From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with archive (Exim 4.43) id 1NaVc8-00083z-B6 for mharc-grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:44:56 -0500 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1NaVc6-00081L-J4 for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:44:54 -0500 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1NaVc1-0007su-8e for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:44:53 -0500 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=40478 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1NaVc1-0007se-0e for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:44:49 -0500 Received: from xvm-190-8.ghst.net ([217.70.190.8]:44575 helo=aybabtu.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1NaVc0-0003qV-Fp for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:44:48 -0500 Received: from [192.168.10.10] (helo=thorin) by aybabtu.com with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1NaVbw-000410-LL for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:44:44 +0100 Received: from rmh by thorin with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1NaVbv-0001WL-Mn for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:44:43 +0100 Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:44:43 +0100 From: Robert Millan To: grub-devel@gnu.org Message-ID: <20100128144443.GA4612@thorin> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Organization: free as in freedom X-Message-Flag: Worried about Outlook viruses? Switch to Thunderbird! www.mozilla.com/thunderbird X-Debbugs-No-Ack: true User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) Subject: PlayStation 3 liberated X-BeenThere: grub-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: The development of GNU GRUB List-Id: The development of GNU GRUB List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:44:54 -0000 Maybe you heard the recent news that the handcuffware in Sony PS3 has been recently broken: http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/01/heres-your-silver-platter.html This is somewhat relevant to GRUB: It is now possible to port free operating systems to the PS3, but they will need a bootloader. And GRUB already has two key pieces: - PowerPC support on other platforms - Operation mode that starts GRUB as a userland process (grub-emu) With the PS3 exploit, it is possible to get full access to physical memory. My understanding of PowerPC architecture is very limited, but I believe this would allow grub-emu to: - Rise privilege level - Disable interrupts - Setup 1:1 MMU map Thereby obtaining full control of the hardware. I think it would be feasible to make a GSoC project for this, or at least the beginning of it. Let me know if you'd like to be a mentor this summer. -- Robert Millan "Be the change you want to see in the world" -- Gandhi