All pre-slim models of the PS3 have Linux capability, this however is about to change in a new firmware update.
SCEA Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media Patrick Seybold has recently said that this change will be bought about due to security concerns. This could be because of George Hotz hacking the PS3 exactly two months ago.
People who choose not to get this update will be locked out from PSN and media servers, they will also not be able to play any new PS3 games which are released after the update.
The Optional update will become available April 1st 2010.
Klatu
March 30, 2010 at 3:00 PMThe update has nothing to do with backwards compat. It removes the “install other OS” option from the system. Secondly, only the 60GB “fat” PS3 has backwards compat, not “all pre-slim models”. Again, I believe you are referring to the “install other OS” feature which was left out of the newer slim models. Jeez.
rainwarrior
April 1, 2010 at 3:36 PMThere’s an 80gb fat with backwards compatibility too, maybe one or two other models. Not all fats, but some of them.