With the PS4 Linux scene slowly catching traction, especially with the awesome dev Nazky having ported SteamOS 3 to PS4, I am sure many of you are wondering how this is done, right? Like, how do they port Linux distros on to the PS4? How are the drivers made compatible with the PS4? How is Vulkan running so fine on the PS4? Well, the technical jargons aside, if you are anything like me, then, I am sure you have wondered and have wanted to try making your own Linux distro for the PS4.

Please understand that I am not claiming to be the first person to make a tutorial on this. I am sure somewhere around the web, a tutorial might exist. But, I plan to make this available for every beginner. Keeping that in mind, I have created a noob friendly tutorial covering each step of the process in extreme detail. And, I also have made video guides for everyone to follow properly.

On the forum, I will post a brief textual tutorial for building your own PS4 Linux distro from scratch. For a complete detailed tutorial, please visit my article on the blog.

Requirements
1. ISO of the distro
2. VirtualBox
3. VirtualBox Extension Pack
4. USB drive
You can check our Downloads section for these.

Build your first PS4 Linux distro
I am going to divide the whole tutorial into 4 different parts

Part 1. Setup & install Linux to Virtual Machine
1. Install VirtualBox and Extension pack.
2. Setup a New VM on VirtualBox with atleast 12GB of space.
3. Install the Linux distro on it. Make sure you have a single partition mounted to /.

Detailed Video Tutorial for Part 1

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Part 2. Install & Uninstall Packages, Update system
I will be showing the example for Fedora, but, if you need instructions for Ubuntu based distros, check the article.
1. Remove unnecessary packages. Eg.-

sudo dnf remove clipit

2. Install necessary packages. I would suggest you to check the command database for installing the most popular apps including Steam, Wine, Lutris, etc.
3. To update the system,

sudo dnf update

Detailed Video Tutorial for Part 2

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Part 3. Install Linux drivers for the PS4
1. Download the Linux drivers for your distro from here.
2. Install them on Fedora by going into the folder one by one (for 64 bit and 32 bit) and run

sudo yum reinstall *.rpm

If you face driver conflicts, you will have to remove the older drivers. Instructions for the same can be found here.

Detailed Video Tutorial for Part 3

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Part 4. Backup distro for installation on PS4
1. While on the distro on the Virtual machine, change directory to root by typing

cd /

2. Run

sudo tar -cvf ps4linux.tar.xz --exclude=/ps4linux.tar.xz --exclude=/var/cache --one-file-system / -I "xz -9"

3. After the process is complete, you will find the ps4linux.tar.xz in the root of your Linux filesystem.
4. Mount USB and copy the archive to USB for installation.

Detailed Video Tutorial for Part 4

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And, that's it. You are ready to install the distro on your PS4. Btw, if you are looking to save time on installation, I suggest you check this article out where I show you a faster method of installation.

If you have any queries, please comment below or on my blog.

TWITTER | YOUTUBE​

 

[Flame]

this is some amazing stuff.

 

[diggeloid]

Lmao this is wild

 

[stanleyopar2000]

I’m waiting for PS4 Pro optimized build

 

[SimisFul]

Impressive work!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

 

[Beerus]

Proxmox PS4 ?????? not sure if it will support virtualization

 

[Jayro]

At least now it doesn't have to be some shitty version of Yellow dog Linux for PPC (PS3).

 

[xdarkmario]

you know, long ago when i had a ps3 with otherOS capabilities, me being a windows only user back then i never thought much or even tried anything with the linux install. Me being a Full time linux user today would LOVE to have linux on my ps4 if i cared to own one.

 

[Noctosphere]

Why is it always "You can now install Linux on this console"
I mean, why not windows and make in compatible with 99% of pc games?

 

[Noctosphere]

Why is it always "You can now install Linux on this console"
I mean, why not windows and make in compatible with 99% of pc games?

Btw, i really mean the question, i'm not saying it like "im tired of this shit", no, i really want to know.

 

[KiiWii]

Why is it always "You can now install Linux on this console"
I mean, why not windows and make in compatible with 99% of pc games?

Windows kernel isn’t open or something.. I can’t remember.. basically there is no kernel for windows to load on these machines.. yet.

 

[Noctosphere]

Windows kernel isn’t open or something.. I can’t remember.. basically there is no kernel for windows to load on these machines.. yet.

Okok, so it really is JUST because windows isn"t opensource?

 

[KiiWii]

Okok, so it really is JUST because windows isn"t opensource?

Like I said, I can’t remember exactly, but something to do with the kernel. Idk if it’s just encrypted or something else, but I’m sure some people have attempted it.. I’m sure I asked eeply or ita back in the day…

 

[Taleweaver]

I'm going to try out that distro on an old laptop. Kind of stupid to see the steamos iso on this tutorial first, but there's no harm in trying...

Okok, so it really is JUST because windows isn"t opensource?

I think the fact that steamos is made for using a controller instead of keyboard /mouse is also an important factor

 

[Noctosphere]

I'm going to try out that distro on an old laptop. Kind of stupid to see the steamos iso on this tutorial first, but there's no harm in trying...


I think the fact that steamos is made for using a controller instead of keyboard /mouse is also an important factor

wait... aren't we talking about linux?
What is SteamOS doing here?

 

[Taleweaver]

wait... aren't we talking about linux?
What is SteamOS doing here?

Erm... I take it you haven't read the OP more clearly?

Here's the thing: Linux comes in a ridiculous amount of flavors because everyone can make their own list of programs to include, graphical user interface and some more aspects. So steamos isn't different in that aspect(it's something else for android, but that's not the topic here)... Valve just did what so many others have done and built their own Linux distribution.

 

[K3Nv2]

Okok, so it really is JUST because windows isn"t opensource?

It's probably the same exact reason why ios is only locked to apple devices and why you only see iOS on apple certified devices compared to Android that's open source and theirs like millions of different Android devices.

Linux can already do basically everything windows can just takes a bit of tweaking. Though it is a bit of a thought process that we're seeing hand helds (eg: SD/ aya neo) run windows completely fine for the most part, definitely a bit of a head scratcher.

 

[chrisrlink]

It's probably the same exact reason why ios is only locked to apple devices and why you only see iOS on apple certified devices compared to Android that's open source and theirs like millions of different Android devices.

Linux can already do basically everything windows can just takes a bit of tweaking. Though it is a bit of a thought process that we're seeing hand helds (eg: SD/ aya neo) run windows completely fine for the most part, definitely a bit of a head scratcher.

also the reason for the custom Rom's/OS for androids that are bootloader unlocked i mean i just installed Liniage 18 (based on android 11) on my pixel 2 phone downside of custom roms in my experience are that some features are broken and being in a rooted state means pkm masters ex/Go and other games will ban you just for being rooted (or refuse to launch even) unless you us majisk and even then its iffy

 

[smf]

Okok, so it really is JUST because windows isn"t opensource?

That certainly makes it more complicated.

It would take a lot more effort, not only are you having to reverse engineer the ps4 and write drivers but you need to reverse engineer windows too.

I think someone showed windows 10 running under a VM on ps4 linux though.

 

[urherenow]

Why is it always "You can now install Linux on this console"
I mean, why not windows and make in compatible with 99% of pc games?

Well, to be fair, @shutterbug2000 did get dosbox and subsequently Windows 95 running on the N3DS... sort of...

If you're in the Windows insider program, you can download Windows 10 ARM64 for free... so honestly I don't fully buy this whole encrypted kernel thing being a problem. It's just that people with the skills don't have much interest. All the documentation needed to init the hardware and pass the loading process over to the Windows installer/bootloader must already be in fusee/Hekate/Atmosphere, and the Windows installer is pretty good at not being picky about the hardware it's on. Most of the time, the installer can pick out the best drivers for the hardware and puts your efi and HAL together for you, during initial install.