Popular Mechanics has published a guide that details how to dual boot your PS3 and put that Cell processor to uses for which it was not originally intended. It is not exactly a simple process, you will need more than your fair share of skills, but if you have a bit of self-confidence and you thoroughly read the guide before you get started, then you should be able to handle the setup without too many hitches. 

The first stage of the PS3 to Linux beast transformation is the installation of a larger hard drive. Popular Mechanics opted for a 250GB, while not strictly necessary, extra space is always nice. During the partitioning, game files will be lost and it would be a good idea to backup everything that you need. Once the hard drive has been swapped, it really is only a hop, skip and a jump from setting up Ubuntu. Don’t worry, the real heavy lifting has already been done by other folks. You’ll need a copy of Ubuntu and you will need to install Kboot.

Why would you want Ubuntu on your PS3? There are plenty of reasons, it gives you a PC with an extremely powerful processor and a whole lot of functionality that the native PS3 operating system does not support and it does so at a PS3 price which is expensive for a gaming system, but cheap when it comes to computers. It gives you a virtually inexhaustible range of free applications that can be installed. You get a whole lot of performance for what really is a minimal cost and you don’t lose anything, because the original operating system is retained and you can switch to it from the boot prompt.

Read through the Popular Mechanics installation guide for all of the details that you need to get the job done. [Popular Mechanics via Crave]