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Linux Running on Xbox Without Modchip!
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!
So, does this qualify for the rest of the price money from that lindows founder?
Anyway, i think they should award a price to the person that finds a good reason to run linux on a x-box.
Fleur de Sel
Here's the announcement in a forum...
Im buying an EA game, even if it does cure cancer.
you'd think they had already created every type of bug. Well, in colaboration with EA they've just developed a new type of bug: THE USEFUL BUG. Now where are all those bashers that say that Microsoft never invented anything new?
-- Repeat with me: "There is no right to profits".
Free as in '007 Agent Under Fire'!
Its a real victory for everyone who feels that when you pay for something you own it, it doesn't own you.
Great news! This puts us that much closer to being able to run Linux on anything such as a PC! Oh, wait...
Cover your eyes and click this link!
ok all this is, is a buffer overflow exploit.
a link to the code is:
http://www.xbox-scene.com/007linux.txt
it is uuencoded
enjoy!
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.
The analogy I heard was that of being invited to a free dinner at someone's house and ending up demanding to supervise the cooking.
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!
With a Linux-based OS running on XBox, you have a machine capable of playing some great games, with a bit of work a PVR using Myth TV, and also a general entertainment center capable of playing music, DVDs, and the like - all in a box specifically designed for the TV room instead of a beige box.
I'm pretty sure this is also Microsoft's vision, however making it Linux-based would give us the choice of operating system and the choice between paying .Net (or whatever they call it these days) subscriptions and paying a one-time fee (or not) for the brains of the system.
Tim
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
You are thinking like a buisness. Linux is not one buisness they are a comunity so there will be a very wide range of focuses for using Linux. And as with this comunity not everybody agrees that Linux needs to be on the desktop. I personally beleave the quest for the desktop is basicly a useless endever because in my mind the desktop is a dieing computer platform. And it is moving more towards Imbedded devices that have special tasks (Like the XBox, Playstation, PDAs, Server Apliances). This is an important task just as important as Linux on the Desktop. By making Linux kernel as much of a general porpose tools as possible helps it gain grounds on many new technoligies. Things like this is the reason why Linux is more popular then *BSD.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
And illegal. Don't be stupid, taco. The whole point of the non-mod xbox linux is that any other way is illegal in many places.
Question
http://www.ironfroggy.com/
Here is the website which has the 007 saved games, a movie file, and instructions. http://kotisivu.mtv3.fi/vilz/unmod/
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
Me thinks Cmdr-Taco has never tried to solder wires onto surface mount components with carpel tunnel or a triple latte without a good iron, magnifing glass, camera and robotic arms.
It isn't easy... just hope those components are caps or resistors that aren't important. I would much rather use software than hardware... Now if only we could crack a key?
Karma Clown
I'll work on whatever I bloody well want to, and so will everyone else.
1. Eat breakfast at Kiev
2. Walk down Second Avenue towards St. Mark's Place
3. Look for those people selling used books and other junk on the street
4. Look for the broken toaster oven on the blanket
5. ???
6. Penis!
On one unit, yes. But, the more they sell, the more they lose... And lets face it, I can buy a low end P2 for $200, the XBox can do a bit more then that... Plus it can play DVDs for another $30. So yeah, I'll spend $230 on a DVD player that doubles as a computer just to get $200 out of Microsoft's pockets.
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
The next big advance will be somebody doing power consumption or timing analysis while the xbox is checking (bad) signatures, and teasing out the key a bit at a time. Then you will be able to sign anything you like. (Look up Markus Kuhn's papers.)
Because it has TV/video out that works, stero sound that works, it looks good next to a TV, and it is cheap. Sure I could build a computer with most of that, but cheap is already out, a nice looking case would just about be more than an Xbox. Now find a TV card that works on linux. (Doable, but not all work so be careful) Of course the computer I build would be faster, but that wasn't a requirement.
A xbox is a good machine for those expirimenting with linux as a control for their home enertainment system. It isn't good for general purpose computing, but it is good for living room applications. Drop MAME, stella, atari800, etc on it and you can play a lot more games. With a good net connection you can download movies from the internet and play them on a TV, which is bitter than the monitor most people have. (I don't know where to find legal movies, but that is a different issue. I'm sure you can find one though, which will prove to the judge that copyright infringement isn't the only reason for this)
http://www.xbox-saves.com/ is where you can find more info on the Mega X-Key mentioned in the article, and they also have the save needed to get linux going in their saves archive.
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.
1. Release a game with buffer overrun
2. Leak information to XBox-Linux community
3. Profit!!!!
They could even get the lindows.com award money if they did it right.
The popular game "007: Agent under fire" was pulled from store shelves today, under threat of legal action from microsoft.
The software was found to be illegal by the standards of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, in that it allowed users to potentially run bootleg computer games.
Microsoft's decision was backed firmly by the RIAA, MPAA..
What? Me? Worry?
You've missed the point of using a public-key signature checking algorithm. The Xbox doesn't have any secrets you can "tease out" by this or any other means - AIUI the key the Xbox uses to check signatures is already well known. You might as well do the signature checking on your own PC and do the timing analysis on that for all the good it'll do you.
Xenu loves you!