Hackers Bring Back OtherOS For PS3

Following the release of the PS3MFW Builder, the efforts to bring back OtherOS onto the PlayStation 3 had been all but abandoned. Now, however, a hacking group has successfully managed to bring back OtherOS to the PS3.

[SpaceSquirrel]

I never used the OtherOS feature personally

[krauler]

actually, OtherOS never would have went away if...... wait, where is Georgy going?

[sikbeta]

Doesn't matter now, it could have improved over the upcoming generations, now we'll never see the otherOS feature in the PS3 again...

[--------]

These virgins and what they spend their time on...

[fedexas]

....I don't even use OtherOS. All I did was play bluray movies and games. So you mean to tell me that these idiots hacked the PS3 just for that? I'm pretty sure this can be used on a PC?

[b_one]

same here, who needs linux on 512MB of ram?

[HappyGaming]

Thats as much ram as on my phone :-/

[N4GAddict]

I rather have PSN back

[Mr Tretton]

Here's where you can use other OS...

PC you stupid f*cks!

[nevin1]

I never used other OS either but was the advantages of it?

[Mr Tretton]

None.

[dragonelite]

For the normal average gamer none but for people like me who can code and write simple programs it nice to run the code i have written on my 360 or ps3.
360 has XNA where programmers can make stuff in.

[radphil]

Why not just order the SDK from the companies like I did?.... Instead of taking the cheap route.

[lolwutt1234]

@radphil: Because the actual SDK is incredibly overpriced and it comes with free NDA's.

[Oldsnake007]

emulators, play nes/snes games on it.

[sikbeta]

It was a lame @ss linux version for PS3 that run average at best because of the amount of memory usable and the RSX was locked...

[Soldierone]

Congrats you got your useless feature back...you know an easy hack to get it? Dont agree to PSN terms and dont update...

Now leave the real gamers alone and let us play in peace.

[RBLAZE1988]

I was going to say that same thing when I read this. I guess all those hackers can stop complaining and being miserable now that they can have this back right? Hopefully...

[supremacy]

This will be taken down shortly once the psn goes back online.yawn...

[DWOM]

yep... with the FW this feauture will be removed... and YES more hacker bans!!!!! >:)

[Acquiescence]

the other 77 million shrugged their shoulders and went about their business.

[theguitarizt]

The other 77 million are too busy canceling their credit cards...

[leogets]

these dumb fuks will probably delay the rise of psn once again.well done fuck wods

[supremacy]

I hope not, but if thats the case. Then Sony will have to reinvent the wheel and build a new ps3 with the feature non existant anywhere internally speaking. Thats how you put these kids out of comission.

In all honesty they just got what they wanted, but i highly doubt they'll stop messing around with the "software" which they dont OWN.

Sony really needs to just reinvent the wheel with the ps3 with both the hardware and software for security. Once thats in place these guys will...once again try and break in the new ps3s looking for something they will most likely never find.
Its that simple, and while you are at it Sony try and reduce the size of the current O.s to 32mbs? That would really help open the doors for many network related improvements. Thanks.

[SomeOldMan]

I think the next big story will be about Linux running on your car. Linux powers Mack trucks, extrusion machines, intrusion machines, machinery tools - you name it. If there's a processor in your equipment, Linux runs on it.

We own the world!

[macky301]

Yes now I can run Linux at the speeds of 486 64MB ram machine again!!

Shit was so unoptimized it was laughable,.. Hell they did not even allow access to Gpu ,..hell even the ram portion would be a god send
and we all know how shitty adobe's flash support is on linux ,.. I ended up using PS3 browser more,..

I get it for researchers, that used it for building clusters of machines for supercomputing and shit,..(probably crackers and hackers were the most pissed off for bruteforcing different protections and shit, to be honest) but I don't see many people using that,..

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

SMH

All this fuss over being able to run a crappy version of Linux.

[Blitz001]

Hmmm,okay,what is Linux??? That is probably question a majority asks themselves...70% of console gamers are casual gamers who didn't even knew that there was OtherOS function,+20% that knew but never used it...5% that just tried it...and finally 5% that used it every day...and so much trouble for that 5%??????? Oh you silly billys,you can su*k my tinky winky...

[yewles1]

So they get linux back AFTER causing millions of people misery? Sad world...

[Silly gameAr]

Woop-dee-freaking-doo. Now f*** off.

[snyder2nyce]

looks like somebody disagreed on all the comments

how many people really did use otheros on their ps3 it takes 2hours to get it up and running. really y ps3 has a good cell core cpu but only 256mb ram most PCs out there have 2gb or more and its not even ubuntu

[yewles1]

lol, the only usable distro for the PS3 is Lubuntu. XD

[KingPin]

hackers will never be happy. they got the OtherOS back, but now theyl want to cheat in online games. you can give them the most open of platforms and theyl want more. example, Android phones. heres a platform that lets you develop your own tools and share it on the market. are they happy with this? no. they want root access to the phone. they want to develop apps that infringe copyrights <psx4droid comes to mind>. i mean seriously, if they want such an open platform that lets their users to whatever the hell they want to, why dont they create a multi-billion dollar company, create the hardware and the software and give it to everyone for free because they think everyone works for free so stealing games wont hurt anyone.

[billabong1985]

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[sorceror171]

Because all 'hackers' are exactly alike, and there's no difference between homebrewers and pirates and tinkerers and cheaters and so forth.

Same with 'gamers'. They're all the same. They're not satisfied with FPS, they want platformers and brawlers and RTS and RPG and minigames.

(If at this point you do not suspect sarcasm, please turn in your Internet license and shut down your browser.)

[lolwutt1234]

The thing is, with PSX4droid, considering that it runs PS1 games the makers have long-abandoned the titles, and don't care what you do with them anymore. Also, PSX4droid has nothing to do with rooting, and many people root because of the horrible manufacturer-installed software which nobody likes and you can't remove without hacking the phone. (Motoblur comes to mind, nobody likes it but you can't remove it).

[Lirky]

In a way hackers bringing otheros back will make them happy as long as they can create homebrew apps ok!

But as long as they dont do any security breaching and illegally getting things from psn store if they do none of this, but.. create their own homebrew apps for fun i honestly think it should be ok as long as they dont breach security stuff or illegally download psn games.

[supremacy]

And can you really trust them with those responsibilities? I highly doubt they will be anymore responsible then the current hackers flapping their gums for fame while denying their involvement or resposibility for issues troubling millions of users right now.

These guys aren't proffessionals in what they do, how they do it or how they even conduct themselves period. These are random people with their own motives and plans.

Take geohotz for example; the guy made videos and leaked codes out in the wild. Putting you, i and the rest of the people who invest theirs in gaming at maximun risk.

Now after that took place one couldn't even get a good game of call of duty black ops in.

How does that benifit true gamers? And if you stand up for this argument pertaining the question i just asked. Then you'll be hit with the old "you're crying because you cant play your little games?" Foul comments found in them hacking sites.

I mean isn't that what the ps3 is for? And isn't that why many bought one for?

I mean it seems like these people hate the fact that Sony is making the rules. And in return they want to be the ones doing so, like now corporation and gamers alike are supposed to fear anonymous based on their threats and history.

These guys are useless to me as i dont see anything benifitial for me as a gamer in any of their little endevours.

Its like even when they dont do something directly, others with worse intentions watch and take in what they need and enter the scene screwing many in the process. Thus making them(the hackers) responsible for it as well. Which just shows how weak and incompetent their actual strengh/stranglehold is in all this.

These guys just need to stop this already, but this wont end anytime soon.
But until then guys like me "supremacy" will disagree with them and their pointless motives.

[SomeOldMan]

"Putting you, i and the rest of the people who invest theirs in gaming at maximun risk."

No, you put yourself at risk when you used a credit card for online purchases. Me? I shop online. I don't use no steeking credit card, because I KNOW that companies like Sony have crap security.

Go get yourself a DEBIT card. Make arrangements with your bank that they will NEVER honor a transaction that would result in an overdraft. Each week/month decide how much you want to spend on line, and put that much money plus 1 dollar on your DEBIT card. Purchase. Balance of $1 means no one can rip you off for more than $1.

Use your heads, people.

[jokia005]

whoa!!!
you did? you are our HERO!!!
so please stop disturbing our gaming life.

[TronEOL]

As long as you stay off the PSN then I'll, along with millions of other gamers, will be happy. Do whatever it is you want, just make sure you block the loopholes that ruin gaming for real gamers.

Please and thank you.

[reelife]

This is just an excuse for them to pirate games. If you wanna get linux, get a PC.

[Tired]

Dear Sony,
Please take an extra week during this downtime to write some code into your new firmware that does one of the following:

1: Totaly bricks any PS3 running CFW.

2: Overclocks and disables cooling systems of breached PS3's in the vague hope they'll melt their machines or set themselves on fire.

3: Continually broadcast the users location so we can send the boys round to 'liberate the hackers skull from the tyranny of his body'

Sod the banhammer....f*ck up their machines!

[KongRudi]

Am at work, couldn't enter website due to virus on the page, might be pop-ups/adverts, since I've never been infected from that website before.

Anyway, as for OtherOS on PS3.
Sony did not remove it for breaching into RSX hypervisor, the people who made the Linux-distro for Sony added support for the memory on RSX.
After that they/hackers claimed they wanted access to 3D hardware accelration of GFX.
This they didn't get, or build. They didn't try much with the SPU's either.

GeoHOT didn't work on Linux, but he did take advantage of OtherOS runtime library, and succesfully removed GameOS access to the security SPU.

That way whoever wanted could install virus, trainers, and similar could be installed directly into our PS3's, aswell as pirated software.

He pretty much assured us that we would never see any big company offer Linux or alternative OS's for consoles again.

I don't even hope they bother making any OS available for nextgen consoles, it's just ruining for us regular customers. :-/

[Dekonega]

GeoHot's hack didn't allow that. What it did allow was unpractical and unreliable way to peek occasionally what PS3's hypervisor might be doing at some limited points.

His goal was to make OtherOS available for PS3 Slim.

I hope that golden days of personal computing come back when all major manufactures make PCs which are easy to use general purpose computer. PS3 was the closest thing to a Amiga I had seen when it came out.

[VonBraunschweigg]

"yes, Linux on the PS3 that you own!"

That says it all. They really don't care about the 99% that bought the console for gaming and who are now without PSN because of their 'efforts', and you can bet your ass it's not being done for the 1% with a healthy taste for programming either, like we saw before with that idiot Hotz...consoles are hacked for piracy, for not paying to play games. I'll bet the next news from them will be regarding the back-up installer. Perheps a NES emulator. Oh my, and they're even proud of themselves.

[REDHULKSMASH]

Geeks.

[rlm41]

Clearly all you haters, don't have the brains or have never bothered to hack/install custom firmware on a device. It opens it up to a world of "homebrew" where anyone can make their own software and share it. No limits.

[AllyOmega]

As much as I am against pirating and hacking the PS3, I'm interested in this. Before, OtherOS wouldn't allow you to access alot of the resources that the PS3 had. With this, it seems that you can now access them. It would be interesting to see what people can get running on the PS3 without the limitations of the original OtherOS. Maybe some older PC games. Maybe Minecraft!!!

[blackburn5]

F you all. It was because of people like you that caused this whole hacking crisis from the the start. Just stop talking. Shut up Anon, shut up Geohot, shut up hackers. No one asked you to do anything or fight anyone. I don't care what reason you have or if anyone agrees with me. Stop approving this $hit. No one really cared and no one still cares. Go away!!!!!! Now bring on the disagrees!!!!!

[Benjie86]

Removing the Linux option was like removing the ability for a car to drive on the interstate. Most people will be perfectly happy living in their small community, but some people want to take a trip. The people who want to take a trip are happy now because they're free to go where ever they want, and the people who didn't care for freedom just wanted to be protected from outside their community.

Another Analogy:
PS3 was actively advertised as compatible with Linux. Removing that ability was like disabling the electric motor in a hybrid car. Yes, it still works for what it was meant to do, but now it's neutered and doesn't do what it was advertised to do.

This comments section is filled with "only hackers want freedom". If you don't like freedom, Pakistan is that way -->

[SomeOldMan]

Half the people posting here don't even know what a "hacker" is. Hey, Bill Gates was a hacker. And, Steve Jobs. And, Linus Torvalds. Not to mention all those people at Sony, Nintendo, and all the other console makers. Wake up, and figure out what you're commenting on, for starters.

THEN, we just MIGHT have an intelligent conversation about hackers.

Personally, I'm a grey hat hacker. Almost, but not quite white hat. I don't much like the company of goody-two-shoes-holier-than-th ou types, so I put myself in the grey hat area.

As for all the children who are upset that they couldn't play their games for a couple weeks - grow up. Get a life. Do something with yourselves. Almost anything is better than living your lives in front of that console.

[thousandinone]

“PS3 is for games”
-That's your opinion, but many are involved in homebrew, some of us cluster multiple PS3s. It's disrespectful at BEST to strip an advertised feature after the purchase. At worst, it's criminal (consumer protection laws). Some relevant reading is just below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

“If you want linux, don't apply the FW update”
-Some of us didn't have the choice; the update was prompted when connecting to PSN, and it did not detail what it was doing. If it was clearly stated it wouldn't have been quite as bad, but it still makes you choose between PSN and OtherOS. Analogy: Buy a new car with a stereo to listen to and a manual transmission for control of the vehicle. You take it in for service at 5k miles, and after handing over the vehicle, you are told by the dealer that you now had to pick between having the car converted to automatic or losing your stereo. How is that right?
-FW updates are not JUST PSN related. Some reasons for FW updates are fixing security exploits and improving performance. Those using PSN just for online gaming are not at risk for a security exploit. Games are optimized for the factory hardware/firmware for those without internet; the performance upgrades do you apply to you. Those using our PS3s advertised feature, however, no longer have the ability to install FW updates. Given the nature of usage, this is far more of a problem for us; If I've got 5 PS3s in a small cluster running a server, and an exploit is revealed, I don't have the option of applying a FW update to resolve it. Additionally, in a clustered environment, a small performance boost in each of 5 machines is DEFINITELY noticeable.

3) PSN is down because of OtherOS hackers.
There is no link between PS3's OtherOS feature and the hacking at Sony. Look at the information that was harvested; credit card numbers. Someone interested in defrauding multiple individuals for personal gain is involved here. Some want to frame it as being out of spite, WANTING to bring down PSN. However, bringing down PSN doesn't help the OtherOS crowd any; we want our feature, but we also want security updates and the PSN functionality we paid for. If we intended to bring down PSN anyway, thereby cutting off the source of the FW updates, the security/performance argument obviously doesn't apply- were it the same individuals, it would be far more simple to just not apply the FW update.

Hopefully, I'm making sense to someone out there. While Sony's software is protected by copyright law and their EULA, that does not apply to the hardware; purchased hardware is the property of the purchaser. There ARE ports of linux to the wii, to the 360, etc, but these also disable the gaming functionality of the system (at least in its original form). The big draw of OtherOS for the PS3 was the ability to use the console for other things while keeping the original function. Sony has the right to control what is done with their software and bar access to PSN based on that. What they do not have is the right to remove our own software from our own hardware. The terms of their EULA only apply to their software, and unless I'm personally messing with PSN in breach of their EULA, they have no right to take action agaist me, and doing so is criminal. There are hardware devices available that modify the datastream between the PS3 and PSN without needing OtherOS- people using these are banned. Treat “OtherOS hackers” the same, sure, but don't punish me for someone elses sins.

[axon64]

This thread is one of the most pathetic examples of ignorant morons I've ever seen. Here is a list of things that have been said about you so far:

"I cannot believe how unbelievably stupid the general video gaming populous is.

No wonder games like Call of Duty are so popular, these people are incapable of thinking for more than 5 seconds before their brains short out."

"I can't tell whether to be angry or cry."

"These must be the same people who thought Iraq perpetrated 9/11"

"Why do Sony-paid astroturfers care if we pirate NES games?"

"Entire thread full of "no true scotsman" argument
Those hackers aren't REAL gamers, right?"

"They bought it for the games and linux was also advertised with it. The problem that they have is that it was removed and there were people that liked to use it."

"Buy car with CD player
Mechanics arbitrarily decide to remove it the next time you get your car serviced, because you don't NEED it to drive your car"

[lolwutt1234]

Why the hell are you all claiming that "hackers" and GeoHot are all there for piracy and cheating? There's no way to "pirate" games from OtherOS. There's also no way to access PSN or play ps3 games from OtherOS. OtherOS doesn't enable "cheating", and it was not ever developed with the intent on piracy.

[thousandinone]

The Sony hardware can access PSN. OtherOS can access most of the Sony hardware.

Do you really believe, in the light of recent events, that PSN is so secure as to be invulnerable to intrustion via OtherOS? The hardwares capable, the rest is software, and those using OtherOS do tend to be rather savvy in that department.

Same argument regarding piracy. Certainly, it is capable of such, at least in theory. That does not mean that it is or has been used for such; as I mentioned in my prior post, there are hardware devices available that can plug into a network between a PS3 and router/modem and actively modify the datastream between the devices.

Regardless, just because something _CAN_ be used for cheating does not mean that it is in every case, or even most. Sony still has no business removing the feature; if anything, they should be tightening up their cheat/hack detection and ban those using exploits from PSN. This would apply regardless of whether it is done via exploiting an in-game bug, using OtherOS for piracy/cheating, or using a hardware device.