From supercomputers to lawsuits
At PlayStation 3 Forever, we are constantly talking about the unusual features of our beloved system, and it doesn't get more unusual than for a console to allow you to install your own operating system.
This article will contain a little technical jargon, which I want to explain first, but feel free to skip if you already know it.
Operating System
An operating system is the base layer software that interacts and manages the hardware and allows you to run the programs you want to. On desktop computers, this is often Windows or perhaps MacOS, but modern video game consoles also have their own bespoke operating system, which is the layer between the game and the underlying hardware.
Linux
Linux is a type of operating system. Linux is a little bit confusing as it comes in many different ‘flavors'. Popular ones are Ubuntu, Fedora, and Debian, but they are all very similar in underlying behavior. Linux operating systems are mostly free and open source and, for that reason, are very commonly used by technology companies. Although progress has been made, most Linux operating systems still have a reputation for not being quite as user-friendly as the other big operating systems.
Other OS
Sony’s support for allowing other operating systems to run on their consoles actually goes back to the PlayStation 2 with the release of Linux for PlayStation 2. It came with a disc in the usual PlayStation 2 case, which contained a suitably prepared Linux distribution, plus a hard drive on which you would install your operating system and keep your files.
When it came to the PlayStation 3, Sony no longer needed to sell this as a separate disc; the machine already came with a hard drive, so they simply provided the OtherOS feature from the settings menu. Before proceeding with an install, you would need to download a Linux distribution from the internet and either burn it to a CD or put it on a USB stick, which you would then insert into the PlayStation 3. You’d then select the OtherOS feature and follow the instructions to create a dual-boot, where half of the hard drive was partitioned for the PlayStation 3 and the other half for your new Linux computer.
Once installed, your PlayStation 3 was now a functioning Linux machine, and with the ability to plug in a USB mouse and keyboard, you could create documents, run programs, and browse the web.
Hacking
There might have been a reason that other console developers didn’t usually support this type of feature. The problem with allowing your customers to install their own operating system on a machine means they can often get deeper into the hardware than perhaps you would like. Sony had implemented certain restraints on the PlayStation 2 and 3. They had attempted to lock down certain parts of the hardware to prevent you from copying discs, evading region locking, or circumventing a number of the different security and privacy mechanisms they were both obliged to and desired to implement. But once Pandora’s Box is open, it can be very hard to close it, and the collective intelligence of the community was able to bypass most of these over the coming years.
Purpose
So why did Sony add this ability given the potential for problems? It was hardly a mainstream feature; I can’t imagine many people bought the system specifically for this reason (although we will see some later). Well, there is a popular online theory which does at least seem to hold some truth.
Linux for PlayStation 2 was released in 2002, about two years after the system’s release. Around this time, both Europe and Japan were applying less tax, in various forms, to computers than to video game consoles, and Sony had gone to court in an attempt to get the PlayStation 2 reclassified as a computer, which would result in a tax rebate of over £30 million, but the case was rejected.
It is possible that Sony developed Linux for the PlayStation 2 in advance specifically to try and bolster their claim and have some tangible proof by showing the PlayStation 2 was a computer by the sheer definition of allowing a hard drive and a different operating system to run on it.
It’s plausible that Sony launched with the OtherOS feature for precisely the same reason. You could even make the argument that PlayStation 3’s entire positioning in the market at launch as a multi-purpose, multi-media computer was to really push hard on this classification issue to make sure they didn’t miss out like they did with the PlayStation 2, and it might also explain why in 2010, after the removal of the OtherOS feature, they decided to give up on this avenue and go “all-in” on when they re-branded the machine much more towards video games.
Personally, I have a hard time believing the entire positioning of the console would have been for that classification reason and I cannot find any evidence to suggest that they even did attempt to be classified as a computer when it came to the PlayStation 3. If we take a less cynical view and assess the feature on its own merits, it’s possible if you were a teenager or young adult who didn’t have a laptop or computer in your bedroom, installing Linux on your PlayStation 3 could give you that computer in your bedroom, and perhaps you could learn to make video games by getting involved in the homebrew scene.
Performance
Reports vary from place to place as to whether running Linux on the PlayStation 3 was even that useful. Ultimately, I believe that the PlayStation 3’s unique architecture probably made it a fairly poor general-purpose computer when a standard Linux distribution was installed on it. The PlayStation 3 was not a powerful machine for general-purpose activities as it had limited RAM, and most of its power would not likely be used by most of the applications you could run on Linux.
Supercomputer
It is well known that the US Air Force purchased around 1,760 PlayStation 3 consoles and linked them together to form a supercomputer cluster. It is quite common for consoles to be sold for less money than it takes to buy the components and assemble them, the theory being you can easily make your money back on the sales of the video game software later, which is often more profitable. This cheaper than market price, combined with the ability to run your own operating system and the unique architecture which specializes in parallel number crunching, meant it was an extremely attractive prospect when deciding how to build your next supercomputer. (See this article for more information on the PlayStation 3 supercomputer)
University departments also made use of the cheap number crunching capabilities with a number of them opting to build their own clusters too. A fascinating research paper explains in detail a method for configuring them and performing calculations. They used a total of 9 consoles to demonstrate different techniques for calculating many digits of pi; if they can make a decent supercomputer with 9, and the US Air Force had over 1700, you can only imagine the difference in scale of simulations. I myself have 4 working PlayStation 3s in my house, so I like to think I am about halfway there to owning my own supercomputer cluster.
Removal of OtherOS
When the PlayStation 3 Slim was in development, Sony decided the newer models would not support the OtherOS feature. The time had come for them to stop selling consoles at a loss, perhaps rein back on some of the wild features and put the focus back onto gaming. But initially there was no plan to remove the feature for the models that already supported it.
Then came firmware update 3.21 released in 2010 which would signal the end of OtherOS. Sony simply cited “Security concerns”. What exactly these concerns are is unknown, but I can speculate a few reasons such as possibly trying to prevent users from jailbreaking consoles through exploits in this feature or simply to protect its users, as if the user installs their own operating system they then become liable for configuring it properly and keeping it up to date with the latest security patches, and there might be a grey area here in responsibilities.
The removal of this feature sparked a class action lawsuit against Sony with some users claiming that the OtherOS feature was a reason they purchased the system in the first place and others who were already using it felt it was unfair that they would have to remove it to get the latest updates. After much back and forth in court, Sony did eventually agree to settle with customers who were affected by this change. Customers who could prove they actively used the feature could claim $55 and those who had proof of purchase and possibly with some intent they wanted to use the feature could claim $9.
Full Circle
If the theory that Sony intentionally added the OtherOS feature to ensure they were classified as a computer instead of a video game console and thus save money by paying less tax, then how funny it is to come full circle on the issue and potentially pay all that money back due to a class action lawsuit following the removal of said feature. The journey of the OtherOS feature is another fascinating tale in the history of the PlayStation 3. Another story of the console who dared to do something radical and push the boundaries of what it was. I don’t think we’ll see another video game console be turned into a supercomputer again.