Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

GameCube-Powered Webserver

Posted by timothy on from the but-does-it-play-dvds dept.

Daniel Kolph writes "The GameCube Linux Project has just released, what they call the GameCube Linux Alpha This is an 1 MB busybox-based Linux system that contains screen output, network code, a telnet server and a webserver. They also provide a kernel patch. (Screenshots/Download)"

52 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Once it's slashdotted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let's just get the 'they must be running their website on it' joke out of the way right now.

    1. Re:Once it's slashdotted by DrLZRDMN · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actualy, they are, check out the screenshot

    2. Re:Once it's slashdotted by squiggleslash · · Score: 2, Informative

      IIRC, you need an Ethernet adapter, memory card, and a particular game (I forget which) which has a "hole" in it that you can exploit to load your own program.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. May as well get it out of the way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Looks like their server is powered by a gamecube.

    Mario can't handle the load of the pipe, we may need another plumber.

    I can't think of any more lame jokes

    1. Re:May as well get it out of the way... by randomErr · · Score: 5, Funny

      Kirby is sucking up all the bandwidth.

      --
      You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
    2. Re:May as well get it out of the way... by cblack · · Score: 5, Funny

      How about "I'm sorry, our website's on another server!"

    3. Re:May as well get it out of the way... by mog007 · · Score: 2, Funny

      The metroids are sapping it...

      --
      Learn something new.
    4. Re:May as well get it out of the way... by Afrosheen · · Score: 2, Informative

      It'd be funny if Metroids sucked power, but according to Metroid mythology, they produce it. Metroid Zero mentions this in the intro IIRC..maybe it was Super Metroid. Unlimited source of power, those little buggers are.

  3. Soooo... by mac+os+ken · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can run Linux on my GameCube and OS X on my XBox 2 now? Man today is a great /. day for hacking videogame consoles. PowerPC rocks.

    --
    .deviatefromtheabsolute.
    1. Re:Soooo... by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Funny

      "I can run Linux on my GameCube and OS X on my XBox 2 now? Man today is a great /. day for hacking videogame consoles. PowerPC rocks."

      What happens when you're done making Linux boot?

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    2. Re:Soooo... by wo1verin3 · · Score: 5, Funny

      step 3: profit

  4. Tom's Hardware benchmark? by ChiralSoftware · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sony PS2/Linux vs. Gamecube Linux vs. Xbox Linux? I'm looking forward to seeing which is the better choice for my database cluster.

    1. Re:Tom's Hardware benchmark? by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 5, Funny

      You people and your new fancy hardware make me sick.

      I want linux on my N64, full of good MIPS linux flavor, without the Xbox aftertaste.

  5. Gamecube Linux Alpha? by iamdrscience · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who the hell's gonna use before they port it from Alpha to PowerPC?

  6. A first for everything? by ryanjensen · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is this the first-ever Shashdotted GameCube? First-ever Slashdotted game console period?

    --
    The Ezine Directory
    1. Re:A first for everything? by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 2, Interesting

      First-ever Slashdotted game console period?
      Unlikely, since there have been Linux and Apache ports to the PS2 and DreamCast for some time. They probably slashdotted an XBOX as well.

      Now if they get an atari 2600.. I'd be impressed.

    2. Re:A first for everything? by CrystalArchangel · · Score: 2, Informative

      Definiatlly not the first game console webserver. Besides the PS2 and Dreamcast, there was also The GBA webserver. [fivemouse.com]

  7. Mirror by FiberOpPraise · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mirror!

  8. New use for old kit by BeerCat · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Dad, I'm tired of my old console. It's not cutting edge any more!"

    "No problem, son. Give it to me, and I'll turn it into neat server"

    So, after things like C64 servers, and various other Linux on console builds, what's the next challenge? A Sinclair ZX81 (Timex 1000) server?

    --
    "She's furniture with a pulse"
    1. Re:New use for old kit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
      This is getting way out of hand.

      "Dad, I'm tired of my BMW. It's not cutting edge any more!"

      "No problem, son. Park it out back, and I'll turn it into a neat Beowulf cluster."

  9. Let me be the first to say. . . by Excen · · Score: 5, Insightful


    [Insert witty Beowulf cluster joke here]

    Seriously though, why would someone do this? It's not going to be very powerful, there's no way in hades it would survive a /.ing, besides the geek factor, why would this even be remotely considered? The X-Box would be a better platform for mods than a Gamecube, when just considering hardware.

    --
    "No beer until you finish your tequila!" -Leela's Dad
    1. Re:Let me be the first to say. . . by boredMDer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously though, why would someone do this?

      Because they can.

    2. Re:Let me be the first to say. . . by ndogg · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why the heck do people climb Mt. Everest? It's not like I care.

      --
      // file: mice.h
      #include "frickin_lasers.h"
    3. Re:Let me be the first to say. . . by christopherfinke · · Score: 3, Insightful
      4. And most importantly, it will cost M$ a good chunk of change every time we buy one!
      Which do you think costs Microsoft more: you giving them $200 for an XBox, or you NOT giving them $200 for an XBox which then remains unsold? That's what I thought.
    4. Re:Let me be the first to say. . . by spiny · · Score: 2, Insightful

      yeah, but you're missing the point:

      say it costs 300 dollars for them to manufacture and they sell them at 200 dollars and you buy one - they make a loss of 100 dollars.

      now say it costs 300 dollars for them to manufacture and they sell them at 200 dollars and you DON'T buy one, then they have lost all 300 dollars

      --

      Fry: heh, Yakov Smirnoff said it
      Leela: No he didn't.
  10. Impressive. Very impressive. by James+A.+E.+Joyce · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It even uses a backported version of Amigo Imnolar's O(1) scheduler patch. I reckon this'll probably run almost as fast as the raw GameCube hardware/firmware.

    --

    FloodMT: crapflood Movab
  11. Image mirror by Kizzle · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here is a mirror of the screenshots in case the server gets /.ed. http://hackermedia.net/downloads/gamecubelinux

    --
    Hacker Media
  12. Sad... by LamerX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You know it's a sad state of affairs when someone has to put a disclaimer at the bottom of thier website about the DMCA. Its really a bummer that you can't just do anything to the things you own anymore. Just how useless does this make things? Oh wow another game system. Or COOL, my game system can do this and this and this! The only reason I bought a Dreamcast was for haXorability, and all the cool software people were writing for it. And it's the cool things like this that make me want to buy a game cube.

    1. Re:Sad... by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I work as a network engineer, and routers and VPN devices usually come out of the boxes in EULAed bags... much like prepackaged software. You know... "Do not open this plastic cover unless you agree to the EULA"

      I mean, this may be acceptable in a business environment, but the day when you get your next game console - it will probably come with all this legalese as well.

      --
      READY.
      PRINT ""+-0
    2. Re:Sad... by 88NoSoup4U88 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You know it's a sad state of affairs when someone has to put a disclaimer at the bottom of thier website about the DMCA. Its really a bummer that you can't just do anything to the things you own anymore. Just how useless does this make things? Oh wow another game system. Or COOL, my game system can do this and this and this! The only reason I bought a Dreamcast was for haXorability, and all the cool software people were writing for it. And it's the cool things like this that make me want to buy a game cube.

      I think you answered your own question : They don't want people getting close to running thirdparty software on a console : The gamesales is where the profit lies.
      Personally, for the GC, i don't think they mind when someone is making a server out of it.

  13. Re:Neat by Paladine97 · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is in no way like the WarpPipe project.

    The Warppipe project is a PC application and creates a virtual LAN among Gamecubes over the Internet.

    This is Linux on the Gamecube. As in running directly on the Gamecube. You won't be able to play any Gamecube games in this mode.

  14. Look... by rune2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    (Italian accent) It's a me Linux!

  15. obvious by Andorion · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because it's there.

    ~Berj

    1. Re:obvious by zeux · · Score: 2, Funny

      Because my girlfriend is there.

      --
      Iraq: war to save the U
  16. why telnet? by NoSuchGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why is there always telnet? Because of the clear text transmitted password?

    Why can't they implement ssh from start up of their project?

    --
    Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
  17. None of the above when $100 buys you a PIV mobo by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

    with network built in, and a cheap OEM celeron. Mix in bootable USB key, RAM, power supply, shake. Serve cold.

    In fact, none of the PS2, Gamecube, or XBox have NEARLY enough RAM to even fathom running a database, let alone much else (since you can't even cache very much from fixed media, for example).

    Duh.

    It might make a good kerberos or DNS server or something that needs to be "hardened" and always up, with a small in-memory image. But that's probably only going to fly in a college dorm at a Tech University.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
  18. How hackable is the hardware? by steveha · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So far, they are just playing with software. They convince the GameCube to load the software over the network port.

    I'm probably not very interested in this unless I can hack the hardware a bit: add a hard drive, add a second network port, etc.

    A GameCube would make a sweet firewall/router box if you could get two network ports on it and Linux. The price would be right too.

    Note that the optical drive is fairly useless: you cannot burn a disk that will work in a GameCube, not with a conventional CD burner. :-(

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
    1. Re:How hackable is the hardware? by silas_moeckel · · Score: 2, Interesting

      He said firewall while most people realy dont understand what a real modern firewall does anymore a virtual interface is nearly useless for any sort of firewalling. A tagged port would be fine.

      If you use a virtual interface you may not be able to run DHCP if the ISP does as well and have it work well. Running a PPPoE session might work ok if you trust your ISP.

      Again I should stress natting does not make a firewall. You need a lot of proxy applications that can filter at higher levels than IPs ports and who initiated a connection. A firewall is somethough that should be able to filter out just about anything you wont want getting into your network. Now some people just dont care like most home users.

      I would say the same thing about calling a linux box a router it can route yes it's ok at it yes but it's latency is horid. Again for home use it's ok but PC's cant even fill a gigabit nic without incuring massive latency forget a gamecube.

      --
      No sir I dont like it.
    2. Re:How hackable is the hardware? by steveha · · Score: 2, Interesting

      most people realy dont understand what a real modern firewall does

      I had in mind a computer with two network ports, which looks at each IP packet and decides whether to let that packet in to the home network. No packet would go on the network without being actively copied from the in port to the home network port.

      about calling a linux box a router it can route yes it's ok at it yes but it's latency is horid.

      I have a Netgear home firewall/router, and its latency seems fine for my home use. I would like to replace it with something running Linux, that I can tweak. I imagine that the GameCube latency would be pretty similar, unless the networking hardware is horrid somehow. I don't know what kind of CPU is in my Netgear box, nor how much RAM it has, but I have to figure a GameCube would exceed its specs.

      Not that it matters; if I can't get two network ports, that's a deal-breaker. I will probably just build something with a Mini-ITX motherboard in it.

      steveha

      --
      lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
  19. Re:you know you are hardcore slashdot... by dubbreak · · Score: 5, Informative
    from the faq:
    Runnings Homebrew Code

    Can I just burn a 8 cm CD/DVD and use it in the GameCube?

    No. The GameCube reads no CDs/DVDs. There is no way to produce a GameCube compatible optical media using a CD/DVD burner.

    So do I run homebrew code on the GameCube?

    The PSOload method is the only way.

    What do I need in order to run homebrew code?

    A GameCube, any version of Phantasy Star Online, a Broadband Adapter, a memory card, and PSOload.

    Do I need a modchip?

    There are no modchips.

    Will any of this disable the ability to play games?

    No.

    3 Helping

    --
    "If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
  20. Bookmark! by blackmonday · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's got a bookmark to Slashdot in Safari! (look at the first screenshot). Real men type it in!

    1. Re:Bookmark! by blackmonday · · Score: 4, Funny

      Real men get the rss feed from the terminal!

    2. Re:Bookmark! by Quobobo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Real men view sites hosted by a Gamecube from their Dreamcast.

  21. It makes sense? :) by Munra · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the homepage:
    As it is a computer with decent RAM and a good CPU, it makes sense to port Linux to this platform.
    Since when did porting Linux to a piece of hardware, require it to make sense? :)

    Manta
  22. I don't get it... by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 2, Funny

    I keep trying the 192.168.0.47 address that this screenshot shows for the GameCube server but I just get my crappy obsolete DreamCast webserver :o(

    --
    Beep beep.
  23. Adopting a numbering system by lhpineapple · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let's hope they don't adopt the Street Fighter numbering system for new versions. I can see it now:

    Me: But I already have GameCube Linux Alpha 2 Turbo
    Salesman: Yes, but you don't have GameCube Linux Alpha 2 Turbo Championship Edition.
    Me: WHERE DO I SIGN?!

  24. I posted this message from a GameCube... by Tim+Browse · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and boy are my thumbs tired!

  25. I can't wait... by twoslice · · Score: 2, Interesting

    For KDE to be ported so I can call my box the GameKube!

    --

    From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
  26. Re:Gamecube??? Big Deal... by grolschie · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is that for real? The server seemed pretty quick. One html file would take up more ram than the C-64 has free.

  27. Better than Xbox as a low power server by Rolman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The thing about having Linux on a Gamecube as opposed as installing it on an Xbox is the great power consumption savings.

    The Xbox is 4-5 times more power-hungry than a Gamecube, but you'd never get anywhere near 4x performance. For a personal server (even media player) the Gamecube's CPU, GPU and memory performance are great, good enough for most tasks and it has component video and digital audio output capabilities (though Nintendo has never released the digital audio adapter, so the only way to do it is using the Panasonic Q and the component cables are not very easy to get).

    The machine is also very cheap at $100 and small enough to fit anywhere, at least better than the Xbox. It may not have a Hard Drive but there's an SD Card adaptor that could be used for mass storage. I really prefer to have a smaller, low power alternative. You just can't get a 40W machine with such strong capabilities for that price anywhere else.

    The only thing missing is a way to automatically boot into Linux, as you still need the PSOLoad trick. It would be wonderful if some company like Codejunkies released a boot disk like the Freeloader. I'd hate to be forced into manually loading PSO every time there's a power outage.

    --
    - Otaku no naka no otaku, otaking da!!!
  28. Re:you know you are hardcore slashdot... by Denyer · · Score: 2, Funny
    Do I need a modchip?

    There are no modchips.

    That was such a "there is no spoon" moment... =D

    --
    Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
  29. Re:Donald Duck by fyrewulff · · Score: 2, Funny

    easy... just hit the 1 and 0 keys really fast. 010100101010101000101000100001010101010103 whoops... blue screen.

    --
    "We need to get over this notion, that, for Apple to win... Microsoft must lose." - Steve Jobs, 1997