- Jan 27, 2005
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http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4621
This looks promising. I know F@H had some news about working with Sony to harness the power of the Cell for distributed computing. Of course we're all going to have to wait to see just how well it'll pan out, but this looks promising. If the cell performance is anything like the new GPU clients for F@H this means ALOT more science can be done in the same ammount of time. That's great news no matter what you're crunching on.
Sony has said in the past that the PlayStation 3 would render traditional PCs useless given its powerful processing platform and Linux-based operating system. "We believe that the PS3 will be the place where our users play games, watch films, browse the Web, and use other [home] computer functions. The PlayStation 3 is a computer. We do not need the PC," said Sony's Phil Harrision in late May.
It appears that Harrison's dream is coming true. The PS3 hasn't even been released yet, but Colorado-based Terra Soft has announced a 3rd-party Linux-based operating system for the console. Yellow Dog Linux v5.0 fully supports the PlayStation 3 platform, is built on Fedora Core 5.0 and brings the following to the table:
* kernel 2.6.16
* gcc 4.1.1 and glibc 2.4
* Cell SDK 1.1
* OpenOffice.org 2.0.2
* FireFox 1.5.0 and Thunderbird 1.5.0
* Nautilus 2.14
* Suite of Personal Accessories, Development Tools; Sound & Video, Internet, and
* Networking applications
The operating system will come with an easy to use installer to make installation a breeze. For those that are little more adventurous, a more advanced installer will be available giving users access to over 1,500 packages. According to Terra Soft, Yellow Dog Linux v5.0 is fully sanctioned by SCEI and incorporates code and input from Sony, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Sony Group, and Fedora.
With this announcement, it makes more sense for buyers to rush for the high-end version of the PS3. That version?s a 60GB hard drive, wireless adapter and media reader would make the most of using the PS3 as a PC replacement.
This looks promising. I know F@H had some news about working with Sony to harness the power of the Cell for distributed computing. Of course we're all going to have to wait to see just how well it'll pan out, but this looks promising. If the cell performance is anything like the new GPU clients for F@H this means ALOT more science can be done in the same ammount of time. That's great news no matter what you're crunching on.