Linux

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. Michael Robertson, the CEO of Lindows.com, offered two $100,000 prizes with the vision of getting cheap Linux PCs into the hands of the masses. One of the prizes was for a demonstration of Linux running on an Xbox (with a $55,000 "subprize" for writing a BIOS) The other prize was for an exploit capable of getting Xbox Linux to run without hardware modification, ideally by using just a CD-ROM. (was this claimed? the prize deadline was extended here) 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. But, as with all PCs they eventually became obsolete as cheaper, smaller hardware became available with similar processing power.

Today, Xbox Linux has more of a hobbyist appeal. It would be possible, though, to use it to bundle Linux setups and individual Linux applications, once the proper functionality is set up. Linux also has applications as a platform for investigating the Xbox hardware.

For information about old versions of Xbox Linux, see Historical Xbox Linux.

Current Xbox Linux

The former kernels of 2.4 and 2.6 were woefully out of date. To save the day, haxar has patched a modern kernel (5.8) with everything needed to run a terminal-based instance of Xbox linux. This kernel can be used as the basis for setting up modern Xbox Linux distributions.

For a list of the current issues that are blocking functionality on Xbox Linux, see Xbox Linux Issues.

For some guides and information that might help you get Xbox Linux up and running, see Xbox Linux Tips and Tricks.

Links

• Haxar's modifications to the 5.8 kernel
  • A basic initramfs for use with that kernel
  • The busybox setup used in that initramfs
• mborgerson's FATX library, including a FUSE driver for FATX support in Linux
• Ubuntu Cosmic with FATX, DON'T USE THIS, there is no actual FATX code in this repo. It appears to be just a starting point for a FATX implementation in Linux. Posted here to save you the time of figuring that out for yourself.

See Also

• 17 Mistakes Microsoft Made in the Xbox Security System by Michael Steil, a member of the Xbox Linux team
• The Night Watch Some inspiration
• The UNIX Hater's Handbook Some catharsis, from before the dawn of time