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From: Yurop
Member No.: 1
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360 version: unknown
Xbox 360 to Run Linux / Homebrew Soon? *Update1*
Posted by XanTium | January 1 01:52 EST
An anonymous person at the German 23C3 Hacker Congress showed what could be an Xbox360 hack/exploit during one of the 'Lightning Talks'. Lightning Talks is a daily event at Chaos Communication Congress (C3/CCC). It consists in one hour of several short (limited to 5mins) talks.
In a very short presentation a masked 'hacker' showed an Xbox 360 booting up King Kong (the game, by ubisoft). After loading the game a screen pops up showing an Xbox 360 logo, a Mac logo and Tux (the Linux Penguin) and the words "coming soon...". I also noticed a small PCB is hanging out of his Xbox360 and he's using a laptop (Apple Macbook pro?), but it's not really clear what he's doing with it. Those who followed hacking discussions might remember hackers did some research around the vector shaders in the King Kong demo on the Xbox 360 Kiosk Disc (that ran from recordable media). The demo (and final game too) allow to modify the shaders (they are not checked/signed). However no exploit to take control of the machine was found back then ... so either this hacker found something here, or he's just showing us his custom modified shaders ;) That's all the details we got for now.
If you don't believe the presentation was really given at 23C3, you can download the +560MB WMV video of the complete 'Lightning Talks' Day4 from the CCC mirrors (direct: mirror1, mirror2, mirror3, mirror4, mirror5, mirror6, mirror7). Forward to the 5th presentation and you'll find it there. However note that the video encoding is far from perfect and the audio seems to be broken/missing. The youtube video below shows just the Xbox 360 presentation, with audio:
UPDATE1! Here are some updates from stuff people posted on our forums. Here's another footage of the presentation filmed by someone in the public.
Some high-res pictures of the presentation. A bit easier to see that small PCB here. Pictures by Darkman at c3f2m.de:
Also interesting is the official description of the presentation on the CCC schedule site: [QUOTE] Title: Consolen Hacking Suprise (XBox360) Language: German Speaker(s): Anonym Description: The XBox360 was live hacked in front of the audience - running Linux and Mac OS coming soon. Stay tuned - a Linux kernel is already booting.. [/QUOTE]
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From: Post Apocalyptic DC Vault No. 101
Member No.: 127163
Xbox Version: v1.4
360 version: v4.0 (jasper)
more doubtful than hopeful, but i guess we will see.
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Howcome when I turn my Xbox360 on...the name Microsoft doesn't appear under the logo?...as it does in the video....interesting. If this is at all possible...is there a XboxMediaCentre 360 soon?
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From: Niagara Falls
Member No.: 72412
Xbox Version: v1.6
360 version: v3.1 (opus)
I am not too sure what to think of that video. It sure seemed to be legit. If so then he has done more then any one else just by floating a graphic around. What i am interested in is the PCB coming out the side. Would love to know where it solders into.
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From: Virginia
Member No.: 308753
Xbox Version: v1.6b
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I do not see it either.. mabey just acted like he used his 360 or something and plugged in a video ? I do not kno because why would someone add that in ?
Nevermind guyz you have to boot from the game and not go into the dahs when you start up.
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From: albany, ny
Member No.: 268454
Xbox Version: v1.6
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intereasting mabye? the other videos are pretty cool.....but would they just let anyone walk up and say uhh i got some top secret stuff, so you should give me 5 minutes...?
edit: also im pretty sure i didnt see him have a harddrive connected?
This post has been edited by aholmes187: Jan 1 2007, 07:37 AM
Group: Members
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From: Melbourne, Australia
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Xbox Version: v1.0
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Probably Bill...
If i was that guy, i'd be so annoyed at the announcer, making him look like a dickhead and everything, that guy was a dumbass, u could tell he had no clue what the hell he is on about