I can guarantee that topic alone will get me tons of hits on this site. Sorry – you won’t find directions here – just a description of my attempts to get mine setup.
I always wondered about those geeks people that hacked various devices just so that they could run Linux on it. I couldn’t really see the point. However, my nephew Chip gave me a reason to hack my xBox. Since he had given it to me in the first place, I was willing to give it a try.
The plan was to set up a linux OS on the box so that it could browse my home network. This would give it the ability to play media files from my desktop computer (music, video, etc.), turning it into a potentially powerful media control device. I’ve got many TV shows on my computer, but no good way to get them to the television in the living room short of sneakernet.
The journey began Friday night. Microsoft really doesn’t want consumers hacking their devices, and they certainly don’t want them putting on new operating systems. In order to install the Linux hack, you first have to start Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. This game lets you load saved game files. If, instead of a saved game, you load an install script, the script will run. Nice little exploit, and it worked like a charm.
So here it is Sunday, and I’m finally getting around to playing with the new system. After several trials, I got the xBox talking to my network. Unfortunately, the TV files are too big to stream over the network. All I got was a jerky, headache-inducing experience. I had a couple of smaller MOV files which streamed well, but the resolution was horrible. Well, it was a good idea. I may have to see if I can convert these to a something in between. At least the music played fairly well.