I have to confess that I’ve avoided much of the press about the new ‘Cell’ processor that IBM, Sony and Toshiba have developed, and which is slated as the heart of the new PS3 console. However, when I came across this article, I decided it was time to put pen to paper, as it were. This was doubly fuelled by an interesting conversation with bigkevmcd on the ScotLUG IRC channel.
I am amazed, staggered even, that an article about a new processor, especially one that suggest that the success of a new processor will rely on the applications available, and the ease of development, has completely failed to mention Linux at all.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, this is just mrBen going off on one of his Linux rants again. And maybe you’re right. But consider this: Linux is the only (repeat, _only_) operating system that has managed to be completely cross-platform, working on virtually any hardware you can imagine, from tiny embedded chips in watches, all the way up to the biggest of IBM’s mainframes. As bigkev pointed out to me, 5 years ago it wouldn’t matter to a new processor whether or not it was Linux compatible, but these days it could be a make or break issue.
If the Cell chip does get a version of Linux on it, then it will immediately gain a huge base of applications, and a large developer community.
It would also make for an interesting scenario if PS3 games were Linux-compatible in some way….
mrBen
Bootnote: There are a large number of Operating Systems out there, and an even larger number of different processors (“architectures”) – here’s a flavour:
| Intel x86 (“PC”) | PowerPC/PPC | SUN Sparc | AMD x86_64 | Intels x86 EMT64 | Intel Itanium | |
| Windows XP | Supported | X | X | In beta | In beta | Cancelled |
| OS X | X | Supported | X | X | X | X |
| Linux | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Actually, the Playstation 3 will be based on linux, that has been conifirmed. An even more suprising piece of info is that at the E3 press conference Sony ssaid they were considering releasing a desktop version of linux for the PS3, in the form of a seperate HDD that slots into the front of the console.
Either way, the first working demo of the Cell chip was a machine running linux. So i would definately say there is no doubt that the cell will support it. I would actually be surprised if any other OS gained Cell support.
Mike
Wow – you reading all the back-posts or something?
Sarah Ewen from Sony was on Ep21 of LUGRadio and said as much, and in fact noted that much of the Sony development is done on Linux machines.