Here it is folks, courtesy of graf chokolo and Geoffrey Levand comes the PS3 Dual Boot GameOS/Linux Custom Firmware which allows users to dual boot on both the GameOS and OtherOS (Linux).
Note: Currently to start OtherOS. boot_otheros.pkg then reboot.pkg and that will load petitboot. Slim users (Version 1.0-r0) you must unload the slim usb drivers in order to boot.
ps3mfw/tasks/patch_profile.tcl is to be considered unstable and should not be used at this time.
Firmwares:
PS3 Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW 3.41 (md5 9b439b04c4c0b841ae50c3af18bb584d)
PS3 Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW 3.50 (md5 74b4291615ceb394e0d64078d775a93d)
PS3 Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW 3.55 (md5 fac423010dc8e20030f28145a42627fb)
Firmware Mirrors: (If the above links are overloaded)
PS3 Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW 3.41 (md5 9b439b04c4c0b841ae50c3af18bb584d)
PS3 Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW 3.50 (md5 74b4291615ceb394e0d64078d775a93d)
PS3 Dual Boot GameOS/Linux CFW 3.55 (md5 fac423010dc8e20030f28145a42627fb)
Tools:
create_vflash5.pkg (md5 d76700a04cd58b29970d752b73dc6a0d)
create_vflash6.pkg (md5 4ccea493c87299c3fe75ec3b093091f8)
create_vflash7.pkg (md5 78e432917ed972c415b3a0a703f4acaf)
delete_vflash5.pkg (md5 83f32c6fdf9d532c2a8203bce3852e86)
delete_vflash6.pkg (md5 573b587f04d21d40837688c39c8587bd)
delete_vflash7.pkg (md5 8366318a4fafbd769bc9df0b6e528ea1)
resize_vflash.pkg (md5 9a5cb0bcd819788749d2926111df6870)
install_otheros.pkg (md5 9e5e79fa0450e34071223c40c34a8e8a)
boot_gameos.pkg (md5 7377d1c89f4f67957cafe18a2e58d006)
boot_otheros.pkg (md5 bf425926d3d55ab59828d5b6c2a2c333)
reboot.pkg (md5 450fba966321445ec50360b21b9fa99b)
dtbImage.ps3.bin (md5 761faa303c97d1801a9ecceb472321d0)
boot_linux.sh (md5 6d00a46cd5586042c59c51f1f98e31f9)
All tools beep twice if they succeed !!!
Source code for all tools and patches is freely available. Create your own dual boot.
git.gitbrew.org/ps3/
Features:
- Into HV integrated OtherOS bootloader loader (compatible with OtherOS bootloader on 3.15)
- OtherOS bootloader is booted directly from HV, no GameOS is involved.
- Process of booting OtherOS bootloader loader is very similar to 3.15 method
- Booting Linux from HDD/USB/BD/Network
- Linux with GameOS rights
- Full access to all HV SS services (Dispatcher Manager) from GameOS or Linux
- Full access to all System Manager services
- Ability to create/modify/remove repository nodes in LPAR 1 (e.g. with ps3dm-utils or ps3hvc-utils).
This ability gives you much power over the whole system because many layers of PS3 use repository nodes to exchange information. - Enabled QA mode in Update Manager
- Downgrading without USB dongle or Service Mode
- Ability to deactivate/activate HDD/VFLASH encryption (e.g. with ps3stor-utils)
- Support for ps3-utils. You can flash new OtherOS bootloader from Linux e.g.
Notes:
- Tested 3.41 and 3.55 on PS3 Slim with Gentoo and Debian Squeeze but should work on PS3 Fat without problems
- Bug reports are welcome, send it please to geoffrey.levand@mail.ru
Work in progress:
- Creating OtherOS partitions directly on HDD (not VFLASH)
- Permanently disabling HDD/VFLASH encryption
- Mapping of HTAB with R/W permission
- SYSCON access from LPAR 2
- FreeBSD support
Installing OtherOS bootloader
- Tested ONLY on PS3 models with VFLASH
- During deleting of VFLASH regions GameOS will ask you to reinstall firmware, don't do it, just press PS3 button and continue
- I use petitboot as OtherOS bootloader. You could use a different one.
- The following order of steps is important
- Delete VFLASH region 6
- Delete VFLASH region 5
- Create VFLASH region 5
- Create VFLASH region 6
- Install OtherOS bootloader on VFLASH with "Install OtherOS"
Booting OtherOS bootloader
- Run "Boot OtherOS"
- Reboot GameOS with "Reboot"
Creating a VFLASH partition for Linux
Notes:- Works ONLY on PS3 models with VFLASH
- Warning: All your HDD data will be lost, so make a backup
- I'm currently working on a solution for PS3 models with NAND flash
- Resize VFLASH (creates a 40GB free space on VFLASH, if you need more then feel free to recompile it)
- Reboot GameOS
- Create VFLASH region 7
Installing Linux with petitboot
Installing Gentoo GNU/Linux from a Unix/Linux System
Partitioning with fdisk
Notes:
- I used petitboot to install Debian and Gentoo on VFLASH
- I used fdisk to partition ps3vflashh
- Make sure you create a swap partition
- Creating a ready to use Linux distribution images is a work in progress
Booting Linux with petitboot
Notes:- USB driver in petitboot has problems on PS3 Slim. The problem lies in Linux USB driver.
- Currently i'm trying to fix this problem in Linux kernel
- I temporarily use my boot_linux.sh script to boot a Linux installed on VFLASH from petitboot
Source