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

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

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.

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

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

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.

flash it with a pc bios, maybe

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

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).

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.

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

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...

@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.

Thanks man

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.

QUOTE (shinomen @ Dec 9 2003, 06:04 PM)

@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.

Dumbass, I've personally tested all variants of Windows XP, except for the 64-bit variants. PE takes more RAM because it loads EVERYTHING into the RAM... remember, PE is made to run on just a CD, with possibly no HDD and definitely no swap file. EVERYTHING is loaded into the RAM, and without a swap file, it'll definitely use more of it. As I said, the BARE MINIMUM that I have or anyone else has gotten PE to run on is 96~128MB of RAM and a P1 133MHz. XP with a swap file STILL needs a bare minimum of 96MB of RAM... no exceptions, no loopholes. There isn't any way you've actually gotten XP (PE, no less) to run on 64MB of RAM.
And no, you have no idea how shit works if you think it's at all possible to run XP on the XBox. It uses stock PC parts, and the CPU core is an x86... that's where the similarities end. The hardware interacts much differently in an XBox than a PC.
Look, it's obvious that you're not too familiar with computers or electronics, so let's leave it at the point that I'm clairifying: you really don't know what you're talking about, and you're talking to people who do. Please don't insult my intelligence by implying that I haven't personally tested out specs that I've specifically stated in a previous post that I have.

@Large Dopant white


First off there's no reason for you to insult me. So I don't know the inner workings of the xbox. I'm a newbie. No big deal. I'm trying to learn something over here. As for your extensive knowledge with the windows preinstallation environment, you may want to first try making one of these cd's that I'm talking about and testing it out on a low end machine before you start spitting out false statements.

Windows PE most certainly can run on 64mb of ram. I've also successfully run it on a 266mhz Pentium II.

Check it out




Oh my god, could this actually mean that you were wrong?

Maybe you should grab a cigarette and a beer and let out some of that fustration you have bottled up before replying next time. It's really not good for you.

hmmm check and mate.
now get it runnng on the xbox

im with crobar but all i what is something fast

QUOTE (shinomen @ Dec 9 2003, 10:24 PM)

@Large Dopant white First off there's no reason for you to insult me.  So I don't know the inner workings of the xbox. I'm a newbie.  No big deal.  I'm trying to learn something over here.  As for your extensive knowledge with the windows preinstallation environment, you may want to first try making one of these cd's that I'm talking about and testing it out on a low end machine before you start spitting out false statements. Windows PE most certainly can run on 64mb of ram.  I've also successfully run it on a 266mhz Pentium II.  Check it out Oh my god, could this actually mean that you were wrong? Maybe you should grab a cigarette and a beer and let out some of that fustration you have bottled up before replying next time.  It's really not good for you.

No, it means you've probably doctored the images. How does it make sense that an XP environment with no swap file would use less RAM than an XP environment with one?
If you somehow got PE to run on 64MB of RAM, I'm not sure what you've done right compared to any of the setups I've done. I'd certainly like someone more credible to verify that, tho.
Regardless, it STILL won't run on an XBox, so it's pretty much a moot point.
EDIT: Better proof would be a screenshot of the Task Manager showing what processes are running currently. Post that, and I'll conceide that the error is on my part.

from that email:

QUOTE

1) Kernel fixes: PCI bug, different timer base frequency, different shutdown method, no keyboard controller These issues are already addressed by our kernel patches and they are likely to be included into the main Linux kernel soon.

yeah, the problems with running any type of windows os is that the kernel can't be changed. the hope that i have is that a bios will be created that will compensate for the pci, clocking, shutdown, and keyboard issues. i believe that is what the Bochs PC-BIOS would be.

from the status page at xbox-linux.sf.net under "TODO":

QUOTE

Work on the Bochs PC-BIOS code has to be completed. With PC-BIOS code, the Xbox Linux ROM and the Xbox Linux Bootloader will be able to run standard Linux bootloaders such as GRUB or LILO, as well as other operating systems.

i don't know why they aren't investing more time into this endever...

ok since when have system requirements been an issue?!

i mean when you can run neverwinter nights on a 192mb of pc133 ram, 400mhz celeron, and a gf2mx pretty much anything is possible ok it's not that far under the requirements, but still

also for this whole xp debate, full windows xp pro *would* run if the hardware problems wern't present. also you can kill a bunch of services to impruve performance if it is used as a standalone machine. from the ms website:

QUOTE

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional ... 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features) ...

although 8 megs of the 64 would probably go to driving the video card.

i don't see the point in running that specialized os over a standard release, i don't think you will be able to change it's kernel any more than any other windows os.

also, for performance, i think win98se would be the best bet for the xbox... it would give more memory over to counter strike or warcraft3. although counter strike will be on xbox live soon

QUOTE (sortadan @ Dec 9 2003, 11:39 PM)

also for this whole xp debate, full windows xp pro *would* run if the hardware problems wern't present. also you can kill a bunch of services to impruve performance if it is used as a standalone machine. from the ms website: QUOTE Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional ... 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features) ... although 8 megs of the 64 would probably go to driving the video card. i don't see the point in running that specialized os over a standard release, i don't think you will be able to change it's kernel any more than any other windows os. also, for performance, i think win98se would be the best bet for the xbox... it would give more memory over to counter strike or warcraft3. although counter strike will be on xbox live soon

I've personally never gotten any XP version or distribution running on less than 96MB of RAM, but again, there's a chance it's something I'm doing wrong. I want to see proof (and possibly, a more credible source than X-ta-C... I mean, shinomen) before I go off apoligizing to anyone, however.

@Large Dopant white

QUOTE

I've personally never gotten any XP version or distribution running on less than 96MB of RAM, but again, there's a chance it's something I'm doing wrong. I want to see proof (and possibly, a more credible source than X-ta-C... I mean, shinomen) before I go off apoligizing to anyone, however.

why don't you do it for yourself. It's really not that complicated. Just go to http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download download the file. Then head over to http://oss.netfarm.it/winpe/ and download the xpe plugin. If you want to test the iso before burning it to cd go on over to http://www.vmware.com/download/ and download the VMware Workstation 4 trial. Once you've done all that run the PeBuilder.exe file and follow the onscreen instructions. Don't forget to have a copy of windows xp on hand to build the image. Once your done testing it with VMware burn it on a cd and boot your computer off of it. Then you will know exactly what I'm talking about. That way you can't say that I've doctored pictures or tried to get a friend to verify my credibility or any other excuse you might want to use. Sometimes you just have to do things for yourself

@all

The point to all this is that the xbox has the hardware requirements suitable to be able to run this (effeciently too). Now getting it to actually run on the xbox is a whole other point. But with all the things that have been done with the xbox already, I'm confident someone will be able to get it to work.

doood y did you even ask?

Im glad this was posted just so I could learn. I didnt even know those apps are out there that will allow a xp enviroment to be booted off a cd. Thanks.




Noneya

I DID IT!

I'm running wINDOWS XP on my Xbox!
And I'm running a PS2 Emulator on my Xbox too!
And you guys aren't gonna believe this but I HAVE TRANSLUCENT CASES FOR THE XBOX IN ALL COLORS!

QUOTE

DID IT! I'm running wINDOWS XP on my Xbox! And I'm running a PS2 Emulator on my Xbox too! And you guys aren't gonna believe this but I HAVE TRANSLUCENT CASES FOR THE XBOX IN ALL COLORS!

just shut up

It would be cool if somehow someone at m$ leaked the kernel for xp embedded for the xbox.. Since they fully inteded to run XP embedded on it but couldnt get the OS ready in time for the xbox. Then again.. I have a 2.5Ghz P4 that seems to run XP really nice and a Xbox that runs Xbox games really nice.. I dont need any more

As for the memory usage argument.. Comparing XP PE vs. XP full's memory/pagefile usage is like comparing apples to oranges or assholes even.

QUOTE (thejt @ Dec 10 2003, 08:51 AM)

It would be cool if somehow someone at m$ leaked the kernel for xp embedded for the xbox.. Since they fully inteded to run XP embedded on it but couldnt get the OS ready in time for the xbox. Then again.. I have a 2.5Ghz P4 that seems to run XP really nice and a Xbox that runs Xbox games really nice.. I dont need any more As for the memory usage argument.. Comparing XP PE vs. XP full's memory/pagefile usage is like comparing apples to oranges or assholes even.

thejt does have a very very valid point! Although I'm a "l33t h4xor" (<-- not!) I think I'll hack my XBox and make it into a toaster that is powered by earth's magnetic field.

whatever....

DCarnage

just to add some info into the XP PE and XP Embedded,, and also standard XP.

we were testing XP before it hit the stores and i can tell you with all confidence that stanrd XP PRO WILL RUN on a 266 with 64megs of ram,, it dont like it,, this is true, but it runs,, slow none the less.

ok now to expand on the embedded.

first of all, to make the embedded work for each version of the xbox,, someone some where would have to have the embedded and run the builder for each version of xbox, as each version uses different hardware,, i believe.
we all know the 1.4 and 1.5 use a different nvidia chip so,, there would have to be at LEAST 2 different builds of embedded XP. and possibly more for different bios's and different modchips. (although i cant say for sure)

now think for a moment guys,. what does embedded mean?
it means that some sort of a variation or built of windows XP is loaded onto a ROM chip.. something as small as an 8 or 16 meg rom chip.
i know for a fact that embedded XP can be made with ONLY network, Video and the most bare necessities of windows. and guess what? on an Athlon XP 1800 it is at the windows desktop before your monitor even turns on. the system will boot and have a fully function network, desktop, and WHATEVER else you decide to load. in a matter of 3 seconds or less.
and fast ? dear lord in heaven.
until you see a PC loaded with a custom build of Embedded, you have no CLUE what the real windows XP can do.

picture having windows install like linux. you can pick and choose every single god damn thing you want. from only the bare MINIMUM that allows it to run,, to everything and including the kitchen sink. so its sloppy and slow (just like XP is now)

believe me. if this is possible,, its going to take XP Embedded to do it.
but i dont think its gunna be as simple as an xbe creation/conversion tool . there is alot more to it.

PE is not embedded, and as far as i know,, PE does not work with embedded. embedded uses something similar but its different. you take a machine, and it scans your hard ware and gives you a report,, then you go grab all the drivers for your hardware, and add it to the installer. then you choose what windows components you want and it builds an installable,, working XP. and something that can be as small as or smaller than 50 megs .
the version i had the pleasure of sampling was roughly 120megs. and was something ill never forget.

"having friends in the business is a definate plus!"

WHOA! This post is the first I have heard about Embedded OSes. Naturally, I want to know how to get it, or when? Damn, I will be thinking about this for days.

But, I can also imagine the future of MS’s new line of PCs, with embedded OSes with embedded security features. Maybe my xbox modding skills will help liberate my new PC someday.

don't be so quick to dismiss this just because the original poster mis spoke some things, I have personally run windows xp on a p166 with just 64mb of ram, HOWEVER xp is slowed down by worthless services that an xbox user would not need. What I propose is windows 98 lite or a slimmed down version of 2k, both run very well on even the slowest systems and I've seen 98 lite installations under 20mb! Linux isn't userfriendly AT ALL. Everyone knows windows though, most of us all live off of windows boxes and would love to be able to run their windows compiled programs on their xboxes. The xbox runs off a celery 733 with windows no extra compilation would be needed to run any and all windows programs, this would be useful to everyone whereas linux on the xbox is just eye candy, something to show off at the xbox lans. Just imagine all the possibilities!

lestat, the only thing that seperates the versions of xbox to the point of needing any extra development is the focus video encoder on the v1.4 and 1.5 xboxs. besides that all hardware is essentially the same as far as the software sees it. All that would be nessecary to make v1.4 and 1.5 xbox's work with this (assuming we can make it run on the earlier revisions) is a single driver for the focus encoder.

I have not tested the xbox linux distribution but does it use a boot loader? And if so how hard would it be to modify it to load the Windows PE environment, weather from a cd or from the hard drive? I've seen people use the lilo boot loader on standard pc's to boot both linux and windows. This would probably be the easiest way to kickstart the windows pe environment to test it's ability on the xbox.

i have to repeat what has already been stated, XP PE runs entirely from RAM and the CDROM.

and i cant say for certain simply because ive only used it on machines with over a gig of ram, but im pretty sure PE will not run with 64 megs of ram. therefore PE is not useable.
as i mentioned im pretty sure XP Embedded is going to be the only possible way to make anything happen, since it will run from a hard drive.
and even then, im not so sure, simply because the xbox wont run anything but xbox stuff. with the exception of Linux, and linux is totally opensource, so making that run on the xbox would be millions of times easier than windows.

@lestat

If you look at the pictures that I've posted in response to Large Dopant white, I have had it running on 64mb of ram in a pc. (it's on the background image).

As far as running only xbox stuff on xbox you can see here, http://xport.xbox-scene.com/sshottemplate....php?emu=dosxbox that this person has been able to emulate dos (which I believe is not compiled for xbox specifically) and in the emulated dos environment he is running kings quest 4 (which definitely has not been compiled to work for xbox since you would have to have the source code to do so. I could be wrong and maybe the source code for kings quest 4 was released)

I guess what people are eluding to is that you have to have the source code of a program and then compile that code in xbox standard for it to be able to work on the xbox. From my research this is not entirely true. You do need an .xbe (which from what I've read is nothing more than an .exe file) to start the initialization process of the xbox because that's what the xbox or evox bios looks for at boot. From there the xbe file starts the game, program, dvd whatever.

If a bootloader could be created to boot off of the windows pe cd that I've been refering to in this thread it would create the environment on which it needs to run then load itself up. Of course you would most likely have to tweak some things to get it to work 100% with the xbox.

QUOTE (Large Dopant white @ Dec 9 2003, 06:12 AM)

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).

uh m8...i have windows xp professional running on an old dell web pc (500mhz, 64mb ram)



and it runs FINE. I was suprised.
Therefore the 64mb of ram in xbox is sufficient.

Im running XP on a Compaq Pentium II 233 laptop with 64 megs of ram. Runs great. Stable, easy to use.

Please someone get XP to work on the xbox!! I know it's possible. I remember when they were giving paulb (I think that's right) a hard time when he said that he was going to break the 137 gig limit. Lots of flaming, but then it worked. If I had any idea how to make a boot loader or .xbe I'd definately try to get this to work.

Same here...
have an old compaq armada with 64mb ram, runs windows xp great...

I'm really glad for this thread as I'd never heard of windows xp pe but now it's replaced my system recovery plans at work. I just used the standard install with xpe plugin and nero installed (all I need). I tried to boot this cd on a machine with 64 meg of ram (A 133 I think) and it crashed after about 3 minutes, services.exe related problem. Then I tried it on a machine with 128 meg and it loaded fine.


From my experience I would not run XP on anything with less than 256meg bare minimum anything less I'd use win98 or if it had to be NT based I'd run 2000. XP 64 meg forget it. Oh yes and you'd need to lose some of your 64meg for video ram.


Forget this it won't happen and even if it did it wouldn't be as good as a linux port.

Don't forget the problems that befall linux would befall any windows os like lack of video driver (Detonator isn't going to do it).

Couple of things:

1. For the ramdrive, what was that size do you have it set for as default? (typically it tries to make a 32mb ram drive unless you've customized it)

2. What was the speed of the CD-Rom Drive in the 133mhz system as compared to the system with 128mb of Ram? (I've had problems with it too on slower cd rom drives)

3. How fast was the CPU in the machine with 128mb of ram?

I haven't seen anything in writing that says that the video card shares the ram but it would make sense. I would still like to know if it's fact though so I'll look around and let you know what I find. Or if you have a link you could post, that would be helpful.

xbox video card shares the 64 megs of ram. (generally i think it uses around 8 megs of it when running in linux, but i'm not sure on that).

QUOTE (shinomen @ Dec 16 2003, 10:52 PM)

Couple of things: 1. For the ramdrive, what was that size do you have it set for as default? (typically it tries to make a 32mb ram drive unless you've customized it) 2. What was the speed of the CD-Rom Drive in the 133mhz system as compared to the system with 128mb of Ram? (I've had problems with it too on slower cd rom drives) 3. How fast was the CPU in the machine with 128mb of ram?

I have to admit, I'm pretty new to XP PE and my interest was purely to create a bootable windows xp cd that could run nero. I've not looked into windows pe anymore, I have read some of the stuff on the pe forums which leads me to believe you. Seeing how far people are trying to take this is pretty interesting (Most notably the efforts to install directx).

1. I shall look into this a pointer to a post in the forums might be nice or a quick how to, (it'd be nice to able to boot the cd on the old 133)

2. 8x speed cdrom

3. It was a P3 733mhz oddly enough, memory shared with the on board graphics.


to answer the question in you next post

http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/docs/xboxpc.html

QUOTE

2D/3D video on m/b, shares main memory

They're are many problems that would stop this the xbox-linux site has a lot of info on this. Timing issues, PCI handling bug and other stuff.

QUOTE (xboxSlayer @ Dec 16 2003, 01:54 AM)

Im running XP on a Compaq Pentium II 233 laptop with 64 megs of ram. Runs great. Stable, easy to use. Please someone get XP to work on the xbox!! I know it's possible. I remember when they were giving paulb (I think that's right) a hard time when he said that he was going to break the 137 gig limit. Lots of flaming, but then it worked. If I had any idea how to make a boot loader or .xbe I'd definately try to get this to work.

this isn't just a question of the right bootloader. the source of at least the windows nt kernel (base part of windows nt, 2000, xp)would be needed reprogrammed to work on the xbox. the bootloader for linux could launch windows if this modified kernel would be there. that's why linux works. the kernel source is available to everyone and was changed to support the xbox. a bootloader is totally independent from the used OS . it just tells the computer what to load.

http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/docs/status.html

QUOTE

TODO Port ext2/3 support from GRUB to Cromwell Xbox Linux ROM ("Cromwell") and the XBE boot code ("xbeboot"/"Xromwell") have to be integrated to have a unified boot solution for ROM and XBE users. Work on the Bochs PC-BIOS code has to be completed. With PC-BIOS code, the Xbox Linux ROM and the Xbox Linux Bootloader will be able to run standard Linux bootloaders such as GRUB or LILO, as well as other operating systems. Get a native text mode working. This will be important for the PC-BIOS.

This info hasn't been updated for while but this would probably be a step in the right direction.

Although I believe the changes for the xbox have already been merged into the kernal so standard linux dist's might well work anyway (Think dyne:bolic). In which case efforts to get pc-bios code working has probably gone the way of the Dodo.

supposedly they are still working on this so that you can use std boot loaders like lilo and whatever. i asked around and couldn't find anyone on the irc that knew the current state of this project though.

LOL... the thing you fail to realize is that

#1: It's NOT 64MB of RAM - it's more like 32MB. The graphics processor shares memory with the CPU. Try 48MB... at the very MOST.

#2: The graphics processor is not a 'stock' NVidia. You need a custom graphics driver to make it work, otherwise, the chip will likely report it has 64MB available. Doh!

#3: No BIOS support. Even WinXP still uses the BIOS for a few things, during setup and as a fallback when there are no drivers.

#4: Does anybody really care? I've got 5 PCs in my house, not counting my laptop I use for work.