PS3 [Tutorial] (Read Warning) Installing Red Ribbon Linux on Rebug 4.81.2 - 4.84.2 D / REX

I have been having issues with this... I have the FAT CECHL model and got it to 4.81.2 with a guide from here. Now I am trying to setup OtherOS++ and it refuses to boot the live red ribbon. Keeps complaining about the vmlinux. It is present on the usb but wont boot. Also even though its a FAT ps3 it is seeing an SDA1 and not SDD1. I also cant use the CEX version of the PUP from here as it keeps complaining about a corrupt update.

Anyone here have any ideas?
 
TULOA said:
I have been having issues with this... I have the FAT CECHL model and got it to 4.81.2 with a guide from here. Now I am trying to setup OtherOS++ and it refuses to boot the live red ribbon. Keeps complaining about the vmlinux. It is present on the usb but wont boot. Also even though its a FAT ps3 it is seeing an SDA1 and not SDD1. I also cant use the CEX version of the PUP from here as it keeps complaining about a corrupt update.

Anyone here have any ideas?
Click to expand...

Okay so for my case I had to use the cd for the SDA1 option. After running "./create_hdd_region.sh" without the quotes I had to reboot and go back into the OtherOS and then boot live. Once I did that I could follow the steps with an exception.
Apparently the installer guide got stuck on automatic partitioning so I had to tell it to use existing after it said a linux partition was there and choose ok on the final third option. Then it installed as normal.

Also I had to install the CEX firmware in safe mode. I used the toggle recovery mode in the toolbox to use the select and start to install it.

Also the guide didnt mention it but it had me setup a username and password. I hope this doesnt matter for anything.
 
I got everything installed now I'm trying to figure out how to update all the repositories and set it up for regular use can anyone help me please I'm new to Linux but want to learn how to make it run because the ps3 is more powerful than my desktop PC and that's saying something
 
emilsonx said:
I was running Rebug CFW 4.82 on CECH-G01 NAND fat console with COBRA enabled and everything else stock, I had Rebug Toolbox and resized the VFLASH/NAND and installed dtbImage.ps3.bin.minimal petitboot file, however after a reboot the PS3 is softbricked and there's no video signal coming out of HDMI, I have tried entering recovery/safe but still blank screen, PS3 stays powered on green LED but seems frozen, I tried plugging USB keyboard hopes of blindly hitting 'enter' to boot GameOS but no avail.

Any idea what could have gone wrong, how did my CECH-G01 NAND PS3 get bricked? I'm in process of acquiring teensy++ 2.0 and will be setup up a dumper, I don't have any backups except a 239MB (250609664 byte) dump.hex that PS3 Xploit initially took.
Click to expand...
Did you resize VFLASH, then install the correct dtbimage or vice versa?
 
dazzaXx said:
Did you resize VFLASH, then install the correct dtbimage or vice versa?
Click to expand...
Hello, yes I did resize the VFLASH, more specifically:

1. chose "Resize VFLASH/NAND Regions"
2. chose "Install Petitboot to VFLASH/NAND Regions 5 from USB", it installed dtbImage.ps3.bin.minimal (http://www.mediafire.com/file/b8kti561d3o3yso/Petitboot_Minimal_(NAND).zip) from my FAT32 USB stick
3. chose "Boot OtherOS" option in Rebug Toolbox and chose "Apply current" when it prompted me about LV1 patches, and it also asked if I want to change "Boot order", I chose "Yes", PS3 rebooted
4. blank screen of death :cold:
 
There is a handy trick related with petitboot region and the boot flag (that indicates if the PS3 boots to GameOS or OtherOS)
Is a long explain, but the story starts with this link: https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Mounting_HDD_on_PC#Making_Changes_to_cell_ext_os_area_VFLASH_Region

If i remember right that was written by glevand, he had a software brick because he changed the boot flag to OtherOS (the same you can do with one of the options of the rebug toolbox) but his petitboot was not installed properlly
This puts you into a black screen loop because one of the thing all the PS3 of the world does when booting is to check the boot flag, if the boot flag points to a corrupted or empty petitboot the boot process cant continue

The boot flag is stored together with petitboot in a area named cell_ext_os_area (the firmware doesnt have a device name for it, but you can think in it as dev_flash4... just because is located inmediatly after dev_flash3)
In PS3 models with NOR flash you can reset the boot flag simply by formatting the hdd, because this dev_flash4 is inside the VFLASH region of the hdd (a virtual flash)

-------------
The tricks are (only for NOR):

Before installing petitboot and before changing the boot flag you can make a "dump" of your dev_flash4... there is not any PS3 homebrew able to make this, but you can do it by connecting the PS3 hdd in PC (and copy the sectors with something like HxD hexeditor and the option "open device")

You can also make a backup of dev_flash4 after petitboot installation and before changing the boot flag.. this way if at some point you have problems you can connect the hdd to PC and restore dev_flash4 with petitboot installed and booting into GameOS normally

Also, this could be used to "install" petitboot manually... the point is you need to install petitboot only one time and after that you can reinstall it with just a copypaste of data in PC

Edit:
Take a look at this table to see the partition/region layout with the start/end offsets
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Talk:Harddrive#HDD_partitions
 
Last edited:
sandungas said:
There is a handy trick related with petitboot region and the boot flag (that indicates if the PS3 boots to GameOS or OtherOS)
Is a long explain, but the story starts with this link: https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Mounting_HDD_on_PC#Making_Changes_to_cell_ext_os_area_VFLASH_Region

If i remember right that was written by glevand, he had a software brick because he changed the boot flag to OtherOS (the same you can do with one of the options of the rebug toolbox) but his petitboot was not installed properlly
This puts you into a black screen loop because one of the thing all the PS3 of the world does when booting is to check the boot flag, if the boot flag points to a corrupted or empty petitboot the boot process cant continue

The boot flag is stored together with petitboot in a area named cell_ext_os_area (the firmware doesnt have a device name for it, but you can think in it as dev_flash4... just because is located inmediatly after dev_flash3)
In PS3 models with NOR flash you can reset the boot flag simply by formatting the hdd, because this dev_flash4 is inside the VFLASH region of the hdd (a virtual flash)

-------------
The tricks are (only for NOR):

Before installing petitboot and before changing the boot flag you can make a "dump" of your dev_flash4... there is not any PS3 homebrew able to make this, but you can do it by connecting the PS3 hdd in PC (and copy the sectors with something like HxD hexeditor and the option "open device")

You can also make a backup of dev_flash4 after petitboot installation and before changing the boot flag.. this way if at some point you have problems you can connect the hdd to PC and restore dev_flash4 with petitboot installed and booting into GameOS normally

Also, this could be used to "install" petitboot manually... the point is you need to install petitboot only one time and after that you can reinstall it with just a copypaste of data in PC

Edit:
Take a look at this table to see the partition/region layout with the start/end offsets
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Talk:Harddrive#HDD_partitions
Click to expand...
Very interesting. Is it possible to change the boot flag after petitboot has been installed so it always boots to petitboot everytime the system is turned on? This is something i've always wondered to do with OtherOS.
 
dazzaXx said:
Very interesting. Is it possible to change the boot flag after petitboot has been installed so it always boots to petitboot everytime the system is turned on? This is something i've always wondered to do with OtherOS.
Click to expand...
I have doubts about how is stored the data in cell_ext_os_area, it seems the flag and petitboot itself are stored together, so i guess the flag is going to be located first + some more info, and then a big chuck of data for the petitboot binary

I think red ribbon is changing the boot flag when you turn it off by clicking in the taskbar [Start]--->[Boot GameOS]
 
It is mandatory to format the HDD in order to install Red Ribbon Linux ? i want to install linux but i don't want to lose my data and my savegames. thanks
 
Hi I completed the set up but one thing just refuses to work, wireless connections. No matter what I do or try it refuses to work. I know wired is better but I find this easier to do. Sorry in advance.
 
hello, gents.
If it's possible to get some help. So I have a CECHC004, (changed the 60GB HDD to a 512GB SSD). At step 12 if i do a
cd /tmp/petitboot/mnt/
ls
I can see that my USB drive is named "sdd" and not "sdd1", if I
cd /sdd
ls -a
I can see the 4 folders + md5sum.txt (the ones extracted from the ISO) but I do not see the "create_hdd_region.sh" file at all.
I tripled checked on my Windows machine, the file is there, I tried different names, different extensions (as Linux doesn't care what's after the ".")
But I can't see the file to proceed with step 13.

I confirm that the USB is FAT32.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you, Mihai.
 
dazzaXx said:
I'll probably make a link for the REX version that is patched also for those on CEX systems. Or maybe just a seperate tut for patching the firmware so people can do it themselves with whatever firmware they want to use it with.
Click to expand...

Hi friend，I have some questions.
1,How to get petitboot image? Please give a guide
2,Does the Fat PS3's (NAND) support Linux?
 
PSdcdcdc said:
Hi friend，I have some questions.
1,How to get petitboot image? Please give a guide
2,Does the Fat PS3's (NAND) support Linux?
Click to expand...
1. You download the package(s) that i've linked on the page, if you're on CEX you'll need both. These packages contain the petitboot images.

2. Yes. You would flash the NAND Petitboot image onto the PS3 via the Rebug Toolbox.
 
dazzaXx said:
1. You download the package(s) that i've linked on the page, if you're on CEX you'll need both. These packages contain the petitboot images.

2. Yes. You would flash the NAND Petitboot image onto the PS3 via the Rebug Toolbox.
Click to expand...

How do i install Fedora9 PPC Linux on Rebug 4.84.1 DECR LE with my DevKit? THX
 
Could be possible install Linux with this method in HEN?

Now, with the homebrew but the hypervisor could be a problem without CFW.
 
volerai said:
Could be possible install Linux with this method in HEN?

Now, with the homebrew but the hypervisor could be a problem without CFW.
Click to expand...
i think if linux can be possible then we could have a permenant CFW cause as i think acessing linux will make us get more and more private keys,lv1 lv2 problem and many other coreOS and syscon functionality on metldr2 consoles
 
volerai said:
Could be possible install Linux with this method in HEN?

Now, with the homebrew but the hypervisor could be a problem without CFW.
Click to expand...
Would be sick if it was possible for those using HEN, but you'd have to figure out a way to partition the drive. Since my method involves installing patched Rebug CFW to partition the drive when the system has been restored to default. Maybe it's possible to patch 4.84 HFW's emer_init?

But yeah Louay is right, if someone managed to do so, you'd have more access to the system itself, including GameOS.

EDIT: You'd also have to resize your VFLASH / NAND as well to accommodate space for installing petitboot onto it too. The Rebug Toolbox does this but i have no clue if it'd work since it's designed for Rebug CFW and might be potentially harmful to the system if using HEN since its technically just an unlocked OFW and most likely would need the dev_flash mounted with R/W.
 
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