The biggest problem is, that the PS3 is too slow to play movies. BUT, you say, HOW can such a numbercruncher be slow at playing movies?

First, Sony does allow direct access to the graphic cpu, only to graphic output. This means that even such simple things as scaling an image or color conversation has to be done in software. This leads us to the second problem: the slow ass cpu. Sony advertises with “two 3,2ghz cpus” or something, but in reality, it feels like an Athlon with 1Ghz. This means, even heavy compiler optimized mplayer/xine/whatever are not capable of playing many movies smoothly and without lag.

System administrators regularly work from the command line, but there's more to the console than managing servers. You can do most desktop work from the console, and generally faster than you can accomplish work from a graphical user interface. You can even have a basic office suite, complete with a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation program, all in the absence of a GUI. Here are 10 applications to try.

This guide will help you set up Ubuntu 8.10 on your PS3 there is no risk of leaving the PS3 dead you if you cant get it set up and you cant get back to the PS3 system you just turn off the PS3 and then hold the power button for a about 5 seconds untill the second beeps then it will reset and boot the standard PS3 system