Hacking [RELEASE] PS4 Gentoo by mircoho

[Changhui]

@Changhui
You can test if linux will work on your PS4 without plugging in a usb drive.

Got to the ps4gentoo.github.io page in your PS4 browser without any usb plugged in.
Run Hen, Press the PS button when Hen loads.
Open the browser again and select the Gentoo payload.

• If your PS4 LED changes from white to red/blue this means that linux will work. If there is nothing on your screen this means that your display is the problem.
  
• If your PS4 LED stay white or your PS4 shuts down, this means that your PS4 is not compatable with linux.
• If you see the linux #rescueshell on your screen, this means that your USB is formatted wrong or you are using the wrong files.

You can also test the above by seleting the debug payload instead of the gentoo one.

Unfortunately after test, PS4 LED stay white as per point no.2 above. So i am really out of luck for my model.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Successfully installed Gentoo Linux on my PS4 CUH-2016A

Wow good ! I think it should be CUH-2106A right? I also miss spell my model to 2016A

 

[Leeful]

Unfortunately after test, PS4 LED stay white as per point no.2 above. So i am really out of luck for my model.

You should try it a few times to be sure. Sometimes it does crash.

Wow good ! I think it should be CUH-2106A right? I also miss spell my model to 2016A

There are 2016A and 2106A models.

 

[spotanjo3]

Successfully installed Gentoo Linux on my PS4 CUH-2016A

Congratulations. Finally you did it. What did you do ? It will help those noob people like you that struggle it. Maybe you can post those for people to download and put on fat32 usb drive.

 

[Changhui]

Maybe I'll help someone if I post what I did.

I installed gentoo like psxitarch, formatted my usb-hdd to FAT32, copied kernel + initframs by Iguy0 ( with Baikal chip kernel patches ), then copied ps4gentoo01-2020.tar.xz (2,17GB), changed name to psxitarch.tar.xz and proceed installation same as psxitarch distro.

I used VRAM1 PSXITARCH LINUX V2 LOADER from X-PROJECT to boot into rescue-shell.

I am trying your alternative method, seems working and installing now !

 

[Leeful]

I am trying your alternative method, seems working and installing now !

Great news.
Looks like the the problem was with the payloads on ps4gentoo.github.io

 

[Changhui]

I am trying your alternative method, seems working and installing now !

Unfortunately after install i boot up and using same payload from x-projects, it stuck halfway...

 

[Changhui]

Unfortunately after install i boot up and using same payload from x-projects, it stuck halfway...

@3mam4me , did u face the same issue? How u success boot into desktop?

 

[spotanjo3]

@3mam4me , did u face the same issue? How u success boot into desktop?

Please use "EDIT" instead of double posts. Thats against the rules.

 

[Changhui]

Please use "EDIT" instead of double posts. Thats against the rules.

Sorry! i was not aware of this

 

[spotanjo3]

Sorry! i was not aware of this

No worries. Just look around and if you dont know what it is or etc. Just let us know. Now, you know how to edit it. CHEERS!

 

[3mam4me]

@3mam4me , did u face the same issue? How u success boot into desktop?

Did You copy kernel (bzImage) + initframs by Iguy0 (with Baikal chip kernel patches) ?
https://mega.nz/#!0XRxASjT!5dONWyNmb0n_3gEzw3OGzEbHPUVwZF3nl1sHiWPxfOw

No I've got everything OK (green ones) after install.

 

[Changhui]

Did You copy kernel (bzImage) + initframs by Iguy0 (with Baikal chip kernel patches) ?

No I've got everything OK (green ones) after install.

Yes, i did download this and copy both files into usb hdd with fat32 formatted and finish installing. But when boot up, it stop halfway with some false errors lines(something related to failed mounting) as i attached in previous post.

 

[MostlyUnharmful]

By the look of it, it seems to fail when pivoting from the initrd to the FS on the disk, well kinda as '/dev' and '/sys' are the special mount points used as kernel interface, but I really never had the pleasure <grin> to debug such errors, at least in the last ten years.

If you launch the 'journalctl' command, the last lines should have some clues why it's failing, maybe search for 'tmpfs' (should work as a pager, PageUp, PageDown, cursor up, cursor down, and '/' to search forward for a string).

Did you mixed kernel, initrd or installed a different distribution?

 

[Changhui]

By the look of it, it seems to fail when pivoting from the initrd to the FS on the disk, well kinda as '/dev' and '/sys' are the special mount points used as kernel interface, but I really never had the pleasure <grin> to debug such errors, at least in the last ten years.

If you launch the 'journalctl' command, the last lines should have some clues why it's failing, maybe search for 'tmpfs' (should work as a pager, PageUp, PageDown, cursor up, cursor down, and '/' to search forward for a string).

Did you mixed kernel, initrd or installed a different distribution?

This seems to be too technical for me to understand as i am not familiar with linux command. i follow the step from @3mam4me and it just halt in mid of booting after success install and my keyboard cannot response to any input.

 

[lotus78]

Hi - as i have read, some people are interestet about Gentoo on internal HD, I´ll tell you my last experience about that.

At first - as I know - only 10XX/11XX phat are supported !!
(mine is a CUH-1116A)

I installed Gentoo V7 - gentoops4kdebeta7.tar.xz - with the (I think) latest kernel on internal HD.
(unfortunally, the file was deleted in the net... - and I can´t upload 3 GB) -
but I´m sure, you can take any other gentoo version or distri which has tar.gz.

V7 is not the latest gentoo version, but it was the latest version that was delivered in tar.gz,
because as you see the latest gentoo was deliveredas an img and I was not able to build my own tar.gz from them.
(maybe @mircoho will upload the latest as tar.gz...)

- then I took the latest kernel from the gentoo/linux page from here (5.3.7 - without debug) - see the screeshot at the end.
you also can test some other kernels (f.ex. Baikal ones..) - you only have to copy them to the right path on the HD
(you can do that after installing - I tried 3 different ones...)
https://github.com/ps4gentoo/ps4-linux/releases

- the intiramfs.cpio.gz from here -
(for my opinion, you can´t change the initramfs, because there is the "referenc" to the install commands for internal HD)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d16yWE04cDwrnYz8v8qaoCbKz2kLRiIb/view

I did the install procedur, as posted here on PSXHAX:
https://www.psxhax.com/threads/inst...ard-drive-hdd-5-05-loader-payload.6800/page-6

To load the linux from internal, in the past I had realy trouble because it was very unstable,
but yesterday fortuitously I saw that the linux always (!) load, when I activeted HEN 2.3.1 befor activating the linux payload.

I take the linux payload from my own host on the NAS, and to be honest I donn´t know exacly with version it is.
It is a html file and its a VRam 2 payload - I think I converted the bin file to html from the original download
that was together with the initramfs. (see the link above)
If anyone has interesting, I can upload them.

This is a little confuse and not real one direction -
I´m also not sure, if everything is 100% correct that I written, but in this way it works for me.

Everything is at your own risk - I do not responibility for any damage!!

All credits go to @mircoho for the work on gentoo for PS4 and (I think) to @itmania for the initramfs
and all the developer for the linux payload. (sorry - I dont know them all by name...)

 

[Leeful]

... To load the linux from internal, in the past I had realy trouble because it was very unstable,
but yesterday fortuitously I saw that the linux always (!) load, when I activeted HEN 2.3.1 befor activating the linux payload

Yeah, Its always best to run hen first.

The reason is when you first run any payload on a freshly booted PS4 it has to patch the kernel first and then run the payload.
If you run hen first, the PS4 kernel is already patched when the time comes to run the linux payload so all the linux payload has to do is boot linux.

If you just try and run the linux payload from a fresh boot the process of patching the kernel and then booting linux is very unstable, hence more chance of a kernel panic.

 

[xunsus]

I did the install procedur, as posted here on PSXHAX:
https://www.psxhax.com/threads/inst...ard-drive-hdd-5-05-loader-payload.6800/page-6

hi, i plan on instaling gentoo on internal (can't yet because i don't have a usb keyboard)
i have one question: after install what did you write insted of "start-psxitarch.sh"

 

[Leeful]

hi, i plan on instaling gentoo on internal (can't yet because i don't have a usb keyboard)
i have one question: after install what did you write insted of "start-psxitarch.sh"

install-hdd.sh

 

[xunsus]

install-hdd.sh

no i mean after that. to launch linux

 

[Leeful]

no i mean after that. to launch linux

start-psxitarch.sh
Its all in the procedure in the psxhax link that @lotus78 posted.