A dedicated modder reportedly managed to port Linux to the PlayStation 5. Though the method he used to accomplish this comes with some limitations, the end result allowed him to showcase some impressive off-script PS5 capabilities via Grand Theft Auto 5.
The project comes from security researcher and long-time modder Andy Nguyen, also known by his online handle @TheFlow0. Over the years, Nguyen made several high-profile attempts at modding Sony’s hardware, including a working PlayStation Portal hack that allowed the handheld to run PSP games.
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Nguyen’s latest project saw the engineer install Linux on a PlayStation 5. His proof-of-concept went way beyond a boot-to-desktop experiment, with Nguyen presenting a fully functional Linux port that allows the console to play games and make use of its USB ports. In a March 6 tweet, the modder described the end result of his efforts as a Steam Machine, showing a clip of his Linux-powered PS5 running GTA 5 Enhanced with ray tracing at a 4K resolution and 60 frames per second. On a regular console, the game is capped at 30 frames per second when running in Fidelity Mode.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
In a subsequent post, Nguyen revealed that his modified PS5 supports 4K HDMI video and audio and has all of its USB ports working, thus offering more functionality than what might typically be expected from a proof-of-concept project. He managed to get his modified console’s CPU and GPU running at 3.5 GHz and 2.33 GHz, respectively, which are the maximum clock speeds Sony supports out of the box. However, Nguyen found the device overheated quickly under those circumstances, making him revert to a 3.2 GHz CPU clock and capping the GPU at 2.0 GHz. The issue clearly frames the demo as highly experimental, especially since it implies that the PS5 could even overheat running Linux games at sub-maximum clock speeds.
Nguyen acknowledged that the overheating problem might have been slightly mitigated if he had positioned the PS5 vertically, but said he did not do so because he lacked a stand at the time of modding the console. Following one Twitter user request, Nguyen ran the RPCS3 on his modded PS5, using it to run the PS3 port of GTA: San Andreas. He did not elaborate on how well the emulator performed with this setup. The project used a modified PlayStation 5 Slim model, originally released in November 2023.
Installing Linux on PS5 Is No Easy Feat
Considering the PS5 Pro is significantly more powerful than the base model, it likely would have performed even better as a Linux machine. However, that remains purely hypothetical because modding the PS5 Pro was not an option for Nguyen. The engineer explained that he was only able to get Linux running on the console using a full chain exploit, a complete sequence of vulnerabilities that allows unsigned code execution on the device. Nguyen cited the open-source Byepervisor project as an example of one such exploit, but did not confirm that it was the exact method he used to install Linux on the PS5. Nonetheless, the requirement for a full chain exploit means the project can only work with older firmware, which rules out the PS5 Pro for the time being.
As with most of Nguyen’s undertakings, this project offers a glimpse of the PS5’s theoretical capabilities as an AMD-based machine rather than merely a vendor-locked gaming system. However, it is unlikely to usher in a wave of PS5 Linux modding, simply due to its technical requirements being too steep for most users to reasonably meet.
