Recently, I posted about Debian 11 for PS4 by Darkstorm, the dev. But, it turns out the French community has more up their sleeve. Here are 10 PS4 Linux distros by Darkstorm that you probably didn’t know of. Since these distros were shared on the French homebrew forum, Logic-Sunrise, most of us never came to know of it.
10 PS4 Linux distros by Darkstorm
Anyways, here is a quick look at all the 10 PS4 Linux distros.
ArchLabs
This is an Arch Linux based distro which was inspired by BunsenLabs, which happens to be another lightweight Linux distro. ArchLabs is updated fairly frequently, and at the time of writing, the latest update was released on 13th February, 2022.
ArchLinux
Darkstorm also has an ArchLinux distro for PS4. Well, we do have multiple PS4 Linux distros based on Arch, the best example being PSXITARCH, one of the first Linux distros made available for PS4. You can check the Downloads section to see it being dominated by Arch-based distros.
ArcoLinux
ArcoLinux is an Arch-based distro, yet again. It claims to help the average user, ignorant of Linux’s capabilities master it! ArcoLinux packages can be installed on any Arch distro. The distro seems to make many processes like installing and removing desktop environments easier for the user.
BlackArch Linux
This doesn’t require an explicit mention, but, yes, BlackArch is another Arch-based distro. This contains many penetration tools which come pre-installed. Yes, this is an Arch-based alternative for Kali Linux. Darkstorm has not added any emulators to this distro, because this is for the professionals. And, if you are using BlackArch on your PS4, chances are, you are into security research or something similar. Thus, no time for gaming!
Bluestar Linux
Like BlackArch, Bluestar also claims to be a no-nonsense Linux distro for the power user. Based on Arch, this distro is available in three editions – desktop, deskpro and developer. Each of these distros come with their own set of applications tailored to the requirements of the end user. The maintainers of the distro also maintain exclusive repositories for the distro. Like BlackArch, this also lacks the pre-installed emulators.
EndeavourOS
This is a very popular distro. I am sure most of you guys know of this one. Arch-based Endeavour OS is the successor to Antergos, which was discontinued back in 2019. The distro support multiple desktop environments including Xfce, Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma 5, etc.
MaboxLinux
This is a lightweight distro that uses Openbox for its Windows Manager. Similar to LXDE, Openbox is a lightweight environment that puts little to no pressure on the resources to run. And, on a machine like PS4, it is a boon to have. Infact, Openbox claims to run even on machines with just 300MB of RAM! Anyways, Mabox is a Manjaro-based Linux distro.
Manjaro Linux
This is a well known name, right? You would know that Manjaro is an open-source distro yet again based on Arch. This is one of the well-maintained Linux distros out there.
RebornOS
Arch-based RebornOS is a modern-looking distro out there. It lets you choose between 13 desktop environments. Moreover, it also has an inbuilt package and kernel manager. As for the kernel, it won’t help us PS4 enthusiasts a lot, because Linux kernels on PS4 don’t work in the same conventional way as any other system. Here is a quick look at PS4 Linux kernels.
TEArch
As the name suggests, this is an Arch Linux-based disro that was made in Turkey. I am not sure if the distro is maintained and updated well, because the official website for the distro doesn’t load for me, on a desktop.
Features
- Many pre-installed emulators
- Default keyboard layout – AZERTY
- Default language – French
This is obvious because the distros are mainly intended for the French audience. But, if you need help setting your region, keyboard layout and language, let me know. I will look into it.
Download and Installation
All of these distros may be downloaded from the PS4 Linux Distros Download section. These can be installed using the usual rescueshell method or the alternate method.
Conclusion
The PS4 Linux scene is literally on fire, as of now. We have distros, kernels and what not! Some things that are still lacking include GPU acceleration on PS4 Pro and a stable 5.15 kernel for some boards like Baikal. Devs all over the world are actively working on this. So, let’s hope for good news soon!
“if you need help setting your region, keyboard layout and language, let me know.” Please man teach us doing so. I’m really having trouble. Thanks for all your help.
Will do. Haven’t installed these distros yet. Will look into it.
Thank you so much. Without wanting to take advantage of you, if you could also teach me how to put the keyboard in ABNT2 (it’s a keyboard standard here in Brazil) and also how to change the language to Brazilian Portuguese, I’d really appreciate it.
Please wait for a few days. A detailed tutorial on the same is coming soon.
Sorry if stupid question but has support for the PS4 GPU been upstreamed in mesa? Like would GPU acceleration work fine if I installed the mesa package in the vanilla arch repos? Can’t find a direct answer to this
No, that won’t work. Patches for PS4 haven’t yet been upstreamed.
can TEArch, be installed in internal HDD, if so which files you used
I have Fat 10xx and 2215B ( Slim )
I bought a ps4 slim CUH-2216a with broken hdd for just 10 euros, replaced the hdd, it has 9.00 system update, yuppie! 😁 I tried to boot popos but couldn’t find the right kernel and the problem is this model is not baikal but belize, so it has to be updated.
10 euros??? I wish you could score one like that for here. I would love to work on PS4 Pro GPU acceleration if I had a Pro!
I could look for you but every time i bought one, it was one with some issue, broken hdmi, hdd, baked termal paste so that’s why i bough it so cheap, pro with some easy fixable issue will cost about 100e.