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Sony removed the ability to run Linux many years ago, after it was determined that it was impossible to prevent a jailbreak as long as the second OS feature exi

Sony removed the ability to run Linux many years ago, after it was determined that it was impossible to prevent a jailbreak as long as the second OS feature existed. I’m not aware of Xbox ever supporting this.

beenBoutIT 7y ago
Sony did technically 'remove it', although it's still something that can be done if you're really interested in doing it. Nintendo seems to prioritize jailbreaking above everything else and for most of their consoles there's literally nothing interesting that can be done outside of using them to play Nintendo games.
- zimpenfish 7y ago
  > outside of using them to play Nintendo games Small nit - you probably mean "outside of using them to play Nintendo-approved games" since there's only 2 Nintendo games on the Switch here and 6 non-Nintendo games.
blkhawk 7y ago
Two comments on that A) its impossible to prevent jailbreaks no matter if a second OS option exists or not and B) the Linux option was removed since it was seen as an unneeded expense. Its function for Sony was to keep the people motivated to jailbreak a console from doing so. After the removal of the Linux option the PlayStation was jailbroken.
- eridius 7y ago
  OtherOS was officially removed due to security concerns. I'm not sure how to find this offhand but my recollection is that OtherOS was used to facilitate jailbreaking the system. Its function wasn't to prevent jailbreaks but to get people interested in programming for the Cell processor.
  - aepiepaey 7y ago
    A significant portion of the skilled hardware hackers cracking consoles do it because they care about homebrew, but they dislike piracy. By providing something like OtherOS, you remove the incentive for that group to crack your console. It is fairly telling that the PS3 was only cracked after OtherOS was removed.
    - eridius 7y ago
      A news article talking about George Hotz's original PS3 hack was released January 25, 2010. The PS3 software update that removed OtherOS was released April 1, 2010. As I recall, ultimately Hotz managed to compromise the device's root key, and Sony determined that it was impossible to protect the key (after replacing it) as long as OtherOS continued to exist.

beenBoutIT 7y ago

Sony did technically 'remove it', although it's still something that can be done if you're really interested in doing it. Nintendo seems to prioritize jailbreaking above everything else and for most of their consoles there's literally nothing interesting that can be done outside of using them to play Nintendo games.

zimpenfish 7y ago
> outside of using them to play Nintendo games Small nit - you probably mean "outside of using them to play Nintendo-approved games" since there's only 2 Nintendo games on the Switch here and 6 non-Nintendo games.

blkhawk 7y ago

Two comments on that A) its impossible to prevent jailbreaks no matter if a second OS option exists or not and B) the Linux option was removed since it was seen as an unneeded expense. Its function for Sony was to keep the people motivated to jailbreak a console from doing so. After the removal of the Linux option the PlayStation was jailbroken.

eridius 7y ago
OtherOS was officially removed due to security concerns. I'm not sure how to find this offhand but my recollection is that OtherOS was used to facilitate jailbreaking the system. Its function wasn't to prevent jailbreaks but to get people interested in programming for the Cell processor.
- aepiepaey 7y ago
  A significant portion of the skilled hardware hackers cracking consoles do it because they care about homebrew, but they dislike piracy. By providing something like OtherOS, you remove the incentive for that group to crack your console. It is fairly telling that the PS3 was only cracked after OtherOS was removed.
  - eridius 7y ago
    A news article talking about George Hotz's original PS3 hack was released January 25, 2010. The PS3 software update that removed OtherOS was released April 1, 2010. As I recall, ultimately Hotz managed to compromise the device's root key, and Sony determined that it was impossible to protect the key (after replacing it) as long as OtherOS continued to exist.