Turning PlayStation Into A Supercomputer

Strategy Page ^ | December 11, 2009

[martin_fierro]

PS3 Slim doesn't do Linux any longer.

Slim's more of a Windows guy anyway.

[antiRepublicrat]

I wonder how they avoided DMCA issues. If it’s illegal to hack the system as is, isn’t it just as verboten to reverse engineer the central chip to serve as a standalone processor?

The first PS3 versions (the ones with the first body style) come included with the ability to run Linux. It's right there in the menu to install another OS, no hacking required. Unfortunately, Sony removed that ability in the new lower-power slim version, supposedly to lower cost.

Variations of the chip itself are available to purchase though. You can get the PS3's Cell processor in an IBM blade server, and the #1 Roadrunner supercomputer is built out of Opterons and a version of the Cell with double-precision SIMD units.

[antiRepublicrat]

I thought the PS3 only allowed the user to run Linux in a mode such that the user only had access to one processor and zero access to the graphics processor

The PS3 runs Linux under a hypervisor, and like any game it only has access to six of the seven SPEs plus the main PowerPC unit. Yes, RSX access is still restricted.

[antiRepublicrat]

Just so everybody is aware, computers made from GPUs are not the same as general-purpose supercomputers, their awesome power can only be harnessed for embarassingly parallel operations.

The Folding@Home people explained it best. A GPU can do a small subset of jobs, but it can do them very fast. A CPU can do any job, but not so fast. The Cell processor lies in the middle in terms of performance and what it can do. Technically, the Cell in the PS3 can do anything since it also has a PowerPC core, but it gets its supercomputing speed from the more limited SPEs.

[Pharmboy]

Hmmm...and to think that I was proud of myself for hooking my PS3 up to my WiFi and getting instant Netflix downloads. Everything’s relative...

[Constitution Day]

LOL!

I don’t know what I find more funny, the “Favorite Farm Animals” icon, or the “Adobe Paint By Numbers” program minimized in the toolbar. ;)

[Tijeras_Slim]

What you can’t see is “Virtual Spitoon” in the games folder.