Installing and Running Linux on Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3): It is possible to install and run Linux on the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game console (not-including the PS3 Slim model). In fact, there are plenty of distros that are compatible with the PS3 such as Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Yellow Dog, and Gentoo.

Believe or not Sony playstation is not supporting Linux anymore, as announced on the Playstation blog, they droped the support for Linux based operating systems, by removing the "Other OS" option from XMB (XrossMediaBar) in its PlayStation 3 gaming console. This started the 1st of april after their latest firmware update.

This month we're focusing our attention on Sony. Sony has been in the news a lot recently: suing developers for figuring out how to run free software on their PlayStation 3 consoles. Both George Hotz (geohot) and more recently, Graf Chokolo -- operator of the PS3 Hypervisor Reverse Engineering blog have been harrassed by Sony, with Graf Chokolo having his home raided on Feb 23rd.

Most people welcomed the news that the Sony PlayStation 3 was slimming down, both in physical size and in terms of off the shelf pricing. The Linux crowd are not so impressed however.

Hacker Geohot claims he has a plan to permit PlayStation 3 (PS3) users to continue running Linux on the gaming system, despite Sony's announcement that it will block alternate operating system installs. On Sunday, Sony announced that a 3.21 update due on April 1 will prohibit the installation of alternate installations, due to security concerns.

After Sony's PS3 slim announcement last week, many fans were dismayed the new model would no longer include backwards compatibility and the option to run Linux as an alternative operating system. Sony stated the console's ability to run PS2 games wasn't a major "purchase intent driver" and therefore not worth the cost of including, yet remained relatively silent on the missing "OtherOS" option.

Sony's announcement of the new PS3 Slim has excited gamers worldwide, but people wanting to run Linux on the console have been shunned with the removal of its 'Install Other OS' feature.

Sony are removing the "Install Other OS" option from all PS3s citing "security concerns" for the change which will block Linux from running on the console

Why install Linux on the Sony PlayStation 3? Two reasons: 1) because you can, and 2) to take advantage of the console's wildly powerful Cell Broadband Engine processor. Software developer Matthew Scarpino offers a recipe for installing Fedora Core 9 on the PS3.