Puppy Linux for PS4 – Leon Pup Beta v1: <300MB RAM usage, Vulkan support: PS4 Distro Release

I have been planning to work on a lightweight distro for PS4 for quite some time now. That’s when some people including the popular dev, notzecoxao (Control_eXecute) recommended Puppy Linux. I have been working on the distro for quite some time now and here I present to you Leon Pup Beta v1, Puppy Linux for PS4. And, much like any other Puppy distro, this one too is a lightweight distro using under 300MB RAM on PS4 when idle.

For those of you who are wondering what the codename Leon means, then, it’s the name of dev, Damián Parrino‘s late pupper whom he lost recently. With his permission, I decided to codename the first version of Puppy Linux for PS4, “Leon” as a tribute to the pupper and Damián‘s many helpful contributions to the homebrew community.

Before we begin, I’d like to make it perfectly clear that Puppy Linux was not originally meant to be a gaming distro and thus, this Beta build doesn’t plan to make it one. But, along the way, I will try to add more gaming-specific features to the distro. So, to stay updated, follow me on my socials and also subscribe to the YouTube channel. Moreover, you can also donate to keep these projects alive.

Without further ado, let’s get down to business.

Features

• Window Manager – JWM
• Mesa – 21.2.6
• Based on Ubuntu Focal (20.04)
• Install Ubuntu apps (.deb) with Puppy Package Manager
• 64-bit OS
• GUI to change language, locale, etc. easily
• Time automatically updated from Internet
• More…

Download

Download Leon Pup Beta v1 for PS4 (Mega | CDN by Terracraft)

Login details

• User: root
• Password: ps4

Screenshots

Leon Pup Beta v1 on PS4: Showcase Video

Here is a quick video with an overview of what you get with Puppy Linux on PS4:-

Installation: How to install Puppy Linux on PS4?

We are going to be using the alternate method of installation here. But, there are a few changes. So, follow the instructions very closely.

Before we begin with the steps, let us first look at the requirements.

Requirements for installing Puppy Linux on PS4

Linux Machine

You can either dualboot with your current OS, or you can run Linux on a virtual machine. To learn how to run Linux on a virtual machine, click here. I recommend using Ubuntu or an Ubuntu based distro like Lubuntu or Kubuntu for this. I have had trouble doing this on Fedora. But, it is upto you.

USB drive

I recommend having an SSD for this. This will work on a mechanical hard drive connected with a SATA to USB adaptor. But, if you really want to feel the speed of the OS, an SSD is a must-have. Here are some great ones for PS4 Linux.

Note: Please be warned that the installation process will wipe the USB drive. So, backup important information beforehand.

Files

1. Puppy Linux image (tar.xz downloaded earlier)
2. bzImage (Download according to your model)
3. Custom initramfs for Puppy Linux (Download here)
4. Gparted
   • On Ubuntu, open terminal and type sudo apt-get install gparted and press Enter.
   • On Fedora, open terminal and type sudo dnf install gparted and press Enter.

USB Hub, USB Keyboard and Mouse

This goes without saying. And, here again, I would recommend getting a USB 3.0 hub.

Exploitable PS4

First, make sure that your PS4 is exploitable. Don’t know how? Check out the article here.

If you have all of these ready, let us quickly jump into the installation process.

Step 1. Prepare USB drive for PS4 Linux installation

1. Connect USB drive to the PC or the virtual machine.
2. Open terminal and type sudo gparted and press Enter.
3. On gparted, choose your drive properly by going to the dropdown menu on top right. The storage capacity of the drive is given, so that you are not confused.
4. Right click on each partition on the drive, for example, /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 and click Unmount.
5. On the top pane, click on Device and click on Create Partition Table. Make sure that msdos is selected and then click on Apply.
6. Click on Unallocated and create a new partition by clicking on the new folder icon on top left.
7. Change the File system to fat32 and the New size to 50. Click on Add.
8. Click on Unallocated and create a new partition by clicking on the new folder icon on top left.
9. Change the File system to ext4, if not already that. Under Label, type anything, for example, ps4linux. The custom initramfs compiled for Puppy Linux will take any Label value.
10. Then, click on the green tick on the top pane and click on Apply.
11. Close gparted.

Step 2. Copy kernel and initramfs to USB drive

1. Go to File Manager and mount the smaller FAT32 drive. This will show up as 52MB Volume on most distros.
2. Copy bzImage and initramfs.cpio.gz to the FAT32 partition.

Step 3. Extract (install) distro to the USB drive

1. Go to the File Manager and mount the partition named psxitarch or the label you had provided in Step 1.
2. Open a terminal and type sudo tar -xvJpf /home/noob404/Desktop/leon-pup-fos-beta-1-ps4linux.tar.xz -C /media/noob404/ps4linux and press Enter. Please note that you might have to change the path of the tar.xz archive and the destination drive. If you have troubles loading Puppy Linux with this, then, instead of the earlier command, use this – sudo tar -xvJpf /home/noob404/Desktop/leon-pup-fos-beta-1-ps4linux.tar.xz -C /media/noob404/ps4linux --numeric-owner.
3. That’s it!

Once this step is down, all you have to do is plug the USB drive to your PS4 and load your favourite Linux payload. If you are on a PS4 Pro, I recommend using the enhanced Linux payloads for PS4 Pro, all of which has been hosted on my exploit site – https://jb.ps4linux.com. Once done, you should be on Puppy Linux for PS4.

Troubleshooting: Puppy Linux for PS4

Since this is a Beta version, you are ought to come across some issues. Make sure you post about them on the forums. But, there are some issues that are common to some PS4 models and their kernels. Here are some of them with their solutions. This list will be added to, as and when new issues, if any arise.

Black screen at boot

This is a very common issue. To fix black screen on Puppy Linux for PS4, follow these instructions:-

1. Unplug and replug the HDMI cable.
2. Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 which will drop you into the TTY shell.
3. Login with the username and password given above.
4. Type startx and press Enter.

Conclusion

If you do like my distros and other contributions, please do not forget to share and like and subscribe to my content via e-mail and also on social media platforms. If you do face any issues, just remember to post on the forums.