Well, I have known for a while now that I really should learn to use some form of the Linux OS, but I have never had the dough to spend on piecing together a custom machine just for the purpose of installing and running it. Lucky for me there was a cheap solution sitting right under my nose.

Right from the get-go, Sony had built the Playstation 3 with support for third-party operating systems. So after a little research, I decided to install Yellow Dog Linux on my console. From what I gather, certain versions of YD have been created specifically for use on the Sony console.

The install process was not without problems. After installation of the bootloader, the Linux installation process would freeze on me every time. I re-downloaded the ISO file(s), re-burned the images to DVD’s and rebooted the console at least a dozen times and nothing was helping. Finally, after much time spent researching my issues online, I found out my only problem was that the USB keyboard I was using (Logitech G15) was causing I/O errors during installation. I switched it out with an old USB keyboard and retried the installation process and everything worked like a charm!

I haven’t had much time to spend with the OS yet, mostly because it is a pain in the rear to unplug the mouse from the PC and put it into the console, move my keyboard out of the way to make room for the old one – and finally, the PS3 only has 256MB of RAM and so Linux isn’t quite the fastest OS I have ever used!

Much more stuff to go over in the coming days though! A little patience is all I need.