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PS4

During last week's Chaos Advice Congress event in Germany, console hacking team "fail0verflow" showed off their nigh recent projection: a PS4 Linux port. Subsequently finding exploits in the PS4'southward firmware, and making over vii,000 changes to the kernel, the team was able to achieve a more often than not functional Linux surroundings. And once they get 3D dispatch working properly, many existing Linux games should work with little hassle.

The folks at fail0verflow are already well-known in the homebrew community for their work on the PS3, Wii, and Wii U. And while it may seem similar this is just a repeat of their by success, the team is approaching the PS4 differently. Instead of releasing the specific exploits they've discovered, fail0verflow is focused almost exclusively on the Linux port. Why? They're sick of their work beingness hijacked by pirates.

Since the PS4's OS is a modified version of FreeBSD, and the browser is WebKit-based, the team posits that it'southward little for any motivated party to find exploits in the open-source codebases. And by fugitive release of their own exploits, they're effectively distancing themselves from the legal and ethical issues surrounding game piracy. If y'all take the group'south statements at face value, homebrew and existing Linux games are the clear priority here.

However, the squad'due south start major public sit-in features a Game Male child Advance emulator running what appears to be a ROM-hacked Pokémon game. Emulating decade-old games is different from facilitating piracy of recent releases, but it sends a mixed message. If the team is so concerned nearly being affiliated with pirates, demoing an emulated Nintendo game on a PS4 is an odd decision.

Putting those sticky issues aside, fail0verflow'southward PS4 Linux port is heady from a technical perspective. Based on what's explained in the video embedded to a higher place, the PS4'due south custom hardware is significantly different from a standard PC, just it's close enough to make the project viable. There'southward withal much piece of work to be washed to go 3D acceleration fully functional, but the dev team is certain that information technology'southward an attainable goal. If everything goes as planned, nosotros can look to see 3D games running reasonably well in less than two years.

In one case all of the major hurdles are cleared, it should be relatively uncomplicated to get SteamOS to piece of work on the PS4. A $350 Steam Motorcar certainly sounds appealing, but you're almost certainly better off buying a real Steam Machine or edifice your ain low-cost gaming rig. There are bound to be some compatibility issues, and the jailbreaking process could put your PS4 and PSN account at risk. Only serious tinkerers need apply.

Interested in getting your easily dirty? The fail0verflow team is currently looking for assist — especially with the Radeon DRI driver. If yous take depression-level expertise you're willing to share, you tin reach out on Twitter or on the squad's IRC aqueduct (#f0f on EFNet).