Windows Ce Options

[Pulsemasta]

Has anyone made any headway on porting this to Xbox? I know there was a version ported a while back but was it usable? Like could it run apps/play games/play sounds??

interesting read if anyone cares

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,100...,2091771,00.htm

[obcd]

There has been a proof of concept with wince.net
It showed the windows ce desktop, but is wasn't really something you could use.
Most of the drivers were missing. The xbox lan port wasn't supported. The gamepad wasn't supported..
Mouse support was partially working. It wasn't showing a cursor on the screen yet.

The originator set up a workgroup for further development, but he received little interest from the community.

Windows CE is a bit a strange duc in the pool.
It takes a while to get familiar with the platform buider ide to build it.

There are not many applications that run on ce devices. Most of them are developed for the arm cpu, as most smartphones and pocketpc's using it have that cpu. It is less power hungry than a x86 equivalent which is important for battery powered equipment.
So, if you don't have the sources, you probably won't succeed in running a ce program on a x86 platform.
(unless it's specified that a x86 version exists.)

The originor also thought that it would be helpfull to get xp embedded running on the xbox. Personally, I don't think it is. xp embedded is just a normal xp cut into pieces. It only runs on normal pc hardware, and to get it running on the xbox, you will have the same problems as you would have to get a normal xp running. (besides the fact it uses less memory.)

I know a guy recently wanted to port reactos to the xbox, but I have no idea of his progres.

regards.

[Pulsemasta]

There has been a proof of concept with wince.net
It showed the windows ce desktop, but is wasn't really something you could use.
Most of the drivers were missing. The xbox lan port wasn't supported. The gamepad wasn't supported..
Mouse support was partially working. It wasn't showing a cursor on the screen yet.

The originator set up a workgroup for further development, but he received little interest from the community.

Windows CE is a bit a strange duc in the pool.
It takes a while to get familiar with the platform buider ide to build it.

There are not many applications that run on ce devices. Most of them are developed for the arm cpu, as most smartphones and pocketpc's using it have that cpu. It is less power hungry than a x86 equivalent which is important for battery powered equipment.
So, if you don't have the sources, you probably won't succeed in running a ce program on a x86 platform.
(unless it's specified that a x86 version exists.)

The originor also thought that it would be helpfull to get xp embedded running on the xbox. Personally, I don't think it is. xp embedded is just a normal xp cut into pieces. It only runs on normal pc hardware, and to get it running on the xbox, you will have the same problems as you would have to get a normal xp running. (besides the fact it uses less memory.)

I know a guy recently wanted to port reactos to the xbox, but I have no idea of his progres.

regards.

Do you know the guy's name who wanted to port it? Is he a member of this site? I would like to PM him if he is just to see if he is still working on it.

The only cool thing I would think about CE is all the games.. but I guess if it was 100% working then the OS all together would be nice too.

[obcd]

I tried to contact him half a year ago, without result. The website about it has dissapeared as well.
A working CE would be nice as it would support bigger usb disks.
You would also be able to use some usb wifi sticks on the usb ports.
It also makes it possible to copy move and rename stuff with the windows look and feel.
Most of those things are possible in linux as well.
I managed to find some sources related to it, but the bootloader which is based upon xbeboot
(an early linux bootloader) doesn't exist anymore.
The bootloader is a linux project and the ce ide (platform builder) is a windows toolchain.
That doesn't make things easier.
If you google for xbox + wince, you can find an interview with the original author.
I don't think he continued his work on this.

regards.

[Pulsemasta]

just think of all the cooler apps that would have been finished had the Xbox 360 been delayed a few more years, or if M$ scrapped it all together!! lol

either that or people would just start trying to port CE and the likes to the Wii or something.

[obcd]

CE only supports a limited range of processors. I don't think the WII cpu is one of them.
MS does not release all the source for windows CE.
Some of the CE code simply comes as libraries.

regards.

[Pulsemasta]

Well, maybe someone will get interested again

thanks for all the info!

[osmorphyus]

windows on xbox
</beating dead horse>


probably not. as has been said before, if people want a box to play xbox games on, emulator games on, watch movies on, listen to music on and run windows games/applications, you're best to build a windows based system.

windows will never operate on the xbox. its an interesting concept, but there are too many fundamental problem with it all.

you can emulate various versions of windows thru DSL, but its useless to do so becuase no hardware is supported thru windows that way.

for all intents and purposes, its a dead issue. PC's are for windows. xbox's are not.

any working port of linux on the box will give you all the functionality you need out of a basic computer right from the comfort of your couch.

lastly, if you want a pc you can connect to your tv, thats easier than ever these days. throw a PCI tv out card in a crappy old computer, hook it up to your tv, throw an old version of win98 or XP on it and have at it. you can get all the parts you need on ebay or at your local computer store, look in the second hand bins. you could even install the windows port of xbmc to it. paint the box or hide it behind your set, connect a wireless controller or remote to it - there you go.

[Pulsemasta]

windows on xbox
</beating dead horse>
probably not. as has been said before, if people want a box to play xbox games on, emulator games on, watch movies on, listen to music on and run windows games/applications, you're best to build a windows based system.

windows will never operate on the xbox. its an interesting concept, but there are too many fundamental problem with it all.

you can emulate various versions of windows thru DSL, but its useless to do so becuase no hardware is supported thru windows that way.

for all intents and purposes, its a dead issue. PC's are for windows. xbox's are not.

any working port of linux on the box will give you all the functionality you need out of a basic computer right from the comfort of your couch.

lastly, if you want a pc you can connect to your tv, thats easier than ever these days. throw a PCI tv out card in a crappy old computer, hook it up to your tv, throw an old version of win98 or XP on it and have at it. you can get all the parts you need on ebay or at your local computer store, look in the second hand bins. you could even install the windows port of xbmc to it. paint the box or hide it behind your set, connect a wireless controller or remote to it - there you go.

It's not really about using Windows on Xbox, because like you said Linux can do all the applications of a PC based OS... its just the fact of having Windows on an Xbox, the novelty of it all. Having a running/usable Windows on Xbox would just be another accomplishment for the scene....

[obcd]

Windows CE is perfectly possible on the xbox.
It would have a small benefit above linux that it is easier to install and use.

Windows CE doesn't run normal windows applications!!
It was designed to be a real time OS for embedded platforms.
It was an easy way for win32 programmers to start programming on embedded hardware.

Windows CE can even run on platforms with 32MB ram. The xbox 64MB should be enough for it.

Programs written for windows CE are freely distributable.
The eVC 4.0 C and C++ ide for it is freely available.

I am not writing this here because I am against linux.
I am just writing it because I hate to read that it would be useless.

regards.

[Pulsemasta]

Windows CE is perfectly possible on the xbox.
It would have a small benefit above linux that it is easier to install and use.

Windows CE doesn't run normal windows applications!!
It was designed to be a real time OS for embedded platforms.
It was an easy way for win32 programmers to start programming on embedded hardware.

Windows CE can even run on platforms with 32MB ram. The xbox 64MB should be enough for it.

Programs written for windows CE are freely distributable.
The eVC 4.0 C and C++ ide for it is freely available.

I am not writing this here because I am against linux.
I am just writing it because I hate to read that it would be useless.

regards.

So is there any way to start this project up again with anyone? Do you know enough about programming to figure out what needs to be addressed? It would be great to get people interested, maybe if there was a to-do list someone would be intrigued.

[obcd]

The biggest problem is the lack of a kitl network driver for the xbox ce. Since the xbox 1 isn't having a serial port either, it's hard to produce proper debug output. The original programmer (artiflex) first dumped his debug output to the screen, and even used part of the flashchip to write his debug information in.

I guess the whole thing stayed at a proof of concept level because it's not so easy to build a windows ce os. You need the platform builder program and good knowledge of it before you are able to create something usefull. The develop environment will consume a couple of gigabytes of your harddisk space.

The main website describing the progress of the project doesn't exist anymore. You still can find an interview of the original author after he released his proof of concept. It looks like he was a bit dissapointed because very little people showed interest in his work.

The original project had usb mouse support, so the usb driver was working. There was no cursor visible on the screen what made it difficult to do something with that mouse. The Usb ports also had a problem when they were active when the OS was starting up. Things refused to work at that moment.

So, to make it usefull, there is a very big amount of work to do:

Develop a network kitl driver.
Develop a fatx driver
Develop a RTC driver
Develop a sound driver
Develop a Dvd driver
Develop a SMB driver (blower speed regulation.. reading temperature..switching off..)
Develop a network (no kitl) driver.

The xbeboot bootloader was developed under linux. The platform builder environment runs under windows 2000 and windows xp.

This is what I posted once on another Forum. It hasn't changed yet.

regards.

[Pulsemasta]

The biggest problem is the lack of a kitl network driver for the xbox ce. Since the xbox 1 isn't having a serial port either, it's hard to produce proper debug output. The original programmer (artiflex) first dumped his debug output to the screen, and even used part of the flashchip to write his debug information in.

I guess the whole thing stayed at a proof of concept level because it's not so easy to build a windows ce os. You need the platform builder program and good knowledge of it before you are able to create something usefull. The develop environment will consume a couple of gigabytes of your harddisk space.

The main website describing the progress of the project doesn't exist anymore. You still can find an interview of the original author after he released his proof of concept. It looks like he was a bit dissapointed because very little people showed interest in his work.

The original project had usb mouse support, so the usb driver was working. There was no cursor visible on the screen what made it difficult to do something with that mouse. The Usb ports also had a problem when they were active when the OS was starting up. Things refused to work at that moment.

So, to make it usefull, there is a very big amount of work to do:

Develop a network kitl driver.
Develop a fatx driver
Develop a RTC driver
Develop a sound driver
Develop a Dvd driver
Develop a SMB driver (blower speed regulation.. reading temperature..switching off..)
Develop a network (no kitl) driver.

The xbeboot bootloader was developed under linux. The platform builder environment runs under windows 2000 and windows xp.

This is what I posted once on another Forum. It hasn't changed yet.

regards.

Yeah it's probably dead... too bad more people weren't excited about his work, he may have kept working on it... It would be pretty discouraging if you worked really hard to get a proof of concept to start up to show people it is possible, and no one cared.... but I guess he was going up against linux, which was already almost 100% ,,, people might have just been lazy, coders I mean.

[osmorphyus]

Windows CE doesn't run normal windows applications!!

so what would we run on it? opera mini?

would it be able to mount cd roms? usb devices like mp3 players, digital cameras, etc.?


if anyone has the old URL from the person who started this, try putting it into archive.org. it may well be archived and accessible that way.

[obcd]

opera mini would be an option if it is available for the x86 platform.
It has an ie6 internet explorer that can be added as a module to the os.
Problems arise if a website contains features that need plugins like a video player.
There is java and vb support. You can have a pdf reader. I don't know if it integrates with the web browser.

There is usb support for mass storage devices and hid devices.
usb memory devices should work. An usb mouse and keyboard should work as well.
If a driver is created for the dvdrom, it will be able to read disks.

For the moment, I have 3 type of usb wifi sticks that work under windows CE.
The number of supported chipsets is very limited.

There is a VNC server for it. You can take over the CE desktop from your pc.
This would be an easy way to manipulate files on the xbox harddisk.

I already have a couple of emulators that work in ce.
I have the nes emulator running and the gameboy color emulator as well.
I also have a TRS80 emulator and a HP41CX emulator. I don't think those would interest many people.
There also exist a media player, but it can't beat xbmc for that purpose.

With the compact framework installed on it, you can program in dot net on it.
This might lower the barrier for beginning programmers.

Most things possible exist in linux as well.
It's just not so easy in linux to know what is workable with the xbox 64meg of ram.

The original website from the author doesn't exist anymore.

regards.