[Cbe-oss-dev] ps3vram patch

[Geoff Levand]

gkhanna at umassd.edu wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> I recently found out about this ps3vram patch that supposedly allows one
> to use the PS3's video RAM as swap space.

That work was done by Jim Paris and Vivien Chappelier.  It makes the VRAM
available as an MTD storage device.  You can use it as you like, but swap
is as good a use as any I think.

The driver code is here:

  http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/geoff/ps3-linux.git;a=blob;f=drivers/mtd/devices/ps3vram.c;hb=HEAD

> I'm interested in trying this
> out, however I have heard that its not quite ready yet and it causes
> memory corruption. Maybe someone on this list can clarify?

That is true, it has a bug that can cause memory corruption,
and so can corrupt your Linux installation.  I do not recommend
using it for this reason.

> Also, does anyone have instructions on how to go about building a patched
> kernel with this? I found some information in a YDL forum, but it didn't
> quite work out. At this point, I'm not even quite sure what version of the
> kernel source I should start with ..

There is nothing PS3 specific about building a kernel for the PS3.
You can seek advice in general Linux forums.

These sources have that driver:
 
  http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/geoff/ps3-linux.git;a=summary

The current HEAD is reasonably stable.  You need to build with CONFIG_PS3VRAM=m.

-Geoff