The new Cell 2 won't make it into the PS3 I guess, or am I mistaken?

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The new Cell 2 won't make it into the PS3 I guess, or am I mistaken?

Na, no chance of that happening.. perhaps for the Playstation 4 though :)

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Oh, just got the reply from Sony too..

Thank you for writing us.

Due to different television and voltage standards, and a variety of licensing issues, Sony Computer
Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) has implemented a territorial-based distribution system for its hardware,
peripherals, and software. This limits the use of any particular software to play on the console
designated for that distribution territory (e.g. North American games will not play in the systems
designed for other regions, such as, Japan, Europe, etc.). You may also experience problems if you
attempt to use memory cards, controllers, etc. from a different region (outside of North America) on
your North American console. In addition, due to a difference in international television
standards, PlayStation(R) consoles may not be compatible with televisions made for use outside of
the designed region.

We do not have any information on adapters or converters made to override territorial restrictions.
The various PlayStation(R) consoles and format software titles are only designed to run in their
respective regions and countries. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Err..

Greetings,

Who would be the best person to speak to regarding using the power of the Playstation 3 to boost
other distributed computing applications, in the same way as the Folding@home project?

That relates to the question how??

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??????????????

*complete* point missed error!

Quite clear that the primate that answered your question has absolutely no idea what on Earth you were talking about, or what its own company is involved in.
What does distributed computing have anything to do with peripherals? All flavours have a common processor, all flavours have a net interface, so what's the problem? Distributed computing has absolutely no concept of region-specific extortion!
Ridiculous.

Please reply and cc the CEO that their answer is wholly unsatisfactory and that you'd like to speak to someone in the company who knows what a PS3 actually is.
Then you might like to broach the rather difficult concept of distributed computing to them...

We do not have any information on adapters or converters made to override territorial restrictions.
The various PlayStation(R) consoles and format software titles are only designed to run in their
respective regions and countries. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Err..

This was likely an automated topic reply based on "key" words found in your inquiry.
Doubtful a human ever saw it.

I have found success in the past by a good ol' fashioned letter sent directly to the CEO w/ recipient signature required & delivery confirmation receipt. In your case, a letter to the proper person (same one who made the PS3 w/ Folding support decision?) might get a more meaningful response.

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I have found success in the past by a good ol' fashioned letter sent directly to the CEO w/ recipient signature required & delivery confirmation receipt. In your case, a letter to the proper person (same one who made the PS3 w/ Folding support decision?) might get a more meaningful response.

I'd love to send the email direct to the person who made the decision to include f@h in the 1.6 firmware, but I have no clue who to send it to, hence the email asking who the best person to speak to is..

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I think what Gecko_R7 meant is the snail mail address, Not email as they probably get tons of email, So going the extra yard may get noticed.

But who would I send the letter to? That's what I was trying to find out from the website...

Hello Stuart,

Thank you for writing us.

You have reached the department within Sony that deals strictly with the PlayStation(R) products
designed for use in North America. For Customer Service Support in your region of interest, please
visit the following URL and choose your country or region:

http://www.playstation.com.sg/global/index.html

For countries in the European region, please visit the following URL:

http://uk.playstation.com/country-selector

If you are unable to locate your country or region by visiting the above URL, we apologize for any
inconvenience. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) may not have authorized distribution
centers for PlayStation(R) products in your region at this time. We regret to inform you that
questions regarding sales, repairs, release dates, wholesale contacts, compatibility of systems, and
other PlayStation-related information cannot be addressed. We understand that the demand is growing
for a PlayStation presence in your region, but we do not yet have any established distribution
channels for our products.

*For consumers from the African region, please contact Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE).

Michael J.
Multimedia CSR
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Consumer Services Department

Which was a "you're not in the US, so sod off" type email..

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You could try Phil Harrison. He seems to be the main man behind PS3 PR.

http://ps3.qj.net/Folding-Home-Explained-GamePro/pg/49/aid/88133

Will there be other @Home projects on the PS3? "SCEA is evaluating other distributed computing projects, but no decision has been made at this time to extend the project beyond Folding@home."

You could try Phil Harrison.

I am not sure he will answer your questions though. I recently read an interview in German with him, and he only came out with marketing slogans, avoiding any true answer. Like a very well trained PR spin doctor. http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=2816403

but you may try and mention the hundreds of thousands of BOINC contributors. I would guess that a PR person starts listening well then.

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We apologize for any confusion.

As much as we would like to address all of your questions, there are certain topics that are simply
out of the scope of this department within Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). You have
reached the Consumer Services Department within SCEA, and we handle all general inquiries for our
PlayStation(R) family of products, warranty and repair information, installation and
troubleshooting, general corporate business inquiries, PlayStation(R) Underground(TM) Club
Membership inquiries, and third party software referrals, just to name a few.

Very specific questions on any particular product (e.g., manufacturing process), programming details
of software or hardware, 'reasons or beliefs' on why a product did or did not include certain
features, personal opinions, and personal contact information for developers, publishers, and other
company employees, are some of the topics that cannot be addressed. Also, there are certain topics
that we may not be able to address due to the fact that they are confidential and proprietary to
SCEA.

Additionally, due to the complex nature of this industry and its products, certain information is
just not easily available. You may be able to do some thorough research on your own at the local
library, internet search engines, and at academic institutions.

You have reached the department within Sony that deals strictly with the PlayStation(R) products
designed for use in North America.

Basically the trained monkeys don't know anything outside of their support role..

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Well,

Linux on the PS3 is a bit of an adventure. It works, but it's still in the experimental stages.

What it does, with YDL: be a "normal" computer. You can even make it be a file/web/whatever server, if you please, but it'll be a waste. It can also run Cell-optimized binaries, but has the old (2.0) SDK and libraries included. Trying to update to the new one gives no end of dependency troubles.

FFTW 3.2 alpha that includes Cell BE optimizations also did not want to compile.

YDL on PS3 install instructions (PDF)

So what it's not so good for is compiling quick S@H code ;o)

I switched to Gentoo instead.
New glibc, newer gcc and also, no stuff I don't need - and compiling just works.

Gentoo on PS3 install instructions - should help get you going.

Will let you know what happens, as soon as all necessary stuff finishes emerging on the PS3...

Regards,
Simon.

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Will let you know what happens, as soon as all necessary stuff finishes emerging on the PS3...

Regards,
Simon.

Thanks for the heads up Simon :)

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Hey Chicken,

Since you're still watching this thread, I wanted to warn you a bit... Supposedly with Linux on PS3, you are only going to be able to utilize one processor (or one core). From what I know, you need the PS3 development code to get stuff to run on all the cores simultaneously. If this is a concern for you, you may want to go to the Folding @ Home forums and research this in the PS3 sub-forum.

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Hi Paydirt,

that's not strictly true; with standard Linux apps, yes, only the PPU (dual-core PPC) will do any work.

With the addition of the IBM Cell SDK though, you can compile Cell BE-optimized applications that can take advantage of all available SPUs (6 for the PS3, 8 for a Cell BE blade).

I've already run some SDK code via the SPUs to verify everything's working okay, and it is.

Now all that remains is yet another reinstall because I selected the wrong Gentoo userland (32bit vs. 64bit).

I might also install FC6 and Gentoo alongside, the 60GB PS3 has enough space for that.

3rd time's the charm, for me...

Regards,
Simon.

---

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Cool thanks for correcting that!

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Hi Paydirt,

that's not strictly true; with standard Linux apps, yes, only the PPU (dual-core PPC) will do any work.

With the addition of the IBM Cell SDK though, you can compile Cell BE-optimized applications that can take advantage of all available SPUs (6 for the PS3, 8 for a Cell BE blade).

I've already run some SDK code via the SPUs to verify everything's working okay, and it is.

Now all that remains is yet another reinstall because I selected the wrong Gentoo userland (32bit vs. 64bit).

I might also install FC6 and Gentoo alongside, the 60GB PS3 has enough space for that.

3rd time's the charm, for me...

Regards,
Simon.

Cool stuff Simon, let us know how you get on!

(I'll help beta any apps as well if you like)

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1238b9f2-e799-11db-8098-000b5df10621.html

Sony in talks on commercial use for PS3
By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo

Published: April 10 2007 20:34 | Last updated: April 10 2007 20:34

Sony PlayStation 3 users may soon be asked to share the supercomputer power of their video game consoles with companies that lack their own technology to run complex research projects, the Financial Times was told.

Sony Computer Entertainment is in discussions with a number of companies about possible commercial applications for the PlayStation 3. This comes in the wake of its non-profit partnership with Stanford University in March that harnesses the spare computing capacity of registered PS3s for the analysis of protein cells.

However, because this would be a commercial proposition that would benefit profit-making organisations, Sony is studying whether it would need to offer incentives, such as free products, to persuade PS3 owners to participate.

PS3s run on the revolutionary Cell processor – co-designed by Sony, IBM and Toshiba – and they can be linked with tens of thousands of other idle PS3s via the internet to run a single analytical programme. A network of just 10,000 PS3s would have as much power as a 200,000-strong network of personal computers.

Masa Chatani, chief technology officer at Sony Computer Entertainment, said in an interview with the FT on Tuesday that the company had received numerous inquiries regarding this “distributed computing” model.

Under Stanford University’s Folding@Home programme, which studies how protein cells assemble, PS3 users can join the network by clicking on an icon on the screen. Stanford automatically sends packets of data out to these machines – which have to remain switched on when they are idle – to analyse and collect, tabulate and visualise the results.

“This kind of computing model could be used in a commercial application,” Mr Chatani said. “For example, a start-up or a pharmaceutical company that lacks a super-computer could utilise this kind of infrastructure. We are discussing various options with companies and exploring commercial applications.”

He added: “If there is a big problem to be solved, each computer is responsible for processing a small chunk of information, then by analysing it all together a big conclusion can be made. At any single moment, there are 11,000-12,000 PS3 users participating in Folding@Home. The number of contributors is far greater than we had anticipated.”

A commercial endeavour would be a more difficult strategically, Mr Chatani admitted, because users would be loathe to let companies use the power of their PS3 Cell processors for free.

One scenario, he said, would be for a company to offer each of its PS3 users incentives such as free products, or points, in exchange for their participation in distributed computing.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Ciao Maxxx

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Which part of this sentence didn't you understand? A link would suffice!

Well,

that answers one thing, anyway: Why Sony makes it impossible for people to embed things on the PS3 XMB. Well, unless you make money for them, then it seems okay...

Ah well, I love that they opened it up for Linux in the first place, but that seems like a step backwards. The way I'm reading it is that non-profit projects need not apply. Not cool.

Regards,
Simon.

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Stay Cool ;)

best regards
Maxxx

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Which part of this sentence didn't you understand? A link would suffice!