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Linux On Unmodded Xbox, Improved

Posted by timothy on from the ms-linux-ready-for-launch dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It looks like pSyCo from XEmulation.com Has found a way to boot Xbox Linux Live on an unmodified Xbox with nothing but an Xbox and Linux PC (no memory card of any kind, etc). Also a guide to using this method to flash your Xbox's onboard TSOP with the bios of choice, making the Xbox modded without an actual mod-chip. $5 to rent 007 to mod my xbox sounds nice =) Check it out at: XEmulation.net Forum or XboxHacker.net BBS. *Wonder what the DMCA would think about this...*" This builds on the "007"-based method discussed earlier. Update: 04/15 01:11 GMT by T : XEmulation.com, not .net. Sorry.

6 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. FYI by skrowl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The previous method that they're talking about involved a buffer overflow in the savegame handling from 007:Agent Under Fire.

    You were able to execute code (in most cases, a BIOS flash to flash the internal TSOP) tacked on to the end of your save game.

    Hopefully this comes as a lesson to ALWAYS ALWAYS sanity check ANY USER INPUT, even if it comes in the form of a file that you THINK you know the layout of.

    --

    Prevent linux based DDOS's!
    http://linux.denialofservice.org/
  2. Shows Palladium is not going to work by captaineo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This wonderful example shows how even hardware-enforced media protection schemes aren't going to work, as long as there are any vulnerabilities in the "trusted" software.

    e.g. say you have a DVD player program that is "trusted" and prevents you from taking a screenshot or recording anything from a DVD. If you can find a buffer overflow or any other kind of exploit in the program, you can just have it execute your own code (rip the whole DVD) at its super-trusted privilege level.

    Given that MS has a hard time keeping its HTTP server secure, I don't think buffer overflows will be too hard to find in typical razzle-dazzle media player programs :)

    1. Re:Shows Palladium is not going to work by nick+this · · Score: 4, Insightful
      This wonderful example shows how even hardware-enforced media protection schemes aren't going to work, as long as there are any vulnerabilities in the "trusted" software.

      This is true as far as it goes, but you have to think that the goal (from Microsoft's perspective) isn't to lock hackers out of the hardware, it's to lock them out of the hardware only long enough to ship the next version, built on a platform immune to the vulnerabilities of the previous platform.

      Look at the satellite TV folks -- once pirated satellite got out of hand, they just dropped the H cards and started shipping HU cards. Once the community started getting traction on those, they moved to the next version of smart cards.

      DirectTV doesn't have to lock the hackers out forever, just make it hard enough to reverse engineer that they can move to a newer platform when the dam starts to break. So Microsoft can do the same thing. They can move faster than the community can, particularly when the protection is on die. Makes reversing it *really hard*... both expensive and time consuming.

      So really, the security on Palladium doesn't have to be great, just good enough.

  3. Because by FreeLinux · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Because the XBox has

    a powerful processor

    enough memory

    dvd drive

    high-end graphics card

    and more

    All for only $200. You can't get a PC with the same specs for near that price.

    Did you vote?

  4. Re:no mods? by MoonBuggy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyways. Dont think the majority of the chatter on these forums is really about running linux. It's about using linux as a "legal" front to getting a hacked bios on the box that allows warezed to be played. There are "fair use" backups, sure. You can use linux, sure. But 99.999999% of the posts on the forums are of the nature of "how do u copy renterd gamez?"

    You're right, I'm sure, for the sites that this was originally posted on, but I would think that most /. users actually do want to run linux on their Xboxes. It may be a front, but it's a front that benefits alot of us around here (spare computer, multi-use DVD player, file storage etc.) and it'd be unfortunate if people thought that ALL modders simply wanted to playe warez.

  5. Impossible is done every day. by Groo+Wanderer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There was an old quote on l0pht a while back, before they went corporate and scrubbed the site with the wire brush of PC-ness, that went something like:

    "That problem is strictly theoretical" -Microsoft
    "L0pht, making the theoretical possible since...."

    What you are decrying is innovation, not MS style word corruption, but the real thing. My parents bought a building in the 70's. It was ~75,000 sq feet, 30 foot ceilings, and a HUGE air conditioner, but almost no heater. It was built in the 1950s to house a computer. I shudder to think what it cost, much less cost to run. Today, my $27 timex wristwatch has over 10x the computing power of that HUGE computer, runs for about 3 years on a button battery, and never breaks, can work under water to 100m, survive heat, cold shock, and me beating it.

    Looking down the list of 'rediculous' things you mention, that is far and away 'more rediculous' than any of the things you mention.

    For another example, my roommate has a bullet proof vest. Another friend makes plate mail armor. The plate costs ~$2500 and takes months to build. A .45 will put a hole in one side, a bigger hole in the soft squishy thing in the middle, and a bigger hole in the back. The bulletproof vest will stop it, and probably only leave you with a big briuse and possibly a cracked rib or 3. The vest cost less than 1/10th of the armor, weighs about 1/100th of the weight, and is more readily available.

    Rediculous!

    So, what is your problem with innovation. The very best things that you use came from the same spirit that the people doing XBox hacks have. I mean, why bother with things like transistors, antibiotics, lasers, nuclear power, and CIA mind control lasers. Oops, you aren't supposed to know about that one.

    Rediculous!

    Before you decry cool stuff that others do, I suggest you try the following in order.

    1) Take a deep breath.
    2) Try ignoring things that bother you.
    When that fails
    3) Don't bitch at people doing things you don't like.
    4) Move out of your mother's basement
    5) Do something usefull yourself.

    Rediculous!, I know.

    Seriously, the world needs more cool things, be they useful or frivolous. Strange things come from seemingly random events, and noone tends to see the next killer app ahead of time. Don't be a roadblock.

    -Charlie