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Xbox Linux
 As
standard the Xbox will only run code signed by Microsoft. My
Xbox is fitted with an Xecuter
2 mod chip (although any mod chip will do) which opens up
the possibility of running unsigned homebrew code such as Xbox
Linux, the Xbox
Media Player or MAME-X. The installation of any of these
does not affect the ability to play Xbox games although it is
necessary to turn off your mod chip if you want to use the Xbox
Live online service as MS will not allow modded boxes to connect.
Update:
You can now boot Linux on an unmodded Xbox using a save game
file from '007 Agent Under Fire' More
here.
The
first thing most people say when you tell them you can install
Linux on an Xbox is 'how do you control it without a keyboard
and mouse?' Well, firstly you can log in via SSH and operate
it remotely or you can easily make
an adapter to connect a standard USB keyboard and mouse
to the controller ports as they are just standard USB with a
different connector.
As
the Xbox is so close to an x86 PC architecture wise, once the
system is installed you can run any standard x86 code without
change.
Screenshots
(click them, they get bigger)
 
It
doesn't look this sharp on your tv of course!
Installation
Installation
is pretty straightforward. You may want to backup
your Xbox hard drive first although I didn't bother.
-
First
check whether your Xbox has the original 8Gb disk or a 10Gb
or larger disk as there are two methods of installation.
You can install either into the space after the first 8Gb
(providing you have the larger drive) or as two files in
the E: FATX partition. Installing into the E: partition
has the advantage that you can still use the extra space
above 8Gb as drive F: for storing games or additional software.
-
Download
Ed's
Xbox Debian Linux 0.1.0 and burn the installation iso
(named 0.1.0.testing.iso) to CD. As you may know several different
DVD drives have been used in the Xbox so far and most are
very picky about which disks they will read. All should read
CD/RW and some may read CD-R depending on the blank CD used
and the speed it is burned at. Experiment.
-
When
the installation disc boots the IP address is set as 192.168.0.2,
Subnet as 255.255.255.0 and the Gateway is 192.168.0.1 so
if you already have 192.168.0.2 used on your network now would
be a good time to unplug your Xbox network connection until
the end of the installation at which time you will be prompted
for network settings.
-
Connect
a USB keyboard and mouse to the controller ports. Note that
you can also do an install via SSH but only if the default
network settings above are good for you.
-
Boot
from the installation CD and when prompted login as root
with password xbox
-
Now start the installation proper by right clicking on the
desktop and opening an xterm and typing XBOXLinuxInstall
-
When
prompted select option 1 for an installation into the game
partition (E:) or option 2 for an installation into the F:
partition (there is also a third option for using the whole
disk but this would only be of interest if you only wanted
to use your Xbox for Linux).
-
You
will then be prompted for swap and root partition sizes, the
default 256Mb for swap and 2000Mb for root should suit most
installs into the E: partition, obviously if you are installing
into the slack space above the first 8 Gb these sizes will
be limited by how big your drive is.
-
The
base system will now be installed and you will be prompted
for a few network details such as IP address, subnet, gateway
and domain.
-
Included
in the bz2 file are two other .iso files, boot_fatx.iso (for
booting installs to the E: partition) and boot.iso (for booting
installs to the F: partition). You can burn the relevant iso
to disc to boot your newly installed Linux system or just
copy the contained files to a directory on your xbox E: drive
and start it with something like Evolution X. Some people
have experienced problems with network hardware initialisation
when booting from EvoX (SSH won't work) so you may want to
stick to the CD boot method although I have not encountered
this problem myself and happily boot from EvoX.
- Most
likely the picture will go off the side of the TV screen due
to the overscan feature of televisions. This can be corrected
with nvtv, download this
static version and pick a mode which suits you. You can
also give nvtv command line switches such as "nvtv -t
-r 640,480 -s Normal" so it can be included in a script.
- You
can now apt-get install any additional software from
the standard i386 Debian distribution. First do an apt-get
update and then apt-get install packagename or use
dselect. Have fun!
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