Historical Xbox Linux

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When it was announced that the specifications of the Xbox were known to be very similar to an X86 PC, Xbox Linux was quickly considered as a possibility for getting getting cheap Linux PCs into the hands of the masses. The first Xbox exploits were created to make Xbox Linux possible, and were quickly repurposed by modders, while Linux remained a more niche application on the original Xbox. In the years while the Xbox was still being manufactured, it could function as a cheap daily driver Linux PC, and some users modded the controller ports into permanent USB ports, and even installed a VGA connector. But, as with all PCs they eventually became obsolete as cheaper, smaller hardware became available with similar processing power.

Xbox Linux reached a point of stable releases around 2003, and the development continued thereafter, providing support for 1.4 Xboxes and their Focus encoder chip, and even support for 1.6 Xboxes and their changes. The 2.4 kernel was primarily used for Xbox Linux. The 2.6 kernel patches that were developed appear stable and quite usable, but scattered functionalities from the 2.4 kernel were never ported over.

Timeline

hacks the Xbox boot ROM decryption key, allowing a starting point for Xbox BIOS modification

  • November 15, 2001 - Microsoft Xbox released in United States
  • c. 2001-2002 (when?) - Bunnie Huang hacks the Xbox boot ROM decryption key, allowing a starting point for Xbox BIOS modification
  • February 22, 2002 - Xbox released in Japan
  • March 14, 2002 - Xbox released in Europe and Australia
  • May 23, 2002 - Xbox Linux project founded by Michael Stiehl
  • July 2, 2002 - Michael Robertson, CEO of Lindows.com, offered two $100,000 prizes for accomplishment of Xbox Linux goals by January 1, 2003. (He was coincidentally being sued at the time by Microsoft, for use of the name "Lindows") One of the prizes offered was for a demonstration of Linux running on an Xbox (with a $55,000 "subprize" for writing a bootloader) The other prize was for an exploit capable of getting Xbox Linux to run without hardware modification, ideally by using just a CD-ROM.
  • August 13, 2002 - First kernel boot
  • October 7, 2002 - First graphical desktop environment (KDE)
  • October 9, 2002 - Mandrake Linux 9 released for Xbox. Users had to replace or flash the TSOP.
  • December 17, 2002 - Cromwell BIOS/bootloader ready. The first of the $100,000 prizes was claimed, for running Linux on Xbox and developing a bootloader before January 1, 2003.
  • December 31, 2002 - Michael Robertson extends the prize deadline for the remaining prize.
  • March 29, 2003 - The second prize was claimed for the 007 hack by Habibi_xbox. (the game Frogger Beyond was initially hacked, but it wasn't released in Europe) This launched a minilinux via an exploit from a hacked savegame on an Xbox memory card, technically accomplishing the goal of using Linux on the Xbox without hardware modification. However, users had to start Linux via the hacked game save every time.
  • July 4, 2003 - The font exploit is discovered, demonstrating the ability to run Linux from the hard drive with no modchip, a true "softmod". (but also opening Pandora's box of piracy, which Xbox Linux wanted to avoid association with.) The dashboard audio exploit was discovered soon afterwards.
  • July 7, 2003 - A official security release is made about newly discovered Xbox security vulnerabilities, as responsible hackers should do
  • August 11, 2003 - The Mechassault exploit was released by Jeff Mears, with full softmod conversion. Efforts were made to obfuscate the source to prevent uses for piracy

More details here

Historical Distros

A number of distributions were released, built around the Xbox Linux-patched kernel.

  • GentooX - GentooX, unlike vanilla Gentoo, provided precompiled binaries to the user via a custom repository. These were binaries compiled specifically for the Xbox. GentooX had both Home and Pro editions, the Home edition built around a desktop environment and the Pro edition built around the CLI. GentooX was a popular and developed Xbox Linux distro. The website is still being archived, although it appears broken in Chrome. The latest release of GentooX Home is 7.1, and the latest release of Pro was 5.1, in 2009. Tested and working. Works from DVD. The pro version attempts to boot from the CD into GentooX loader, so be sure set your BIOS not to boot from CD if booting from CD doesn't work from you. Try Xromwell if GentooX loader doesn't work.
  • X-DSL - Based on Damn Small Linux, X-DSL was a lightweight Linux build. It used Knoppix patches to be able to boot to a desktop environment from small (<100MB) loop devices from FATX. It can also make a "native" install to the hard drive, or install to a larger loop device for a permanent setup. X-DSL is an easy version of historical Linux to try out today, since it can be launched and run entirely from drive E and that avoids some incompatibilities of Xbox Linux with larger hard drives. (if your hard drive is 3TB in order to get that extra .1TB of space, it may not work). The latest official version of X-DSL is 0.6, although there is an unofficial 0.7 floating around, among various other unofficial builds. X-DSL 0.6 can be found here. The contents of the zip file can be copied to the root of E (so that linuxboot.cfg is in the root) and launched with Cromwell or GentooX, with no CD. The iso is also tested and working.
  • Dyne:bolic Linux - This is Rasta software! Dynebolic Linux is a multimedia creation, editing, and streaming focused distro that could boot as a liveCD on many systems, including original Xbox. Original Xbox support was ended in Dyne:bolic 2.x, but that uses the 2.6 kernel so it could theoretically be supported if someone felt like it. The latest version compatible with the Xbox is 1.4.1, available here. This distro has a lot of toys and is fun to check out. Also, it works from DVD! (it does seem to have a low color depth in the desktop though...)
  • xUbuntu - Not related to the distro more commonly known as "xUbuntu". "xUbuntu is based on Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) distribution without graphical environment. xUbuntu linux system can be run from CD or installed to a PC or Xbox hard drive. The install process, the kernel, the kernel modules and the desktop are customized for PC and Xbox (i386)." The latest version is 0.9.0, available here. It needs to be burned to a CD instead of a DVD.
  • Ed's Xebian - Not related to the distro more commonly known as "Xebian". Does not appear to have a website. From the original Xbox Linux wiki, "With superb flexibility and ease of use, it can run off CD/DVD or it can be installed onto the Xbox hard drive in either the free space or the saved game area. The OS includes support for all versions of the Xbox, including those with Xcalibur video chips. Based on Debian stable (Sarge) with backports for newer software." The latest version is 1.1.4, available here, which boots to desktop as a liveCD. It seems to require burning to a CD instead of DVD.
  • sXb - Slackware for the Original Xbox. The versioning is a little unclear, but the most recent ISO on sourceforge is in the iso.gz file here. May need to be burned to CD. Reported "controller jammed" messages at startup, but one of my controller ports is busted.
  • Mandrake A Mandrake 9 was released and claimed to be the first full distribution on the Xbox, but apparently was not continued or supported. No known Web site. Does anyone have a copy of the original Xbox Linux Mandrake iso for archival purposes? It appears a 2005 "special edition" with the Xbox patches can be found here. (Mandrake Linux was renamed to Mandriva Linux in 2005). Requires composite cable, at least on this 1.0 Xbox. Appears to require burning to a CD, instead of a DVD.
  • xFedora A port of Fedora Core to the Xbox; essentially Fedora Core with Xbox patches. The latest version is 0.7.41, available here. I am unsure how to run it.
  • SuSE 8 - There's a dead download link on the old wiki. Seems to have been abandoned
  • old xbox-linux iso The xbox-linux team released some preliminary ISOs during the development of Xbox Linux.
  • live-linux An early Linux that 007 hack users tried; it booted from CD but could also boot from the hard drive. It was released up to 0.3, no known website, but here is the announcement. The latest image is available here. The file boot/boot.cfg on the iso needs to be renamed to linuxboot.cfg. The video became garbled launching with both composite and component cables. (may need an old version of Cromwell; untested) This is a very basic minilinux distro, essentially a proof of concept. The linuxrc is a symlink to busybox. It comes with a 9MB image.
  • ltools, a minilinux used in Xbox game save hacks, first designed to install Linux, but later repurposed to softmod the Xbox. (is this right?)
  • xboxhdm is a tool made by Idotsfan for softmodding locked Xbox hard drives, it's a PC-based CD-bootable set of Linux tools
  • XMugen packaged Mugen for Linux using a busybox in an initramfs, and used swap and game character data files located on FATX. It currently has issues with anything other than "F takes all" schemes.
  • Chimp is a tool for cloning and basic partitioning on Xbox hard drives. It runs from an initramfs.
  • FreeBSD/Xbox - Not Linux per se, but it's a port of FreeBSD to the Xbox. It was officially integrated into FreeBSD as a set of optional patches. A NetBSD setup can be found here but it requires the rootfs mounted on NFS. There might be a self contained ISO out there?

Installing Old Distros

These liveCDs above should all be safe to try on your Xbox, but installation to your hard drive is more risky. It can be fine if you take the proper considerations. Here are the installation methods usually presented by the installers:

Native Install

This may not be compatible with softmods! Don't mess around with native installs on a locked hard drive or a hard drive that's not backed up! Flash your TSOP or hardmod first!

This may wipe your hard drive, format it for Linux, and expect you to put Cromwell on your BIOS. It may also mean just formatting F and booting into it from Xromwell on FATX. So make sure you know which one it is! (the installer should tell you, if it's installing to F you should be fine) Any native install with a boot partition (launched via a hard drive icon in Cromwell/Xromwell) is NOT compatible with the XBPartitioner table, and installing it will overwite the XBPartitioner table. So "F takes all" is preferred here, for allowing coexistence with the stock partitions.

If you have a native install, DO NOT USE XBPARTITIONER unless you want to remove Linux. Any XBPartitioner format will break Linux by wiping out the MBR that Linux uses to find its partitions. You can't have custom FATX partitions alongside a Linux native install. (So use a spare hard drive for a native install)

Loopback Install

This installs Linux to a file on the FATX filesystem. Your Linux filesystem will be contained within that file. This means that no repartitioning of your hard drive is necessary. This is a safer install method, if you have space for a small install on E, or if you are using an "F takes all" scheme with an Xbox partition on F. Drive F must end below the 137GB boundary, if doing a loopback install to it. (is that right?) XBPartitioner-defined partitions are not supported by official versions of Xbox Linux, it only looks for the stock partitions plus "F takes all". I am unsure of the behavior if the drive is bigger than F can be. Loopback installs should be safe if your FATX drive F is detected by Xbox Linux.

In general, using a <137GB hard drive avoids these issues, although loopback installs can still be done on larger drives.

It is not advisable to make changes on the FATX filesystem more than you have to in Xbox Linux. Mounting and reading FATX partitions is fine, but doing complex write operations should be avoided, just in case. The 2.4 kernel FATX support is thought to be more stable than in the 2.6 kernel. If you need to copy lots of files to your Xbox, do it via an Xbox dash using FTP. Simple operations on FATX should be fine, and the FATX support is not seriously unstable, but better to be safe. Loopback installs are considered to be stable, even though the files exist on FATX.

Historical links

Much of the old Xbox Linux information now lives on archive.org. It is helpful if you come across anything useful, to add it here!

See Also

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