Xbox Linux is a project that ported the Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 to the Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

 video game console

Video game console

A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

. Because the Xbox uses a digital signature

Digital signature

A digital signature or digital signature scheme is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of a digital message or document. A valid digital signature gives a recipient reason to believe that the message was created by a known sender, and that it was not altered in transit...

 system to prevent the public from running unsigned code

Unsigned code

Unsigned code refers to an application which has not been signed with the secret key required for it to load on a console.In the video game console business, most console games have to be signed with a secret key designed by the console maker or the game will not load on the console...

, one must either use a modchip

Modchip

A modchip is a small electronic device used to modify or disable built-in restrictions and limitations of computers, specifically videogame consoles...

, or a softmod

Softmod

A softmod is a method of using software to modify the intended behaviour of hardware, such as video cards, sound cards, or game consoles in a way that can overcome restrictions of the firmware, or install custom firmware.-Video card softmods:...

. Originally, modchips were the only option; however, it was later demonstrated that the TSOP

Thin small-outline package

Thin small-outline packages, or TSOPs are a type of surface mount IC package. They are notably very low-profile and have tight lead spacing ....

 chip on which the Xbox's BIOS

BIOS

In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....

 is held may be reflashed. This way, one may flash on the "cromwell" BIOS, which was developed legally by the Xbox Linux project. Catalyzed by a large cash prize for the first team to provide the possibility of booting Linux on an Xbox without the need of a hardware hack, numerous software-only hacks were also found. For example, a buffer overflow

Buffer overflow

In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation of memory safety....

 was found in the game 007: Agent Under Fire that allowed the booting of a Linux loader ("xbeboot") straight from a save game.

The Xbox is essentially a PC

Personal computer

A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

 with a custom 733MHz Intel

Intel Corporation

Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...

 Mobile Celeron processor, a 10 GB hard drive

Hard disk

A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...

 (8 GB of which is accessible to the user), 64MB of RAM (although on all earlier boxes this is upgradable to 128MB), and 4 USB

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

 ports. (The controller ports are actually USB 1.1 ports with a modified connector.) These specifications are enough to run several readily available Linux distributions.

From the Xbox-Linux home page:

"The Xbox is a legacy-free PC by Microsoft that consists of an Intel Celeron 733 MHz CPU, an nVidia GeForce 3MX, 64 MB of RAM, a 8/10 GB hard disk, a DVD drive and 10/100 Ethernet. As on every PC, you can run Linux on it.

An Xbox with Linux can be a full desktop computer with mouse and keyboard, a web/email box connected to TV, a server or router or a node in a cluster. You can either dual-boot or use Linux only; in the latter case, you can replace both IDE devices. And yes, you can connect the Xbox to a VGA monitor."

Uses

An Xbox with Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 installed can act as a full desktop computer with mouse

Mouse (computing)

In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...

 and keyboard

Computer keyboard

In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...

, a web/email box connected to a TV

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, a server, router or a node in a cluster. One can either dual-boot or use Linux only; in the latter case, one can replace both IDE devices. One can also connect the Xbox to a VGA monitor. A converter is needed to use keyboards/mice in the controller ports; however, this is fairly easy to achieve because the Xbox uses the standard USB bus.

As of now only a few distributions of Xbox Linux will run on the version 1.6 Xbox (the third newest version, including 1.6b). Xboxes with modchips and the Cromwell

Cromwell (computing)

Cromwell is a replacement firmware for the Microsoft Xbox gaming console that has been developed by the Xbox Linux Project. If programmed onto the onboard flash chip of the Xbox or a modchip, it can boot the Linux operating system and practically convert the Xbox into a full PC.It is unusual in...

 bios

Bios

Bios or BIOS may refer to:*English transliteration of the ancient Greek term for life, , giving rise to the common prefix bio-, as in biology*BIOS, the Basic Input/Output System firmware of an IBM PC-compatible computer...

 installed can run more distributions than with only a softmod. This is mainly due to complications due to the new video chip used in version 1.6 Xboxes that was developed exclusively by Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 and which has no source code

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 available at this time, which causes major overscan

Overscan

Overscan is extra image area around the four edges of a video image that may not be seen reliably by the viewer. It exists because television sets in the 1930s through 1970s were highly variable in how the video image was framed within the cathode ray tube .-Origins of overscan:Early televisions...

 on all four sides of the screen when a different kernel than the original is loaded.

Softmod

One of the more popular ways of installing Xbox Linux is through a softmod

Softmod

A softmod is a method of using software to modify the intended behaviour of hardware, such as video cards, sound cards, or game consoles in a way that can overcome restrictions of the firmware, or install custom firmware.-Video card softmods:...

, which does not require a modchip to use. The Xbox Linux softmod utilizes a save exploit found in the original run of MechAssault

MechAssault

MechAssault was the first BattleMech video game published for the Xbox. Developed by Day 1 Studios and published by Microsoft, MechAssault was initiated when Denny Thorley of Day 1 Studios approached Jon Kimmich of Microsoft about developing an original BattleTech game built from the ground up to...

, Splinter Cell

Splinter Cell

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a series of stealth video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels. The protagonist, Sam Fisher, is presented as a highly-trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA, dubbed "Third Echelon"...

, and 007: Agent Under Fire. The method involves loading a hacked save file transferred to the Xbox's Hard Drive. When the save file is loaded, the MechInstaller is initiated. The Xbox Live option on the dashboard is replaced with the new Linux option after rebooting the system. Another softmod that can be used is the hotswap exploit which will unlock the Xbox hard drive long enough to allow one to modify it.

Also, there is a way to completely replace the Xbox's stock BIOS with a "Cromwell" BIOS, which is completely legal and is solely for Linux on the Xbox. Although, once the TSOP (BIOS chip) is flashed with "Cromwell", the Xbox can no longer play Xbox games or run native Xbox executables (.xbe files, akin to .exe for Windows).

List of Distributions

There are several distributions of Xbox Linux, most of which are based on PC Linux distributions.

Distribution	Description
Xebian/Ed's Debain	An Xbox Linux distribution that can install to the Xbox hard drive, or start a live session.
Gentoox	A Gentoo-based distribution, which features the "magic" updater, which allows users to download Xbox-specified packages and updates.
X-DSL	A distribution based on Damn Small Linux Damn Small Linux Damn Small Linux or DSL is a computer operating system for the x86 family of personal computers. It is free and open source software under the terms of GNU GPL and other free and open source licenses. It was designed to run graphical applications on older PC hardware—for example, machines with... .

External links

• Project home page
• Project site on SourceForge.net
  SourceForge.net
  SourceForge is a web-based source code repository. It acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open source software development. The website runs a version of SourceForge Enterprise Edition, forked from the last open-source version available...
  
  
• SoftMod Xbox for Free (Hotswap Technique!)