Print

[tutu]

I am using the Pheonix BIOS loader 1.3 to load the X2 4978 BIOS.

I have no problem loading up the FTP server by holding A, but I cannot get it to boot my dashboard.

evoxdash is on F, as well as mxmdash (media x menu). I have edited the BIOS to look for these on F (as usual) with XBtool 1.0.8b1 - converted it to BFM and saved it.

Everything seems okay, but it will not load my evox off F. It loads the msdash off C however.

BTW - This is a bug report not a complaint lol

[hertzsae]

NEWS FLASH

-The cool new feature is being able to launch embedded xbe's, not built in ftp.

Yes this has been said many times before, but it seems like some idiots can't read.

Why is this useful if you don't need an ftp bios?  Well, it opens new doors for developers.  You give developers a tool and they'll come up with ideas that were never thought of in the first place.  Just look at xbmp.  Someone made a modchip to load games from other regions (hehe) and some developers came up with xbmp.  So, do I know what this will bring in the future, no, but I am excited that developers now have more possiblities to work with.

[Spency234]

Sorry to jump in and ask a possibly stupid question..... but I was just wondering, if you aren't going to use an Evo boot disk to format the HDD how can you do it just by FTPing to it?

[heinrich]

QUOTE (Spency234 @ Aug 24 2003, 08:14 PM)

Sorry to jump in and ask a possibly stupid question..... but I was just wondering, if you aren't going to use an Evo boot disk to format the HDD how can you do it just by FTPing to it?

As far as I know, you cannot format via the ftpd in this bios.  It would be something to look forward too.  Unfortunately, it appears that there is only so much that you can cram in the bios.  There have been reports of game loading problems with this bios (games like Halo).  If it is because of the bios's size, this greatly limits what can be done.

[mav]

WOW, nice work X2

for all the people that cant see the point of a ftp in bios .... why is it great?
ftpd will be awesome addition to hacked msdash
looking forward to a 512 for dual boot tsop flash

now of course we know its not about the ftpd its about the embed xbe so.....

suggestion:
1> as suggested before.. tools/info to help us imbed our own xbe
eg. a better ftpd server

2> or..... if your not willing to share the embeding 'secrets' atm
get together with xlink they needed a way to setup thier special networking for xbox only app to play online

3> just wondering here... but how about killing off enough space in the bios to allow bios selector from HDD (thinking Embeded Pheonix loader [not sure of that apps size or if it could be streamlined]?)

PS
for thouse playing up the pheonix bios loader....
can the loader load > 1MB bios
can it be made to?
we might require such an app if we break the 1MB limit

[derson]

Pretty nice proof of concept, as mentioned this opens up a lot of future possibilities... including actual BIOS's that will accept controller/keyboard input to pick which dashboard or program to load at boot.  

The ability to include any XBE through a bios mod has been requested a few times... and I don't think this should be far from reality.  If you can load an XBE in bios, then you can probably load it at the 512KB offset... which may mean that we are not far from being able to flash any XBE (under 512KB of course) into the BIOS and have it loaded automagically when pressing a button at boot.  I don't know anything about the XBE limitations when loaded in the BIOS... but it seems very possible in this tiny head.

If the above paragraph works, then the next step is a series of BIOS's that are under 512KB, but have the option to load anything stored in the next 512KB when a button is pressed... meaning that the BIOS can be expanded and updated seperately from the "embedded" XBE.

Thanks guys for keeping my tiny brain up all night dreaming of the future to come!  (just wish I could explain my late night hours to my wife

[Terrorbyte]

QUOTE

As far as I know, you cannot format via the ftpd in this bios. It would be something to look forward too. Unfortunately, it appears that there is only so much that you can cram in the bios. There have been reports of game loading problems with this bios (games like Halo). If it is because of the bios's size, this greatly limits what can be done.

Yeah, that's a major potential drawback...if the larger BIOS is interfering with how games load then features will be greatly limited.  Don't want to be too pessimistic though, Ubergeek among the others in TeamXecuter seem to obsessively debug/troubleshoot until shit gets fixed, so my bet at this point is that some of Xeero's prospects MAY be satisfied in future BIOS releases (i.e. being able to FTP into the XBOX while playing Halo).  Theoretically, it's possible...if you force an XBE to remain resident in memory somehow, this would be possible.  Obviously the XBOX has the ability to "multi-task", as do any "networkable" gaming systems.    

The whole embedded FTP option was GREAT idea - that'll be a huge time-saver for modders, no more burning bullshit CD-Rs to install dashboards, etc.  I look forward to how the whole x2_4978 BIOS pans out...I'm running 4978 on my X2.2 Pro XBOX mod right now and shit works great (haven't experienced game loading issues...yet).

[stealth]

QUOTE (tutu @ Aug 24 2003, 09:42 PM)

I am using the Pheonix BIOS loader 1.3 to load the X2 4978 BIOS. I have no problem loading up the FTP server by holding A, but I cannot get it to boot my dashboard. evoxdash is on F, as well as mxmdash (media x menu). I have edited the BIOS to look for these on F (as usual) with XBtool 1.0.8b1 - converted it to BFM and saved it. Everything seems okay, but it will not load my evox off F. It loads the msdash off C however. BTW - This is a bug report not a complaint lol

It is the ftp application which launches the dashboard.

the bios _always_ launches the ftp server, but if you aren't holding "A" down it will immediately launch the dashboard.  So you need to path the ftp xbe to launch the dash from the correct partition.

[stealth]

QUOTE (Terrorbyte @ Aug 25 2003, 06:09 PM)

Yeah, that's a major potential drawback...if the larger BIOS is interfering with how games load then features will be greatly limited.  Don't want to be too pessimistic though, Ubergeek among the others in TeamXecuter seem to obsessively debug/troubleshoot until shit gets fixed, so my bet at this point is that some of Xeero's prospects MAY be satisfied in future BIOS releases (i.e. being able to FTP into the XBOX while playing Halo).  Theoretically, it's possible...if you force an XBE to remain resident in memory somehow, this would be possible.  Obviously the XBOX has the ability to "multi-task", as do any "networkable" gaming systems.     The whole embedded FTP option was GREAT idea - that'll be a huge time-saver for modders, no more burning bullshit CD-Rs to install dashboards, etc.  I look forward to how the whole x2_4978 BIOS pans out...I'm running 4978 on my X2.2 Pro XBOX mod right now and shit works great (haven't experienced game loading issues...yet).

The xbox kernel cannot "multi-task" in the manner you mean.  There can only ever be a single application running at a time.  You cannot have a resident program or a background application

[stealth]

QUOTE (derson @ Aug 25 2003, 06:23 AM)

Pretty nice proof of concept, as mentioned this opens up a lot of future possibilities... including actual BIOS's that will accept controller/keyboard input to pick which dashboard or program to load at boot.   The ability to include any XBE through a bios mod has been requested a few times... and I don't think this should be far from reality.  If you can load an XBE in bios, then you can probably load it at the 512KB offset... which may mean that we are not far from being able to flash any XBE (under 512KB of course) into the BIOS and have it loaded automagically when pressing a button at boot.  I don't know anything about the XBE limitations when loaded in the BIOS... but it seems very possible in this tiny head. If the above paragraph works, then the next step is a series of BIOS's that are under 512KB, but have the option to load anything stored in the next 512KB when a button is pressed... meaning that the BIOS can be expanded and updated seperately from the "embedded" XBE. Thanks guys for keeping my tiny brain up all night dreaming of the future to come!  (just wish I could explain my late night hours to my wife

The x2 4978 bios cannot accept controller/keyboard input at all.  The bios ALWAYS launches the ftp server, and the ftp server is what checks for the "A" button being pressed.  Any application which you want to embed, had better check for a button being pressed or you will be stuck running that application only.  (cept for games present in the dvd drive at boot time of course)

[Xeero]

QUOTE (stealth @ Aug 25 2003, 02:08 PM)

QUOTE (Terrorbyte @ Aug 25 2003, 06:09 PM) Yeah, that's a major potential drawback...if the larger BIOS is interfering with how games load then features will be greatly limited.  Don't want to be too pessimistic though, Ubergeek among the others in TeamXecuter seem to obsessively debug/troubleshoot until shit gets fixed, so my bet at this point is that some of Xeero's prospects MAY be satisfied in future BIOS releases (i.e. being able to FTP into the XBOX while playing Halo).  Theoretically, it's possible...if you force an XBE to remain resident in memory somehow, this would be possible.  Obviously the XBOX has the ability to "multi-task", as do any "networkable" gaming systems.    The whole embedded FTP option was GREAT idea - that'll be a huge time-saver for modders, no more burning bullshit CD-Rs to install dashboards, etc.  I look forward to how the whole x2_4978 BIOS pans out...I'm running 4978 on my X2.2 Pro XBOX mod right now and shit works great (haven't experienced game loading issues...yet). The xbox kernel cannot "multi-task" in the manner you mean.  There can only ever be a single application running at a time.  You cannot have a resident program or a background application

What if it was coded directly into the kernel instead of simply being an XBE that gets cached separately?  The kernel is always working even with XBEs running.  For example, when running an XBE, the kernel performs a number of patches to the XBE on the fly.  Could it not also listen for an FTP connection on the NIC?

[Xeero]

QUOTE (stealth @ Aug 25 2003, 02:12 PM)

QUOTE (derson @ Aug 25 2003, 06:23 AM) Pretty nice proof of concept, as mentioned this opens up a lot of future possibilities... including actual BIOS's that will accept controller/keyboard input to pick which dashboard or program to load at boot.  The ability to include any XBE through a bios mod has been requested a few times... and I don't think this should be far from reality.  If you can load an XBE in bios, then you can probably load it at the 512KB offset... which may mean that we are not far from being able to flash any XBE (under 512KB of course) into the BIOS and have it loaded automagically when pressing a button at boot.  I don't know anything about the XBE limitations when loaded in the BIOS... but it seems very possible in this tiny head. If the above paragraph works, then the next step is a series of BIOS's that are under 512KB, but have the option to load anything stored in the next 512KB when a button is pressed... meaning that the BIOS can be expanded and updated seperately from the "embedded" XBE. Thanks guys for keeping my tiny brain up all night dreaming of the future to come!  (just wish I could explain my late night hours to my wife The x2 4978 bios cannot accept controller/keyboard input at all.  The bios ALWAYS launches the ftp server, and the ftp server is what checks for the "A" button being pressed.  Any application which you want to embed, had better check for a button being pressed or you will be stuck running that application only.  (cept for games present in the dvd drive at boot time of course)

So you're saying that if I were running 4978, it would load the FTPd XBE into memory and run it right away.  If the A button is pressed, then it displays the dashboard image and continues running the FTPd.  If the A button is not pressed, then it loads the normal XBE (default.xbe, evoxdash.xbe, etc.) which terminates the FTPd XBE.  Is this correct?

[stealth]

The kernel can do things yes.   That was the reason for my initial statement of disappointment that the ftp server wasn't implemented in the kernel directly.  It would not be an easy task.

[stealth]

QUOTE (Xeero @ Aug 25 2003, 07:23 PM)

So you're saying that if I were running 4978, it would load the FTPd XBE into memory and run it right away.  If the A button is pressed, then it displays the dashboard image and continues running the FTPd.  If the A button is not pressed, then it loads the normal XBE (default.xbe, evoxdash.xbe, etc.) which terminates the FTPd XBE.  Is this correct?

The dashboard image?  I'm not sure what you mean by that...

But yes, you are correct...

1. Kernel launchs mini-ftpd.xbe
2. mini-ftpd.xbe checks for button press
3. If the button is pressed, continue running.
4. Else check for the various dashboards in order, and launch the first one found (which of course exits the ftpd).

Again, this is why people can't get the kernel to boot dashboards on different partitions ala xbtool.  It's simply because the kernel doesn't do it anymore (though it will if it gets an error trying to load and run the embedded xbe).

[Terrorbyte]

QUOTE

The xbox kernel cannot "multi-task" in the manner you mean. There can only ever be a single application running at a time. You cannot have a resident program or a background application

As Xeero mentioned, possibly "patching" an XBE from the kernel on-the-fly would open up some doors.  Wish I had more time...if only work could pay me to develop XBOX hacks I'd be set.  Between overseas travel and such I just have no time to shift my programming skills toward fun & games (reading and posting here is about all I have time for).