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Boot a CD and Make Your X-Box Join the Cluster

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the cheap-distributed-computing dept.

jaromil writes "Last week at the Linux Expo UK in London the dyne:bolic distribution was shown to boot on a XBOX console automatically joining a cluster of other PCs on the fly, there is also an article on ZDNet UK covering the story." The article also discusses some of the issues with getting unsigned code to run on the X-Box.

11 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sad, sad, picture... by fuckfuck101 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I code in Human so I'm hoping to develope a hot female geek soon. Then I'll release it under the GPL.

    --
    Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
  2. In all fairness by Cooper_007 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    They didn't exactly plug in a CD and the thing suddenly became the new home of our trusty penguin. They either "chipped" (modded for us old people) the thing first, or exploited a bug in one of the games to get the install going.

    Now, unless I'm mistaken, this has been possible for quite some time now. The only new part is that they're using it for a cluster, and commercial companies are considering doing the same. Of course, the article points out that this too has already been done with Sony PS2s.

    The only 'news' here is that they're using an X-Box for the cluster.
    In short, move along. Nothing to see here.

    Cooper
    --
    Television is reality, and reality is less than television -- Videodrome

  3. xbox too slow for the cost by Carbon+Unit+549 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a builder of clusters, I can tell you that we are always looking for more bang for the buck. The xbox is cpu is at least 5 times slower than a Pentium 4 3 GHz cpu. Thus, it needs to be at least five times cheaper (including extra network and power comsumption overhead). A shuttle box with 1 GB Ram and GHz cpu goes for about $750. So at best, the xbox is barely breaking even at $150 per node. When you add chipping costs, network switches, power consumption, floor space and parallel efficiency, the xbox loses.

    The playstation efforts, are to program the vector units, not just use the general cpu. Even with that it is not worth it now, but it is hoped that the experience gained with ps2 might translate to a quicker porting to ps3.

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  4. Do they think MS doesn't read news? by Slowtreme · · Score: 2, Funny
    Furthermore, he said, there are attempts by the hacker community to produce its own CD containing the software bug. The only catch is that the CD would have to be digitally signed, or authorised, by Microsoft. "There are people trying to get a buggy CD signed by Microsoft using social engineering techniques," added Jaromil.

    In other news, Microsoft has released an internal memo to the Xbox division, reminding users about the possibility of social engineering attempts.

    --
    Post: Sigged, for your pleasure.
  5. Now with added... by Salsaman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am working with Jaromil on the dyne:bolic CD. The latest bootable CD also contains the LiVES video editing system. With this CD it will be possible to grab frames from a camera, edit and splice the clips, VJ with them, then encode them to any format and burn them on to CD ROM.

  6. Comparions... by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    VT cluster, $5.2M.

    1100*2*2Gig=4.4 million PMU (Pointless measuring units)
    1100*4G=4.4TB ram
    1100*160G=176TB disk

    Xbox cluster, $5.2M

    52000*733=38.1 million PMU
    52000*64M=3.3TB ram
    52000*10G=520TB disk

    Looks like the XBox wins to me, assuming you would figure out a way of jamming an infiniband network card in there, but then Google manages just fine with 100mbit*.

    Of course you would get a big scream out of Redmond either way - buying Apple or buying the XBox, and it might be a tad difficult to get them to take you seriously when you ring up to order 52,000 XBoxes...

    *100mbit to the rack switches.

    --
    Beep beep.
    1. Re:Comparions... by hattig · · Score: 3, Insightful

      VT:

      1100 x ~300W = 330kW
      1 year running 24/7 at 5c/unit: $141,000

      XBox: 52000 x ~100W = 5200kW
      1 year running 24/7 at 5c/unit: $2,300,000

  7. "Social Engineering" by Kumkwat · · Score: 2, Funny

    "There are people trying to get a buggy CD signed by Microsoft using social engineering techniques," added Jaromil.

    Okay, who did they get to sleep with Bill?

  8. Re:perfect timing by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 2, Interesting
    You're completely correct in your assessment of the situation. The only point I want to add that if this were the X-Box 2, then it would be in Microsoft's best interests to not interfere with this type of development, much. Certainly they need to keep people from pirating games but if people are buying X-Boxes and putting Linux on them, Microsoft isn't getting game sales BUT in the early days of any console, the sales numbers of the console are very important. Perceived market success by the consumer, drives further market success. If Microsoft sold 2 million X-Box 2's within the first two months of release and a quarter of those were solely for Linux - Microsoft is still in a decent spot because even without the game sales, they've got firm market share.

    Of course, you could argue that the number of people who are doing this type of project isn't significant enough to play a role, as I've outlined. That may be true BUT once you introduce the idea of clustering, you can quickly get a big effect if people are buying multiple boxes. Just my two cents.

    --
    I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
  9. Before you ask... by toothfish · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is a torrent for the dyne:bolic distribution.

    Don't know about Ogg.

  10. The /. story and the article are both incorrect. by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Informative

    jaromil writes "Last week at the Linux Expo UK in London the dyne:bolic distribution was shown to boot on a XBOX console automatically joining a cluster of other PCs on the fly, there is also an article on ZDNet UK covering the story." The article also discusses some of the issues with getting unsigned code to run on the X-Box.

    First: It was not shown to boot on an XBOX console. It was shown to boot on a hacked Xbox (Note correct capitalization) console. This is important information and should have been included in the story submission.

    Second: The ZDNet UK article claims that clustering Linux on Xbox requires using OpenMosix. This is untrue. You could use Mosix! Or, you could use one of the other clustering packages available. Beowulf clusters come to mind... At least the ZDNet article points out that it's a hacked Xbox, however.

    While knowing it is hacked would seem to be simply an assumption for any /. reader, who is assumed to know that Xboxes are hackable, and must be hacked to use them for this purpose, there is the possibility for a buffer overflow bug in the DVD-ROM accessing code, and so we need to know how the boot was carried out. Indeed, on a site known for its technical discussions, this piece of technical information not being included is so grievous an error as to be ridiculous.

    You could sum this whole comment up, unfortunately, as "thanks, taco!"

    --
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