead into an crack or something like that too, so we have both 512 for gaming (PS3 os) and worktimefun (Linux or Mac OS x). I hope it'll give someone a try, maybe i will try it when i am back home, to put the Linux Ubuntu Live CD in it. Or search the web off for a already PS3 compatible Linux (Fedora Core 5)(link:http://ps3.qj.net/PS3-Linux-The-void-has-been-filled-Full-install-instructions-for-Fedora-Core-5-/pg/49/aid/73144) and here is a little tutorial for how-to-get-mac-on-your-pc. So if we use this information we, as amateurs, should get on a solution of our own (link;http://www.uneasysilence.com/os-x-proven-hacked-and-running-on-an-ordinary-pc/). If we scroll down, we see a little code like <!-- dd bs=1048576 if=./tiger-x86-flat.img of=/dev/hda --!>. This is .. Well just read it. It'll be great if it could work I hope i gave enough information. People who want to help me work this out contact me at JustinDuyn@Hotmail.Com . See ya guys around some time soon.

This would be good, however the ps3 doesn't come with linux or xp or anything else. All it comes with is the Very Basic XMB thing.

I have a PS3 and the proccesser is the fastest I have seen, the ram is 5GB so there is something for you boffins.

You can't install WINDOWS ON IT!

Linux is also available to be installed on to the Playstation 3.

Basically it is a brilliant mini PC.

Which also plays games!

I have both a 360(piece of $#!%) and a PS3, the difference in gaming is night and day. I have a copy of call of duty 4 Modern Warfare on each and my PS3 far surpases the texturing, lighting and shadowing, and the speed at witch the 360 can operate. 360's were hastily pushed onto the public by the money machine that is microsoft in fear that a simultaneous release would spell disaster for m$. As far as hard core gaming goes the PS3 is champ, and the software developers need to realize this and jump on board. The games will come. I havent heard of any class action lawsuits against sony for producing a piece of $#!% like the 360, have you?

it wouldnt make a very good based production machine, it has very little memory for applications such as that, maybe a simple beat maker would work, but that is about it. As a musician you should know that any reputable music software requires at least 512mb of ram, and should actually use 1 gb of ram to operate smoothly! youre ignorant....

well i was actually having a nice tech chat with some of the workers at the apple shop and amoung themselves its been known to port leopard from osx6, which is running leopard a x86 built os on a ppc. so in terms of hardware its not a problem.
the limited ram is a slight problem but as ram was built to be idolised in macs it will have less straint than running a windows os, but moreover once you have either os running it should be possible to use usb ram so as long as you dont mind a laggy start up your good to go ^^

well i was actually having a nice tech chat with some of the workers at the apple shop and amoung themselves its been known to port leopard from osx6, which is running leopard a x86 built os on a ppc. so in terms of hardware its not a problem.
the limited ram is a slight problem but as ram was built to be idolised in macs it will have less straint than running a windows os, but moreover once you have either os running it should be possible to use usb ram so as long as you dont mind a laggy start up your good to go ^^

Yellow Dog Linux is made for the Cell architecture that both Sony and IBM are spouting.

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Biff wrote:
There seems to be some confusion over the similarities between the cell architecture and the architecture of the G5. They are both &quot;PPC derived&quot; chips, but they are incredibly different. You could not run a PPC-based Mac OS on the PS3 without an emulation layer.

No existing OS or software will run on the PS3 without porting or emulation. Keep that in mind.