[ydl-gen] No video hardware acceleration on PS3

[Brian Wood]

On Nov 15, 2006, at 1:22 AM, Warren Nagourney wrote:

> Well, the lack of 2D and 3D graphics acceleration has been confirmed
> on the YDL website (I think recently - I don't remember its being in
> the FAQ earlier). I think this situation is laughable - why would
> anyone spend this money on a machine with such lame graphics? For
> this price, one can get a fully functional PC with a supported
> graphics card (something I would do if I didn't have strong
> objections to X86).  I have no interest in games, so I think I will
> give the PS3 a miss. The Cell processor is quite interesting and I
> will continue to use my fully functional powerbook in OS X until a
> well supported Cell machine becomes available (if ever).
>


I agree with you in general, no support of accelerated video is a  
major problem.

But it *is* a start. When I first started playing with Linux you had  
to purchase a commercial X server if you wanted support for a (then)  
state-of-the-art Mach-64 card. Later you had to pay if you wanted a  
NeoMagic laptop graphics adapter supported. Both these situations  
were ultimately rectified, and didn't stop folks from running Linux  
on such hardware.

I wonder if any of the commercial vendors like Xi will be making  
drivers for the PS3 video ? (Do they even still exist?).

And I suspect that it is Sony that is to blame for the situation, not  
Terrasoft. Terrasoft has been nothing but good for the Linux  
community while Sony is so arrogant as to honestly believe that  
installing rootkits on user's machines without their OK is legitimate  
protection of their "rights".

If nobody starts to run Linux on PS3s there will be no development.  
Somebody has to be the first to dance.

So maybe I'll buy a PS3 anyway.