Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Xbox Runs X, KDE, Gnome, StarOffice and Tuxracer

Posted by timothy on from the and-really-what-else-is-there dept.

freax writes "Today in the the xbox-linux mailinglist: I'm typing this into KMail using a USB keybaord (and a USB mouse) in front of the TV connected to the Xbox. ... and even StarOffice works quite fine. TuxRacer also runs (look at the new screenhots on the website), but only with one frame per second. Check out screenshots here."

15 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. Prize ? by kila_m · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does this mean someone will win get the $200,000 ?

    1. Re:Prize ? by *xpenguin* · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Probably only $100,000, because the second step of the project hasn't been completed (make it legal and have it run without a mod chip). It sure looks impossible to me.

    2. Re:Prize ? by Libor+Vanek · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think that only way to do it is to find bug in Xbox BIOS (or whatever - but this will be surely fixed by MS) or brute-force decrypt CDs signing key so we'll be able to sign Linux CD as regular Xbox application.

    3. Re:Prize ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Oh, did somebody say distributed processing? Come on then, talk about massive civil disobedience. Fucking come on then!

  2. More importantly, how about Apache... by Colin+Smith · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Samba, FTP, POP, NNTP, Squid, NFS, Grid engine.

    Y'know, all those services that an ISP or similar might find handy in a *big* server farm.

    Hey, how's about a Beowulf of those. :)

    --
    Deleted
  3. Why this is a good thing by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 3, Interesting
    There's a reason why I think this is a Good Thing, and it goes beyond some stupid "Microsoft sucks, make them spend money!"

    This is the true beginning of a low cost, easy to use system. If the boot up totally doesn't destroy the system, for $200 you can get yourself a machine that:

    • Plays games (hopefully, the Xbox will have better exclusive games than just Halo and Shenmue II).
    • Plays DVD movies.
    • Plugs into a TV (which every American has), monitor (which most people can get for cheap).
    • Runs Linux for network admin types (imagine a few of these suckers in your business - $200 for a Staroffice/web browsing/java running machine).
    • With one hardware base to deal with, it should be easy to develop driers for - a major thing for developers. In some way, the Xbox Linux system could help for quick development (much the way that Quake III first came out for the Mac systems, since hardware wise there was a set "known" value for hardwae).


    This won't be perfection or anything as silly as that, but I'm curious to see where it goes. Great work to the team.
    --
    52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
  4. Advantages? by extagboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is there any real advantage to doing this (graphics maybe??) on an X-box as opposed to a real pc or is just something to do when youre bored?

  5. Soldering required? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    or just a DVD boot into Linux?

    can you read/write from the hard drive?

  6. Hold on a second.... by gilesjuk · · Score: 1, Interesting

    How do we know the screenshots aren't created with a PC connected to the TV? :)

  7. Screenshots! by Motor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hehe... I've been to enough computer shows to know that a box (be it Mac/PC/X-Box) sat next to a TV/monitor showing an interesting demo is just not something you can believe!

    --
    We all know that crap is king
    Give us dirty laundry!
  8. RE: DRM Can't be done by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 5, Interesting
    While the 1st-gen DRM schemes can be broken, what happens when better integration prevents you from being able to "chip" a machine? What happens if the cost of the chip (and installation) keep going up?

    I think this is more of a lesson to MSFT about what precautions you need to make for a DRM box to really work!

  9. Re:Can you run Wine? by HeUnique · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And here's the REALLY scary part! if you buy an XBox today, most chances that even if you manage to install some mod chip - the xbox-linux won't run on it. MS changed chips and code based on the analysis of the MIT hacker...

    --
    Hetz (Heunique)
  10. Re:Can you run Wine? by Istealmymusic · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Not at the moment. However, CXBX is a work-in-progress. Some relevant portions from the page:
    How hard is it to create an emulator for the XBox? Unlike the other major new next generation consoles I think the XBox will probably be the easiest to emulate. The architecture and operating system of the XBox so much resemble a Windows PC that it may be possible to simply convert XBox games to Windows. That is, replacing the system calls of XBox applications (the games) with substitutes when emulating it. This may seem hard and impossible to do (converting executables to work on other, but similar operating systems for similar architectures), but in fact it has already been done before: Project Odin allows Windows applications such as Quake 3 or Starcraft for example, to be run on IBM's OS/2 Warp.
    CXBX replaces system calls in XBox boxes (a Microsoft term for application) with Win32 API system calls, allowing for direct execution of the box. However, some system calls still need to be replaced by hand. But of course, who needs to emulate an XBOX when you can emulate on an XBOX? (Thanks to Emulator Zone for this useful information I'm sure all readers will be interested in.)
    • MAME-X What do you mean, 70+ games for the XBox? Try over 3000! This is a port of MAME for the XBox which allows you to play tons of arcade classics on the XBox.
    • GNUboy Yes! The all time favorite handheld is here! This is the Xbox port of the Gameboy emulator.
    • Handy The Atari Lynx emulator has been ported to the box... If I could only fit it in my pocket...
    • Stella The known atari 2600 emulator has come to the xbox!
    • Daedalus The N64 emulator is progressing well on the Xbox too!
    • Snes9X That's right... SNES on the xbox!!! snes9x..only 12-x years late!
    • GBA-X GBA on the Xbox...
    • X-Nes NES on the xbox.
    • SMSPlus Master System/Game Gear emulator.
    • FCEU-NES NES emulator. known for accurate emulation of offensive language

    Hope this helps. Enjoy emulating on your box!

    --
    "The lesson to be learned is not to take the comments on slashdot too literally." --Vinnie Falco, BearShare
  11. I want one by psicE · · Score: 3, Interesting

    People have said this in other forms, but no one's summed it up so far.

    When it comes down to it, why do most people use Windows? Not because it's simple or Linux is complex - most computer users couldn't install or manage Windows configurations, so the added complexity of Linux wouldn't make much of a difference if the defaults (a la Mandrake) were any good. Not because it's more familiar (Start Panel, anyone?), or because it runs their productivity apps (most people can be set up with OpenOffice and not notice a difference).

    People use Windows because it's got the games. As commentators have said time and time again, the computer industry is driven by gamers. No one buys a Pentium 4 2GHz computer with a GeForce 4 Ti because they want to run Office, eh? Geeks resort to dual-booting, Linux for most tasks and Windows for games, while most users simply use what works best - Windows for everything.

    Now, with Xbox, there's an opportunity. Games, by their very nature, defy multitasking. When you're playing a game, you're not doing anything else, period, and you expect real-time performance from your computer. No file/print serving in the background, no preemptive multitasking meaning that your game is only running half as fast as it could. The computer should be doing nothing else but running a game. When you put a game into a console, it loads up that game, isn't running anything else in the background, and thus can (theoretically) give you better performance than any desktop with a full-blown OS can.

    So, suppose you had an Xbox with Linux installed. A user decides they want to type a document, or surf the web; they boot up Linux, and can open Moz or OO. Then, they decide they want to use a game. They shut down Linux, put the game CD/DVD in the Xbox, and load it up.

    Essentially, users have the benefits of a dual-boot situation without the downsides. Games are fully integrated, having every piece of software you need to run them built-in to the disc; the fact that it uses DirectX behind the scenes is irrelevant. And when you're not gaming, you load up Linux, which requires almost no configuration because it's for a standard PC configuration; the Xbox, in fact, may soon be the most ubiquitous PC configuration (plurality) anywhere.

    Users are happy because they get a $200 computer that they can use equally well with a TV, HDTV, or computer monitor; and due to its compact nature, could easily be transported from room to room if need be. Microsoft is happy because people are buying Xboxes, which means they buy games; so MS still ends up making a profit, because most people who buy the Xbox are going to get at least one game (which puts MS almost at break-even).

  12. Job At Micro$oft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Around the time the X-Box came out, didn't some bozo at MS say that if someone were to get LINUX to run on it, there would be a job waiting for them?