I had some time today to finish up a beta of my OpenDash. It isn't done, nor is it a very nice dash to use, but it's the first openxdk-based dashboard afaik. Many of the limitations are very lame, but it does the job (I suppose).

WARNING! DO NOT USE AS PRIMARY DASH WITHOUT A METHOD TO RECOVER (.. why would you want to, anyways?)!! This is completely beta software and should not be trusted. Software provided without warranty, etc. Use at your own risk.


HOW TO INSTALL:
1. Download http://th0mas.xbox-scene.com/releases/od-beta.zip and unzip.
2. Edit od.cfg. The first three lines are the directories/drives you want to browse for games/apps. Make sure to use the same format as the example file (namely, remember to have trailing slashes, or the app will freeze.)
3. The fourth line in the config file is the full path to the linux minidistribution (comes with the opendash). IE, if you install opendash to f:/homebrew/opendash, then this line should read

4. Copy to your xbox and enjoy!


Features:
- (2!) cool groovy backgrounds
- browse three (3!) different directories for XBE's to run
- FTP support via mini-linux distribution (based on ltools)
- it's legal!
- DVD booting (although reset-on-eject is busted so, it's not that useful)

I'm posting this in development because I need a bit of help. Namely:
- someone to make a cooler milkshape 3d model (replace model.msd with something better)
- someone to replace bg.bmp. The red channel of the image is used in the "red-line" background. I just used a screenshot I had laying around, I'm sure a cooler effect could be used with say, clouds or something.
- help with turning off reset-on-eject. I'm executing the command:

But it doesn't do anything. Any help?

Other Limitations
- you can't boot a relative path from the mounted d:/ at the moment.

I'm also posting this in development because it gives an example of doing a number of things a dash needs to do, with the OpenXDK. I'm using latest CVS from www.openxdk.org, so update accordingly before trying to build.

If people could try to run this and give me bug reports (in this thread, or a PM) that would be great. Feature requests can be made but are probably not going to be honoured. Please include as much information about the bugs as possible (xbox version, bios version, dash you're running from..)

BINARY DOWNLOAD: http://th0mas.xbox-scene.com/releases/od-beta.zip
SOURCE DOWNLOAD: http://th0mas.xbox-scene.com/releases/od-beta-src.zip

Sounds welcome . I'll try to find some time to play.

BTW your binary distribution archive above also contains the source.


The reset-on-eject behaviour is determined by the media type flag 0x80000000 in the header of the xbe executable. (See here for R&D.)

Running "XBEDump default.xbe -da" on your xbe returns:

The results from a dashboard (which don't set ROE!) look like this:


Allowing XBEDump to resign the OpenXDK produced xbe appears the fix the problem. The out.xbe it produces gets the more complete xbe header:

I used the command "XBEDump default.xbe -habibi".

Hope that sorts it.

This should make front page news as it is truely a first (isn't it?)

Hrm... I tried to get you some screenshots but it the debug bios isn't responding correctly while your xbe is running. Secondly, I can't maneuver the 'menu' system currently. Other then these problems, excellent work.

i can't get the debug bios to respond either. i also can't use IGR for some reason. I'll play around with it more tomorrow.

i can navigate the menu's perfectly, as well as launch games, apps, etc.

xbox version 1.0
running IND BIOS 5003 with debug. 5933

IIRC OpenXDK apps prefer true M$ controllers, and are less keen on 3rd party ones (although that may have since changed).

Likewise, OpenXDK apps seemed to hate certain hacked debug BIOSes (Xecuter ones?) - try a selection - (again, dated information).

Hey guys!

Thanks for the feedback - keep it coming!

PedrosPad: Thanks for the media flag tip. I will edit cxbe to automatically use the more robust options (cd|dvd|hdd, etc). I will also update the binary distribution correspondingly once I get home from work.

I'm unsure of the problems with running the XBE under debug, as well as IGR. I think IGR is due to the bios calls being used differently than an XDK-compiled app (since we're using a modified cromwell usb stack).

I can provide screenshots tomorrow anyways, I have a capture card.

Angerwound: Are you experiencing no input handling at all?

If so, this is what I'm really looking for. Could you tell me what bios/xbox/dash you're using to run this? I experience about 70% success with input handling on my xbox. The other times that I start up any openXDK XBE I don't get any input handling at all. Could you try rebooting and running the XBE again, and see if the problem is sporadic or constant?

Thanks.

Congrats on this first release!

now THIS is a major breakthrough. good luck!

when i got to f games and try to launch any game it freezes!

needs some work but i think that this will spark more interest and dev in openxdk and this dash i'm exicted to contribute, although i can only code in VB whicih is of no help, i can test to its bug free

so here are the results

forze once on start (couldn't move or select bg was fine)
failed 3 times to launch rb6 black arrow

worked first time loading dvd2xbox

v1.4
chipped custom X2 4981 BIOS
12GB HDD
dash launched from UIX

hope that helps

-wolf

can seem to get my debug to take screens! enven thoug it launches ok, here are som cam pics



-wolf

Sweet
Congrats bud,

Regards
HoZy

EDIT:
Started having a look through the source, Fuck this has potential to grow.

does it still uses old ltools kernel?.. that kernel crap out in 1.6 boxes.. few weeks ago I partially ported xbxohdm into xbox and I used kernel from mandriva linux's xbox distribution.. That should work with all xbox's..

So let me get this straight this runs off a legal bios and is a completely legal program ??

And if so all that needs to be done is a file explorer ( to transfer games ) and then bamm a real modded xbox will be perfectly legal . I hope this stays in very active developement . And they should definetly register with sourceforge .

This is bad ass !

And i tried three different controllers on it and none of them responded . One madcatz , one stock , and one duke .
I have a v1.0 tsopped xecuter 2 , 250gb booting the app from the f drive .

oh, crap. This is on my TODO list now, thanks for the heads up.


You're half correct. it doesn't run off an unpatched retail bios - you need to be able to run unsigned code. Most people have a hacked bios in order to do this, but I believe nkpatcher patches the retail bios on the fly, making it a legal distribution? (someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

However, it is a completely legal binary.

I forgot to mention this in the first post, but a million thanks go out to everyone working on the openXDK - this program is just a demo of it's (constantly expanding) capabilities. OpenXDK Homepage.

edit: People who are having problems with getting input to work, please keep reporting the scenarios. Thanks!

NKPatcher doesn't use any XDK/MS-code and is completely programmed in assembly, making it 100% legal. The only 'less legal' part about is the dashboard that it should run.

But this is the part where OpenDash kicks in! Good job and don't quit!

Very VERY nice

Get this bugfixed, add more features and bundle it with Nkpatcher, wack it all together in a self-installing gamesave and we will finally have the first purely legal mod available

Sup man, replied to PM, Glad to help
Working on stuff now.

Regards
HoZy

So will it run off a softmod?
Not sure if that would make it 100% legal though or would it?

----
Note: I don't use softmods so I'm not familliar with them.
----

Excellent , Excellent work.

Keep it up.

Seems your site has exceeded it's daily quota..

Could u send the zipfiles (binary & source) by mail, and I'll put them up for mirroring?

send files to
x bo x [a t] b ul a .nu

And of course remove tha spaces and stuff..

If a softmod uses NKPatcher (100% written in pure assembly, no MS-code) to patch the MS-BIOS on-the-fly and use OpenDash as a dashboard (written with OpenXDK, also uses Linux, no MS-code), then the mod would be 100% legal since there isn't any MS-code involved.

Sounds well intersting just had a quick mess around with it, needs some more work but good start!

Thanks guys!

This dash wasn't really meant to be that feature-filled, but more of a sort of appetite-whetting application. I am dedicated to making it stable, but before new features are added it's my plan to re-write the core to more easily support customization, scripting, etc.

However, since it does include a linux distribution, if anyone wants to create installation/whatever scripts and add them to the initrd, that would be a quick way to already have a large amount of customization (this is pretty much how ltools works.)

Great work . Just tried it now (launching directly from a expoit after signing using habibi) and it seems to work fine on my v1.1 Xbox. While I don't have the skills to help out on the OpenXDK side I'd like to help out with the Linux side, if possible. Do you have any specific ideas/plans for the mini linux included with OpenDash? I appreciate that once OpenXDK has network support you'll probably want to incorporate ftp support into the Dash but in the meantime the mini linux seems pretty important for providing extra functionality.

You are correct, once there is networking support in OpenXDK the idea is to move FTP into it. However, I don't necessarily see why having a mini-linux distribution come with it anyways would be a bad thing - people could untar files via the linux distribution, back things up, etc. It would be a quick way to add a bunch of functionality.

What do you have in mind for features? I know that the kernel needs to be updated, and I was going to see if someone could provide some ASCII art at boot. I was thinking of some sort of way to reboot the xbox on a keypress, and framebuffer access (to display a nice picture instead of the console), but am unsure if those would be too complex to add.

Another idea would be for the linux distribution to read a config file from somewhere on the FATX partition to get it's networking information from (instead of defaulting to 192.168.0.3 when it can't find DHCP).


That being said if you wanted to work on any ideas you have, or any of the features above, I would appreciate it.

i had a problem when i first booted the opendash. I had the ms communicator plugged in and it froze(using ms s controller). no input or output with the controller of course. i rebooted. tried it again and it worked the second time. whatever. not a big deal i guess.
xbox version 1.0. evox m8. tsop flash. xbmc as main dash. 120gig drive.
i'll mess with it more later today.
good work guys!

Thanks to HSDEMONZ's quick thinking there is a mirror of the files (which is good, since I hit my DL limit pretty damn quick).

http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/hsdemonz/Op...eta/od-beta.zip
http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/hsdemonz/Op...od-beta-src.zip

Thank You HSDEMONZ

Great job creating a legal dash!
Will download and start bugtesting ASAP and report back here...

What a great contribution to the scene.

Brilliant job m8. This is hopefully a new start to the scene, seeing as all the code in this is 100% legal, so it can be more visible. As opposed to having the 'you can discuss it - but not link to it' status.

A very nice start indeed.
I tested it and is working as well as can be expected for a first release.

a few games took a couple of tries to boot

when booted from evo-x i had a few lock up's in the dash and frozen boots.

but no such problems when running it as the main dash.

xbox ver 1.1
m8 bios
aladin mod chip
80gig seagate hdd

I will deffinately continue to beta test as this has a lot of scope and can only get better with rich features.

Well done d0wnlab keep it comming

It's obviously important to keep things small so I was thinking of the following:

-Latest 2.4 kernel with bare minimum of modules to cut down on size
-uclibc based with busybox as the shell, again to cut down on size
-Use something like joyd to allow joystick presses to be translated into menu presses/commands
-Use something like dialog/whiptail to provide a simple text menu to all available options
-FTP server, telnet server
-xbox-tools for eeprom dumping, maybe raincoat for BIOS flashing


A problem with this is the location of any config file must be hardcoded - Linux will have no way of telling which directory it has been run from so the config must be somewhere it can always find it. An alternative is passing the network settings as an append option via linuxboot.cfg.

X-DSL (Damn Small Linux ) would appear to be a good candidate for such a Linux-based FTP Server.

Your work is appreciated

Congrats on developing the first legally distributed hacked xbox dashboard. Glad you leave it open-sourced, so hopefully more developers can help it out. Good luck with the project.

(Chuckles) So its come to this! Lookin' sharp man.

Should make alot of things, such as softmod installers, very interesting.

MechAssault Gamesave Exploit (Legal) - (Distributed by Xbox-Linux with their 'MechInstaller').
NKPatcher (Legal) - (Build from scratch by rmenhal and released via Base64 on these forums).
OpenDash (Legal) - (Well...duh?).
NDure fonts - (Legal) - (Released via Base64 here on Xbox-Scene, built from scratch).

If you get all the MS dashboard files off of C, it would be a completely legal installer for softmods! It would require a fairly complex system though, you'd need to MD5 files to determine their version, patch them accordingly, then manipulate them as required by the softmod to the correct directories, etc...

Needless to say if this ever gets that powerful I'll be taking it on.

Assuming I manage to beat down people like krayzie or kingroach before they get one off the ground

it can be done with ltools with some modification to the script..




countdown ..5..4..3..2..1..

Great work on creating a fully legal dashboard.

I hope the project goes well, its great seeing people using OpenXDK more and more to create bigger and better legal projects.

So basicly, the patching/creating of an exploitable XBE can be done from Itools (with certain dash versions ofcourse) and so could eeprom dumping/BIOS flashing/FTP

Then, all i'm wondering about is that writing files with linux seems to cause a read-only bug (cant format a shadowc image when using linux to place it for example)
This would mean, open dash will have to at least support wrting files (you could format C thru linux AFAIK, then reboot the gamesave)

So, would still require manual FTP (but apart from that, the things i wondered about, eeprom dumping and getting a exploitable XBE the "legal" way, can be overcome with relative ease)

Here's some more hosts:

Full DL host 1
Full DL host 2

Source DL host 1
Source DL host 2

I wish I understood Linux better (I can surf the net and stuff, run progams in XDSL, but rebuilding a Linux distro to checksum and patch files correctly while keeping a nice, slim interface? No f'n way! Heh!).

Here's a host aswell:
http://xguides.xbox-scene.com/users/d0wnlab/

Oh My lord I have been waiting for this since the beggining, closely watching the thread since 'twas a baby (hehe, oh the USB problems ) but now that this has come, the spur for OpenXDK will be immense,

So congrats to everyone who has managed to get this all pieced together.
Peace, and Thanks.

First time used i had no controller input.

After this it FRAGS when i try to start it.

XBMC as a dash, 5035 X2 bios, Original controller and DVD dongel the third game port. (Port 2 as the first one is called 0 iirc)

I was beginning to create a new model but i would like to know if there are any limitaions as to what model (eg how many vector points are allowed etc).

Cheers.

maybe a jpeg would be a bette bg image?

-wolf

first off, great thing you're doin here, thumbs up

i'd like to contribute some wallpaper work or visual stuff (logo?) since im not into programming that much.......i just wanted to ask if you had anything in mind (except clouds) for the background or if i'm free to fool around

plus i'd also suggest a jpeg for bg

keep up the good work

graphically, anything you want to do, go for it.

When I made the background a bitmap, the SDL_Image implementation didn't have jpeg support.

It does now, so I'll fix and update. There's a couple other things I want to fix prior to releasing another beta.

agasin i suck at photoshop, but i do not suck at html i coupld lend my skills as a web designer if anything was need.

-wolf

I love the idea.
As for running on a retail box, I could easily make a separate MA exploit that would say OpenDash in the Campaign menu and would not overwrite the Linux one... (a little hex-editting and signing of the masave.sav file)

I think this should be released pre-habibi-signed for all other versions.

Great job so far.

Misc. comment:

IIRC, Ltools uses filesize to determine version of the dash. I may be wrong, though.