Make your next PC purchase a Playstation 3
November 12th 2006 22:15
You’re probably thinking ‘he’s mad!’ I mean, who’d buy a game console under the guise of it being a PC? Well truth is gents and non-existent ladies (since women obviously don’t surf the net! It’s a paradox I say!), the Playstation 3 may end up being the first ever hybrid game console plus personal computer in one package.
With the release of the Playstation 3 in Japan (launch date in North America is 17th of November, the rest of the planet has to wait until March next year), it has been realized that the Playstation 3 can actually support any and all standard PC hard disk drives.
Subsequently (and somewhat surprising) with the release of the freely downloadable firmware for the console it has become apparent that Sony is fully intending on giving the users unprecedented access to legally modify add and take away from the Playstation 3 hardware.
So far various ‘distros’ (as they are called) of the Linux Kernel has been confirmed to work on the Playstation 3 console. Linux is the core for quite a few operating systems out there including Fedora and Ubuntu which are both free to download. Neither Fedora or Ubuntu are mainstream operating systems, that is, the user will need to have a bit of technical know how. While they can do pretty much everything Windows XP they do things differently (and by different I mean not the same).
Linux based operating systems can virtually emulate Windows though at a performance hit. You could still browse the web, check email among a variety of other menial tasks through a virtual Windows running from a Linux based operating system, just don’t expect to play modern Windows based games on the Playstation 3 (though would you really want to anyway?).
Some technical wizwaz here, a bit of trial and error there and you can easily have your own Playstation 3 computer. It can edit your documents, it can connect to the intarweb, it is extremely cheap for what you get, you can play Playstation 1, 2 and 3 games on it, but most importantly (according to Sony), it can read from Blu-Ray disks!
Price wise in Australia it is going to set you back $850 for the one with a 20 gigabyte hard drive or $1000 for the premium with a 60 gigabyte hard drive. Value for money wise it is a very powerful computer in its own right, albeit more geared towards massive simultaneous data processing (aka PLAYING TEH GAMES!!1!!1!one!!).
Remember, this isn’t for everyone, and even those with technical expertise will probably wait a bit for someone else to do it first, you never know what might happen…
On a side note, did I mention the Playstation 3 can double up as a fridge or even a barbeque? If you’re not sold on these features alone then you sir (or non-existent madam) are impossible to sell!
The Playstation 3
Subsequently (and somewhat surprising) with the release of the freely downloadable firmware for the console it has become apparent that Sony is fully intending on giving the users unprecedented access to legally modify add and take away from the Playstation 3 hardware.
So far various ‘distros’ (as they are called) of the Linux Kernel has been confirmed to work on the Playstation 3 console. Linux is the core for quite a few operating systems out there including Fedora and Ubuntu which are both free to download. Neither Fedora or Ubuntu are mainstream operating systems, that is, the user will need to have a bit of technical know how. While they can do pretty much everything Windows XP they do things differently (and by different I mean not the same).
Tux the Penguin is Linux' mascot
Some technical wizwaz here, a bit of trial and error there and you can easily have your own Playstation 3 computer. It can edit your documents, it can connect to the intarweb, it is extremely cheap for what you get, you can play Playstation 1, 2 and 3 games on it, but most importantly (according to Sony), it can read from Blu-Ray disks!
Price wise in Australia it is going to set you back $850 for the one with a 20 gigabyte hard drive or $1000 for the premium with a 60 gigabyte hard drive. Value for money wise it is a very powerful computer in its own right, albeit more geared towards massive simultaneous data processing (aka PLAYING TEH GAMES!!1!!1!one!!).
Remember, this isn’t for everyone, and even those with technical expertise will probably wait a bit for someone else to do it first, you never know what might happen…
On a side note, did I mention the Playstation 3 can double up as a fridge or even a barbeque? If you’re not sold on these features alone then you sir (or non-existent madam) are impossible to sell!
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Comment by charles
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Charles.
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Ahmed
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I agree cibby (somewhat), I think thogh tsony might shoot themselves in the foot with this little scheme (ie pirating games gets too easy). The ps3 is a really, really good computer though...
Comment by Ahmed
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Comment by charles
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That's the price without the controller, but after the conversion to Aussie dollars works out at roughly $548 and $652 respectively. A bargain AND the release date is on the 17th of Nov. (same as Nth. America).
I'm ordering mine...
Charles.
Comment by Ahmed
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Honk Kong is located in the NTSC region, were in the PAL...
Oh and one more thing, for those willing to install linux will be 'rewarded' with the ability to play snes, gba, nes and other such games, but you didn't hear that from me... no you didn't!
Comment by Adrian
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