Xbox Linux Made Possible Without a Modchip

Xbox Linux Made Possible Without a Modchip 996

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:43AM from the well-and-probably-software-piracy-too dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Free-X have released an exploit for the Xbox that will let you get Linux on the machine without any hardware mods at all... Microsoft is already threatening them with legal action. Here's the Free-X statement. Free-X say they had been trying to contact MS for a month but were ignored, which is why they've released the exploit. Should be interesting to watch this one."

Xbox Linux Made Possible Without a Modchip

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Watch out for the secret weapon. (Score:5, Funny)

by Roosey ( 465478 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:47AM (#6365246)

Trust me, these guys will go down for the count if Microsoft hires a female lawyer [penny-arcade.com].

Why don't they fix the exploit? (Score:2, Funny)

by hashish ( 62254 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:48AM (#6365249)

Ohh, wait, no-body applies security patches to game boxes, what was I thinking :)

Mr. Bush Announces .... (Score:5, Funny)

by Snoopy77 ( 229731 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:48AM (#6365250) Homepage

"From now on today will be known as XBox Independence Day!"

What the.. ? (Score:5, Funny)

by rampant mac ( 561036 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:49AM (#6365253)

From the article:
Dear Public,
Today is a very said day for Microsoft.
Especially if you're using their spelling / grammar software.

I think this will make Xboxen much more popular. (Score:3, Funny)

by mikeophile ( 647318 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:53AM (#6365280)

At least until the new patched models are released.
Microsoft shouldn't fight this too much. More Xbox loss leader sales will mean more game title sales, even if (or because of) piracy increases.
Who am I kidding? Bend over Bill, here comes the Penguin!

isn't this already possible? (Score:3, Funny)

by shird ( 566377 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:56AM (#6365297) Homepage Journal

Isn't this possible already using exploitable games such as 007? Basically he is just running arbitrary code by exploiting a default application (the dashboard) instead of a '3rd party' application (007).

I suppose the main difference may be that it happens on 'boot' rather than in the middle of a game - this may be related to the 'reboot on eject' 'feature' he talks about, but I'm not sure. Anyone care to explain further?

Re:What the.. ? (Score:4, Funny)

by donutello ( 88309 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @01:58AM (#6365308) Homepage

Give them a break. They're Australians. It's not like English is a first language fo... oh, damn.

Re:Full text of article in case of /. effect (Score:5, Funny)

by jeffkjo1 ( 663413 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:01AM (#6365325) Homepage

There's definitely a big risk of zdnet going down, as it's hosted by a 14 year old with a 333 running Apache in console mode (Win98sr2) on a dsl connection and all...

Re:What the.. ? (Score:4, Funny)

by Michael Hunt ( 585391 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:01AM (#6365327) Homepage

English, not American, is the first language of Australians ;)

These guys seem european, however, as there's no references to shrimps on barbies, or Fosters.

crap! (Score:3, Funny)

by mschoolbus ( 627182 ) writes: <{travisriley} {at} {gmail.com}> on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:06AM (#6365349)

Really sucked reading this article as I was finishing up installing a mod-chip into my friend's XBOX with him...

Re:Increasing weirdness (Score:2, Funny)

by Eyston ( 462981 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:08AM (#6365354)

This just seems to me to be a cheap attempt to chisel money and personal advantage under the cover of pretending to be doing it for the benefit of Xbox Linux.

Yah, releasing it free on the internet is indeed a very cheap attempt to get money.

-Eyston

Its now linuXBox !! (Score:4, Funny)

by supersam ( 466783 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:13AM (#6365378) Homepage

MS: Damn it! Doesn't Free-X know we made XBox so that people could play games on it.

Free-X: Err... yes we did just that. We played on it a bit and voila!... its now linuXBox!! *grin*

MS: @#!**@###***

Base 64 encoding (Score:4, Funny)

by Stonent1 ( 594886 ) writes: <stonentNO@SPAMstonent.pointclark.net> on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:16AM (#6365392) Journal

Since it is on the website, google will probably cache it meaning it will not be lost. :) And even if MS orders to take their site down, google will still have it.

Please stop trying to use common sense (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:22AM (#6365409)

This is the law were talking about here. There is no room for such concepts..

Re:Blackmail (Score:5, Funny)

by BurritoWarrior ( 90481 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:27AM (#6365431)

I like how the Free-X (box) team thinks. Let me try this out:

I am requesting that my post be moderated up to +5 or I will release pictures of Slashdot moderators in compromising positions with various farm animals.

Please note this is just a request, not a demand.

Re:Woops, too late? This is what MS wants.... (Score:2, Funny)

by jkrise ( 535370 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:37AM (#6365457) Journal

Getting Linux on the XBox without modifications, could very well be an MS effort to compete with HP IBM and possibly even Dell, on the desktop hardware platform. So far, they've made only unwieldly mice, broken keyboards and complicated home WiFi gear in hardware.

The XBox so closely resembles the PC architecture, it could be an MS attempt to make BIOS, motherboard and PC makers superfluous. MS would package the XBox for $100 and offer Linux on a desktop PC! All this subterfuge and publishing hacks is just a way to generate some mometum behind the development of their proprietary piece of junk into a viable desktop platform.

Too late, yes... the industry has moved along, users and partners have become smarter to MS tricks, and the game is up. Sorry MS.

Re:Blackmail (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:39AM (#6365463)

It would only be fair if you blur out the faces of the farm animals. Consider the embarassment they might suffer.

Lindows on Xbox (Score:5, Funny)

by HanzoSan ( 251665 ) * writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:39AM (#6365464) Homepage Journal

In a few days Michael Robertson will announce Lindows Xbox Edition.

New features? The ability to completely hiijack a competitors hardware technology.

Re:Blackmail (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:50AM (#6365507)

Yeah, like you have anything that hasn't already been posted to alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.slashdot.barnyard

Re:Woops, too late (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:52AM (#6365511)

Learning is not "illigal"?
Perhaps you should exercise your "rite", then.

Dude, they're in AUSTRIA ..Where the hell is that? (Score:5, Funny)

by Viewsonic ( 584922 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @02:53AM (#6365513)

And that's exactly what the Microsoft chimps are thinking right now. How the hell are they going to be able to sue someone if they dont even know where the hell it is? I mean, come on, who REALLY knows where Austria is that hasn't been there already? (Looks around) My point exactly. Hell, half the posters on here think its AUSTRAILIA.

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:3, Funny)

by rking ( 32070 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:17AM (#6365596)

Having help doesn't make you look guilty, it makes you look prepared and intellegent. The way these guys handled their communications (spelling errors and all) makes them look like out of control destructive teenagers.

I would have been interested in your opinion, but your spelling error made you sound like an out of control and destructive teenager. Okay, maybe one error means you could be in your twenties, posibly with some slight degree of control, but the destructive tendencies are undeniable. Could you submit a longer writing sample for analysis?

Re:Its now linuXBox !! (Score:4, Funny)

by burns210 ( 572621 ) writes: <maburns@gmail.com> on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:17AM (#6365602) Homepage Journal

"its now linuXBox!! *grin*"

ahem. that is GNU/linuxXBox, please. :)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:2, Funny)

by fucksl4shd0t ( 630000 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:40AM (#6365677) Homepage Journal

Who cares about the DMCA. Most of the six billion world population lives outside the USA.
They don't have computers. They're all pagan filth and terrorists.

Re:Blackmail (Score:5, Funny)

by WanChan ( 548461 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:42AM (#6365685)

...well, it's at +4 now, so somebody has something to hide :)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:5, Funny)

by fucksl4shd0t ( 630000 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:43AM (#6365687) Homepage Journal

Can't pass this one up. Emphasis mine.
I would have been interested in your opinion, but your spelling error made you sound like an out of control and destructive teenager. Okay, maybe one error means you could be in your twenties, posibly with some slight degree of control, but the destructive tendencies are undeniable. Could you submit a longer writing sample for analysis?
Enough said.

Re:No DMCA in Austria (Score:5, Funny)

by breon.halling ( 235909 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:47AM (#6365708)

... the somewhat awkward choice of words, mediocre grammar and poor spelling.

So you're saying they post on Slashdot? ;)

Re:Geography anyone? (Score:3, Funny)

by Kris_J ( 10111 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:51AM (#6365727) Homepage Journal

Is this the "Australian" group that's been blackmailing Microsoft that I've been hearing about for a few days now? With an email address ending in .de? No wonder I was so damn confused. Thank you.

All your Xbox are belong to us (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:51AM (#6365729)

Load linux for great justice!

Re:Woops, too late (Score:3, Funny)

by zerocool^ ( 112121 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:54AM (#6365737) Homepage Journal

As the wise man once said,

"You can't un-ring a bell"

~Will

Very first line pretty much sums it up... (Score:4, Funny)

by NoCashValue ( 244702 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @03:59AM (#6365754)

"Today is a very said day for Microsoft."

If they can't even spell correctly in the opening sentence of their world-shaking statement, how the hell are people supposed to take them seriously?

Bah.

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:3, Funny)

by GunFodder ( 208805 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @04:25AM (#6365815)

Judging by the results of the Independence Day poll it looks like most of the Slashdot readership lives inside the USA. This gives the DMCA relevance. And if you think your backwater of the globe will never have any similar laws, think again. The future of property is ideas, and the rich and powerful need laws like the DMCA to protect their property.

Re:Blackmail (Score:2, Funny)

by mikeybee ( 542984 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @04:25AM (#6365816)

I've moderated recently, and I'm concerned.

How did you get a camera into the stable without me or the pregnant dwarf noticing?

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:4, Funny)

by More Karma Than God ( 643953 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @04:31AM (#6365827)

> The DMCA? Last time I checked American law wasn't a global thing.

We're working on fixing that.

Re:Watch out for the secret weapon. (Score:3, Funny)

by sc00p18 ( 536811 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @04:36AM (#6365838)

that may be tough, I don't know many women who would work for this guy. [ntk.net]

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @05:05AM (#6365914)

Actually, judging by the results of the Independence Day poll it looks like Slashdot editors don't know enough Independance Days to make the poll slightly relevent for the 6 Billion odd of us whom it did not cover. That was one of the few polls I did not bother to vote in for example; the U.K does not actually have an "Independence Day".

Re:No DMCA in Austria (Score:3, Funny)

by BESTouff ( 531293 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @05:25AM (#6365964)

Fortunately, the DMCA has no teeth in Austria where these guys seem to live. Note the reference to a Mr Kritsch working for MS Austria and the somewhat awkward choice of words, mediocre grammar and poor spelling.
Wow, I always thought there was a majority of True Americans on /. and now you tell me all these poorly spelled posts are from some european bastards ?

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:5, Funny)

by staticdragon ( 95211 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @05:25AM (#6365965) Homepage

reread the article.
Austria != Australia
One is in Europe the others somwhere way the hell on the other side of the globe.
One has kangaroos, the other has... what the hell does Austria have, except apparently good hackers?

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:5, Funny)

by BESTouff ( 531293 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @05:28AM (#6365970)

Having money should not mean carte-blanch authority
You're not from the US, are you ?

Re:honestly... (Score:4, Funny)

by dekashizl ( 663505 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @06:23AM (#6366103) Journal

If I hollow out the case and use it as a planter, is that an illegal modification? Can Microsoft sue me because they're not making their royalty money on the plants I'm growing in my XBOX?

Dude... What kind of plants are you growing in there?

Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @06:49AM (#6366181)

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:honestly... (Score:2, Funny)

by Jarlsberg ( 643324 ) * writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @07:54AM (#6366331) Journal

If Microsoft decided you could only use an Xbox while wearing fluffly bunny slippers they have that right.

Are you mad?

Obvious solution (Score:3, Funny)

by princeofweasels ( 652594 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @08:42AM (#6366486)

The obvious thing for Microsoft to do is to install a video camera in the box so that they can insure proper use.

Sadly.... (Score:3, Funny)

by Dr Reducto ( 665121 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @09:18AM (#6366630) Journal

The members of the team were found dead the next day. The police believe that they all had heart attacks while sleeping. No Foul play is suspected.

LIBERATE AUSTRIA! (Score:2, Funny)

by Recoil_42 ( 665710 ) writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @10:32AM (#6367020) Homepage Journal

poor guys, they have no idea that they've just put austria next in line for "regime change"..

Re:Woops, too late (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @12:30PM (#6367699)

could you expand a little?

Re:Woops, too late (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday July 04, 2003 @12:31PM (#6367708)

Nah, more like this [penny-arcade.com].

Ah, Penny Arcade...

There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.

Watch out for the secret weapon. (Score:5, Funny)

Why don't they fix the exploit? (Score:2, Funny)

Mr. Bush Announces .... (Score:5, Funny)

What the.. ? (Score:5, Funny)

I think this will make Xboxen much more popular. (Score:3, Funny)

isn't this already possible? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:What the.. ? (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Full text of article in case of /. effect (Score:5, Funny)

Re:What the.. ? (Score:4, Funny)

crap! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Increasing weirdness (Score:2, Funny)

Its now linuXBox !! (Score:4, Funny)

Base 64 encoding (Score:4, Funny)

Please stop trying to use common sense (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Blackmail (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Woops, too late? This is what MS wants.... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Blackmail (Score:1, Funny)

Lindows on Xbox (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Blackmail (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Woops, too late (Score:5, Funny)

Dude, they're in AUSTRIA ..Where the hell is that? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Its now linuXBox !! (Score:4, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Blackmail (Score:5, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:No DMCA in Austria (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Geography anyone? (Score:3, Funny)

All your Xbox are belong to us (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Woops, too late (Score:3, Funny)

Very first line pretty much sums it up... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Blackmail (Score:2, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Watch out for the secret weapon. (Score:3, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:No DMCA in Austria (Score:3, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:After reading the articles... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:honestly... (Score:4, Funny)

Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

Re:honestly... (Score:2, Funny)

Obvious solution (Score:3, Funny)

Sadly.... (Score:3, Funny)

LIBERATE AUSTRIA! (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Woops, too late (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Woops, too late (Score:1, Funny)

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