Therefore, when choosing a Linux distribution to install on the PS3 make sure that it is labeled as a Cell version.

Window Managers

Window managers control only the way the windows and other things look on the desktop but not neccessarily much of the underlying functionality of the operating system. The default window manager for GNOME is called Metacity; for KDE, KWin; for XFCE, Xfwm.
There are other window managers that are available for Ubuntu. Some are Fluxbox, Blackbox, and Enlightenment. These window managers are very lightweight and can save resources (RAM, processing power) but may be too advanced or unusual for the novice Linux user to be comfortable with.
You may mix and match window managers with destkop managers. For example, Enlightenment maybe used with GNOME, where GNOME controls the operating system and Enlightenment just draws the desktop and windows, etc.

Ubuntu Versions

Currently, Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) does not support PowerPC and will not work "out-of-the-box" on the PS3 and should be avoided by those users without much technical experience.

Desktop Managers

There are three desktop managers that are officially packaged with Ubuntu. They are GNOME, which is the default on Ubuntu; KDE, which is the default on Kubuntu; and XFCE, which is the default on Xubuntu. These desktop managers control the way the graphical user interface looks and works. You can use any of the three that you choose, and each has its benefits. GNOME is built around being more user friendly, KDE around being more developer friendly, and XFCE which is similar to GNOME (and uses the some of the same applications) but is designed to be lightweight.
The PS3 has quite a bit of processing power and should be able to handle any of the three. But due to the limited amount of RAM that the PS3 has available to the user (about 192MB), Xubuntu maybe the best choice since it uses the lightweight XFCE desktop manager. Of course, you may use any one of the three that you wish.
Please refer to the forums for further information.

The Playstation 3 uses the new Cell processor developed by IBM, Toshiba, and Sony. This processor uses Power Architecture and has some similarities to the PowerPC architecture that was used in older Apple Macintosh computers.
Therefore, when choosing a Linux distribution to install on the PS3 make sure that it is labeled as a PowerPC version.
Currently, Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) does not work "out-of-the-box" on the PS3 and should be avoided by those users without much technical experience.
The last Ubuntu version to be officially supported on PowerPC architecture was Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) and can still be downloaded from one of the many mirrors on Ubuntu.com.
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download∞ (see note at the bottom of the page).
Many users have successfully installed Ubuntu 7.10 on the PS3. Please refer to the forums for further information.

Does anyone know if the 64 bit versions work? If so please note here or let's tell users to make sure they use 32 bit ones.

Please edit this page.