I want a PS3, but not for playing games...

# 1 17-05-2005 , 10:33 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2005

Posts: 23

I want one modded to run Linux, to use as a render node. Maybe 2 or 3 if they're cheap enough.

Have you seen the specs on this freaking box? 2+ teraflops!?! That's a couple orders of magnitude faster than hardware rendering on a top-end Quadro card. Top 500 supercomputer territory. Insane.

https://ps3.ign.com/articles/614/614619p1.html

Quote

# 2 18-05-2005 , 04:03 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2004

Posts: 164

You should also check out the XBox 360s to use as render nodes.:attn:

Quote

# 3 18-05-2005 , 07:16 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 1,257

yeah but with "only" 3 watercooled powerpc cores at 3.2 it theorically wont have the same ridiculous supercomputing power the ps3´s cell promises...
you wont have none of that to try to mod it until christmas tough XD unless u are a very close developer that is... and both are esentially dedicated hardware this time so give it 6 or 10 months from the time when it is released until some cracy linuxhead manages to put it to general use... by that time a top notch pc will have far superior power?

So, if the ps2 was restricted to some countrys as weapons grade capable hardware (somebody feared it could be repurposed to guide cruise missiles) what will be the Ps3 or xbox 360 status? XD you could probably use those in genomics and protein-folding and make a mass-destruction all-human-lives-terminator virus...

Last edited by dragonfx; 18-05-2005 at 08:20 AM.

Quote

# 4 18-05-2005 , 09:20 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Apr 2003

Location: Great Britain

Posts: 1,336

Originally posted by SuperTrooper
You should also check out the XBox 360s to use as render nodes.:attn:

Originally Posted by

i heard it only has around half the power as ps3, so why?

Quote

# 5 18-05-2005 , 09:30 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 1,257

because it should be easyesr to repurpose for that than the PS3...
Maybe when XNA is released... user added image

Quote

# 6 18-05-2005 , 01:33 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2003

Location: stuck in the 90's boston, USA

Posts: 1,871

Originally posted by ckyuk
i heard it only has around half the power as ps3, so why?

Originally Posted by

before u make such vague claims, which u probably arent even sure of;
be ready to back ur statement. [links or article]

xbox1 farms are quite common.
u tell me how u plan to install linux on the ps3....

Image dump

Quote

# 7 18-05-2005 , 02:25 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2005

Posts: 23

There will be an army of open-source geeks wanting to get their hands on that kind of cheap horsepower, and if that isn't enough, people will want a way to "play" with the Cell CPU architecture. Surely someone will eventually get a hold of a PS3 SDK and figure out a way to make a bootstrap CD to fire up a custom linux kernel. Tough part is probably getting hold of a compiler that produces Cell executables but expects to see code for a GCC compiler.

The xbox360 may still end up being a better render node though, given that 2 of the 2.18 TFLOPS on the PS3 come from the GPU. 3 3.2GHz RISC processors (each dual core?) is nothing to sneeze at.

Quote

# 8 18-05-2005 , 04:18 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2003

Location: stuck in the 90's boston, USA

Posts: 1,871

Originally posted by Jedi Bob
There will be an army of open-source geeks wanting to get their hands on that kind of cheap horsepower, and if that isn't enough, people will want a way to "play" with the Cell CPU architecture. Surely someone will eventually get a hold of a PS3 SDK and figure out a way to make a bootstrap CD to fire up a custom linux kernel. Tough part is probably getting hold of a compiler that produces Cell executables but expects to see code for a GCC compiler.

The xbox360 may still end up being a better render node though, given that 2 of the 2.18 TFLOPS on the PS3 come from the GPU. 3 3.2GHz RISC processors (each dual core?) is nothing to sneeze at.

Originally Posted by

yea... nothing to sneeze at.
and by the time the PS3 comes out in Spring'06
workstation will be 10x as faster.
the new Nvidia cards GeForce 7800 [coming out soon] already almost rivals the PS3 cards

Image dump

Quote

# 9 18-05-2005 , 04:19 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 1,257

my concern is:
1 what will be the price?
they say there will be 2 versions of the Xbox360(with and withoutHDD) and just one of the ps3
I suspect both will be far too pricey at the beginning, i would bet it will be a arround 380-400€ until at the very least next year summer and tehn both will progresively drop season by season.

And 2, would it have keyboard+mouse+office+browser support? i mean... if i could turn it straight out of the box into a secondary office/net pc (maybe with some winCE or mediawhatever version)i wouldnt care paying that amout of cash at winter...

If it supported a pc monitor it would be certainly awesome... PROCESSING POWER FOR THE MASSES... i could easily envision an scenario where instead of a game a secondary controller or a remote it would come with a mouse and a keyboard, the office/browser WinCE and an encarta encyclopaedia(plus documentarys and e-study support/enhancement courses in DVDs for various schooling levels) for 600€ and then all the parents rushing to buy it for the children instead of reluctantly buying it for not hearing em

Last edited by dragonfx; 18-05-2005 at 04:25 PM.

Quote

# 10 18-05-2005 , 04:38 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2003

Location: stuck in the 90's boston, USA

Posts: 1,871

Originally posted by dragonfx
my concern is:
1 what will be the price?
they say there will be 2 versions of the Xbox360(with and withoutHDD) and just one of the ps3
I suspect both will be far too pricey at the beginning, i would bet it will be a arround 380-400€ until at the very least next year summer and tehn both will progresively drop season by season.

And 2, would it have keyboard+mouse+office+browser support? i mean... if i could turn it straight out of the box into a secondary office/net pc (maybe with some winCE or mediawhatever version)i wouldnt care paying that amout of cash at winter...

If it supported a pc monitor it would be certainly awesome... PROCESSING POWER FOR THE MASSES... i could easily envision an scenario where instead of a game a secondary controller or a remote it would come with a mouse and a keyboard, the office/browser WinCE and an encarta encyclopaedia(plus documentarys and e-study support/enhancement courses in DVDs for various schooling levels) for 600€ and then all the parents rushing to buy it for the children instead of reluctantly buying it for not hearing em

Originally Posted by

1- PS3will be $500 USD
if not more... plus the cost of accessories
https://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05...s_6125423.html

2- not likely.

Image dump

Quote

# 11 18-05-2005 , 06:03 PM

Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2002

Location: New York

Posts: 2,133

I read somewhere it was going to be priced around the $300 mark...wait until 2006 and see. =p

"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."

Quote

# 12 20-05-2005 , 09:18 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Apr 2003

Location: Surrey, UK

Posts: 780

go Sony, screw Microsoft

"I THINK, THEREFORE I AM"
René Descartes

www.mvorster.co.uk

Quote

# 13 20-05-2005 , 11:05 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 1,257

go whoever gives me most bang for the money (or gives me things i could easily put to another use) screw whoever is only interested on picking my pocket and thinks that what he gives me in return is secondary!...

You can put names wherever u want... but i would place both microsoft,sony and nintendo on the second category... time will tell...

Quote