If you remember a very cool project we reported on a few months ago that got Ubuntu Linux up and running on PlayStation 5 consoles, I have some bad news: the lead developer of the open-source project, Andy Nguyen, has stepped away:
"I am stepping away from the PS5 scene and stopping all my work on PS5 Linux," Nguyen posted on X. "After pouring my heart and months of my life into it, including plans to finish PS5 Pro support and release in 2027, it's all down the sink."
"The scene used to be a group of highly talented researchers, but now it is just a bunch of noobs using LLMs and writing hacks they don't even understand. Slop kiddies found the only hypervisor bug left, which I had also found a while ago, and decided to report to Sony."
The project, which was run by Nguyen, used hypervisor bugs to get Ubuntu Linux working on the PS5. Once past Sony's barriers, open-source Mesa drivers were tweaked to get everything working as it should, but you had to stay on older firmware to prevent Sony's patches "fixing" the hypervisor bugs that permitted the project to work.
Nguyen was working on getting Ubuntu working with the PS5 Pro, but that relied on the "only hypervisor bug left", which has now been reported to Sony by the "slop kiddies." Which will presumably mean a patch from Sony and goodbye to the project.
The scene used to be a group of highly talented researchers, but now it is just a bunch of noobs using LLMs and writing hacks they don't even understand. Slop kiddies found the only hypervisor bug left, which I had also found a while ago, and decided to report to Sony.September 15, 2026
"I asked them [the people who found the hypervisor bug]," Nguyen says, "to at least wait for GTA 6 to come out so that people would have the opportunity to legally purchase the game and also enjoy Linux. They agreed to wait, but not a day passed and they decided to waste it instead."
I'm unsure how much of Nguyen stepping away has to do with this happening to the Pro project, and how much is the prevalence of "noobs." It seems like perhaps a little of column A and a little of column B. I'm not a dev so I can't say whether this kind of negative environment is encouraged by 'easier' development using AI, but it wouldn't surprise me.
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