Hi Rob, my comments follow yours: On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:20:56 +1100 Robert Spykerman <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 7:09 AM, Kai Staats <[email protected]> wrote: > > As a former employee of Fixstars and huge fan of YDL on the PS3, I > > offer this link with all due respect to both Sony and GeoHot: > > > > http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/01/three-years-later-the-ps3-gets-hacked.ars > > Now, I am wondering > > (1) when we will be able to actually run unsigned code on the ps3 > That depends on which Linux distributions decide to share and incorporate the code this fellow generates. It also depends which open source license he chooses to utilize. This choice (whichever it becomes) will lock out or exclude some Linux distributions as the open source licenses they participate with may be different from his. An example of this limitation exists in how the Claws Mail project had to drop utilizing Clamav from it's project because Clamav utilizes a different open source license. The "work around" can only be implemented by individuals who want to code clamav so that it works within the version of Claws Mail which they use on their own computer. In brief as to when the code will be available depends on when he releases his work and under what open source license. If you want to have a clue regarding the variety of open source licenses (and gain a better understanding of that universe) you can refer here: http://www.opensource.org/ > (2) if (1) is realized, who will rewrite the kernel (and I also would > say drivers of course) to run on an un-hypervisor-abstracted ps3... Depending under which open source license the work is finally released as a variety of projects can participate. I doubt very much whether Fixstars will participate though as they have commercial obligations to adhere to. Then again what Fixstars does or doesn't choose to do has little to do with what talented programmers will choose to do on their own anyway, if I was to guess I would believe that work would appear within Debian Linux and it's variant Ubuntu first. Slackware Linux and others may move towards this direction and others. Established commercial interests may not offer tools to facilitate this independent effort as their business obligations would be threatened or prevent them from participating. IBM for instance, announced that it ceased Cell development last December. So work at a sufficiently sophisticated and useful level which interests techncially saavy professionals may be slow to develop if at all, since most will be looking towards where IBM is going as opposed to Cell projects which IBM has abandoned. > (3) how easy/practical (1) and in fact (2) actually is...and if it > will ever actually happen. Programming for the Cell isn't easy at all. Decent discussions involving an in depth consideration of various processors was explored with the YDL Board. One such discussion is here: http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4976 There are other threads. Just search the thread discussing the PS3 and others on the YDL Board which may be informative on various informative details. In the end, there are very good reasons why IBM is moving towards heterogeneous multicore systems could look something like the Toshiba SpursEngine as that design is more effective in terms of producing working and manageable code quickly, than the Cell has been. > > Sadly. I honestly do not believe all that much will actually happen. I > hope I am wrong about this. As usual in high-tech prognostications time will prove which idea or design is the most practical. We are reading tea leaves even with the variety of experiences we may contribute to this or other discussions. In other words, unless we are directly involved with one or another project we will have to wait to observe where the various commercial and open source efforts actually lead to over time. > > I hope we will have other interesting things to play with soon, > however. The new out-of-order ARM derivatives from NVIDIA look > particulary interesting. As the Cell is dead as a development project, although it may continue for sometime development will continue "in the wild" for quite sometime another reason why commercial entities may not feel comfortable in making contributions to such efforts. Work on the Tesla though interesting, if one is looking for what is available now which is indicative of where IBM is going there is only one system on the market currently which comes close and is affordable within the current consumer market -- the Toshiba SpursEngine. It was established last year that YDL will not run on the Toshiba SpursEngine. Also Fixstars announced in December that they are supporting and developing for homogeneous multicore processors; resources being limited as they are, it is doubtful they will change their mind. The next question then really is a matter of determining which Linux will. I did come across a brief mention that the Debian variant known as Ubuntu will run on it. All the best... ========= Refranes/Popular sayings: The Taino say:No hay mal que por bien no venga. There is no evil out of which good cannot blossom.
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