Aussie Company Releases Xbox Mod-Chip Designs

An anonymous reader submits: "According to an article in the Australian Financial Review, An Australian computer chip designer will this weekend risk the wrath of Microsoft by making its sophisticated Xbox mod-chip designs freely available over the internet. This release is the second and most advanced design to date that has been released by this company, the earlier release of a much simpler design was covered by a previous article on slashdot. Go get'em while they're hot everyone. When you consider what has been happening to companies who irritate console makers, these files might not be around for long!" The AFR article requires subscription, but the AussieChip site has more information, including a link to the terms under which the designs may be downloaded -- looks like they're looking for some dedicated amateurs ;)

Comments

Re:Don't forget!

[SuperBanana]

There's a distributed project to crypto-crack the Xbox private key. This would allow runnning Linux or anything else on an unmodified Xbox (no mod chip), and would keep the warranty intact.

Methinks voiding the warranty will not be a problem by the time the project finishes.

Remember Distributed.net? Aka, the guys who took years(and years...) to prove how easily they could crack RC5 given all that distributedcomputing power? :-)

Re:Oh alright then.

[aweraw]

Hate to break it to ya, but the DMCA doesn't apply in Australia... it's an American law...

Re:Don't forget!

[JDWTopGuy]

Dude, it's a distributed computing project. Theoretically, with enough computers, it could be done in a few years.

Well okay, it would have to be something like a couple of stadiums filled with dual processor 3Ghz systems running full-time, but hey, they just might get lucky. They don't have to search the entire keyspace in order to find the right key.

Re:Oh alright then.

[jericho4.0]

Yes, but violators better be aware of the DMCA if they ever plan to visit the U.S, remember Dmitry Sklyarov?