After yesterdays official release of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, many of you have tried upgrading to the newest version using the Update Manager. But based on our own efforts, and those of you who reported errors on the forum, it does not yet work. Neither does any of the recent 8.04 CD image releases, if you plan to do a clean install.

There are still quite a few serious bugs in the kernel, X and the installer that prevent Hardy from working on the PS3. The developers are working hard on eliminating the bugs, but it could still be months before we have a working solution. If you’re interested in helping out testing and debugging, consider joining the ubuntu-cell mailing list.

You can follow the bug reports here.

UPDATE: Michael S. found a way to upgrade, but it takes some serious time and effort. See comment #2 for an elaborate walkthrough.

The latest firmware update for the PS3 (v2.0) for some reason removes wireless configuration from your PSUbuntu Network Manager.

The solution is to upgrade your kernel using the linux-kernel-2.6.23-rc7_tools package.

Here’s how to do it:

• Get the tar file and copy it to your PSUbuntu Desktop (use a usb-stick or other media)
• Extract the files and run the .deb files linux-headers.., linux-image.., and wifi-radar (wifi-radar not necessary?)
• Reboot, and your wireless network shold be available again.

If anyone has any idea as to why this happened, or if there are other ways to get Wifi back, let us know!

See this forum thread for more.

With the recent release of Ubuntu 7.10 the PS3-version has gone through a few architectural changes. Be aware of this if you’re planning to upgrade your Feisty installation directly:

1. Kernel flavor has changed from powerpc64-smp to cell. So if you’re upgrading directly from 7.04 to 7.10, you should run this before or after the upgrade:
$ sudo apt-get remove linux-image-powerpc64-smp linux-powerpc64-smp linux-restricted-modules-powerpc64-smp
$ sudo apt-get install linux-cell
2. Block device names have also changed from the normal /dev/sd1 to /dev/ps3d1 - so if you changed /etc/fstab to refer to hardcoded device names, you will need to adjust these for the new kernel.

Or if you prefer a clean install; wait for the PSUbuntu.com Gutsy installation instructions to be published on this site in a few days, or consult our forums!