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.

Comments

Build it, the (apps) will come?

[Linux Freak]

> 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.)

Re:Build it, the (apps) will come?

[b0r1s]

There's no good reason why a majority of the people would want this. There is a small minority who will do it just to show that it can be done, the rest either:

1. Will buy an X-Box to play games and DVDs ONLY
2. Will not buy an X-Box, but instead will buy a dedicated machine to do whatever you might want to hack into a linux-running X-Box

Why? Because as a computing platform, the X-Box isn't that impressive, especially for $200. The graphics are nice, indeed, but you can buy a P4 tower from Dell for $400 these days, or a Tivo/PVR for a few hundred, a DVD player for $99, you'd have to be really dedicated to mod a perfectly good X-Box (which voids the warranty).

Yea, it's a nice hack for those who really want to see linux running on everything. For everyone else, another dedicated box is a better option.

Let me get this straight....

[trotski]

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.

Re:Let me get this straight....

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not true. An XBox sold is better than an XBox shelved.

So how is everyone going to react...

[SensitiveMale]

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.

Re:What wrong with you?

[terrencefw]

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!

Well, that's exactly the point: It's made by Microsoft. They can shut us out of their software with their "screw-yew" EULAs, but they've tried to shut us out of the hardware as well, and the xbox modders have proved that they can't do that, neither technologically or legally. Bet they've got their best monkeys scratching their heads to work out how to close their platform legally, but when it comes down to it, it's hardware, I've bought it, not licensed it and I can do what I damn well like with it. If I want to hack my fridge to run Linux, then I will. Same goes for the Xbox, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it.

No good reason?

[fredistheking]

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.

--

What is the goal?

[zebtron]

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.

Re:yes but

[op00to]

It's a fraction of the machine my laptop is.
I'm assuming your laptop has a kickass 3d card, a dvd drive, component out, kickass controllers (laptop keyboards BLOW for gaming), and almost no OS overhead. Don't fall into the (pretty closedminded) belief that the XBox is just another shitty msft project. The Xbox is as much a regular computer as the new BMW 7 series, which is built with similar off-the-shelf parts and a MSFT OS.