[Tutorial] Running Ubuntu (or others) on PS4

[HarmfulMushroom]

HarmfulMushroom don't worry, you didn't mess anything up. Steam OS isn't working for me either, and I did everything correctly. For you, it just hangs at '-c DEV Reopen stdio to DEV after switch' right?

I believe so, I couldn't completely see the output but I believe it was something like that at least. I'll probably try installing ubuntu tomorrow and see if I can get that to boot, if that boots just fine it's definitely an issue with steamOS

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[Silicon Samurai]

HarmfulMushroom don't worry, you didn't mess anything up. Steam OS isn't working for me either, and I did everything correctly. For you, it just hangs at '-c DEV Reopen stdio to DEV after switch' right?

I also got this. Ubuntu seems to work fine though, going to give ndiswrapper a try with a usb wifi card I have handy and try to get steam installed on top of ubuntu

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[D3NN15]

Is Ubuntu running a bit sluggish for you too? I mean, I can move around the mouse pointer as fast as I want and it's very fluid, but the rest of Ubuntu like searching for something or opening something runs much slower. Still usable though, I've been able to install Steam regularly (not Steam OS) and play Super Meat Boy without much of an issue.

[Silicon Samurai]

Yeah, things like glxgears and steam seem to run well enough but I notice the same issue -- especially with the transparent overlay of the 'start' menu

Worth noting is that after the handoff to ubuntu (switch_root), sometimes I'll see the kernel load and do its thing but I get a black screen instead of the ubuntu login. Not sure if video isn't working and it IS doing things, or if it's all frozen up. I'll try ssh if I can get it to do it again after work tomorrow. Rebooting and trying again usually seems to fix it.

Also worth mentioning is that the 'alternative method' of using the browser, without the proxy: Sony support site, switch language, google+ link, etc. If you're having issues getting the actual kernel to load using this method, just install the proxy instead. Using the alternate method I had something like a 1/10 successrate of running it (getting out of memory errors before you get there) but now with the proxy it's mostly flawless. Browser is definitely a buggy POS Thankfully!

[nitr8]

I just want to add an info for those having a problem that i had: a black screen when trying to boot up the fresh Ubuntu install on the PS4 and my first opinion on running Ubuntu on the PS4 at all.

(Related to the black screen problem i had): I've been able to boot it up by plugging the drive with the fresh Ubuntu install into a PC first and boot it up from there till i got to the login screen. But i didn't actually login. I just then shut it down and tried it once again on the console itself. And voila - it worked.

I also got internet to work, using a crossover cable by connecting it to my notebook (which even has ubuntu installed) and changing the IPv4 setting for wired connection in the dropdown list ("automatically DHCP") to ("shared with other computers"). I don't know if this setting is the same spelled in english as i actually use Ubuntu in german language. This gave me internet for Ubuntu on the PS4 by plugging the cable into the notebook first and then into the PS4.

What i really miss is a solution to having mouse AND keyboard available at the same time as i have a "Microsoft Wireless Keyboard 1000" with a Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 2000 which the ps4kerneltest doesn't recognize (it doesn't show any input in the console). Besides this it's Ubuntu which is running slow as it seems (even for an installation to a SSD drive). I hope those two things will be solved in the near future.

[D-ecks]

I've done some modifications to better-initramfs. You don't need type anything in console (in most cases).

Download:
http://filedropper.com/initramfscpio (only initramfs)
http://goo.gl/u8LGmy (initramfs + kernel)

Watch video and please test