[madshaun1984]

Hi, I was bored yesterday, so I decided to try and install ubuntu onto my ps3 without formatting my ps3's hdd (I didnt want to backup my hdd etc... as I dont have a big enough ext hdd to backup to)

For this tut you will need an external usb HDD, (any size will do, but I used a 60gb) unfortunatly a 2gb pen drive just wont cut it for this, it will run out of space during the install and just fail, it may work on a 4 gb flash drive but I dont have one to test.

Thing's you will need...

A usb pen drive/sd card
A usb hdd (any size above 5gb should do)
A usb keyboard
A usb mouse
A blank cd/dvd


The tut...

1) download a copy of Ubuntu 8.10 and burn it off (please note.. you will need a version that is designed for the ps3 as the normal ubuntu desktop will not work on the ps3 the download will state if its a ps3 version) (if you dont know how to do this please just walk away now, your more than likely just end up killing your ps3)

2) download petitboot (the otherOS.bld) and copy it to a pen drive it needs to go into the following folder, (there is a copy of petitboot on the ubuntu iso, but I saved some time and while it was downloading got a newer version of petitboot myself, the version I have posted to has the optional screen resolutions)

X:\PS3\OTHEROS\otheros.bld

3) turn on your ps3 and insert the pen drive with the otheros.bld file on it, scroll to settings/system settings/install otheros, and hit x, now ignore the warning that pops up saying that you need to format your ps3 hdd, in order to use otheros, and just follow the instructions to install petitboot,

4) once your ubuntu disk is ready insert it into the ps3 and on the xmb goto settings/system settings/default OS, and select otheros as the default, when it asks if you want to change to otheros now, say yes and wait for the ps3 to reboot,

5)you should now be presented with the petitboot loader screen, (if your screen has gone blank or is out of range, press keyboard buttons 1/2/3 to toggle through the various screen resolutions available if you still cant see anything pressing del on the keyboard will boot you back into the gameOS, try changing your screen resoultion to something more suitable there, and then restart the tut from step 4)

6) use either your keyboard or mouse to select the disc icon then select the install_no_splash option ( I havent tried the normal install option so I can say that it works, and theres a chance it will fail as the ps3 only allows 256mb ram to be used)

7) follow the onscreen instructions until you get to the partition managment bit,

8) at the partition options screen choose manual, then highlight your ext usb hdd, and hit enter, say yes to using the whole drive, then highlight the usb hdd again, select the option just below the one before, (sorry I cant rememebr what it say's but it your hdd's partition anyway) and choose to automatically partition the hdd, you should now have a swap partition and an ext3 partition, on the usb hdd,

9) carry on following the onscreen instructons to complete the installation,

10) once the installation has finished and you have removed the disc and logged into ubuntu, if your screen resolution isnt right please follow the instructions in this link to get a resolution set up thats good for you,

http://www.haxnetwork.net/showthread.php?t=2955

11)Enjoy



download links

Petitboot
http://ozlabs.org/~jk/projects/petitboot/

Ubuntu 8.10 for ps3
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/8.10/release/

MadS,

[itotrokhard]

does this format the external hdd and wipe its data

does it install ubuntu on the ps3 or the external hdd

[weed37]

No it does not format your external hdd and yes it installs ubuntu on your ps3

[itotrokhard]

one last thing does it wipe the data on the ps3

[madshaun1984]

No the ps3's hdd isnt touched at all, (other than the otherOS install bit, that takes about 6mb of space max)

[itotrokhard]

im stuck in petitboot and i have accidentally selected it as a default how do i stop this.

[madshaun1984]

At the top of this site there is a chat option, join there and I'll try and walk you through it,

I suspect your having issues with the display for petitboot, if so use buttons 1 2 or 3 on the keyboard to switch resolutions till you get a display, else press the del key to boot back to gameOS.

[itotrokhard]

dont worry i have solved the problem

[itotrokhard]

ive found no option for "install with no splash"

and

"not all parts of the gnu parted support this at the moment, and working code is highly experimental." is this safe??

[SamusKnight2K]

EDIT: Scratch that, I should've looked more closely at the posts above. My bad.