Folding Forum

In 2020 Playstation 5 and XBox Scarlett get released. They have hardware similar to a gaming PC. Are there plans to release a folding client for these devices?

Windows, Linux, or Mac-OS-X?

The Good news: Sony has done two previous clients for F@H. (PS/3 and Android)
The Bad news: I do not think it benefited Sony much in Praise and Publicity.

If there is another client, heap praise on Sony. No whining.
MS has never helped F@H with consoles or devices.

The Xbox One runs a modified version of Windows for the home screen, with games running on a separate OS altogether, managed by a hypervisor. It supports Windows Universal Platform apps, so maybe that would help with porting the client over, if the client could be modified to support the WUP. I can't imagine Microsoft revoking support for WUP, unless they give up on the entire thing, so I assume that Project Scarlett will be based on Windows in the same way. However, at Computex Microsoft hinted at a "Modern OS" that would be radically different than Windows 10 that would be much lighter, so this possibly could be beneficial for the Xbox, but that doesn't seem like it will be ready any time soon.

Sony bases the PlayStation 4's OS on FreeBSD 9, which is based on Unix. Since they have already created a client for the PS3, it shouldn't be too hard to port it over to the PS5, unless they are planning some major changes to how the software works.

Both consoles appear to be based (RUMORED!) on similar AMD CPU's and GPU's, the CPU being based on Zen 2, and the GPU being Navi (RDNA) based. The devices will be capable of driving an 8K display, indicating the presence of a much more powerful GPU, and the PS5 will also support ray tracing (RUMORED).

Hope this info helps. Here's some of the articles:
https://www.geek.com/games/playstation- ... s-1792542/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/first ... 0-6466281/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStati ... d_services
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019 ... games-6400
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One_system_software

As FAH GPU client runs on OpenCL we would need to have that enabled there too for GPU to work. But Sony or Microsoft need to help to get a FAH App released on these devices. It is not like on a PC were you can download and install any App.

If they have an internet browser with webassembly support then maybe it is more easy to make a FAH NaCl successor in webassembly code which then can run in the internet browser of these devices.

PS4 and Xbox sold 100 million units worldwide.

When the PS3 client was announced, I got one. Now it sits in the corner, unused.

I don't know how much of my expereince applies to the PS4 or PS5, but there were never any upgrades to the PS3's processing subsystem, only options for larger disks, so that client was frozen in time, unlike PCs. (...plus it was too power-hungry and produced a lot of heat.) I can upgrade my GPU any time I want without buying a whole new system and FAH doesn't need to rewrite anything.

Given that the PS* system is especially attractive to kids (and others), it's probably good that Sony is extremely careful in blocking malware. I really doubt the PS5 will be any more open to software installation, so IF THERE'S ever a FAH client developed, it will take close cooperation between FAH and SONY.

I have my doubts.

While sales of gaming consoles is on the rise worldwide, most of these are portable and budget consoles.
High end devices like the ps5 will probably see less sales.
And most of these devices are used less and less, than the previous generation devices .
The novelty of owning a console, wears off.
People are getting tired of buying a console, only to be outdated a year or two later, barely been able to purchase or play 3 to 4 games.

Also their usage (people's involvement with them) is much less than before.
While it could be a potential positive for fah, when users can donate some of their console downtime, I think what would really be happening, is that most people will prefer their consoled to be off when not used.
At 10Tflops, is like running a 200-300 watt heater in the home.

And like what Bruce said, with most consoled not being upgradeable, it's more costly to replace a ps5 than a graphics card.