Windows XP On Xbox!, Could this be true! Options

[shinomen]

Ok, I know I'm double posting, but I didn't think that people were drawn in by my last post about this.

This is the windows xp environment with the explorer shell running on top of it. Windows PE for those of you that don't know is a 32bit minimal windows operating system that normally boots off a cd and assists in the Pre-installation of windows XP.

Well, one person came up with a way to make a Windows PE environment that you can run programs other than installing windows XP on. Bart's site is at www.nu2.nu From there another person, Sherpyra website, has found a way to run the XPE shell with the windows PE environment.
I believe XPE stands for XP Embedded (yet another operating system that MS has come out with for things like Kiosks and other hardware that only require a stripped down version of windows XP).

So now that you have a little background, let me tell you that the picture your looking at above is in fact booting off a CD on a standard x86 PC. With only 64mb of ram and a 700mhz processor, and it runs pretty quick. There is network support, support for standard 32 bit windows applications, ftp, etc........... pretty much, the sky is the limit.

I've seen that linux can be installed on the xbox (I hear it's relatively easy now) and it's been done by booting off a cd that initializes a linux kernel and it takes off from there (I'm sure it's little more complicated than that, but you get the point)

Theoretically, all someone has to do is make an xbe file that would initialize the WinPE kernel and from there it would take off and run the OS from the CD. Even farther down the line maybe someone could make it so that the OS boots from the hard drive.

Unfortunately I don't have the knowledge to actually figure out how to build an XBE file let alone a boot loader for the XBOX. So I throw this idea out to all you smart guys surfin around here that might like to give it a shot.

I'll help out in anyway I can.

Thanks

This post has been edited by shinomen: Dec 8 2003, 10:12 PM

[daviefresh1775]

how is it 700mhz and 64 megs if right there on the pic it says that its 1.5Ghz and 512 MB

[Xeero]

What a waste of a thread.

I see NO indication that this is an Xbox. However, I see specs that don't match the Xbox, a whole lot of icons of programs that have not been released/compiled for used with the Xbox, drives that don't exist on the Xbox, and file systems that are not used with the Xbox.

Brilliant deduction, poster.

[shinomen]

Alright I apologize for the mis-comments. In this actuall picture it is being used on a pc system with higher specs than I had mentioned before. Let me restate it this way: I have personally used it on a 700mhz computer with 64 meg of ram. As far as the drive letters listed on the background: the B: drive is a ramdrive and the other drives are actually located on a hard disk on the computer that this picture was taken from.

Regardless, the idea is still the same. This could be used on the xbox if someone can figure out a way to start loading it using a default.xbe file.

Like I said before, I don't have the knowledge it takes to write an xbe file to do this.


I'll tell you what though, if you show be a tutorial on programming an .xbe file I'll sure as hell give it a try.

Thanks for the replies

[daviefresh1775]

oh so u showed a pic of windows xp that is completely irrelevant to xbox use to try to make your thread more believable??? people can kinda deduce that you would need the xbox executable written up for it to work, how do you think all the pc game ports work??? sorry you cant slip one by the mods

[Xeero]

Like davie said, PC games and Linux can be ported to run on Xbox because the devs have the source. Tell me, how would they compile Windows for use on the Xbox without any source code? That's an enormous roadblock.

[Chicken Scratch Boy]

flash it with a pc bios, maybe

[pholly]

Wouldn't flashing it with a pc bios (if it's even possible) screw up your xbox, just curious

[Large Dopant white]

QUOTE (pholly @ Dec 9 2003, 06:05 AM)

Wouldn't flashing it with a pc bios (if it's even possible) screw up your xbox, just curious

You can flash anything you want to an XBox modchip or its TSOP, like, say, that thumbnail of Jenna Jameson giving head. But your XBox won't work if it's not an XBox BIOS.
EDIT: The absolute minimum specs of XP, any variation of it (besides 64-bit, which I've never acquired and can't comment upon), is a Pentium 133 with 96MB of RAM. The XBox can't run XP even IF it got ported (which will not happen). Yes, I have tried PE, same results (it actually needs a little more RAM, it's minimum requirements hover between 96 to 128MB of RAM).

This post has been edited by Large Dopant white: Dec 9 2003, 04:16 AM

[XboxBaboon]

Hi I'm Bill Gates, to answer your questions. I helped the fella and upgraded his xbox and wrote the windows pe code myself to make it work. You must pay me for the source code.

[snoopdoug1]

what is the program generating those system specs on the desktop like that? I want it

[TB_88]

Why do people want to run Xp when u got more light windows versions like win98 wich is hell alot faster....
Take a look at the xbox specs plz... And it maybe would be cool and all but it would be like runnign it on a PC and tv-out...

[shinomen]

@snoopdoug1

It's called BGinfo you can get it from Here

@Xeero

Like I said before I don't have the knowledge necessary to answer the question of how would it run if you don't have the source code. I could be wrong about this but the way that I understand it, is that the xbox is no more than an x86 platform with some proprietary MS code running it.

What some smart people have been able to do is make a cd with a customized default.xbe file (which I have read is nothing more than an .exe file) that allows the xbox to boot off the linux kernel.

Now with that having been said, wouldn't it only make sense that someone could modify that default.xbe file to boot off of some other kernel. Or maybe modify it so that it can run an El Torito boot sector and then proceed to run from the cd.

@Large Dopant white

As far as I know I haven't seen anything in writing that states minimum requirements for booting WINPE off a cd. Since the original intention for this 32bit mini os was to just install windows xp on to a computer the only minimum requirements stated are windows xp minimum requirements. I have personally booted the cd on an x86 platform computer running 64mb of ram and a 700mhz processor.


@TB_88

The whole reason for proposing to use this version of windows xp is because it is a slimmed down version of the standard windows xp. This same concept is being utilized in the windows xp embedded version to run on various devices including internet kiosks, handhelp pcs, etc.

Alot of people like windows xp and it would be a familiar environment to them if it could work on the xbox.

@all

Again this is just all in theory. It sounds like it could be practical and that is why I mentioned it here. Sorry if I was misleading with the forum topic. I know alot of people have not heard about this Windows PE environment and I just want to get the info out there to the right people that can make it work on the xbox.

[snoopdoug1]

Thanks man

[shinomen]

Here's something interesting that I was unable to find before, that explains why this might not be so practical. http://www.cantech.net.au/plug/2002-10/msg00192.html


It still would be interesting to try and make a program that would work on xbox that could make it boot an El Torito cd and see what debug messages would come out of it.

This post has been edited by shinomen: Dec 9 2003, 05:12 PM