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Linux Running on Xbox Without Modchip!

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the kinda-anyway dept.

NiteStar writes "It looks like people on xbox-scene.com and xboxhacker.net managed to run Xbox-Linux on a non-modded Xbox console. It requires no soldering at all - you don't even have to open up the Xbox. They are using an exploit in the saved game handling of the EA xbox game '007 Agent Under Fire'. It requires the original version of the 007 game and a memorycard you can connect to PC like the mega-X-key or datel's action replay. Apparently you can even build this memorycard yourself using a standard USB memstick." Frankly it seems like just soldering in the modchip would be easy, but big points for being clever!

8 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. Very nice indeed by Crashmarik · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its a real victory for everyone who feels that when you pay for something you own it, it doesn't own you.

  2. Re:Okay and now on to some important things.. by vidnet · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Linux's battlefield isn't the XBox

    It's not a war. This project is just a good show of hacking spirit. Remember that this is how Linux got started in the first place.

  3. Re:Okay and now on to some important things.. by Omkar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. Linux needs to be ubiquitous. Non-PC is not yet dominated by Windows, so if Linux gets established there, it could gradually take over the rest of the market. 2. MS loses money with each Xbox. If you could run Linux on a cheap, subsidized machine and create a Beowulf cluster (!) or something, then you're using your enemy to prosper -> good. 3. It's a hack. This is how Linux was created!

  4. Re:price money? by Lxy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When the Xbox is yesterday's game console and you can pick it up at the pawn shop for $50, you'll be happy that it can run linux unmodded.

    Now, the real test here would be benchmarking UT or Quake on the Xbox against the Walmart Microtel PC. Everyone's whining about how stupid this is, that you can buy a PC for the price of an Xbox, etc, let's see some numbers. The Microtel stuff isn't designed for gaming, the Xbox is. If I can haul ass on UT on the Xbox, it was worth it.

    --

    There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
    :wq
  5. Re:Perhaps a link to the source would be in order by Nogami_Saeko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lol... That forum is a good read...

    About 50 posts of "He's full of crap, there's no way he could make that work, there are dozens of people working on this smarter than he is".

    Followed by "Holy crap, it DOES work".

    Oddly enough, few of the original posters put up retractions or apoligies for their initial flaming.

    Figures... Everyone is "uber-l33t" and quick to jump on a new poster, but few are man enough to stand up and offer apologies when they're forced to eat their words.

    --
    "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
  6. Re:Sounds like a DMCA violation by ReconRich · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Only if someone provides a "tool" for circumventing a copy protection device. In this case, no tool is being distributed (written instructions are NOT a tool, unless executable by a machine.) It is not prohibited to ACTUALLY circumvent copy protection devices (of course, unlicensed copying of copyrighted material is), just to provide the tools. I don't see the DMCA applying here, at all. Furthermore, an X-Box is largely like a Ramones CD; I can hit it with a hammer, let my neighbor borrow it, sell it on EBay, rip tracks (or chips) out of it (for my own use); Its only when I copy the music/software out of it and the distribute it that anybody has issues with it. And that's regular copyright law, not the DMCA.

    -- Rich

    --
    Free your mind and your Ass will follow -- George Clinton
  7. Re:Okay and now on to some important things.. by lpontiac · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Work on Transgaming, work on a driver interface that doesn't require a kernel rebuild each time you need to update your NIC, work on user experience,

    I'll work on whatever I bloody well want to, and so will everyone else.

  8. I have a GOOD use for this by Psykechan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People are asking "Why Xbox Linux?" and others are responding with "Why not?", well I have a legitimate reason for wanting Linux on an unmodded Xbox.

    My Xbox is going back to MS as they have attempted to fix a problem several times and have so far been unsuccessful. This time, they're considering swapping systems for a new one, which I'm fine with except for one thing: Loss of saved games.

    They will not just swap drives as it would save them at least 5 minutes of work, so I will lose all of my info on the HD.

    With Linux running on my unmodded Xbox, I could possibly FTP the data elsewhere and restore it on the new system. This makes so much sense to me that I wonder why there is no way of doing it by default.

    Microsoft's idea is to purchase their Memory Units and backup this way. Problem is, since each Xbox comes with a hard drive, no developer tries to make the smallest possible size save file. I would need several MUs to backup my data. Plus, some files cannot even be copied to a MU which means they cannot be backed up at all.

    Some form of backup should exist to relieve this problem. I think that this could be it.