Ever since the system's release in late 2020, developers have been hard at work expanding the PlayStation 5's functionality beyond what Sony intended, helped by leaks that could lead to permanent jailbreaks. Now, over five years since the console's release, those with an older phat system still running older versions of the system software can turn Sony's current generation into a highly capable Linux PC, and take advantage of its Zen 2 8 CPU cores and RDNA 2 GPU to run emulators (including the PS3 emulator RPCS3) and Steam games with impressive fluidity thanks to a new loader released online by Andy Nguyen a.k.a. TheFl0w.
"ps5-linux leverages a patched HV vulnerability to transform your PS5 Phat console running 3.xx or 4.xx firmwares into a highly capable Linux PC, unlocking its full hardware potential for desktop use," the loader GitHub description reads. "Powered by 8 CPU cores (16 threads) at 3.5 GHz and a GPU at 2.23 GHz, it provides enough performance to run Steam games and various emulators with impressive fluidity. It supports HDMI 4K60 video and audio output. Furthermore, it allows you to utilize an M.2 SSD as a dedicated Linux partition, as well as all USB ports on the console."
As already mentioned, not many users will be able to run Linux on PlayStation 5 due to limitations: only select firmwares are supported, and only version 4.0 supports M.2.
- 3.00, 3.10, 3.20, 3.21, without M.2 support
- 4.00, 4.02, 4.03, 4.50, 4.51 with M.2 support
The developer, however, could be adding support for other firmwares, including 1.xx and 2.xx firmwares. Support for 5.xx firmwares could be coming as well, but since Linux would have to run within GameOS VM, it may result in reduced performance and other limitations.
If you do happen to have an older PlayStation 5 that you did not update, want to try running Linux on the system, but don't want to lose the system's regular functionality, you are in luck, as this modification doesn't touch the internal M.2 drive. As this is a soft-mod, however, you will need to run the exploit every time you want to boot into Linux, with no option to put it in standby.
Since this is a very fresh release, we have yet to see what can be achieved on a PlayStation 5 running Linux, but we already saw a while back that it can run select Steam games not only flawlessly, but with the additional features that are normally not available in native PS5 versions of the game. As shown last month by developer Andy Nguyen, it is possible to run Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced on the system, complete with ray tracing, at 60 FPS, which is the maximum FPS currently supported by the exploit.
Seeing Linux running on a PlayStation 5 is exciting enough for the possibilities it opens, but it's not exactly new for Sony systems. Those who have been playing video games for some time and were around for the PlayStation 3 launch will surely remember OtherOS, an early feature that allowed users to run Linux on the system. This feature was controversially removed by firmware update 3.21 in April, leading to a class action lawsuit against Sony, which was later dismissed in 2011.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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