With the release of PSGroove and PSFreedom the PS3 became the easiest and cheapest of the next generation consoles to be hacked.

The greatest part about the hacks is that their both open source, this has meant that after the initial versions that only worked on certain developer class USB drives the software has now been ported to countless devices. Being open source has had it’s disadvantages in that Sony released a firmware update 3.42 within a week which has disabled the ability to run either of these hacks for now.I’ve been checking the compatibility list daily waiting for someone to enable one of these hacks on the  HTC Hero.

Today my wishes came true as I discovered that alephzein had release an image that now allows those of us who haven’t updated their Playstation 3s to firmware 3.42 and have rooted Heros to hack them in no time.

These instructions are taken from the PSFreedom Wiki. There are two methods of running the hacks one involves running the files from fast boot and the second way is by installing a modified Amon RA recovery ROM. Before attempting either method please run a Nandroid Backup on your phone as a safeguard.

We’ll start with the fast boot method:

  1. Those of you with a CDMA Hero need to install the following SPL before we start: CDMA SPL-OFF.
  2. Download the following archive files which one depend on the type of Hero you have: GSM or CDMA.
  3. Copy psfreedom.ko to the root directory of your SDCard.
  4. Install a terminal application on your device: Android Terminal Emulator
  5. Power Off your phone and start it in fastboot mode: Hold Power & Volume Down when powering your Hero on.
  6. On the command line on your computer issue the following command: fastboot boot /path/to/zImage/zImage
  7. After booting the image open the terminal emulator:
  8. Type: su
  9. Type: cd /sdcard
  10. Type: insmod psfreedom.ko
  11. With this now running plug your phone into the Playstation 3 and perform a hard reboot pressing eject as soon as you power it on
  12. We’re done 🙂

And now the Recovery Rom Method:

  1. Install this modified version of Amon RAs Recovery Rom: AmonRAPSFreedom.img
  2. Unfortunately you will loose ADB and USB Mass-Storage within the Recovery Rom with this modified image.
  3. If you need help installing the Recovery ROM read Amon RAs post over at XDA-Developers
  4. Reboot into the Recovery Mode and connect your phone to the Playstation 3
  5. Hard reboot the Playstation 3 pressing eject as soon as you power it on and we’ll be good

Using either of these methods should now result in you having a hacked Playstation 3 allowing you to run homebrew applications that are starting to get released. Enjoy !