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Windows CE.NET Ported to Xbox
Cutriss writes "Caught this over at Xbox Scene - Windows CE.NET 4.2 has been ported to the Xbox. Artifex, one of the developers of this project, says the following about the status of development: 'The basic kernel subsystem is in place. The IoCtl is about 90% done. ISR/IST is up and working. PCI enumeration happens properly. USB initializes and enumerates devices (but hangs if there's a gamepad connected). Mouse driver loads. Keyboard driver loads but is missing a layout, so it's not quite functional yet. A VERY simple video driver is in place (Software mouse cursor seems to be failing, so you won't see a pointer, yet).' It's a 100% legal distribution, but you'll still need a modded/exploited Xbox in order to run it. Screenshots hosted by Xbox Scene can be found here(1) and here(2)."
I read what the guy who did this said, and at theend, he says that with this out of the way, we are a few steps closer to getting Windows XP and such ported over. The guy does need help getting together some people who know Windows drivers and such to help him and is considering making this a sourceforge project.
I was a Linux and OpenStep guy, still am, though I use more OS X than OpenStep these days. But my primary computer at home is a Windows CE machine. Why? Sound insane? Nah, well, maybe a little.
CE is very much a "real OS," though certainly with some limitations. It is tiny and fast. Apps for it tend to be the same. I've found it to be stable, more so than even the Linux PDAs I've owned and used. In a 32 MB ROM, I've got the OS, Office, a pretty darn modern version of IE, and more. In 128 MB of my SD card, I've got a bunch of Unix apps (including perl, LaTeX, wget, ftp, ssh, python, many others), my whole development environment for my chosen language- Squeak Smalltalk, Emacs for CE, VNC, and other apps. I've got a tabbed web browser that simply embeds IE and is a whopping 40 kb.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Note that they're "90% done" several parts of it. An old saying that I remember frequently when seeing the "90%" claim is "90% of software is 90% done 90% of the time". So very, very true...
So many people have been asking why port CE, why port anything to the x-box? Why not? It's a hobby. People have fun doing it, and I personally admire the skills these people have. Will it in the long run be beneficial? Probably not. You get experience from doing stuff like this and enjoy it at the same time. Sounds good to me.
That said, I suspect that Sony will be the first to actually endorse such a model with PS3...although PS2 is more than adequate right now...just share data from Clie's using mem sticks and USB...but you'd need some phone/palm softare to pull it off...on the other hand if sony could strike a deal to use PalmOS as a "stand alone" HD option on PS2 they could have it RIGHT NOW...and run palm apps to boot!
And of course we have Apple with iPodOS (???) and OSX. And Linux with Zarus. Nokia just needs to find a friend for Symian phone OS (nintendo? + panasonic? we can wish) and we might finally get true appliance-like functionality from our electronic devices!
PC manufactures have had 20 years to make it work right...time to give real appliance makers a shot at it?
Nope, he isn't a troll, just a bit unusual. He uses PDAs as his primary computers for programming, web browsing, and the other apps most of us use desktops for.
Oh and Rev... RELEASE!
It could be useful. Imagine in 2 years time when noone wants an Xbox any more. They could be collected, Win CE installed, and provided with a Windows server using Microsoft's thin client software and used in many ways. E.g. in classrooms, in the developing world, etc. Provided Microsoft's generosity could be prevailed upon to waive CE licensing fees, that is.
Of course, in theory, Linux could also be used on both client and server to achieve the same end.
Round here, we call that a "programmer's 90%" - meaning that it mostly works, perhaps lacks one or two required features, has barely been tested (if at all), still needs to be integrated with the front-end, have error checking added, be documented/commented, etc.
The 10% remaining is the boring, tidying up and finishing off stuff that takes 90% of the time...
It's official. Most of you are morons.
I'm slowly getting to like my recently-acquired IBM Z50, despite the unfamiliarity (I've not really used Windows much before now), because I can stick an mp3 player on, Vim, and an ssh client. It's already got a version of Outlook which is sufficient for my needs, and a version of IE which pretty much works too. This gives me about 75% of the things I use my desktop machine for. Best bit is that it runs for about 36 hours continuously on a fully-charged set of batteries, so I can even listen to my mp3s in the car when I drive up north (about 5 hours, nearer 6 in winter conditions).