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XBox Chip With Legal BIOS
Lours writes "OzXChip, an Australian company, has a new Xbox chip which comes preinstalled with the new (Cromwell Linux BIOS. Previous chips came without (or simplistic) BIOS for obvious legal and hardware-related (HD-key) reasons you had to go through a lot of manipulations in order to install a patched version of the original Microsoft BIOS or ask the vendor to do it which obviously he was not willing to do for free (when he was willing to). Since the new Cromwell BIOS is fully open source it can be shipped with the chip without any legal risks, gaining you a lot of time, sweat and money. Plus the chip has a very useful feature: by using software based on Andy Green's -- one of the maintainers of the XBox Linux project -- Raincoat, it lets you flash a new BIOS very easily: burn the BIOS file onto a blank CD, put it in the Xbox, boot and you are done. With such beasts there is not much left in the way of want-to-be Linux Xbox hackers who might have been affraid until now to have to deal with delicate hardware intricacies or reluctant to run the whole town for a vendor willing to mod their Xbox at the smallest fee. With important linux distributions also incoming (Debian and Mandrake are underway if not completed) it won't be long before everyone can write code for (and on!) the machine only a few minutes after receiving the chip in his mailbox. Hopefully we are going to see a zillion things running on the machine that Microsoft would only have dreamt of making (and selling)." Update: 01/23 16:07 GMT by T : The company's name is actually OzXChip, rather than OzChip (as originally rendered); thanks to reader Michael Muir for pointing this out.
Cool. A reason to own an Xbox.
This is going to change the whole world for the several hundred people that have modded the old hardware revision Xboxes.
This will be great for MS in the long run. They will have wider adoption since there will be a large selection of open source software. Plus, they'll make bank since everyone will still buy the bad ass xbox games.
will it still play games? and be easy to go back to the original bios?
So did anyone ever win that $200,000 prize? Would this qualify?
First thing I do is play TuxRacer.
to stop all of this someday. Whether it is through government intervention or some EULA (Evil Unconstitutional License non-Agreement) clause that says if you use these so called "Fair Use" reverse engineered chips, microsoft has the authority to fry your $199 computer game console, or something to that effect.
A Fatal OE Exception has occurred, Sig will now reboot.
I've heard that Microsoft detects moded xboxes and will not allow you to sign up/use their xbox live service if you have a mod chip. True?
> Hopefully we are going to see a zillion things running on the machine that Microsoft would only have dreamt of making (and selling)."
I hope so too, but I thought the same thing when I picked up my Sony PS2 Linux kit. Not too many useful projects have come out of THAT yet. (All I really wanted was the ability to play mpeg video on my TV at a decent speed...but SDL hasn't been optimized yet, so that's not yet possible.)
You might want to look into it.
Sweet! And the "Matrix" chip that I ordered last week should be here tomarrow.
In other news, I buy all of my Apple hardware the day before a Macworld Expo.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
If you really want to get caught up in this addictive and fun hacking, check these sites for answers to all questions:
www.xboxhacker.net
www.xbox-scene.com
#xbins on IRC
By the way...the number of hacked xboxes surely runs into the thousands, if not more, and there are already enough robust applications to make it a full-fledged media device.
What is this guy, a Lisp programmer?
* mild mannered physics grad student by day *
* daring code hacker by night *
http://www.silent-tristero.com
Knoppix. Even though the Xbox has a harddrive, a cdrom based distro goes very well with this, and saves the need to repartition the xbox harddrive which distroys some data that some games need.
2 of the best Killer apps for the X-Box I've heard of are the DivX player and the PVR. This chip will go a long way towards making it quick and easy to set those up.
It's too bad MS doesn't jump on the bandwagon. If they produced PVR software and sold it for the price of a normal game, I'd happily buy an X-Box and that software. I'd also pay at least $20 for DivX player software for it.
Jason
ProfQuotes
How does this change the problem with playing XBox Live with a modded XBox? I would like to mod my box to play around with a lot of the homebrew apps, but I really don't want to get my XBox's MAC address banned from XBox Live, as I really do like the service. This is assuming that Microsoft really does check for modded XBox hardware. Does this advancement help the situation?
So I buy an X-BOX, buy the chip, and then install a linux based bios.... on what amounts to a shitty celeron based machine? I don't know... seems kind of weird.
I'd rather get a good machine, install linux... and NOT pay microsoft 300 bucks for sub-standard equipment.
I'm gussing most people who do this sort of thing are the types who would love to see Microsoft fall... if that is the case, don't give them your money.... no matter how cool your modded X-BOX will be.
"Entropy is the bad-guy, and he is everywhere"
There are two big reasons why this is interesting.
1) Because modchips can now ship with a fully legal clean BIOS, it is very hard for MS to suppress or chill their development any more. Cromwell, the Linux booting BIOS, is only capable to boot Linux, there can be no copyright-based complaints. Ozxchips have made a micro-distro (~2MB ISO) which boots and reflashes the BIOS. In the future, I expect mods with multiple BIOSes in one flash, with Cromwell used to manage and reflash the other parts, but being itself read-only/protected.
2) Because Cromwell can boot off the Linux install CDs, perform the install and then subsequently boot direct into Linux, the increased availability of the BIOS suggests that more people will be encouraged to try Linux. And considering these are mainly kids who otherwise face a sterile, uncreative and useless relationship with games on the Xbox, that's a good thing. Again, in the future we can expect Cromwell to be a static feature of mods, the option to boot into Linux always being available.
You've been able to run Linux on the Xbox for some time now, this doesn't really change that. What's different is that you can now run Linux without using any MS code in the BIOS, whereas before Linux required the use of a hacked native BIOS to get it started. So the big difference is that you can run Linux without any copyright infringement.
That has ramifications for the MS trend to try to suppress modchips.
So... will that chip void Xbox Live like the earlier ones?
My good looks paid for that pool, and my talent filled it with water.
on this page it says
#Disable switch compatibility (XBox Live compatibility)
does this mean we can play on xbox live with modded xboxen?
gaining you a lot of time, sweat and money
Well, one of those things I have plenty of, but I could always use more of the other two.
Karma whorin' since 1999
when the next 'leaked' halloween memo states that the original Xbox strategy was
(1) to test different types of security and see which ones were easily hacked
(2) to test different types of licensing agreements for their real hardware push into the living rooms of America
(3) to find a way to willing have people buy ms boxes to replace the failed WebTV fiasco
(4) to use open source people to boost the sales of Xbox above Sony's PS2s.
Besides the "kewl" factor, what is the point of ever modifying an Xbox? Games that once ran on the Xbox will not longer run. TuxRacer is fun, but come on.
That's great for aussie, but I fear that this stuff will never leave the southern emisphere because I can easily figure out gangs of M$ lawyers ready to rumble as soon as a company try to sell it outside Australia.
You'll never play xbox live online with a modded box. Theyre attitude makes sense: a service population with 5% cheaters will make 60% of normal gamers shy away from playing. Many people stopped playing CS because cheating is so prevalent.
As for killer apps, the XBMP - Xbox Media Player now in v2.2 is the ultimate app that is continually updated. DVD/mp3/ogg/m3u playlist/divx support, and the features keep getting better. Plus streaming support. right now, Xbox is the most cost effective media center available. Plus it has some great tech support in the dev scene. And Dreamix is a WIP PVR to complete the media center ideal
MS makes money on the Xbox one way, and one way only: Games. The Xbox itself is sold at a loss, but the profit gained from selling games evens this out.
Now, a marginal group hacking Linux on the Xbox doesn't really matter, but what if someone wanted to buy 10000 Xboxes to build a super-cheap rendering cluster?
If doing this becomes easy enough MS isn't going to sell the Xbox for a loss forever...
.: Max Romantschuk
What's the fun part in running anything on an x-box? Have you forgotten that it's made by microsoft? It's like saying that it's cool to run programs in windows, which it obviously isn't. Stop the madness!
People are going a little overboard with the XBox modding. Sure, have fun, do something new with it, but for the same price, you can get a faster PC, with expansion slots where you can plug in any device you might want, and less expensive than xbox accessories.
Then, you'll be supporting the PC industry, instead of a Monopoly that makes propritary, overpriced, devices.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Is there any way that M$ can turn this into another DMCA crusade to stifle it. I don't know enough about the Xbox. But, given M$ history, M$ money, and M$ attitude, they should be all over this like a hawk.
In the article, there's a link to the pictures gallery.
;)
It has switch for "X-Box Live" compatibility
... and then there were none
Linux as a circumvention device!
buy two and get over it
Just to poke a stick in Bill Gate$ eye.
Barnes & Noble sells used Xbox's for $150.
I'm going to pick mine up this weekend..
Registered Linux user number 302172
Registered Micro$oft Hater number 302172
Registered Linux machine number 187566
Flashing a BIOS is *not* supposed to be an easy one step process, and there's a reason for it.
I can just see it now:
1) Linux hacker goes home with new hotly anticipated Starcraft: Ghost (published by Microsoft), which he stood in line for 10 hours to buy.
2) Linux hacker pops new game into XBox.
3) New UberSafeDisc protection on Starcraft: Ghost flashes replacement BIOS, replaces it with code for original XBox BIOS, then disables future flashing...
Throw the GPL in there a few times and release it to freshmeat as an alpha VRML browser.
But with the depreciation of hardware over time, does it still cost them? Thoughts appreciated. -MMT
why would anyone within such a large population of anti-microsoft users actually own an x-box? be it a linux x-box bios it's still a microsoft x-box... now if it were a stolen x-box, that would be a different story!
fact: microsoft > linux
Gee since It's half the price of the PC you are pricing, I WOULD consider that a great reason to buy an XBOX. Also, with the XBox media player you can watch SVCD/VCD/DIVX, etc. Try building a computer with TV out that will do that for any where near $200.
--
This is a good point.
However, some information: on the Xbox, the motherboard flash containing the BIOS is not writeable by default. You have to take out the motherboard and short out a couple of links with solder before it can be written. So MS cannot trash or update the original BIOS.
Most commercial modchips feature a write protect line which you physically have to switch to allow writes to the mod flash. Even those that don't are externally reprogrammable from a PC printer port. So this is no kind of crisis.
What is more possible to imagine in the future though are new games linked with a new version of the MS libraries which seek out and shit on assets on the HDD that MS don't approve of.
I am waiting for a "real" X-Box.
I would be very happy if I could get an X-box to be a 'good file player' that could play DVD, VCD, and everything else I play on my PC (QT, AVI, DIVX, VOB, blah blah... I admit, a big bag), and some basic network functionality without compromising the ability to play legal X-box games.
Within the community, we seem to have several counter-productive lines of progression.
There are the folks that want to play around with their X-box and add functionality (the most interesting and productive pursuit) and the people who want to buy a M$-subsidized device and use it for Linux-only purposes.
Realistically, the latter are better served to craft their own boxes w/o M$ at all (we all know what has happenned w/ HW prices).
Does it make any sense to buy an X-box and use it as a Linux box? It did months ago, but, with the way the market is progressing, you will gain far less in HW $ than you get is SW time...
I am all for EXTENDING the abilities of the X-Box, but you get much beyond that and it ends up being a gesture motivated not my innovation, but by spite for M$.
-Z
M$ XP user (3 PCs) w/ a SUN Solaris, MacOS, and a lil TiVo on the SDA LAN.
Microsoft most likely win on this one..
I do not buy a Xbox for any reason. I do not suport Microsoft.
For out-of-the-box Linux, there's no power greater than X.
When new OS and BIOS is installed, it gets another PC, not more than that, nothing left. I'm not into Xbox, if you feel I'm mistaken, please point it out.
...what the point of this is?
People who want the X-Box to play games will probably have no idea that they can install Linux on it. Moreover, they probably don't know what Linux is. So why would they want to do that?
Secondly, why would any Linux hacker want to buy an X-Box to run Linux on? Why not just build a PC and customise it the way you want? That'll run Linux just fine. And it probably won't have a Celeron CPU...
This sure would be the next step to get a PC-system in the living room that doesn't produce too much noise, doesn't look too bad and is multi-purpose. Regular PC's often don't have looks that kill and make quit a bit of noise.
/(bb|[^b]{2})/
well wouldn't it be nice if we abolished national borders and let people move about as they like?
Why bother? Seriously one can build a simple computer with more memory, faster processor etc for a couple bucks more and have a more powerful machine.
A game machine is a game machine.
A computer is a computer.
If you look at the XBox sites today and their coverage, you have to conclude that the XBox is pretty damn lame, only surpassed in lameness by the XBox owners.
Destructo-Terror-4-for-XBox! reviewed by I-have-no-friends-but-I-am-a-GAMING-GOD! Yay. Dark-black-void-of-puberty reviewed by neuro-cool-plastic-wobble. Fuck-ti-whoop-ti-doo.
And that's just the mainstream. Then there's the seedy underbelly, populated by feverish wankers who can't help spitting in your face as then explain the latest Linux-On-XBox non-event to you.
And THEN you there is Slashdot, feeding this idiotic frenzy. Scumsucking bottomfeeders.
Alright, first: I don't even own an XBox, I don't know if I ever will.
:-D That's the whole damn point: to play. to try to augment and modify hardware and software simply to see if it can be done.
;-)
So why should people bother? Is it a waste of their time to spend so much effort tinkering on XBox when MS clearly does not want them to?
Of course it isn't. Firstly, no one should ever discourage a geek from playing (attempting to hack or modify hardware or software). It's the single most important aspect of it all: the thrill of seeing what you can do with what you've got. Can I tweak it so it goes a little faster? Can I tweak so it sounds a little clearer? Can I take this fridge and make it act as a firewall?
GEEK-SPOK: Why have you been staring at the internals of that mountain of database code for the past two days? That's not our deptartment.
GEEK-KIRK: [dopey voice] Because it's there.
Of course, that's not the *only* reason to hack. Another is: We Hate Microsoft. And why wouldn't we? They try to lock us out of the software, and their not satisfied with that, now they want to lock us out of the hardware as well. *Naturally* hackers will try to hack it.
And what's so bad about that? I think some of the naysayers hear lack imagination. Think of XBox hacking as a big, community-based R&D project--because it is. Just like all R&D projects, we're not exactly sure what will come out of it. But I, for one, am curious to find out.
Although getting Linux up and running on XBox is still a bit tricksy today, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be difficult tomorrow. This latest innovation means that more hackers will be able to play.
It's conceivable that, at some future point, Linux-on-XBox may be as easy as inserting a CD (after having purchased the appropriate *type* of XBox from the store). Once the hardware is openned up, anything is possible. Myself, I'm looking forward to the prosepct of a "MAME distribution" for "Linux On XBox". Of course, you'd have to download all the romsets from somewhere else.
I know people have managed to get MAME up and running on XBox already, but that's what I'm getting at--as I understand it, it's still a bit involved right now. But as all this XBox hacking moves forward, it may one day be simple enough for everybody--or at least simple enough for the average geek.
Most important reason to hack the XBox: if the xboxhackers don't hack it to figure out how it works and let the masses know, who will?
P.S. I obviously wrote this strange, long post all at once w/o any proofing or anything. If the ideas or grammar offend anyone, all I can say is: oops, my bad.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
GPL violation! What do you think about it! Mod up and comment!
what's the other one?
When new OS and BIOS is installed, it gets another PC
Yes, but only after it puts the lotion in the basket.
i still wouldn't buy it.
hahahahaha
Install Linux and then what, who cares. It is a game console. People are so busy hating MS they forget to look at the big picture. It plays video games.....Hey look there is a toaster, let's put Linux on it, what about that can opener, put Linux on it, how about that mixer.......
This post (this one!) was the most -- and I mean the most!-- continuously self-interrupting (what?) post I think I've ever (ever!) seen. Difficult (almost impossible) to read.
Wow, and its a fraction of the cost, too!
If all you want is the ability to play mpeg video on your tv, you've picked the wrong tool. my $55 Apex DVD player from walmart plays mp3s, vcds, svcds, dvds, audiocds, and yes, raw mpeg files burned to a cdr.
Does this mean we might see mythtv on xbox? Now then I would definately buy an xbox!!!! MythTV
"We can no longer live as rats... we know too much." -Secret of NIMH
Writing is like coding: keep it simple. Spend some time on it, and have pity on your poor readers. There's more to writing than just spelling and grammar.
(My appologies if you are not a native English speaker---your spelling and grammar are good enough that it's hard to tell.)
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
You can find this on MPlayer's HQ. The story is taken from the MPlayer HQ's frontpage.
X-Box media player infringing GPL - 2002.10.04
Some win32 guys made a media player for Micro$oft's well-known "console", the X-box. Unfortunately they used FFMPEG and XVID sources in their closed-source product, and failed to make their sources - and changes to the used GPL codebase - available either in public, or by request - as the GPL license forces them to do so. They can't be contacted because they don't publish their E-Mail addresses due to an expectable threat from M$, or whatever their reasons are.
This violates GPL.
As we currently cannot move against them (not that we want to do so, in the first place), we can only warn the open-source community to STAY AWAY FROM THIS PIECE OF PIRATED SOFTWARE!
It's a pity that so much people don't give a shit about the tireless work of FFMPEG/XVID creators.
"With such beasts there is not much left in the way of want-to-be Linux Xbox hackers who might have been affraid until now to have to deal with delicate hardware intricacies or reluctant to run the whole town for a vendor willing to mod their Xbox at the smallest fee."
Beasts? Run the whole town? For a vendor to mod their xbox? What the flock are you talking about? What town?
The more consoles they can claim they've sold, whether or not people are buying games for them, the more leverage they have in the console market. At least in the short term. Right now the name of the game is differentiating your console with single-platform games. The more single-platform games there are, the higher the likelihood that someone will buy your console because of a single game. So if Microsoft can convince game developers to target only the X-Box (Because of the high sales numbers) the'll gain more of a foothold in the market. Keep an eye on the game adverts and note which ones are targetted only for the X-Box or the Playstation 2 and which will run on all platforms. That'll give you a good idea of who's winning the console wars.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
If this chip is indeed legal, and allows anyone to run software other than officially licensed Microsoft XBox software, the XBox will be discontinued and left behind. There will be no reason for XBox owners to buy official software because they can be happy with running various Linux distros or homebrewed games instead. The console industry is NOTHING LIKE the PC industry, and this was Microsofts biggest flaw. They need to make systems so devoid of PC-like architecture that someting like this wouldn't be possible.
With any luck, XBox2 will look and run nothing like a PC, everything will be 100% proprietary, non-Intel, etc.
2. The more the Linux community distracts itself with this kind of harmless (to MS) activity, the easier it is for MS to maintain its grip on the desktop and continue its fight on the server front.
Keep your eyes on the prize, people. It can evaporate quicker than you think.
Will it play games like Tux Racer and BZFlag? Does the network port and the video card work under linux?
My potato gun was confiscated by the United Nations. They said I wasn't allowed to have weapons of mash destruction.
The original BIOS of the machine is untouched. It is disabled through what amounts to a jumper. The instructions show that you can use an SPST switch to select between the two.
So there would be nothing to identify this to XBox Live as anything other than a dead-stock XBox.
That's part of what makes this hack so appealing.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
You know, it makes no sense. You want to bash Microsoft for their lack of inginuity on their own hardware, yet this article is specifically deals with modifying their hardware. If it were all that bad, why wouldn't you just use someone elses hardware?
SL33ZE - Artificial Intelligence is No Match For Natural Stupidity -
I've said the same thing here on /. for a year and people don't want to believe it.
They want to believe that MS is losing money.
There's something deliciously ironic about spending $200 to make MS lose $50 (which, even if it were true, means that you'll *probably* run out of money before Microsoft).
Anyway, nice try, but a pair fo 16 year olds will probably tell you about how they *know* MS loses money when you buy it.
You've been warned.
I mean if all you're using it for is as a media player or an emulator I suppose it's easier to code for a unit that's essentially a PC. But wouldn't the PS2 be more of a challenge? And in that, I think the end result would be a LOT more impressive (that's not to say the the X-Box efforts are not impressive!).
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
The source code for xbplayer is now available, and has been for quite some time. Make sure you read up before posting something like this; everything seems to have been worked out for the most part between both parties.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I had the hardest time reading that fucking summary. It was filled with so many grammatical errors, it took me several attempts to parse the entire paragraph.
Lours: Learn to write proper English, you foreign fucker.
timothy: Learn to edit summaries better so that people can understand them, you fucker.
This chip is pretty much a clone of the much older Matrix / Xodus chip XODUS HOMEPAGE , but without the nicety of not requiring soldering.
The only problem is, to cut costs they ship it without a programmer or any external way to program it at all. This means to program it, you HAVE to boot to it, then flash it using Evolution-X or a similar tool.
The only problem with no external flashing is... what happens if you f**k up a flash? If you can't boot the chip, you can't flash. If you mess up a flash with this chip, you have to just get another one. How annoying is THAT?
Also, it's only 256k, so debug bios's won't work on it. There's also no flash protect (Like the X-Ecutor 2 has), so your chip can be programmed at any time, whether you know it or not. Requires solder AND is only 256k... you get the biggest downsides of Matrix and X-Ecutor 2, but without any of the benefits! For a rundown of current generation 3 modchip, check the reference guide AT XBOX-SCENE.COM. I'd recommend staying away from this one and getting an X-Ecutor 2 lite (flash protect, 1 mbyte flash, easy jumper-based enable/disable)
Prevent linux based DDOS's!
http://linux.denialofservice.org/
And if you can't afford an XBox (due to student loans and such), the ol $50 Sega Dreamcast has some really nice emulators for it! No mod chip required. I use the NES emulator all the time. Apparently MAME runs well. There's also some BSD distro for it, and homebrew games. Plus, it's so small and cute!
http://www.dcemulation.com/
http://www.consolevision.com/
Escape Pod Films: Sketch Comedy and Web Series
How do you get PVR software working on a piece of equipment which has no video in of any kind?
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
"The cost of the box easily covers the production cost of the unit and also incorporates a small profit for both MS and the retailer/distributor."
Even if MS received a "sweet deal" from nVidia/Intel/etc, I doubt your claims. Stores that sell game consoles get in the range of 3$ to 6$ USD "profit" on a game console. Enough to cover shipping of the units and a little bit extra (defective returns for every 1,000 units shipped normally). The Xbox is not sold as a "profit," it is merely sold at break even or a minor loss (no more than 30$ USD) as components allow. The PS2 is slightly better than break even because of their recent internal redesigns. The GameCube was making a profit until Nintendo dropped the price a few months back.
Microsoft personally receives about 10 to 20$ USD from each Xbox game purchased new. The licence fee to have the games signed with the XDK key more than covers any loss MS makes on the Xbox. If you own more than one game (I do), you have given MS enough money to cover any minor losses.
Now, Microsoft doesn't sell the Xbox at a large loss (some fool said 50$ USD, which would mean that MS somehow lost half a billion dollars on the 8.2 million Xboxes out there), but it's not like they rake in dough on hardware sales. That's never how video game consoles have worked out economically, except for monopoly situations (NES entertainment pack being 200$ USD for 4 years in the 1980s).
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
I thought one of the main (real) resons to use a modchip was to run pirate versions of xbox games?
Not that I would ever do anything like that (hear me Bill?).
Arrr matey...
True, if you only connect to Live with the original BIOS. But they blacklist based on MAC addresses, so if you ever connect with the modded BIOS, your XBox will be permanently banned, even if you later switch back to the original.
However, some information: on the Xbox, the motherboard flash containing the BIOS is not writeable by default. You have to take out the motherboard and short out a couple of links with solder before it can be written. So MS cannot trash or update the original BIOS.
I think you actually missed the point of the original poster. Basically yes, it is not possible for Microsoft to do this by default, but by putting in your handy dandy mod, you've made it possible to flash the bios (see the article and Mod homepage). All they have to do is include the flash routine (Handy that it's open source too! So no problems for them there.) in a new game and flash your bios back.
Basically they could do it just to be annoying or prevent Live cheating with that game.
i am tired of linux being trashed by this ease of yuse crap. learn to use it if you are smart. otherwise go back to windows.
Really the 1/0 logic aint much difference to what's on a NForce Athlon board, only its a GTL+ bus NForce chipset rather than a EV6 bus NForce chipset
Great! More free Microsoft advertising from Slashdot hypocrites! I like it!
In everything but name
Man, you gotta stop that. I just laughed so hard I'm seeing stars.
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#SickNotWeak
What's the point??? Do you not own a computer? Linux should go on a pc... the XBOX is a video game console. Why don't you people get a life. If you want the linux project to succeed, put your effort into making it work better, not trying to make a video game console use it, that's useless.
People, Microsoft loves it when you tweak their box this way. Publically, they're against it, but you're helping their bottom line, and as long as your tweaks are unofficial, they're marginal enough to be ignored. In fact, even if microsoft itself sold the modchip, it'd still be helping their bottom line to purchase it.
Do you think they care what weird software you put on their box? No. What they care about is their sales numbers, which is the only way your tweak impacts them. Their sales numbers, when high enough, mean more titles for xbox (and less for cooler platforms). Their sales numbers mean microsoft proprietary hardware, which will probably eventually run windows.
Imagine, microsoft with a wholly controlled (no, your silly modchip doesn't matter to them, it's still wholly controlled) hardware platform, to match their wholly controlled OS. It's a dream come true for their stock holders, and a very bad thing for FOSS, and a very bad thing for competition in the console market - because you can bet that if they get more than a toe hold on that market, they're going to run with it and never let another competitor see the light of day ever again.
So please, if you love high prices and lack of software freedom, keep snapping up those xboxes! Tweak to your heart's delight! Microsoft will be your friend (at least until they can make a buck by selling your soul)!
- Can you upgrade it?
No. You can't.
- What happens when you hit the eject button on the DVD-ROM drive?
The silly thing reboots.
- Does it support VGA/XVGA/SVGA?
Nope.
That's just the limitations coming out of the box! Then there is the cost and labor. After all is said and done the price jumps to about $300.00 not including labor and the chance of destrying your motherboard due to a botched solder job, probably jump the price to $400.00 to get some other guy to mod your box for you.Great. For $400.00 you have a computer that can never be upgraded, has to be attached to a TV and requires home-made adapters to get the mouse and keyboard to work. You can get a better deal at Wal Mart.
If you want to mod your XBox becuase it makes your inner nerd all giddy go ahead and do it. Have fun! If you are trying to turn an XBox into a cheap and crappy PC please save your money and time.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Cromwell was an evil bastard. I wouldn't want him running any computer of mine. Instead, I'd rather take a Cavalier attitude and let the Stewarts run it. They are the Grail Kings!
power (watts) is equal to (current) * (voltage).
True.
So... you might need to check your units on that comment.
It's an overloaded use of "watt". The phrase "300 watt current" refers to "whatever current provides 300 VA of power with your country's voltage". For instance, a "300 watt current" in the United States is 2.5 A.
Will I retire or break 10K?
all because it runs on the x86 arch with a modified GF3
No, because the Xbox console is compatible with my 27 inch TV, which is much bigger than my 17 inch VGA display.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Even if *one* person mods their X-Box, that in itself does so much damage in the long run it isn't even funny. You simply CANNOT wave this aside and say that since not many people will be doing it, that it doesn't matter. IT DOES, and it will hurt Microsofts bottom line: TO make money!
The fact that you own a Dreamcast should clue you in more than anyone else WHY it is now a defunct system. Because people modded it so heavily and actual software sales never met expectations because of it!
mp3.com buys "Master of Puppets" CD, rips it, mp3 encodes it, and stores the mp3 on their machine.
Still legal, still fair use... so far.
Headbanger buys "Master of Puppets" CD.
Everything's kosher so far.
my.mp3.com sends damage_inc.mp3 to headbanger, knowing that they were able to compute a hash from a random part of the "Master of Puppets" CD.
Infringement has just taken place.
Noting that the Xbox uses a Mac Address for its
authentication, and that it has to be contained in whatever handshake packets MS uses, what is there to stop someone emulating XBox Traffic, and gradually going through all the Mac Addresses?
Now think about it, it would not be a daft Idea, because the ammount of leitamate users that were locked out would eventually make the lockout procedure un-economical for MS.
I say hit the service, and then we won't have to worry about Modding as MS will not be able to lockout Modded boxes as they will no longer know which ones are which.
Heh, I can imagine the consumer backlash in the first week.
Note: For those who think this may not be possible, I work in a University, I know it can be done.
If Microsoft was able to toss XBoxes into a trash compacter at $150 loss each (one of the numbers I've heard proposed for how much they lose per console) but get away with telling everyone that they'd sold them, they would gladly spend $150 million to "sell" a million consoles and be able to use that marketing info to convince developers to make more games for the XBox. Even with no hope of _ever_ being able to recoup the losses from those particular XBoxes.
Microsoft said they planed to lose a billion dollars for the first few years. Clearly their goal is not short term economic gains, but long range plans for getting a firm place in the market. Every XBox that gets sold helps that goal, even if the buyer turns it into a Linux box and never buys a single game.
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If you buy a XBox and patch-it they loose money, and if you not buy a X-Box they loose money !
.... so the best way to be sure they sunk is not to buy a X-Box at all !
... and this could not be the asian part of the world that will save MS project.
... who want to buy 200 games plzzz :o)
The only solution for them is that you buy a X-Box with lots of games
In europe latest figures show that game buy per console is pretty low (mostly because of the very high price)
Only the US, could now save the X-Box
That having been said, the actions of the small minority of linux users will have very little effect on Microsoft, but for what little it's worth, that effect will be positive.
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No, thanks. If I want to use UNIX for true productivity I'll simply use my Linux box or my Mac. They're more powerful and more flexible, plus a monitor beats a TV any day of the week (DoA Beach Volleyball notwithstanding).
As a "hobby box" I can understand the appeal of an X-Box, but a Dreamcast fits that role as well or better at a lower price.
A friend gave me a Dreamcast for Christmas this year. I'd never seriously looked at the system before, so it seemed a bit odd. Since then the little box has vacuumed up my free time, and I'm having an absolute blast with it (thanks Ryan!). After scoring a mouse, vga adapter, and keyboard (cheap!) on eBay, as well as a broadband adapter (not so cheap- my one complaint!), I downloaded a copy of DCLinux and was on my way. No mod chip required- no fussing about with BIOS chips- just burn a disc and go.
I've been tweaking the distro I got and I'm having a ball with it- it's been a fun learning tool. (Plus I can shell into the Mac and Linux box and send e-mail, etc. just to score geek points.)
A side benefit is that the games are dirt cheap now and surprisingly fun, but the real thrill to me is the joy of stretching a piece of hardware into uses beyond those for which it was originally intended. A lot of intelligence went into the design of this machine.
-Cybrex
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
You got one too? Geez, that had to have been their biggest promo in years, I know tons of people who just got their xboxen for free like that. I talked to one of their support staff who said that even though they had free XBOX and free PS2, the XBOX uptake was waay way higher.
Love my Speakeasy. Love my XBOX. This takes it over the edge, I'm modchipping mine.
Check my Go-related blog for beginners: DGD
When will you all ever learn, M$ is making bucket loads out of the XBox and shed loads out of XBox Games and they will continue to make these obscene amounts of money for as long as all of us live for, they don't care about a few modded boxes 'cause for every modded box there's 100,000 normal ones.
:o(
So Mod away, but let's not bore each other with the endless M$ bashing and "I'll do it to rage against the M$ machine" line as it's getting, like me, tired and old
In all, buy more X-Boxen to raise M$'s faltering share price so they can defend themselves against *BSD and Linux.
That isn't true neither.
the figures below are approximative but this does not matter here :s
-MS loses $300 per built-but-not-sold-console
-MS loses $100 per console-sold-to-install-linux-without-buying-game
Whatever geeks do, MS will sell nearly all their consoles regardless of how many people buy the machine because they are clever enough not to build too many machines and will adapt to the demand's evolution.
So MS will never lose $300 per not-sold-console because there won't be such thing as a not-sold console (or too few to make a difference).
That loss is purely virtual and would be obtained only if MS was stupid enough to build a massive number of unsold consoles which will all know will never happen. Bill might be cynical unscrupulous moron but he's certainly not stupid.
Moreover, the linux-xbox might interest a quite high number of non-geeks people not able to buy a computer because of prices issues.
Remember that for $249 you get a computer that just needs to be plugged on the TV : a complete set top box, easy access to the internet, to which you can add a keyboard and mouse, write email, surf the web and a zillion other things.
A computer running with free software (free as in beer).
The average Joe does not need power, nor graphical resolution, he needs a low price, a user friendly interface quick controls and possibly cracked games if he gets his hands on some. The linux/xbox combination gives him all this and MS actually pays to make sure he'll buy it.
The average Joe's is also a huge number of people, multiply that number by those $100 that MS hoped to recover by selling games. If you are not convinced remember that running a user friendly linux on the xbox will be very soon as simple as buying the already modded/linuxed xbox.
You can also expect the medias will be more than happy to tell such a story when it will be reality which will add to the hype.
Regarding the comments on sales increases actually helping MS this is also untrue. The only money that MS will get thanks to the xbox comes from the fee that publishers pays them for each sold DVD. But publishers won't produce more games than they can sell how high the installed base might be.
The average Joe does *not* buy $50 games.
The only problem with this practice being that it would be fully illegal since Microsoft has no right to destroy user personal data without its consent. The chip flash content belongs to the user and only him can decide whether it should be trashed or not.
I guess that the FSF or EFF lawyers would be quite happy to test this in courts.
Well with a modded xbox you can still play the xbox games you like(which there actaully are quite a few, Hi dead or alive volleyball just release yay) There are alot of things you could do if you want to play live /etc...I have my xbox top off(I'm lazy and don't care for looks) and I have a 120 gig hard drive with my games, media player, and divx/svcd movies I watch alot and pr0n, I also have a external switch for my modchip and my original hard drive for when I want to play xbox live. I just switch the ide cable and turn off modchip. Which I rarely rarely use xbox live anymore, I usually am on xbconnect to play Unreal with a few friends. So I usually tote around with just my 120 gig, take it to friends alot for games(I have 20 games I haven't taken off my hard drive) and have a bunch of movies I can take around if I want and it's really easy to move. Oh and when I get a new game from the store I just put the disc in spend a few minutes copying to hd and stuff, then I play the games with little load time. The fact that I've paid 300$ total for all this is quite awesome imo. (150$ for xbox, 100$ for hard drive, 50$ for modchip)
It sure beats spending 80$ on a dvd player that doesn't play everything I can throw at it, doesnt need cd's and plays games.
I just finished installing the new bios...
:-(
It only outputs PAL right now. So all those in the states are SOL.
Including me
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
Scenario: X-Box/Linux succes -> M$ no like (not much money coming in through X-Box hardware sales, only the games with it) -> M$ stops X-Box production -> the X-Box/Linux platform becomes 'frozen' -> the hardware in this combination growing old from then on
Unlike any other PC (or Mac, or Alpha, or ..) that you can replace with faster/newer versions/components.
Microsoft, or somebody should make a simple browser for the XBox, maybe have it load a page of links so there is no typing, but you could check news, etc. I don't think that MS will because they want to be reminded of WebTV.