PDA

View Full Version : Ubuntu and Original Xbox



thig1002
October 20th, 2011, 11:06 PM
I'm going to describe a detailed scenario, and I would like to know if it could be a possibility:

I have an original Virgin Xbox. Anyone who is into gaming (or doesn't live under a rock) understands that the Original Xbox has no value as strictly a gaming consol. I would like to install a version of Ubuntu on to my Xbox, preferrably without hard modding...

Exploiting an Xbox is the easy part, but my question is could Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu be installed on its hardrive? If so, how?

As far as system specs are concerned, what would work the best?

To put it simply, I want to turn my little black box into a linux computer.

MonolithImmortal
October 20th, 2011, 11:37 PM
http://www.xbmc4xbox.org/about

Spice Weasel
October 20th, 2011, 11:41 PM
Running unofficial binaries on the Xbox is questionably legal... Besides, the black Xbox only has a 733MHz Intel Mobile Celeron processor, a 10 GB hard drive and 64MB of RAM so it's pretty pointless unless you enjoy only using CLI.

KiwiNZ
October 21st, 2011, 12:01 AM
An huge amount of hassle and work for very little return. Like climbing the Matterhorn to get a Egg cup of Beer placed on the summit.

dniMretsaM
October 21st, 2011, 12:04 AM
Running unofficial binaries on the Xbox is questionably legal... Besides, the black Xbox only has a 733MHz Intel Mobile Celeron processor, a 10 GB hard drive and 64MB of RAM so it's pretty pointless unless you enjoy only using CLI.

He could stick SliTaz or ChrunchBang or something on there.


An huge amount of hassle and work for very little return. Like climbing the Matterhorn to get a Egg cup of Beer placed on the summit.

It might be a fun project, though. I know I'd enjoy something like that even if it didn't work spectacularly.

Spice Weasel
October 21st, 2011, 12:12 AM
He could stick SliTaz or ChrunchBang or something on there.

Nope. They would have to use the Xbox kernel fork-type thing to be compatible, and they don't. Distributions that are compatible (http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbox-linux/files/) with the Xbox are GentooX, xUbuntu (not Xubuntu, very slow), X-DSL (horribly outdated), Xebian Sarge (horribly outdated, only useful as a server) and Fedora (broken).

The only legal way to install Linux on an Xbox is to replace the BIOS with Cromwell, but it's risky and will render it unable to play Xbox games. So if you mess up, you won't have a second chance because you won't be able to load the MechAssault disc to replace the BIOS.

dniMretsaM
October 21st, 2011, 12:22 AM
Nope. They would have to use the Xbox kernel fork-type thing to be compatible, and they don't. Distributions that are compatible (http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbox-linux/files/) with the Xbox are GentooX, xUbuntu (not Xubuntu, very slow), X-DSL (horribly outdated), Xebian Sarge (horribly outdated, only useful as a server) and Fedora (broken).

The only legal way to install Linux on an Xbox is to replace the BIOS with Cromwell, but it's risky and will render it unable to play Xbox games. So if you mess up, you won't have a second chance because you won't be able to load the MechAssault disc to replace the BIOS.

Ah ok. Well, I guess it's up to him if he wants to risk it.

Stigmata13
October 21st, 2011, 01:40 AM
While it is possible to run a custom linux distro on the original xbox, it isn't very pretty as you have to order adapters or even make custom adapters just to be able to use a mouse and keyboard and such.

My advice is to try xbmc (xbox media center) on the xbox, there is a method of soft-modding the xbox or you can get a mod chip, but I'm not going into that as it isn't exactly legal. Google is your friend.

thig1002
October 31st, 2011, 09:47 PM
This is all very helpful...

And really this is just a side project/I'm bored out of my mind/How many different ways can I kill my xbox... Thing.

Using it as a server sounds like a decent idea, but upgrading the memory seems like a needed task for that.

The reason I was asking about Ubuntu is because it comes preloaded with drivers for xbox/xbox360 controllers, so it seemed to be the best option. Obviously not "Ubuntu" per say, but maybe xubuntu.

So it sounds to me like the only way it would actually be a functional project is to upgrade the memory and turn it into a server?

daithi23
August 3rd, 2012, 01:09 PM
Hi, I was looking to set up a server for use with Ushahidi and the only thing I have to hand is an old Xbox. I would have liked to use Ubuntu as I'm (a bit) familiar with it but that doesn't look like the right option.
I know the only legal way to do it is to replace the BIOS with Cromwell which I'm fine with as it won't be able to play games anymore.
Any suggestions for a distro to put on? Ushahidi's website has these requirements for installing the platform:


This section outlines the requirements for installing the Ushahidi platform on your computer.
The "AMP" (Apache, Mysql, PHP) Stack

Before installing Ushahidi, following must be installed in the target system:


PHP version 5.2.3 or greater
MySQL version 5.0 or greater
An HTTP Server. Kohana, which Ushahidi is built on, is known to work with the following web servers:

Apache 1.3+
Apache2.0+
lighttpd
Microsoft Internet Information Server (MS IIS)
Nginx


Unicode support in the operating system

Required PHP Extensions

The follwing is a list of PHP extensions that must be installed on your server in order for Ushahidi to run properly:


PCRE (http://php.net/pcre) must be compiled with --enable-utf8 and --enable-unicode-properties for UTF-8 functions to work properly.
iconv (http://php.net/iconv) is required for UTF-8 transliteration.
mcrypt (http://php.net/mcrypt) is required for encryption.
SPL (http://php.net/spl) is required for several core libraries
mbstring (http://php.net/mbstring) which speeds up Kohana's UTF-8 functions.
cURL (http://php.net/curl) which is used to access remote sites.
MySQL (http://php.net/mysql) is required for database access.

NOTE: Need to figure out what extensions you already have installed on your server? Here are instructions to do just that: http://jontangerine.com/silo/php/phpinfo/
Optional Server Requirements



To use Ushahidi's "Clean URLS" feature on an Apache Web Server, you will need the mod_rewrite module and the ability to use local .htaccess files. To check if local .htaccess files are allowed, verify that the "AllowOverride" directive in your Apache config (for the web server directory in which you have installed Ushahidi) has been set to "All" i.e.:

<Directory [your-document-root-directory]> ... AllowOverride All ... </Directory>

NOTE: Clean URLs means that the URLs of your deployment will not have the 'index.php' prefix

Primefalcon
August 3rd, 2012, 01:23 PM
Ubuntu should be able to run... I have 10.04 lubuntu running a machine with a lot lower specs (about a 200mhz processor)...

you could also run puppy linux