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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.

39 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. But does by mboverload · · Score: 5, Funny

    But does FreeBSD on Xbox run Linux? Yeah.

    1. Re:But does by .sig · · Score: 2, Funny

      Bah, get OSX on it and you can have your very own iBox...

      --
      -Space for rent
    2. Re:But does by WushuJim · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, you can run Linux binaries with the Linux binary compatibility module.

  2. It may not be a hoax... by MaestroSartori · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...but:

    "This XBE file hasn't been tested, as we don't have a modchipped XBOX."

    Anyone out there with a chipped xbox know if this works at all? :)

    --
    Game dev and music blog
    1. Re:It may not be a hoax... by DrSkwid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      my xbox gathers dust, fbsd on it would be a nice toy

      > platforms intended for one purpose and one purpose alone (gaming)
      do you know what a turing machine is ?

      --
      There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
    2. 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?

    3. 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?

  3. Ethernet missing? by coflow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is pretty cool, although from TFA: Only ethernet is missing, currently, as the binary only driver in /usr/ports/net/nvnet fails with an error 5, for some reason. Assistance there would be very welcome.

    I suspect this is a feature that would be fairly important to most users.

    1. Re:Ethernet missing? by zyche · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If all you whiners cared to actually RTFA you would have spotted "A lot of USB ethernet controllers" listed under hardware support. These doesn't cost much these days, and *BSD supports most of them.

    2. Re:Ethernet missing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Stop saying "whilst", you douche.

    3. Re:Ethernet missing? by cbreaker · · Score: 4, Informative

      You can't just plug in "a lot of USB ethernet controllers" because the XBox controller ports, albiet USB, are not a USB connection. You need a converter, and THEN the controller. And when all is said and done, you'd left with a crappy 11Mbit of USB Ethernet speeds whereas the onboard controller (e100) is actually very good.

      I'm not whining - I really don't give a crap either way. But this isn't a solution by any means.

      --
      - It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
    4. 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.

    5. Re:Ethernet missing? by Anubis350 · · Score: 3, Informative

      you can quickly and easily make a MS USB to normal USB adapter with a USB extension cord, a solder gun, solder, and an xbox breakwaway cable in about in 5 mins... Instructions are on the linux xbox website

      --
      "goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
  4. BSD vs. Linux (tm) by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 5, Funny

    The perfect way to prove BSD is more secure than Linux: no ethernet.

    I'll go RTFA now...

    --
    .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
  5. Microsft now know that.. by speights_pride! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ..the original Xbox is dead. They better release the next one quickly!

  6. 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 Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      You modded him down because he has water droplets forming on his windows?

    2. Re:Two guys, ages 19 and 21 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "The port is fully functional....Only ethernet is missing, currently."

      Sounds like they'd be great in the marketing department.

    3. Re:Two guys, ages 19 and 21 by Marc2k · · Score: 4, Funny

      having forced myself into a very uncomfortable place. ..like the back of a Volkswagen?

      --
      --- What
    4. Re:Two guys, ages 19 and 21 by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny
      ..like the back of a Volkswagen?

      Stare at this reply long enough, and you'll see a sailboat.

      -Eric

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  7. Re:No ethernet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't think the Xbox can be considered small you know...

  8. 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.
  9. Re:Er... why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful
    • Cheap server to play with
    • Play any media the likes of mplayer can play
    • Act as a jukbox
    • Browse, email etc on the TV
    • A backup server for rsync
    • Other uses for other people


    Just because you can't cope with the thought others have imagination and enjoy these things, doesn't mean people should stop because of your opinion!
  10. XBox pwn3d by spaztech · · Score: 5, Funny


    All obvious jokes aside, this is an awesome job by these young up-and-comers. Porting FreeBSD to a Microsoft gaming console, what a task.

    1: Load FreeBSD on XBox
    2: Install nMap, Nessus & Metasploit, hack CitiBank
    3: ??
    4: Profit!!

    When the F.B.I. shows up just play dumb and say, "I don't have a computer."

    --
    /. spaztech ./
    1. Re:XBox pwn3d by rbarreira · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's "???", not "??".

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
  11. 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.

  12. my head asplode by justforaday · · Score: 2, Funny

    A secure Microsoft machine? Now I've seen it all...

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
  13. More games. . . by ducttapekz · · Score: 2, Funny

    If they could make it run windows then it could rum games. An XBox with a wide game selection. . . That would be nice.

  14. Re:No ethernet? - Gentoox been going years by trancemission · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have happily been running web/mail server on my xbox for over a year: http://gentoox.shallax.com/ This guy is dedicated and has an interesting history with the 'offical' xbox project. This distro kicks ass.....oh and he's done all this whilst at uni and just got his results A1/A1/A1/A2 :)

  15. Re:Back To The Future... by aderusha · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can get info on emulators for the 2600 and about 30 other retro systems on the xbox here.

  16. Only!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Only ethernet is missing"

    For sale '94 Pontiac Grand Prix 150,000 miles. No engine.

  17. 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.

  18. Re:Yes, release Xbox 360 quickly... by makomk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't expect the Xbox 360 will be as easy to hack as the Xbox. The Xbox was a bit of a rush-job (Microsoft were a latecomer to the party as it was) and it shows - unused buses still brought out to pads (probably for testing purposes), etc...

  19. In related news... by NotFamous · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have ported NetBSD to run on my toaster. I have full support for quad-processing (requires four slots), hyper-breading and hot swapping. Unfortunately, fork() is not currently implemented...

    --
    Some settling may occur during posting.
    1. Re:In related news... by databyss · · Score: 2, Funny

      fork() was originally implemented but it would randomly kill -9 the parent process.

      --
      Hmmm witty sig or funny sig? Maybe elitest techy sig!
    2. Re:In related news... by bergeron76 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Unfortunately, fork() is not currently implemented...

      That's probably a good thing. Because then you prevent users from having to "call emergency_room();"

      --
      Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
  20. 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
  21. 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.