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LinuXbox Boots
ducker writes: "Finally Xbox is ready for some real fun! Linux can be booted now ... just check out http://www.xbox-scene.com - Linux boots into a network-enabled state, running a web server and telnet, which allows you to log into the box from another machine. It can be booted either from flash memory, or (more easily) from a CD inserted into the machine. (The Xbox still needs to have a modchip fitted to allow it to run unsigned code)."
Do you mean we are few months from gettin MAME for XBox, or that the port of Linux means that we are a few months away from a MAME port? I ask because you may not be aware that MAME has already been poted to Xbox
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The reward was split in a number of goals
Project A: Porting Linux to a modified Xbox:
Task 1: Replacement BIOS (software/hardware)
Task 2: Kernel and XFree drivers
Task 3: Kernel logic: FATX and miscellaneous
Task 4: XBE bootloader
Project B: Xbox hack without any hardware modification
slashdot story
Press Release
If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
The specific terms of the award are here: Xbox Linux Award & Development Roadmap
They will award $100,000 for completion of Project A:
And $100,000 for completion of Project B:
2) From a message on LKML:
3) And finally, from a reply: Draw your own conclusions."The best argument against democracy is a five minute chat with the average voter."
--Winston Churchill
No, at their current manufacturing costs they genuinely DO lose money on each unit. I understand the argument that an Xbox sitting on a shelf unsold costs them more money but that logic is inherently flawed. Each time a batch of, say, 100,000 begins to run out they must manufacture another batch or risk damaging their supply network i.e. losing their hard won shelf-space down in Electronic Boutique or whatever. Failing to maintain a constant supply of their product is equivalent to withdrawing their product from the market.
That's the best bit: even if only a tiny handful of people buy Xboxes to use as Mail servers or whatever, the perception of a solid userbase crumbles. Before this, Microsoft could legitimately say "We can prove we have one millions users" and developers could base their decisions on that. Now, however, it's going to be at the back of everybody's minds that there is some sort of erosion of the userbase going on. Even if claim to know the unknowable and put out an estimate that only 0.009% of Xboxes are Linuxed, developers will disregard that and come up with their own estimates that err heavily on the side of safety... it's their development costs after all.
Buying an Xbox but not buying any games or subscribing to their online service DOES hurt Microsoft.
Spreading the knowledge that Xboxes make nifty mail servers hurts them even more.
If we lived in a world where X-box building was a one time event, then your reasoning would be sound. But we don't live in such a world. Microsoft will continue to build X-boxes to meet demand.
Not to mention that the more X-boxes are bought to run Linux and not play prepackaged X-box games (realizing that these two are not necessarily mutually exclusive), the fewer game titles per X-box are sold and the less game developers are interested in the platform.
The USB is standard USB, except for the physical connector. However, inside the box is a hub daughtercard, which provides the four game ports. Until/unless Xbox -> Standard USB Type A sockets become available, a reasonable hack is to solder a short USB cable on the daughtercard hub connector.
The wire colours are standardized for USB and the cable in the xbox uses the standard colours, which you will find if you cut any USB cable.
It isn't a hardware game, its a gaming game. Platforms that sell fewer games, lose.
http://www.extreme-mods.com/products/premodxbox1.h tm
I just followed some links..
Interesting point, but I really doubt that this is aimed at the general consumer. It's for Joe Linux, who prides himself on doing nifty tech things with Linux.
:-) ) more effort to set up properly. But they're often very customizable, you can actually have an impact on the game design ("This game needs feature X"), and you don't have to leave the comfortable environs of Linux. And the environment is getting better, not worse.
Okay, Tux Racer may not be the most amazing thing in the world, but it's fun for a couple hours.
Freeciv...why is freeciv bad? You don't like civilization? There are some differences, but aside from the fact that civ had more artists (and, IMHO, a worse interface) and is a bit easier to use, not huge difference in fun factor.
Lets consider some others:
zangband/ToME/angband/nethack/etc: These *are* a lot of fun. Diablo has much more simplistic, boring gameplay, and it took off all over. Most variants have a pretty simple text or 2d graphics based interface without music, but some are a bit more elaborate. Be a bit of a pain to play on the controller, yes...
Chromium BSU: flashy scrolling shooter. Could use the 3d hardware in the X-box.
Dunno if you can just use ordinary ol' x86 binaries (particularly considering RAM usage), but:
Quake 3 (use the 3d hardware). Not free.
Abuse: This was a *blast* when it came out -- I played it over and over. It's looking a little dated now, but it's still a good game. Free now -- thanks crack.com.
Pingus is apparently shaping up pretty well.
There's part of the amazing Exile series available for Linux. (shareware)
Maelstrom may be too "simple" for you, as it's only an astroids clone, but it was a very well known game on the Mac for a long time, and I still like it.
While I'm not a tremendous fan of Illwinter's Conquest of Elysium II, their Dominions: Priests, Prophets, and Pretenders is a non-flashy but very deep, very good strategy game. Shareware.
There's a DOS-style shooter from Mountain King Studios, Raptor. (shareware)
Finally, there are all the emulators and whatnot...take a look at GNUboy, TuxNES, snes9x, DGen/SDL,
FreeSCI, Sarien, Exult, XU4, ScummVM, Basilisk II, YAE and others.
There are a host of Loki ports that you can't get any more except used. Lots of good stuff from LGames, though I'm not as big a fan of their stuff as some other people are.
Finally, text-based but really, really sophisticated, good, and almost all of them free, there are text-based interactive fiction (Try Tower of Babel before giving up on this...first one I ever beat without cheating, and it's *soooooo* good). The Interactive Fiction Archive has games and players.
Finally, many good games can be played through WINE -- Starcraft, Fallout, Max Payne, Half Life...
These are just some of the games that I enjoy under Linux. There are lots more (admittedly, some of lower quality) available at the SDL Games Page and the Linux Games Tome.
Linux games usually take a bit more (okay, often a lot
May we never see th
If simply buying an xbox meant that MS gets to make money off of it even if you put Linux on it, why would they make it so difficult to do that? Hell, sony makes their own Linux distro for the PS2, why couldn't M$ do the same?
There is a metric that says how many games are bought per system sold; that determines how much money is made. If someone uses an xbox as a SNES or an arcade emulator, the number of xbox games bought would probably be around zero. That means microsoft will _LOSE_ money.
Also, the dev kits and licenses do not make money alone. MS gets a cut for every xbox game sold, that's where they make money.
Gord has the straight scoop on the "sold at a loss" myth. According to Gord, the Xbox was the first console to sell at a loss. See Acts of Gord for details. This is a funnny site.
Anarchists never rule