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Xbox Runs X, KDE, Gnome, StarOffice and Tuxracer

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."

33 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. Can you run Wine? by Zeinfeld · · Score: 5, Funny

    So the question now is whether you can run the X-Box emulator on the result.

    --
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    1. Re:Can you run Wine? by Indras · · Score: 4, Funny

      So the question now is whether you can run the X-Box emulator on the result.

      And if you can, will it be faster than the original, because of the OS upgrade? ::grins::

      --
      The speed of time is one second per second.
    2. 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)
    3. 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
  2. Wahoo! by Jacer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have an X-box, and NO games, just the DVD kit. (I entered the taco bell challenge 600 times!!) Now I can do something other than play DVD's on it!

    --
    --fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
    1. Re:Wahoo! by cioxx · · Score: 3, Funny

      I entered the taco bell challenge 600 times!!

      I hope your ass exploded from all those burritos.

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

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

  4. Finally by davidstrauss · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can spend $200 on a poor-quality, non-upgradable (and non-waranteed) Pentium III instead of building my own for about the same amount.

    1. Re:Finally by SILIZIUMM · · Score: 3, Informative

      Pentium III ? More likely Celery^Hon according to this screenshot...

    2. Re:Finally by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Funny

      "I can spend $200 on a poor-quality, non-upgradable (and non-waranteed) Pentium III instead of building my own for about the same amount"

      I'm sure Linux users everywhere are ready to buy a PC from Microsoft so they can run Linux on it. Heh.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    3. Re:Finally by Stormie · · Score: 3, Informative

      Pentium III ? More likely Celery^Hon according to this screenshot...

      Actually the Xbox CPU is neither a P-III nor a Celeron, but something inbetween. It has only 128KB of L2 cache (like a Celeron, a real P-III has 256KB), but that cache is 8-way set associative (like a real P-III, a Celeron only has 4-way set associative cache).

  5. 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
  6. Doom 3 by DarkHelmet · · Score: 5, Funny
    This is awesome! Why is this awesome? Because now people who have an Xbox will be able to play Doom3 at the *same time* that it comes out for the PC.

    All this without the Anal Leakage (TM) that is the Xbox gamepad.

    --
    /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
  7. keybaord by *xpenguin* · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm typing this into KMail using a USB keybaord

    Looks like it's a buggy USB keybaord.

  8. The Linux Che by zapf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Check out this picture.

    "this is the beginning of microsoft's end."

    Because everyone knows that Tux Racer is going to be the catalyst for change.

    Oh, and GLTron.

  9. 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.
  10. Good good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that an Amiga monitor?

  11. 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!
    1. Re:Screenshots! by Timmeh · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's exactly what I thought too, I mean, other than that I don't think they'd do that kind of thing on the official page or anything. But, check out this video: http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/pic/xbox-linux2. avi, it's 1:34 minutes long, encoding in DivX 5/mp3 and it shows him setting it up and booting up. Putting the cords in and everything. Fairly Convincing.

  12. Re:Advantages? by caferace · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I know I'll get modded down for this. Enjoy.

    The advantage to doing this is to fsck with Microsoft. The rest is just gravy. I do love the .png from sourceforge though. That is too cool.

  13. Re:Is there any point to this? by mark_lybarger · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the same point as fussing about running linux on a playstation, or on a dreamcast, or on my cellphone, or on a nintendo, or, or, or, or.

    why does there have to be more of a point than just people playing around and showing others who might be interested?

  14. Your camera is faulty by cca93014 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, you need to take your camera back to whereever you bought it. There's some really fucking annoying penguin stuck to the lens that's being included in every shot.

    I can't believe you haven't noticed it.

  15. tux racer by mgebbers · · Score: 4, Funny
    TuxRacer also runs (look at the new screenhots on the website), but only with one frame per second.


    so it's the same as a normal pc with a geforce then


    **boom boom**

    :D

  16. Re:Is there any point to this? by seanadams.com · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've never understood what all the fuss is about with Linux on the X-Box. Apart from being a fun hack, is there any point to this?

    Yes, there's a point to it. These geeks are demonstrating the stupidity in crippling a computer with DRM, and they're deriding Microsofts attempts to make a so-called "secure platform". Microsoft has said that they want the future for PCs to include these crippling technologies. What they are doing is proving to MSFT customers and shareholders that the company is full of shit, and DRM can't be done (never mind whether or not it should be done).

    I don't know if that's their motivation or not, but that's the effect. Their motivation might just come from solving a difficult problem and learning something in the process - you should try it!

  17. 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!

  18. Re:And you thought Slashdot's grammar was bad... by g4dget · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder whether your German is any better than their English.

  19. xmame by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What we really need to get running on this is xmame. Nearly 3500 arcade games on your living room television set!

    Now there's $200 worth of entertainment!

    --
    If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
  20. Re:better call your lawyers by Kashif+Shaikh · · Score: 3, Informative

    xbox linux is ILLEGAL software. The developers have broken microsofts encryption to run their own ILLEGAL unlicenced software. This is a violation of the DMCA, and you could be SUED.

    Who gives a flying fuck anyway? BTW, Microsoft seems to be passive about 'hack the box' issues so far(from the net hack for Halo to Linux)...maybe they want xbox to get some more attention in the news?

    If Microsoft wanted to, they would have sent the Bill Gates Swat Team and stormed their ass down already.

  21. In the olden days.. by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... we used to buy game machines to play games, not turn them into half-assed computers.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  22. Microsoft loses $150 on each xbox it sells..... by kajoob · · Score: 5, Funny

    at this rate, we'll only have to buy up a shade over 26 million of these puppies to eat up Microsoft's $4 billion cash reserve. The Empire is about to fall!

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
  23. Re:Go loss leader! by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Heh. That's interesting math:

    Manufacturing cost = $350 (not sure if that's true, but we'll run with it just for giggles)

    MSRP = $200

    When an XBOX is sold, MS makes MSRP - a very small commission for the store it's sold at. (Stores make nearly no money on Game consoles.)

    So MS is out $150.

    When the item is out, MS is out $350.

    So, as near as I can tell, $350 > $150, therefore MS loses more money when an XBOX isn't sold.

    Now, your argument is that people should buy XBOXs and not buy games for them. (In other words, people should pay for nothing) You're assuming that when you sell that XBOX, nothing will be there to replace it. WRONG. MS will not only make another XBOX in it's place to sell, but it'll be cheaper. Manufacturing cost is based on the total money spent to make these units divided by how many are sold. It takes a lot of money to get the factory started and so one. Once that's done, it just keeps churning out consoles. As time goes buy, the price goes down. (Not including that CPUS, RAM, etc get cheaper over time...) Eventually, MS will sell these at a profit. (assuming Sony/Nintendo don't undercut them to death.)

    Now let's get back to the pscychology of buying a unit and not buying games with it: You're screwing yourself out of $200 that way. MS's systems sold # goes up, giving people more reason to buy one. They're going to buy it and play games for it. Meanwhile, you either have an expensive doorstop, or a shitty Linux machine. Woop-de-doo. 10 million XBOXes would have to be sold for MS to lose 1.5 bill. They have 40. Can you honestly tell me common sense wouldn't prevail with 10 million+ people involved?

    If you don't like MS, don't buy their products. 'Sticking it to them' is not likely to do anything but good for them.

    Frankly, I'm sick of all these "I hate MS" posts. If you get so zealous about attacking MS, not only will you never be taken seriously, but you'll also give them the ability to say "were just misunderstood." Pick your battles. Fight MS for making you buy Windows, don't fight MS for making a good game machine.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  24. 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).

    1. Re:I want one by psicE · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Microsoft's a big software company. Nevertheless, do you know where most of their profits come from? 40% are from Office, its biggest seller.

      Microsoft is fast realizing that a non-subscription-based Windows cannot be expected to be a moneymaker for long; people are just too prone to pirate. The idea very well may occur to them to port Office to Linux, because they know full well that they'd gain more profits from additional sales of Office than they'd lose from sales of Windows. And once MS is offering products from Linux, why wouldn't they at least make it possible (if not any easier) to install Linux on the Xbox?

      Knowing MS, they'd be much more likely to install a version of CE on the hard drive, which would allow people to run Microsoft-certified apps. But I can't think of a good reason why Microsoft wouldn't allow people to run Linux on the box, if it meant that MS would have more system sales, and thus more game sales (and more licensing fees from game developers).

      As for the other minor problems you mention: [a] The doctrine of first sale says that Microsoft can stop no person from buying a $200 Xbox, putting in a $40 mod-chip, installing Linux, and selling it for $300 plus shipping. MS may not like it, but users would; they could get a full-featured computer that ran all Xbox games for only $300, which is as much as some people paid for the Xbox as it is. [b] The filesystem doesn't need any special features. The Xbox by its nature isn't going to be used as a server, so in effect it's single-user; and there are no other filesystem features you need to download software off SourceForge (arguably we need a more standardized package format, but that has nothing to do with filesystems).