[d4rk]

It seems to me that if you guys aquired a few devs who understood how to write stuff at this lower level the conversion would be quite possible and much cleaner and more efficient than using a full featured OpenGL layer.

Once libps3rsx is more mature and the API is somewhat finalized, it might be something I (personally) would consider, until then there's no point starting a new rendering interface only to have the API change every few weeks. I don't think any of the other devs care about a PS3 port. In addition, the priority now is to stabilize the Linux port and make it feature complete. There's still work to be done but it's getting there. Maybe by the time the Linux port is stable, libps3rsx would be as well and it's something that could be considered.

[vibe666]

from my (admittedly very) limited understanding of all this, the Linux PS3 version of XBMC would still be based on Ubuntu. Would it not make sense to use the PS3 optimised Yellow Dog distro? AFAIK it already has access to all the relevent hardware on the PS3 t allow it to take full advantage of the power of the console. or maybe I just don't understand how it all works. :/

[Gamester17]

from my (admittedly very) limited understanding of all this, the Linux PS3 version of XBMC would still be based on Ubuntu. Would it not make sense to use the PS3 optimised Yellow Dog distro? AFAIK it already has access to all the relevent hardware on the PS3 t allow it to take full advantage of the power of the console. or maybe I just don't understand how it all works. :/

Any discussion of exacly which actual Linux distrobution XBMC would be using if ever portet to the PS3 is a moot point at this stage, proper hardware accelerated 3D graphic support is first needed for the PS3 RSX GPU (for any Linux distrobution), ...thus all any one of us can do is wait for libps3rsx (or similar library/driver) to became mature enough, or if you got the skills then you can help those projects out.

[wHack]

Gamester17 please forgive me if I gave the wrong impression. I really wasn't saying getting a dev or too with the necesary skills would be easy or that anyone involved with XBMC should do anything to try to make a ps3 port happen. I'm well aware of the fact that XBMC is a non-paid volunteer project and would not expect the devs to do anything for me or anyone else but themselves. I was mearly trying to point out if the team had devs willing intresed and capable the underlying tools necessary to make such a port are already in existance. Just pointing out that it could be done and it could theoretically be done now if someone wanted too. If my programing skills were good enough I'd probably be playing with it myself. However one other point behind my post was to let it be stated in an official forum and hopefully get some verification that it could be done now without having to wait for OpenGL for ps3 linux which could take years, this was partially with the hope that it might possibly be seen by someone who was interested in andcapable of doing it. Over and ove again I've seen the idea quickly shot down as undoable at the moment which very well could cause someone who hasn't paid attention to the libps3rsx project to just shy away or wait for OpenGL under the assumption it might come soon if they already have direct access. I really didn't mean to sound like I was pressuring anyone or telling them what to do.

d4rk well I hope that they do have it mostly solidified when XBMC for linux is coming to completion. And it would be awesome if you did put some work into it and even more so if it came to fruition at some point. I can only hope someone will. On the ps3 XBMC would have so much room to grow if ps3 knowledgable programmers got in there and optimized XBMC to work with the SPE's I'm fairly sure the performance and capabilities could be amazing. And I know neither project is done at this point and I probably wouldn't do it now either if I could. Or at least nothing more than some fairly simple proof of concept stuff.

And thanks to both of you for giving a little hope to us ps3 XBMC dreamers.

[Gamester17]

thanks to both of you for giving a little hope to us ps3 XBMC dreamers.

If you and other 'non-developers' want to do something to help now, today, in order to possible make this PS3 port happen sooner, then again; feel free to independetly try to lobby for RSX support for libSDL in libps3rsx (and vice versa) from third-party developers/programmers elseware, such as other projects, community forums, and sites on the internet, or even friends and family, or friends of friends and family if you/they know any developers skilled and interested in this.

...like for example other open source software projects that uses SDL to accelerate graphic rendering (remember that a few softwares also use SDL indirectly via ScummVM, Pygame, and DOSBox, etc., ...my guess is also that a lot of people would want to see game-console emulators in PS3 linux and any such emulator software would also most likely be built on-top of the SDL library to run on the PS3)

Just make sure you do research before and then ask the smart way

The more poeple who show an interest, the more likely that the right people will activly join in the effort

[Vlasbaard]

Hmm. However, on page 5:

Without 3D acceleration, XBMC will barely run at 1-2 fps, which you can try by compiling the Linux port with SDL 2D instead of OpenGL.

So will SDL be a viable solution? Ie., is there a reason to assume that SDL on the PS3 will be faster then on the PC, or is there somebody working on SDL XBMC performance?

BTW, to the entire XBMC team, my eternal thanks for the best interface on any TV-based system ever.

[Gamester17]

I think that maybe you missunderstand; there is "SDL 2D" that is without 3D hardware acceleration, then SDL emulates the 3D calls in software on the CPU which is why it is so slow = 1-2 fps), then there is "SDL 3D" which uses either OpenGL (Linux/Unix) or DirectX (Win32/Windows) that is with 3D hardware acceleration that is required to render smoothly at 60+ fps. XBMC for Linux will always require that you build using "SDL 3D" and that you have underlaying 3D hardware acceleration to render smoothly.

What libps3rsx would replace is OpenGL (Linux/Unix) and DirectX (Win32/Windows), not SDL, SDL will still be used. SDL will not run faster or slower on the PS3 compared to a PC. Again, it is 3D accelerleration in hardware that XBMC requires.

[fiende]

does anyone no how close they are to a beta or somthing ?
must have it =)

[dizzey]

A beta for the ps3. </ironi>it's really close <ironi/> all that needs to be done is getting developers to start the project since no one has even started to port it for ps3 linux.

[f4ion1]

A beta for the ps3. </ironi>it's really close <ironi/> all that needs to be done is getting developers to start the project since no one has even started to port it for ps3 linux.

lol

[theMule]

Hi,
As someone who is interested in eventually running XBMC for linux on the Playstation 3, I have some suggestions on how this could be implemented (relatively) easily.

As of right now, the big issue is lack of opengl support in linux on the PS3. It seems to me though that if some sort of "lite" gui mode were implemented, the xbmc gui could run fine without opengl. Perhaps just an alternate display path which uses only 2d SDL functions.

The only place where acceleration is really required is for the actual video display and scaling. Code has already been written as part of spu-medialib to do colourspace conversion and scaling using the Cell SPEs on the PS3.

http://wiki.ps2dev.org/ps3:spu-medialib

They are also working on an XV driver which provides this acceleration. So XBMC could either use this code itself for accelerated video output on the ps3, or could simply optionally use XV as the video output path instead of the current opengl rendering path. (This would also have the advantage of working on older pc graphics hardware without opengl shader support.)

Of course for full high def playback on the ps3, video decoding will also have to be optimized for the Cell, but this can happen upstream in ffmpeg.

So to summarize, all that's really required from XBMC to eventually make the ps3 a great platform is a non-3d user interface mode, and xv video output (or slightly better, integration of ps3 accelerated output through spu-medialib directly). XV of course has the advantage that it can be developed/tested/used on standard PC hardware as well.

[jmarshall]

There's already an SDL-only path. It's bloody slow, and is not maintained. Feel free to take our code and do what you want with it.

[Gamester17]

I think that maybe you missunderstand; there is "SDL 2D" that is without 3D hardware acceleration, then SDL emulates the 3D calls in software on the CPU which is why it is so slow = 1-2 fps), then there is "SDL 3D" which uses either OpenGL (Linux/Unix) or DirectX (Win32/Windows) that is with 3D hardware acceleration that is required to render smoothly at 60+ fps. XBMC for Linux will always require that you build using "SDL 3D" and that you have underlaying 3D hardware acceleration to render smoothly.

What libps3rsx would replace is OpenGL (Linux/Unix) and DirectX (Win32/Windows), not SDL, SDL will still be used. SDL will not run faster or slower on the PS3 compared to a PC. Again, it is 3D accelerleration in hardware that XBMC requires.

As you can read above, I have already tried to explain that in the existing "XBMC for PlayStation 3" thread.

[cybbe]

Hi,

I haven't read every one of the 78 posts in this thread, and if the answer is in here, just point me to the right post...

I see many comments in here on the problems for xbmc on ps3 in relation to the access of the 3D rendering within a linuxinstallation.

I was just wondering... Is it totally impossible to find the "ps3-game-development-kit" out there. If someone had access to that kit, wouldn't he/she then be able to write programs with the full access of the ps3?

In my "vision" I see the possibility to make a "game", that is to be started from the ps3 standard menu, (just like any downloaded game/demo)... this "game" would ofcourse not be a game, but a mediaplayer with full access to the HW of the ps3.

I'm so bad with the technical details, so I have no "tools" to value this "vision".

Any thoughts?

//Cybbe

[rodalpho]

No, because PS3 titles are cryptographically signed, just like xbox360 games. That would only work if the console was fully cracked wide open like the xbox1, or if Sony agreed to let the XBMC team release their title as a commercial program. But since the code is under GPL and the GPL acts like a virus I'm not entirely sure how that would work.