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[Clockface]

Like many XBox users, I have no real desire to use my XBox as a computer (as even my PC is more powerful than my XBox, plus already has the required keyboard/mouse/modem etc, plus a decent monitor), but I'd love to have Windows and/or DOS on my XBox so I can play my favourite PC games on the XBox. So I was wondering if it would be possible for some XBox Linux expert to create a version of Linux for XBox that's geared towards running Windows and DOS. Say (I don't know) cut away all of the non-game related stuff such as modem/printer stuff, creativity software and so on, and make it so that WINE and the DOS emulator are already present and easily run. And hopefully speed this up with the fastest stuff, so that games run as well as possible, and add virtual keyboard and virtual mouse support too, for those of us who don't want the inconvenience of having to have a real mouse and keyboard on the settee with us!

I apologize if I'm asking the impossible, but I'd love to run Win/Dos games on my XBox, and this seems to be the only hope at present.

[bucko]

Bochs has already been ported to the xbox as an XBE.

http://heinrich.evol...fo/bestemus.txt

[Clockface]

>Bochs has already been ported to the xbox as an XBE.

Yes, but it's far too slow for practical use, and lacks a virtual keyboard/mouse.

I'm hoping that Linux emulators can run Windows and DOS stuff at a decent speed, especially since they are hopefully native to the XBox, as opposed to BoschX which is designed to run on a non-x86 system.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

[jesusphreak]

Honestly, I think the biggest deal is not a matter of porting over some kind of Linux distro, its getting some kind of 3d driver to work...

Otherwise, 3d games aren't even worth trying.

But if you want a gaming machine, I'd say just run XFCE for a light top and run winex....

That way you can play games like StarCraft and other 2d games....

[Scan-C]

as jesusphreak said no luck with 3d games but for 2d i wouldn't even use xfce. just the plain x server. doesn't look good and has minimal functionality but is fast as hell.

[Clockface]

Thanks, but the trouble is, I don't know anything about Linux, and I'm too "PC-weary" too learn (I seem to spend half of my free time fixing/upgrading/altering my family and friends' PCs, so I'm not too keen on learning a new OS plus it's assoiciated quirks and shortcuts, considering I'd be learning from scratch). Having said that, I will put the work in if I can be at least reasonably sure that the results will be worth it.

Roughly how fast, in Windows/DOS PC terms, would Windows/DOS games be on the XBox under x server or xfce (whatever they are?). Hopefully we are at least talking P1-233MHz? If so then lots of "software-3D" games (which are 3D even without hardware acceleration) such as Half Life, Carmageddon and Quake 3 (I think) would run.

Asuming they would run, can you clarify what I'd need to download and install on my (hardware modded) XBox? Which Linux distribution is best for what I want, and what else do I need?

Thanks for all this, I help beginners with Windows so I know how annoying "basic" questions can be, but we're all beginners to begin with.

[Clockface]

Anyone?

[Scan-C]

the xbox isn't really limited by it's cpu, it's more the ram. but i guess games like carmageddon will run smooth. i always wanted to try it but never did it when i found my game disc

what you need? well, first a dos emulator... i guess the fastest would be dosemu and the compatibility is really good. for windows games use cedega (formerly winex).

then you would need to edit some files to get only the x server up without xfce on top of it. i guess gentoox loads it through the file /etc/rc.conf but i'm not sure. just look over the file and you'll see what i mean. if it isn't there look in your home directory(/home/gentoox) for a file called .xinitrc (hidden). this would be the other location to search for xfce.

i guess this should give you enough speed for most of the older games to run. to install the software just type "emerge dosemu" of course without the quotes. cedega is another thing... you have to pay for it. look at the Transgaming website.

hope this helps you start.

This post has been edited by Scan-C on Aug 4 2004, 05:33 PM

[loji]

Quake and Doom and a handful of others have already been ported to run directly on the Xbox itself without even having to boot into linux.  They run just fine (no glitches or slow) ... and We've even gotten an online game between an xbox running quake, and a PC running quake with no problems.   (both were fast over the internal network)

Check out firefuckers homebrew game CD it'll install both quake, doom and duke 3d I think.. plus a bunch of orginally coded games.