XBox Linux HOWTOs

killmenow writes "Following up this slashdot story from a few days ago, today The Register is reporting that the XBox Linux folks have released a HOWTO for getting SuSE 8.0 running. Cool...I may have to go buy an X-Box now." There's also a HOWTO for Debian if that's your style. All of these require an XBox with modified hardware... There's also a story about the XBox online gaming service that implies Microsoft will be scanning your machine to make sure you haven't modified it, but we can't link to it since silicon.com has some sort of stupid registration requirement. Anyone find the story elsewhere? Ah, News.com has a story about XBox Live.

Comments

An interesting precident

[secondsun]

MS has the right to block any one form its networks. However, if they pursue the X-box owner (most likely by lawsuit) this is a different story. While X-box live is their network, the X-box is the consumer's personal possession. With that said, the person who owns it has the right to do anything he wants to it, modding included.

Mod Checking

[falser]

Microsoft will be scanning your machine to make sure you haven't modified it.

Bah! All you need to do is add another mod to hide the mod they look for. Remenicient of the ever popular radar-detector-detector.

Re:Where, exactly, is modding prohibited?

[mapmaker]

Modding isn't prohibited, because it can't be prohibited.

You don't *license* Xbox hardware from Microsoft, you *buy* it. When you buy something, you *own* it, and can do whatever the hell you want with/to it.
So there is not and can not be a "license agreement".

Now, Xbox Live is a different story. Xbox live is a service, not a piece of hardware. Microsoft can legally define the terms of that service, and one of the terms can be that only non-modded Xboxes are allowed to use it.

To summarize: modding Xboxes is/can not be prohibited. Using modded Xboxes on Xbox Live can and probably will be prohibited.

Is the cost even worth it?

[RailGunner]

While I absolutely love the irony of running Linux on a MS box, I have to wonder if the hardware cost of the XBOX even worth getting one to run Linux?

In a recent Fry's ad, I saw an ad for a AMD Duron 1Ghz processor and motherboard for $79, and the motherboard had on board sound / video. Add some RAM, a hard drive, etc, and you can build a more powerful machine for probably around $300, and you don't have to solder in anything or void your warranty.

Anyone have a really compelling reason to run Linux on an XBOX? I'm sure there's at least one... maybe small machine footprint? XBOX is huge for a console compared to PS2 / Gamecube, but it's still small compared to even a midtower PC.

And yes, I'll accept "Because it's fun" as an answer :)

Please Don't buy an Xbox Just for Linux

[Nanite]

Cool...I may have to go buy an X-Box now.

Do us all a favor and please don't. Microsoft may lose money if you buy one, but it loses more if you don't. A console's fate is decided on how many are sold, it has nothing to do with sales of games. So when geeks start making Xboxes fly off the shelf, just to install Linux, it still makes the Xbox look like a high selling success. If the Xbox is seen as a viable console with high hardware sales, Microsoft will have have the last laugh. Then we'll see Xbox 2, 3, and 4, a prospect no one around here wants to see. Let the Xbox sit on the shelf , and then MS may get the hint and get out of the console business when it sees that they aren't selling.

Nanite
Yeah, Small.