Video: StarCraft Running on the PS3 via Qemu & YDL with Guide!

220w ago - Using Yellow Dog Linux on the PlayStation 3, efaustus9 used Qemu to emulate Windows 95 on the platform, allowing him to run StarCraft. To quote:

Want to run windows apps on your PS3? Windows runs on about 90% of home computers, consequently most software and games are designed for that OS. Wine is a good option for running windows apps in linux.

However it requires a x86 CPU and thus will not run on the PPC processor found in the ps3. So how do you run windows apps on the ps3? Qemu is how. Qemu runs windows in virtualization. Not the most efficient way to run win apps but it works.





In this video I use Qemu to emulate the relatively resource light Windows 95 in yellow dog linux on the ps3. I also use the fscaler tool to utilize the cells spe's and enlarge the image with out taking a performance hit.

As you can see the classic starcraft is quite playable all from the comfort of my living room. Want to try the same on your PS3? Check out my Playstation 3 Yellow Dog Linux 6.x Guide.

I will presume you already have YDL installed with a working internet connection. If you do not have either or both see my guide above. You will need windows 95 install CD for the method described below. You can use newer versions of windows but it will be detrimental to performance. For installing windows 98SE or better see my guide above.

1st in the terminal type:
su
yourpassword
yum install qemu
exit

Then create an Hard drive image by typing the following.
qemu-img create -f qcow c.hd 1200M

Download this boot disk and copy to your home folder:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.0/fdbasecd.iso

Now type the following:
qemu -hda c.hd -cdrom /home/yourusername/fdbasecd.iso -boot d

Freedos will now open in the options provided press 1 to boot the cd. Then select "Install to harddisk using FreeDOS SETUP". Next chose to prepare the harddisk for FreeDos by running XFDisk. In FDisk press enter then select new Partition and press enter until you return to the main options.

Press enter once again select change partition type and make it FAT16 INT13X. Press F3 and select Yes to save partition table. The system will reboot. Once rebooted press 1 to boot the cd and chose option 1 again but this time select option 5 Run Freedos from CDROM (return to command prompt). Now type the following;

FORMAT C: /S

and then type YES

Then give the drive a name hit enter and shutdown qemu. Next download the appropriate boot disk for your version of windows from the page below and put it in your home folder.

http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/95.html

Put your windows 95 install cd in the disk drive and type in the terminal;

qemu -soundhw sb16 -fda /home/yourusername/Windows95x.img -hda c.hd -cdrom /dev/scd0 -boot a

*Attention: replace the x with the boot image version you downloaded (a or b).

In the command prompt type:

R:

then

setup

now install windows 95 but when it asks to reboot close qemu.

Now put the starcraft disk in the diskdrive
In the terminal type;

qemu -soundhw sb16 -hda c.hd -cdrom /dev/scd0 -boot c -m 64

Congrats you are using windows 95 on the ps3 now just install starcraft.

NOTE: expect performance akin to a ~100Mhz Pentium.

Additional Info as seen in the video:

TV: Samsung LN-S4041D
Playstation 3 SKU: CECHB01
Harddrive: 60GB 2.5" SATA
Generic USB Keyboard and Mouse
DualShock3
OtherOS: Yellow Dog Linux 6.0
Window Manager: Fluxbox
Software shown:
Qemu 0.8.2-4
Windows 95 4.00.950.B
fscaler 0.4
Starcraft 1.0