mcload Bootloader

This is a simple bootloader that can be used instead of kboot to boot linux kernels on the PS3. In addition, it also supports loading of .bld, meaning that you can have more than one program in bld format installed at once. Note however that it is just a loader, it does not contain the rich feature set of kboot, with disk partitioning and whatnot. It does have two advantagies over kboot though:

Loading of .bld files, as already mentioned
Faster. The time required to start the Gentoo kernel on my system was reduced from 41 seconds to 22 seconds when switching from kboot to mcload (both were set for a 3 second timeout).

Also, since mcload can start .bld files, you can use it to start kboot from disk if you ever need it.

Limitations

This version of mcload has a fair number of limitations:

Only internal harddrive and ext2/ext3 supported. Both the config file and any kernels/initrds/.bld files that you wish to load must be stored in an ext2 or ext3 filesystem on the internal harddrive. USB drives and memory cards are not supported, nor are reiserfs etc partitions. (It's ok if you have such partitions on the disk, it's just that mcload will not be able to use them.)
Only USB keyboards supported. To select in the menu, you need a USB keyboard. Bluetooth keyboards are not supported, neither are SIXAXXIS controllers in either USB or Bluetooth mode.

Furthermore, as this is the first version, there may be glitches. It works for me, but no guarantees are made.

Installing mcload

The otheros.bld file can be installed directly from GameOS as an "Other OS". Before you do this, you should make sure that you have a valid mcload.conf (or kboot.conf) installed in the etc directory of the harddisk partition labled as "/". If not, you will not be able to use mcload properly.

When you are ready to install, you need to put otheros.bld on a USB memory (or memory stick, SD card etc) in the folder PS3/otheros. (Earlier versions of the system software also required you to put the OtherOS installer otheros.self, which was provided by Sony, in this folder, but it appears that this is no longer necessary, and otheros.self is no longer provided.) Next, insert the storage medium into the PS3, go to Settings/System Settings/Install Other OS and start the installation. Afterwards, selecting "Other OS" as default system will start mcload.

Configuring mcload

mcload uses a configuration file /etc/mcload.conf which has a syntax identical to /etc/kboot.conf, and mcload will in fact use /etc/kboot.conf as a fallback if /etc/mcload.conf does not exist. .bld files can be added to the config in the same way as linux kernels, although any command line arguments (including initrd=) will be ignored.

Where's the beef?

If you have read and understood the previous sections, you may now download the source and binaries.