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FreeBSD Ported to XBox

Posted by timothy on from the mulitplicity dept.

NetFiber writes "FreeBSD has been ported to the XBox. "Over the last 2 weeks, I have been working on a port of FreeBSD for the XBox. The port is fully functional. The framebuffer is fully supported, same goes for sound and USB devices (such as an USB keyboard). Only ethernet is missing, currently." The FreeBSD on XBox website is here, downloads included." Update: 07/27 14:50 GMT by T : Rink Springer writes with a request that you use the primary mirror instead.

11 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Two guys, ages 19 and 21 by ReformedExCon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's simply amazing the amount of progress two dedicated youths can make in such a short time.

    One thing I used to have a lot of time to think about was how much time I was wasting, having forced myself into a very uncomfortable place. It's quite heartening to see these kids doing great work, even if it is just for themselves as a hobby (even moreso, in my opinion).

    I'm not sure that the thing is useful, but it's definitely a cool hack.

    Is anyone offering them a job yet?

    --
    Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
    1. Re:Two guys, ages 19 and 21 by tsume · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I can't wait to finish all my programming projects and port them from *BSD to Linux after their initial release. I've been on computers since I was the age of 2 starting with a C64, and I've learn much more than just computers. I've learned to deal with the likes of you and your other buddies who feel like you have to try dragging down people who are more fortunate and have accomplished much more than you. I'm only 20 and have my own company. I'm pulling in 10k a month by myself programming and consulting. Get a grip. I don't have a degree, and I program much better than most people out there. I think you need to understand you don't need a degree when you spend time reading books and studying hard in school. I'm the type of kid you probably picked on in primary and secondary school. My turn to be the boss. Even making me more happy is I'm going to go through college without any type of financial aid, and I'm doing it all by myself. You're just some looser kid who became an adult and try to knock people down while you go to your grave. Get a life, thanks. Now I'm off to go find some decent kids on IRC to hire out on some of my projects for Opensource. Maybe you'll hear about some works here and there in the future.

      My best wishes to the fellows who made the Xbox patchset for FreeBSD. I hope you prosper in life, you are the seeds of the future. Please continue with your development, as your efforts are appreciated. What most people don't realise is productivity is more worthwhile than arguing over which OS is better. Godspeed.

      Thanks,
      Fellow doing well without degree

  2. Re:Er... why? by metternich · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Hardware on the Xbox is sold at a lost by Microsoft. (They make their profits off the games they sell.) Therefore, if you can mod an Xbox to be a regular computer, you can get better performance/$$ than you would otherwise be able to get.

    --
    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
  3. Re:Er... why? by bass_ackwards · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As soon as they can get the Ethernet working I can have the low cost, small form factor webserver I have been looking for.

    Thats why. Also, throw in a bigger hard drive and you have a great backup server or file server.

    Just don't try hosting any slashdot stories. Even a cluster of these things couldn't handle that.

  4. Re:Er... why? by aderusha · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The price of the components has certainly come down, and if you open up a recent (version 1.6) xbox and compare it to an earlier version, you'll find that they have greatly streamlined the number of discreet components inside.

    However, the xbox originally sold for $399 and now retails for $150. Who knows if they're still loosing money on these, but I'd guess they still are subsidizing the software/online business by taking a loss on the hardware.

  5. Re:Ethernet missing? by Ezdaloth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    No shit this driver fails, it is supposed to support NVidia nforce2 chipset with AMD processors. Not the (also nvidia) network chip in the xbox. The ethernet chip is probably quite similar to the nforce chip, but the rest of the hardware isn't ...

    The best bet might be to port the linux forcedeth drivers. They're the only OSS drivers for the chip.

  6. Re:It may not be a hoax... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is what people do in their free time...it's a hobby. People do hobbies for enjoyment. Why do some people feel that OSS needs to have a real use?

  7. Ask yourself this question : by DrSkwid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ask yourself this question : What is the purpose of the XBox ?

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  8. Linguistic note... by pegr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The framebuffer is fully supported, same goes for sound and USB devices (such as an USB keyboard).
     
    Interesting that the submitter choose "an" rather than "a" before USB. This implies he pronounces USB "usby" rather than "yoo-ess-bee". I've never heard that before. Anyone else? Do I sound square pronouncing each letter of USB?
     

    1. Re:Linguistic note... by pegr · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Post: The framebuffer is fully supported, same goes for sound and USB devices (such as an USB keyboard).

      pegr: Interesting that the submitter choose "an" rather than "a" before USB. This implies he pronounces USB "usby" rather than "yoo-ess-bee". I've never heard that before. Anyone else? Do I sound square pronouncing each letter of USB?

      88NoSoup4U88: Isn't the rule that once a word starts with a vowel, you have to use 'an' : It doesn't have anything to do with how you pronounce it, does it ? [/non native english speaker]

      AC: I for one pronounce USB "usbi", but then again im finnish...

      Ah! So does this more likely mean that the submitter is not a native English speaker? Not to make you uncomfortable, NetFiber, but are you a native English speaker?

      For anyone not otherwise aware, it is always how the word is pronounced, not spelled.

      Sorry to wander so far off-topic, but I find this observation to be fascinating.

  9. Re:It may not be a hoax... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Interesting
    This is why the OSS movement is crap. It's all about free software. Using the term OSS makes you forget that this is all about increasing freedom in the first place, not about increasing some arbitrary standard such as the "userbase of the community", especially when said community is ill-defined.
    Haven't you thought that maybe - just maybe - the goals of people participating in the OSS movement (as opposed to the FSF movement) are just somewhat different from yours?

    Sheesh, even Stallman of all FSF people does understand that! Surely any random FSF fanboy should?