Is Linux the secret weapon of Sony PlayStation 3?

While the hype around PlayStation 3 is considerably building up, due to improved games selection and price cuts, one of the potential killer features of the console has not received too much media attention. Future will show if I am correct, but Sony’s strategic decision to allow Linux installation on the console may turn out to be a ace in their sleeve. Linux makes it possible for any capable coder to develop software on the might PS3 hardware, which makes it more of a HTPC than just a game console. One killer application that made Xbox 1 eventually a success, was the XBMC - the Xbox Media Center. While Xbox 360 remains to be a closed enviroment, the possibility to develop PS3 software on Linux should result in some excellent applications developed for the platform.

Terra Soft Solutions develops the YellowDog Linux, especially desgined for Sony PS3, IBM Cell and Apple Power PC environments. With Yellow Dog installed your PS3 is suddenly running FireFox browser, image manipulation software (GIMP), Instant Messaging (Pidgin), VOIP, Thunder bird e-mail and even OpenOffice - just like a regular PC! There are also instructions on the web to hack other Linux distributions into PS3, including the highly popular Ubuntu and Fedora.

While a Linux distribution brings full blown desktop PC features on the PS3, things get even more interesting if we start thinking what can be build on top of that. On interesting idea would be to use a PS3 Linux as a front-end for the MythTV HTPC system. In this setup the MythTV server side would handle the reception and recording of television broadcasts, streaming them to PS3 (the client side) for playback. So the Ps3 would bring the front-end to the living room, while the back-end server is doing the actually work, somewhere out of sight (or in the living room as well, if you are a true geek :)).

As we already mentioned Xbox Media Center (XBMC), it is well worth pointing out that it is actually being ported to Linux platform for PS3 usage! I have not used XBMC a lot, but it has been hyped for excellent user interface and functionality and it really is a must have for any Xbox 1 owner, extending the console functionality to whole new areas. With the talented XBMC developers combined with the Linux Ps3 platform, we can expected a lot from this project - it would even be possible to include MythTV to XBMC, which would make it a real all-in-one solution as a media center software. XBMC for Linux is currently at some kind of a pre-alpha stage, so the work has been progressing well.

This will be an interesting year for PlayStation 3 and all signs suggest that 2008 will show a turn-around in the next-gen console market. There is a lot of suppressed demand as many consumers have been waiting for the price reductions and more available games (and perhaps the end of HD DVD vs. Blu-ray war). Now the prices are down, game line-up is improving with some killer titles upcoming and interesting software developement for PS3 Linux evolving. I talked to a local e-tailer of home electronics, and they said that their PS3 demand has been booming over the last two months. Can’t wait to see what the year 2008 has to offer for PS3!