I'm kinda new to the whole ps3 thing ... there's a menu option for install other os. i did some googling and it looks like people like to put linux on their PS3. But... why? Just because you can? Does doing that wipe make it so you can't play games or watch movies anymore? wouldn't it be better to just have linux on a PC?

Not sure why you would want to. Or why it's even an option.

It does not take over the whole system. You choose between allocating 10GB to the other OS and everything else to the PS3, or vice-versa. Linux and the PS3 are completely separated from each other, and files accessible in Linux are not available in the PS3's XMB (and vice-versa).

As for why, I don't know, other than "because you can." You don't get access to the RSX (the graphics acceleration) in Linux, and this leaves you with 256MB of RAM. It runs slowly by today's typical standards.

I wouldn't mind doing some home computing and web surfing on my 50-inch plasma. Still, I don't think I'd do it to my machine.