[ILUG] GForge, and X-Box for both linux and games

[Glen Gray]

On Fri, 2004-08-13 at 21:48, Justin Mason wrote:
> 2. a hardware-hacking question.  I'm tempted to buy an X-Box, mainly as an
> XviD playback system (my current DVD player only handles DVDs and MPG
> VCDs).  I'd also like the chance to hack it up with some linuxy goodness,
> possibly even installing something like MythTV for an el-cheapo
> Tivo-alike, and MAME for the classics.
> 
One of the best hardware decisions I'd made in a long time. I'd bought
the xbox for gaming as my PC was getting on and I didn't want to fork
out just yet for a new one. After the warranty expired I had it modded
in order to have it as a media server for the living room. It's been
fantastic.

Tivo functionality would require some sort of TV tuner in the xbox, to
the best of my knowledge there are no such devices or hardware hacks to
add that. I could be wrong though.

As a media playback server though it rocks. Most people setup some sore
of dvr on their PC and then network share it to the xbox for playback.

> But I'd like to have my cake and eat it too -- namely be able to play XBox
> games on it afterwards anyway! So:
> 
> - - has anyone played with this stuff?  does it work?
> 
Yes, the games will still work with the modchip enabled. In fact, one of
the benefits of having a larger drive in there, I've most of my xbox
DVD's put away and their contents dumped to the HDD. Load times are far
quicker too. However I don't use Linux on my box, so I'm not sure how
the boot process would work. I boot into the xbmc application and launch
everything from there (http://www.xboxmediacenter.de). For decent FAQ's
and howto's check out http://www.xbox-scene.com/

> - - I know that installing Linux will screw up XBox Live, but can that be
>   reverted for using Live, then reinstalled?
> 
Yes, there are a couple of things to be aware of, xbox-scene again will
probably have better info. But from what I recall, once your new hard
drive has been "locked" to the xbox (not sure what this does exactly),
disabling the modchip will allow you to play xbox live games.

There are other networks that don't bother about the modchip. So if you
want to keep the mod active all the time, then they might be a better
option.

> - - to mod-chip or not mod-chip?  Does the savegame hack still work,
>   and is that currently the best way to boot linux?
> 
I would have to say mod-chip is the way to go. There seemed far to much
messing involved with the save game. Some of the newer xboxs come with
patched software to stop the save game cheat. The sites mentioned above
have the info.

> - - will installing MythTV-XBox or similar, screw about with my ability
>   to use the XBox for games?
> 
It shouldn't do. But not having put linux on mine I can't be definite
about what restriction it might impose. I'm pretty confident that once
the disc is in the drive you'll be fine. 

> I'm asking here because I know Glen at least has been hacking about with
> it in the past, if I recall correctly ;)
> 
You do :). I was pretty clueless and so had lots of help from a couple
of other guys to find my feet in capabilities and options. 

Check out those sites, they should give you all the info you'll need.

-- 
Glen Gray <glen at lincor.com>                             17 Dame Court
Senior Software Engineer                            Dublin 2, Ireland
Lincor Solutions Ltd.                          Ph: +353 (0) 1 6746413