It has been over a year since Sony released a firmware that disabled the OtherOS function on the PS3, several people at the time took court case’s, but none as yet have been fruitful, it seems that Sony has won in removing its OtherOS, or has it.
Just recently the Norwegian, Consumer Council has stated that the removal of OtherOS breaks its marketing act, Thomas Nortvedt from the Consumer Council, states that consumers have very little rights when it comes to games consoles he also states that the Consumer Council, should set an example of how much a company should be allowed to strip away from a machine, here is a roughly translated quote from the source:

Consumer Council are now choosing to complain about the game console PlayStation 3, the Consumer Ombudsman. It is after they received several complaints in 2010 that they have chosen to go through the terms of use for the machine, and thus argue that Sony marketing violates the Act.

According to the Consumer Council is the removal of the feature that gave consumers the ability to install Linux as the core of the matter.

- Consumer Council received during 2010 several complaints about a software update for PlayStation 3, which removed the ability to use other operating system other than the manufacturer’s own. The change meant that consumers, including lost opportunity to install Linux and use the console as a normal PC for web surfing, playing legal copies of films or music, or use another software chosen, according to the Consumer Council.

It was in April 2010 that Sony updated the hardware on the PlayStation 3 machines, where they removed the ability to install alternative operating systems. This function has previously been completely open and supported by Sony.

If consumers still want to play PS3 games have no real opportunity to turn down the update - because newer games require the latest version of the hardware update. The removal of this feature should also have been the motivation for the hacker George “Geohot” Hotz recently “opened” the PS3 machine for all time.

Right Resolve consumers

According to Thomas Nortvedt from the Consumer Council, owners of gaming consoles has very few rights.

- When the Sony via the web link to the game console can remove significant properties under the guise that this is an update, so it shows how poorly made the digital consumer in reality, “said Nortvedt in a statement.

- Sony gives itself the right to modify or remove features of the game console of their well-being. We consider this as an obvious violation of the Marketing Act and not least in confidence between producer and consumer.

He adds that there are examples where manufacturers exploit consumers’ lack of rights to remove features, without the consumer’s ability to turn down the changes.

Nortvedt believes it must set an example of how much can be stripped away from a product.

- There must be a limit to what can be considered reasonable changes in the products we buy. Terms of agreement which provides manufacturers free to downgrade the product or reduce the functionality is unreasonable and in violation of the law, “said Thomas Nortvedt in the press release.

- When it used terms such as updates and upgrades, arouses the legitimate expectation that the quality of the product gets better, not that you risk being left with an inferior product.

NB! The lawyer representing Nordisk Film Interactive had no opportunity to comment on this matter to the press four.

According to Nordisk Film Interactive, which is the supplier of the PlayStation 3, there are just under 400,000 PlayStation 3 machines in Norwegian homes.

Thomas Nortvedt

For those of you interested, here is more information on the Norwegian Consumer Agency

Source

Thanks to Multibluesboy and advocatusdiaboli for the tip

A PS3HaX member, by the name of PlayOS Developer has released information, on a project he is working on, here is a quote from the original post:

Thanks to PS Jailbreak, I’ve been able to finally make a proper running version of the first custom PS-Dedicated operating system “PlayOS”

PlayOS is a Linux-Based system.
It takes up 730MB of your external hard drive as it runs off External Media (Backup Manager).
Easy to use.
Built-in dedicated web browser “PlayBrowse”.
Compatible with 3.41 only.
You need to have a development board! Will not work with mobile phones except the Nokia N900 (Will have to look into this).
Video coming soon.
Hardware acceleration (just like OS X) enabled. This means .mkv files in 1080p!
Support for file types:
.zip
.tar
.gz
.mp3
.avi
.mp4
.divx
.exe - ONLY PlayOS Coded ones! Windows applications will not work with this.

I’ll tease you with some pics for now

This operating system will be a ps3hax.net exclusive

To view the original thread, or to thank PlayOS Developer, visit his thread HERE

Please note that we have labeled this as a fake.

KrisAbsinthe (blog here) has emailed us today with a project he has been working on that seems quite interesting. Apparently he has managed to add some more functions to the PS3 XMB, including maybe the reactivation of OtherOS and more. Proof of concept screenshot below:

To quote:

Ok I found a way to add some more functions to the XMB. As a POC I edited the PSN XML file swapping the and I left all the functions in their place, just swapped which View id was allowed to use which functions. Here is a screen shot of the new PSN menu, still not able to sign in due to Software Update. However there are quite a few of these I can swap, more to come!

EDIT: ORIGINALLY I SAID THIS WOULD PROBABLY NOT BRING BACK OTHEROS. Now I have to move that to the “It Just might” catagory. I realized that I was using an old flash image from before I installed otheros with the EBOOT.BIN swap method. Technically I can add ANY entry I want. and it can point to any file I want. So Maybe I can make it work, DONT GET YOUR HOPES TOO HIGH…But remain cautiously optimistic.

Ok guys so good news at last, one of our IRC members c4pt has just managed to get the otheros installer working on his ps3. But as for now it wont load anything as you can see from these pictures. This is the installer showing up as ready to load but when you try to run the installer you get this error

Below is a bad quality video of the current process. Time will tell if we have otheros working eventually.

Thanks again to c4pt for this work

For those still who miss OtherOS on the PS3, which was removed with FW 3.21, PCWorld writes a good article asking for the return of OtherOS. Of course it is highly unlikely that the feature will be added again, but who knows…maybe Sony will remove USB support soon too.

To quote:

Although I never found much utility in Other OS, a Playstation 3 feature that could turn the console into a basic computer running Linux, my heart went out to people who used Other OS before Sony scrapped it.

Sony said it removed Other OS in March to “protect the integrity of the console,” possibly because one hacker came too close to exploiting the feature in a way that would allow piracy. But now, OzModChips claims to have the first PS3 modchip on a USB stick. In theory, this allows people to play bootleg and homebrew games and make disc backups. Supposedly, it can also bypass firmware updates that Sony might use to banish the hack.

If Sony’s piracy safeguards have indeed fallen, I propose that Sony should bring back Other OS. After all, once the integrity of the console is lost, there’s no point in protecting it at the expense of users who did no harm.

A typical argument against draconian anti-piracy measures goes like this: Such attempts are pointless, because they eventually fail, and the only people who suffer are paying customers who have to jump through hoops. That argument didn’t apply to the Playstation 3, because it was rock solid against hackers for almost four years, and legitimate customers were none the wiser.

With the removal of Other OS, everything changed. A feature was lost, and now it appears that Sony’s previously unhackable machine is defeated through unrelated means. I’m skeptical of OzModChips’ solution, which costs $170, until it’s verified by an independent source, but if it’s legitimate, why should Sony pretend that removing Other OS keeps the Playstation 3′s integrity intact?

[VIA]

As i reported a few times on the forum, several PS3 owners are suing Sony for the removal of the Other OS, an undisclosed, source of Maxconsole has reported to them, that all the Other OS lawsuits, will be combined into one huge lawsuit, here is what Maxconsole said:

Here’s the information a source received from a legal offering (who has given to us and wishes to remain anonymous):

In essence, the claims in these cases are that Sony Computer Entertainment of America (“Sony”) falsely represented that PS3 purchasers would be able to use their PS3s as a computer by installing another operating system, such as Linux. In a recent firmware update, Sony removed the ability of consumers to utilize this feature. As a result, seven class actions were filed against Sony in federal court in San Francisco, California.

We are pleased to announce that, at the request of all counsel, United States District Judge Richard Seeborg has consolidated all of the pending class actions against Sony relating to “Other OS” litigation into one action. As part of that consolidation, the attorneys in the consolidated actions agreed upon an organizational structure to prosecute this action against Sony as a united front. At the request of all of the attorneys, Judge Seeborg ordered that three law firms with offices in San Francisco where the litigation is pending will serve as co-lead counsel (Calvo & Clark, LLP; Finkelstein Thompson, LLP; and
Hausfeld, LLP). We are also pleased to announce that Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. has been appointed by the various plaintiffs’ law firms as the firm responsible for acting as a liaison with you and other potential class members. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any inquiries you may have concerning the litigation, and we will periodically update you as developments warrant.

The next step in the litigation is to file a Consolidated Class Action Complaint, which we anticipate filing by the end of the month. Sony will then respond to the Complaint, and we will return to the Court in September to discuss the next steps of the litigation.

Source

Here is a list of links, for information regarding the names of Judges and Lawyers mentioned above.
Judge Richard Seeborg
Calvo & Clark
Finkelstein Thompson
Hausfeld
Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C.

Rancid(o) from Demonhades.org has created a tutorial on how to build a Toolchain and Bootloader, this will only work if you have a fat PS3 on firmware 3.15 or below.

A translated quote from the site:

Rancid (o) leaves us this tutorial to build and make ready the toolchain Playstation 3, thus we can begin to create or BLD for homebrew applications and initiate us into the world of programming the PS3 linux distro without an installed .

Remember that the BLD generated may only be used on consoles less than 3.15, because as you know sony withdrawal otheros use in later versions.

To view the tutorial, click on this link:
Demonhades.org

Disane has made this awesome tutorial, on setting up a GNU Tool-chain on an IDE (Integrated Development Enviroment) on the PS3.

A quote from the tutorial:

Let’s start with a FAQ, shall we:

“Why did you write this tutorial? Why should I bother reading it?”

Sony took out OtherOS a month ago and forced people to upgrade in order to be able to use their PS3s for games and to access PSN. Now, I know some of you are stuck on ver. 3.15 and waiting for the glorious days of homebrew to come. If you’re the person I’m talking about then this tutorial is for you. This tutorial gives you a bit of insight on how homebrew can be made on the PS3. The experience and knowledge you gain here can also benefit you when we can finally run unsigned code on GameOS.

“What kind of applications can we write on the PS3?”

We can write any kind of application on the PS3-Linux even games (Which Sony really doesn’t like to hear, no wonder they’ve taken out Linux before anyone could make a graphics accelerator for the PS3-Linux.) or user applications. Many tools and libraries were ported on PowerPC64 in the recent time (the 64 bit architectures are taking over, we can’t really do anything about this ). There’s also a chance that we can run our code on the XMB (VSH) side of the PS3 some day. You can’t really start homebrew development too early . A tutorial came out a few days ago on how to run XBMC on the PS3. But it runs damn slow. Well you could be the one who could utilize the SPUs to gain some speed and make it run faster. You never know unless you try

“But you can install the cell simulator on the PC why would you bother with coding on the PS3?”

Well, this is all true, you can install the Cell System Simulator and work on that. But it requires Linux installed on your PC. Also in some cases the user doesn’t have the luxury to have another computer at home or when he’s/she’s traveling a lot and can only carry one computer (or a console in our case). There are some other benefits you can gain by coding directly on your PS3. You don’t have to configure a system simulator, you can directly run and debug your code on the target platform and see how the hardware reacts.

Alright, let’s see what do we need in order to get started:
- a PS3 with Linux installed (as I mentioned I used Ubuntu ver. 9.10 codename Karmaic)
- able to access the Internet on your PS3-Linux
- mouse and keyboard (the PS3 supports all kinds of keyboards and mice)
- Cell SDK (I’ll show you how to install it and configure your development environment so don’t panic),WxWidgets 2.8+,libcurl (which you can get by installing “gnome-core-devel build-essential”, again don’t panic I’ll reveal the process to you).
- the source code of Codelite 2.5.2 (build 4031), which you can find here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/codelite/files/Releases/codelite-2.5/codelite-2.5.2.4031.tar.gz/download
- and my tutorial of course

READ FULL TUTORIAL HERE

Not being able to update PS3 firmware without losing the OtherOS function, makes Jack a dull boy, or it gives madshaun1984 the extra encentive to do what he has been planning to do for a long time, but has been too busy to do so before.

madshaun1984 has wanted to have XMBC Media Center running on his PS3 for several months, but as XBMC needs to have 3D support, this was never possible, however over the past couple of days he decided to compile the CellSDK and compile drivers in order to try and get XBMC running.

Today, he succeeded in his work and now has XBMC running on his PS3, it is quite slow, but don’t forget, this is still work in progress and not the finished product, madshaun1984 will keep working at it, if you are still able to install Linux on your PS3 and would like to help madshaun1984 or help towards making XBMC run perfectly on the PS3, give Shaun a shout on IRC, by clicking the chat button at the top of this board, or by PMing him.

The Proof:

Just a final message to madshaun1984, well done, i knew you could do it

JaicraB has posted on his blog, releasing his OtherOS base exploit and source code.

To quote form his blog:
PD2:
Here you have a minimum base to build the otheros.bld. The functions are described.

Call table incorporates LV1 and ASM functions. This ready to assemble the mechanism of the exploit. I hope this helps those concerned who did not know where to start. It has been compiled with the toolchain pdaXrom.
BLD:D: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FUUYJ5B9

Source Code for Base Exploit:http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IY7QBX7Z
<

[VIA]

Remember JaicraB, the guy who managed to dump the PS3 hypervisor and tell us how he did it? Well looks like he is back to work again and released his KeyFindPuP application and more information on his current progress.

To quote below (translated):

Good! For business reasons I have not had occasion to pursue my hobby. Although we have less time to devote some time still.

We stayed with the method of Dump LV2, but will not be entirely useful without appropriate software, which is why I open the door in case anyone wants to help do not hesitate.

Contact [email protected]. HadesTeam? A small nonprofit group, we just like to learn. This group consists mainly of the following persons: JaicraB, DemonHades, Calimba, DanteHades and Druid. That said, do not hesitate to help.

Mainly we want to Lv2? As you know the PUP has a number of checks with Hmac_Sha1. If we make a clean dump of the process of installation of the Key PUP Hmac_sha1 achieve in this struggle to unpack a PUP to carry out changes and re-create the Hash.

How?

We need a otheros.bld as simple as cash. A BLD with built the exploit and a stand to dump the memory. If someone offers volunteer program, contact. Once we have the dump is necessary to search for the Key. I have designed a program which facilitates the task: jaic_Hmac_sha1_file.zip Provide us find the Key.

Extra Information

The installation of the PUP has three phases:
1. Checking the hash described in PUPHeader.bin
2. UPDATE to unpack the hard disk cache area Fat32.
3. Verification and update of hardware modules.

Process

Having a second hard drive formatted with the PS3 and have the BLD (see above). Enter the first drive and enter the recovery with the PUP in a USB.

The first process to run the PUP from the recovery checks described in the file hashes PUPHeader.bin. If everything is correct UPDATE unpacks the hard disk. At that time makes a reset and return to continue the installation.

At that time you restart and have lost the KEY, as it would be replaced by other data. Solution? Motherboard Keep constantly fed and cause instant shutdown.

“The next day the board will explain how to keep the system fed without being noticed. (Is curious to see the fan on the hard drive and other peripherals and the red light on.) Also explain how to cause instant off with a small bug on the BIOS controlled.”

With these two methods can turn off the PS3 at any time hold the RAM and make a Dump.

Objectives

Getting the key to restructuring a Hmac_Sha1 and PUP. The advantage of being able to change modules update. If you want to help [email protected].

Today, not having the special BLD we are investigating the BD player with good results. Greetings!

[Download KeyFindPuP for PS3 Dumps ]
[VIA]

As i reported here last week, a PS3 owner decided to take Sony to court over the removal of the Other OS feature, today, the PS3 owners attorney spoke to IGN about the case, this is what she had to say.

Many IGN readers wanted to know what this all means for them, so we spoke to Rebecca Coll, the attorney from the firm Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. who filed the suit against Sony. She helped break down the court process behind this class action lawsuit and what PS3 owners should be aware of going forward.

Coll said it’s entirely too early in the case to predict when this might go to trial. But she said everyone who purchased a PS3 can be included.

We are going to ask the court to let us proceed as a nationwide class action. If the court agrees, the court will ‘define the class,’” she told IGN. “Right now, our proposed ‘class definition’ includes everybody in the country who bought the PS3 from the time of launch until March 27, 2010.”

“This class definition reflects, in part, that Sony commanded a much higher price for the gaming console based on the functionality of the ‘Other OS’ feature at the time of its launch and trumpeted the ‘Other OS’ feature in its subsequent marketing,” she explained. “As a result, consumers paid much more for a product than they should otherwise have been charged now that Sony has disabled the ‘Other OS’ feature.”

“If the court adopts this definition, then everyone fitting within that definition would automatically be included in the class action, unless they choose to ‘opt out,’” she added.

Coll explained that notifications of the class action will then be sent to PS3 owners through various ways.

“Once the court defines the class, the court will order that the ‘class’ receive notice of the action,” she said. “Notice methods vary. Sometimes notice is by publication in newspapers, by mail, by email, through internet postings, or any combination of those” she said. “The notice will advise class members how long they have to ‘opt out’ of the class. Sometimes, if there is a settlement at or before the time the class is certified, this ‘class notice’ also lets people know how they can file a claim, and tells people the deadline to file their claims.”

“In other words, people technically do not need to do anything to ‘sign on’ to the lawsuit—if they fit within the class definition then they are automatically part of it unless they affirmatively ask to be let out of it after the class is certified,” she explained.

Coll said PS3 users are encouraged to contact the firm to share their experiences. The group is compiling a database of dissatisfied Sony consumers, and will provide status updates as the litigation unfolds. Head over to their website to learn more.

As for what PS3 owners interested in this case should do in the meantime, Coll said to hang onto your console, packages, and receipts (if you have them) until this litigation is over.

Source:
What the PS3 Class Action Lawsuit Means For You

Also for those of you wishing to get involved:
If you bought a PS3 and would like to receive additional information, please send an e-mail message to [email protected]
or visit here

As we all know, on the first of April, Sony released a firmware update, which killed the Other OS function, this upset quite a lot of PS3 users, in an interview with IT website  THINQ, Sony has apologized, here is what that website says.

We asked Sony UK to respond to reports that at least one user had received a partial refund from Amazon UK in compensation for the fact that part of the device’s advertised functionality had been removed.

A Sony spokesman told us:

We are sorry if users of Linux or other operating systems are disappointed by our decision to issue a firmware upgrade which when installed disables this operating system feature. We have made the decision to protect the integrity of the console and whilst mindful of the impact on Linux or other operating system users we nevertheless felt it would be in the best interests of the majority of users to pursue this course of action.

As you will be aware we have upgraded and enhanced functionality and features of the console by numerous firmware upgrades over time and this is a very rare instance where a feature will be disabled.  Further enhancements are in the pipeline.

Users do have the choice whether to install the firmware upgrade and this is clearly explained to them at the time the firmware upgrade is made available for installation. Furthermore our terms and conditions clearly state that we have the right to revise the PS3′s settings and features in order to prevent access to unauthorised or pirated content.

Whilst we fully understand why Sony has decided to remove this function from the PS3 OS, and  that users are free not to install the firmware upgrade, we also understand that not installing the latest firmware will prevent users from accessing a number of online services including the Playstation Network.

We’re also not quite clear how Sony’s EULA can be used to contravene European Directive 1999/44/EC which quite clearly states that goods must be be “fit for the purpose which the consumer requires them and which was made known to the seller at the time of purchase”.

We’re pretty sure the proportion of users who bought a PS3 for its ability to run Linux is tiny compared to the many millions in circulation, but they are a vocal minority to say the least.

Our readers are asking us why Sony can, despite EU law, remove an advertised and documented part of the system to protect its own interests.

We’d also like to know whether Sony will be reimbursing Amazon and other retailers for any further refunds they are forced to offer under the law.

We’ve put these questions to Sony UK and await a response.

We have also spoken to the Office of Fair Trading and Consumer Direct who tell us they cannot comment until an official complaint has been made.

Title says it all. GregoryRasputin has posted on the forums that GeoHot announced his CFW for the PS3, which enables OtherOS on 3.21. He also says that it might be a way to enable it on the slimline PS3s

From the blog:

Here is a video demoing my “custom firmware”. I would have added something showing off the new features of 3.21, but oh wait, there aren’t any.

This can be installed without having to open up your PS3, just by restoring a custom generated PUP file, but only from 3.15 or previous. It’s possible this CFW will also work on the slim to actually *enable* OtherOS; I’ll know when my infectus gets here.

No release date yet, use the proxy hack to play online with 3.15

Note to the people who removed OtherOS, you are potentially turning 100000+ legit users into “hackers.” There was a huge(20x) traffic spike to this blog after the announcement of 3.21. If I had ads on this site I guess I’d be thanking you.

Head onto the thread to see the video of the firmware, and to post your comments.

JaicraB has released his method on how he dumped the PS3 Hypervisor LV2. The method does require soldering and is not for the inexperienced.

[VIA]

If you are planning to stay on pre-3.21 firmware on your PS3 you can still connect to PSN on lower firmware via PS3 proxy.

The method is old but has been working for a while now. You can view the tutorial here.

UPDATE: A very easy method posted by Aaron can be found here (noob-friendly):
[Connect To PSN Without Updating (NOOB WAY)]

PS3 Firmware 3.21 “upgrade” was released today, and as posted earlier, it does block OtherOS support. It is highly recommended that if you have one of the “phat” PS3′s that you do not update at this time as their are rumors of PS3 custom firmware, and potential safe way of upgrading preserving OtherOS.

[Download PS3 3.21 Firmware Update]

If you have not heard by now, Sony plans to block OtherOS on FW 3.21 on April 1st. This seems to have made GeoHot angry and he has posted two new blog posts expressing his anger to Sony and promising PS3 custom firmware.

Don’t Update
A note to people interested in the exploit and retaining OtherOS support, DO NOT UPDATE. When 3.21 comes out, I will look into a safe way of updating to retain OtherOS support, perhaps something like Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher. I never intended to touch CFW, but if that’s how you want to play…

His second post:

Wait, you are removing a feature?
First off, I want to apologize to all the people who use Linux on their PS3. Before releasing, I weighed the pros and cons, and considered the possibility of an impact on OtherOS support. My logic was this. OtherOS support had already been removed from the Slim(not for technical reasons; I believe it only existed in the first place to promote the Cell for IBM) The builders had apparently no intention of including it in future products. So for the purposes of openness why not release? Not like anything else has(or probably will be) done on the PS3.

Now you go and remove a feature that people expected to be included with the expensive device they purchased, citing “security concerns”. What security concerns? It’s not like the exploit can be run even close to without the users knowledge. You have to open the fucking thing up. How could this harm users? Your blog post doesn’t list positive reasons for upgrading like I think most users expect. Instead it lists things you will lose if you don’t upgrade. Seriously?

The PlayStation 3 is the only product I know that loses features throughout it’s life cycle. Software PS2 emulation, SACD playback, and OtherOS support are all just software switches you can flip. It’s unbelievable you would go and flip one, not just on new boxes you are shipping, but on tens of millions already in the field.

Again I’m sorry users. Sony, I expected more from you.

Maybe this was the boost we were waiting for? Time will only tell now in the next few days, and remember not to upgrade your PS3 for the time being.

[VIA]