New Ideas for BIOS Hacks, Post 'em here. Options

[SniperKilla]

QUOTE (chinmi @ Aug 24 2003, 12:31 AM)

how about this : A PASSWORD !!!

just use Xselector 0.6......

and same to the one that wants to be able to hit a button to select a dash

[warbeast]

how about a bfm loader in the bios to take away the need to load phoenix as a app.

[krazykamikaze]

The thing I'd really like to see, and I think a lot can see the potential in this, is bios support for usb connected mass storage devices (Just map it to a drive letter like a memory card.)
Being able to hook up a usb harddrive or dvd drive using a simple xbox->usb cable,
you could build an amazing juke box without hacking inside the box !
Or keep a compressed archive of all your games on a big HD and just copy them over to the internal drive when you want to use them.
I know you can boot linux and use any "standard" usb device but I really don't like the idea of putting linux on my gamming console... and it'd be sooo much simpler to be able to do it in any dash using bios support. And if possible support to lunch apps straight from the usb HD (apps that wont mind the *slow* bandwidth of course...)

Any updates on the support for lunching xbe from memory cards yet ?
(like booting a dash from memory card instead of hd.)

And thank you to all devs who volonteer their time and knowhow to all of us ignorants and ungratefull bastards

[san9jay]

- Map buttons or button combinations to any app/function
- Hibernate/resume function (Swap the running app out to the HD and be able to restore it)
- Mini dash with FTP, Format, Launching capability
- Mini network stack to allow a network drive to be mapped to a local drive letter so that games/apps could be run off the network.

[BenJeremy]

I was thinking about something that actually shouldn't be too hard to implement:

BFM capability, like the Debug BIOS:

Detect one or more BFM BIOSes in C:\BIOS and E:\BIOS and offer them up as choices (along with "boot X2 4979")

The biggest feature would be an X2 BIOS that allows you to boot from DVD, REGARDLESS of the state of the hard drive or dash files. It should also have an option to "fix" the clock if it's invalid. This is one of the biggest flaws in the current X2/X3 BIOSes out.

I have not personally had to deal with this problem, but it is a biggie, as people are ALWAYS having grief with the situation.

[RiceCake]

The more capability to recover from a hosed system, the better...

Pain in the ass to start swapping parts out...

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (RiceCake @ Aug 25 2003, 11:22 AM)

The more capability to recover from a hosed system, the better... Pain in the ass to start swapping parts out...

Ah yes... EEPROM protection would also be equally nice, too. Another page that would be nice to steal from the Debug BIOSes.

[Xeero]

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Aug 25 2003, 12:11 PM)

QUOTE (RiceCake @ Aug 25 2003, 11:22 AM) The more capability to recover from a hosed system, the better... Pain in the ass to start swapping parts out... Ah yes... EEPROM protection would also be equally nice, too. Another page that would be nice to steal from the Debug BIOSes.

Can a debug BIOS boot with a trashed EEPROM?

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (Xeero @ Aug 25 2003, 12:17 PM)

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Aug 25 2003, 12:11 PM) QUOTE (RiceCake @ Aug 25 2003, 11:22 AM) The more capability to recover from a hosed system, the better... Pain in the ass to start swapping parts out... Ah yes... EEPROM protection would also be equally nice, too. Another page that would be nice to steal from the Debug BIOSes. Can a debug BIOS boot with a trashed EEPROM?

Yes, it can. Seems like a simple thing.... downside is that if the HD password is trashed, you can't access the drive, but really, not a big deal, if you ask me (same problem on that count, no matter what, if the EEPROM is trashed - that's what EEPROM backups are for).

Looking back, I should have said "Trashed EEPROM protection"

Right now, I have to recommend people boot using Evo-X D.6 (if they are installing a new HD, or lost their dashfiles) or the Debug BIOs (trashed EEPROM), because X2 handles neither situation gracefully - while doing everything else very nicely indeed.

[Xeero]

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Aug 25 2003, 01:04 PM)

QUOTE (Xeero @ Aug 25 2003, 12:17 PM) Can a debug BIOS boot with a trashed EEPROM? Yes, it can. Seems like a simple thing.... downside is that if the HD password is trashed, you can't access the drive, but really, not a big deal, if you ask me (same problem on that count, no matter what, if the EEPROM is trashed - that's what EEPROM backups are for). Looking back, I should have said "Trashed EEPROM protection" Right now, I have to recommend people boot using Evo-X D.6 (if they are installing a new HD, or lost their dashfiles) or the Debug BIOs (trashed EEPROM), because X2 handles neither situation gracefully - while doing everything else very nicely indeed.

Really? I didn't know that. I've been really lazy about getting a TA debug BIOS on my Chameleon (I had it on my X2 Pro), but it looks like I'm going to have to as a precaution. I'd pick up an X2.2 Pro for the benefit of the fancy switches, but I'd rather wait until the next batch of chips (X3, X-B.I.T.) get a chance to flex their muscles before making that investment.

Also, what part of the missing-dashboard-files situation does the D.6 BIOS handle that an X2 BIOS can't? To my recollection, if you are missing dashboard files but booting to a disc, it won't matter because it will check the disc's default.xbe before checking the HD for the required files; both BIOSes will do this. If the disc is not bootable it will attempt to boot the dashboard with a dirty-disc error, and if files are missing you get an Error 16; again this is the same with both BIOS releases.

Am I incorrect in my understanding of this? Will D.6 boot a disc's default.xbe without Settings_Clock.xip while X2 won't? I guess I'm confused.

[LiGhTfasT]

1. Front panel LED orange if mod is on (so i know my mates have turned the mod off for live)
2. Disable network (even more security for live) while booting you could keep your finger on "Y" and this will enable the network port.

the ftp server is pointless imho, just not needed

[juan23]

I would totally love to see a boot sequence, so u can choose from dvd or HDD.

reason why if u have a toast hdd, boot the xbox via dvd so u can ftp over to xbox and just maybe be able to save a few files on it. this would be a huge help.

[Terrorbyte]

It would be cool if a future hacked BIOS could turn my XBOX into a grill or microwave -- make grilled cheese sandwiches or pizza logs for a quick snack.

No, but seriously, how about a future BIOS that didn't cause an application or game to freeze when the network cable is plugged in (especially when you have SMB/file servers sitting on your LAN or a router sending multicasts/broadcasts causing SOME XBOX apps, games, and emulators to freeze on load)? I just want convenience.

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (Xeero @ Aug 25 2003, 01:24 PM)

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Aug 25 2003, 01:04 PM) QUOTE (Xeero @ Aug 25 2003, 12:17 PM) Can a debug BIOS boot with a trashed EEPROM? Yes, it can. Seems like a simple thing.... downside is that if the HD password is trashed, you can't access the drive, but really, not a big deal, if you ask me (same problem on that count, no matter what, if the EEPROM is trashed - that's what EEPROM backups are for). Looking back, I should have said "Trashed EEPROM protection" Right now, I have to recommend people boot using Evo-X D.6 (if they are installing a new HD, or lost their dashfiles) or the Debug BIOs (trashed EEPROM), because X2 handles neither situation gracefully - while doing everything else very nicely indeed. Really? I didn't know that. I've been really lazy about getting a TA debug BIOS on my Chameleon (I had it on my X2 Pro), but it looks like I'm going to have to as a precaution. I'd pick up an X2.2 Pro for the benefit of the fancy switches, but I'd rather wait until the next batch of chips (X3, X-B.I.T.) get a chance to flex their muscles before making that investment.

Yes, the Debug BIOS boots with a hosed EEPROM (I inadvertantly confirmed this myself as well)

QUOTE

Also, what part of the missing-dashboard-files situation does the D.6 BIOS handle that an X2 BIOS can't?  To my recollection, if you are missing dashboard files but booting to a disc, it won't matter because it will check the disc's default.xbe before checking the HD for the required files; both BIOSes will do this.  If the disc is not bootable it will attempt to boot the dashboard with a dirty-disc error, and if files are missing you get an Error 16; again this is the same with both BIOS releases.

That's what you'd think.... but I've seen countless reports of people unable to boot their Xboxes with X2 BIOSes when the dash files got hosed or when changing to a new hard drive. Why? I'm not entirely sure, but I think the X2 BIOS does a few things to the HD before it attempts to boot the DVD (we know it checks for an IGR file, for example). All I know is that my advice of booting D.6 works every time for these folks.

QUOTE

Am I incorrect in my understanding of this?  Will D.6 boot a disc's default.xbe without Settings_Clock.xip while X2 won't?  I guess I'm confused.

Like I said.... don't know why it is. I guess Team Xecuter may have an idea... but they haven't fixed it yet. I'm sure once they recognize it may not be a few isolated cases, they'll look into it and fix it once and for all.

[Drexon]

QUOTE (feflicker @ Aug 23 2003, 09:13 PM)

QUOTE Hardly anybody uses the Evo-X IGR, due to compatibility issues, and the X2 BIOSes have IGR (they were first, you know). We were thinking along the lines of Xeero. We should add a x2bios.xml file somewhere and be able to specify bios options, such as hot-keys to launch xbe files, similar to how IGR mapping works in the EvoX dash.

Soo, does this mean I influenced that? With my IGA thing? =)