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[Master-Chief]

From TeamXodus themselves:

QUOTE

Recent mails from some consumers and retailers asking questions regarding our Xenium OS have prompted us to put together a series of quick, informative facts for all of you regarding key features in Xenium OS. We have decided to hold a twelve days of Xmas series which will feature updates, competitions and key facts for all of our loyal Xenium OS owners and those that are still to become part of our elite group. The purpose is to enlighten both dedicated users and “newbies” on why our product is in a class of its own and is the best product on the market today. Just yesterday a retailer wrote to us and was amazed that Xenium can do Web Flashing! Our answer was simple, proud and confident. “Of course it can. Xenium does it all and a whole lot more!” HARD FACT NUMBER 1. XENIUM DRIVES YOU HOME THIS CHRISTMAS First of all, a clear and distinct difference between Xenium and other lesser chips is that Xenium has a proprietary dedicated OS and is therefore not subject to illegal and extremely cumbersome and time consuming downloads, flashes and cd burning, which are required to make the chip work in the first place. With a dedicated OS, Xenium installs in seconds and works immediately, unlike others that scam the public into believing they are buying a fully functional and working unit straight out the box. For the many newbies out there this is a very important fact that needs to be highlighted. Let us paint it a little more clearly for you. Would you buy a BMW X3 with no engine? You can put all the fancy accessories you want in and around the vehicle to try and sell it but no engine is no engine. Got it? Not yet? Ok a little more clearly. OTHERS:(Just to get started) Install, search through underground scene for an OS after learning the ins and outs of IRC, get into illegal sites and choose a hidden OS (one that is not a virus), download to PC, burn a cd (if you have no CDRW go out and get one), transfer to Xbox and pray like hell it accepts the file, flash the OS without destroying the chip. MAYBE NOW YOUR CHIP MIGHT WORK XENIUM: Install, it works. Done. We are proud that we deliver what we promise, “the complete package”. All our features are onboard and fully functional immediately. No mess. No fuss. Stay tuned for more in our series.

This seems very promising and TeamXodus has been promising in the past. What are your guys' thoughts on this?

[imthewa1rus]

agreed, they do always seem quite cocky whenever they have an article on xs

[Kazaki]

I like the Xodus chips.  I, as a matter of fact, have only used and recommended their chips, installing it in 8 different Xboxes so far.  The Matrix, the Cham, the Xenium, all that good stuff.  I've helped people here on some rare occasions and always attempt to be polite.

But I also respect the other chips.  I respect someones wish to buy an Xecuter or a SmartXX or a X-Bit.  The only purchase choice I denounce is the X-Chip.  However, when the creater of the product steps out and continues to publicize material that clearly denounces every chip maker out there other then itself, it starts to seem very immature.  Very arrogant.

Very disrespectful.

Just say what you have to say without all the self-satisfaction and high-horse riding, please.  You don't have to praise the other makers, but you shouldn't continue to bash them in every post you make.

The Xodus team has made strides in the scene.  But others were before it, and I feel they deserve some honor.  I'm starting to get sick at the attitude displayed in these articles, they're not even secret jabs.  Please reconsider the approach taken when writing these for viewing by the general audience of the scene, and not just Xodus readers.

[anbe]

..and so does smartxx too, which were the first chip to introduce webflashing.
These statements from teamxodus really does get old fast, it only harms themself imo since the new stuff gets lost with the bashing of the competitor chips.

[thebroken]

i agree totally maybe ill buy a X3

thebroken

[KLoNe]

TeamXodus, that was both Lame and it sounded very protective. Are you getting nervous of the competition?

You have just made me buy a X3 instead of your Ego-Driven Xenium.

[el_diablo]

team xodus have really been annoying lately.

like when they said they were gods because there os worked in a 1.6 without modification to the code.
of course it worked! the 1.6 was a bios issue not an os issue!!! stupid people!

and now they talk about having to go in and out of irc and etc to get files and etc, but you have to if you want a bios to make your chip worth anything!

imo there internet access should be cut off or they should start contributing to the scene instead of sitting back and doing nothing but posting this bs!

[mrjkwik]

i believe these complaints to be petty and ridiculous.

its advertising people.  coke says they are better than pepsi, pepsi says they are better than coke.  subway says they are better than mcdonalds.  on and on.  

look at car manufacture commercials.  some how they are all "best in class".  amazing isnt it.

and all the chip makers have their own egos to float.  smartxx was saying how great they were just a month ago after the rash of bans.  xecuter has always said they are the best.

big deal, its annoying, so are the 20 minutes of other commercials you watch during any hour long program.

c'mon guys, of course its all ridiculous, but sometimes the "high road" isnt the money road.  

if you really wanna x3, go ahead.  i've been to their forums.  enjoy dealing with xecuter.  i'd rather deal with a bit of an ego here rather than go there and be cussed at and berrated by him.  just like anything else in life, its all a game.

[mdfirefighter]

Oh please! Xecuter doesn't do that. Get real guys.

MDFF

[Artifex]

QUOTE (el_diablo @ Dec 16 2004, 03:20 AM)

team xodus have really been annoying lately. like when they said they were gods because there os worked in a 1.6 without modification to the code. of course it worked! the 1.6 was a bios issue not an os issue!!! stupid people! and now they talk about having to go in and out of irc and etc to get files and etc, but you have to if you want a bios to make your chip worth anything! imo there internet access should be cut off or they should start contributing to the scene instead of sitting back and doing nothing but posting this bs!

I don't intend to respond to any of the usual "they've really gone too far this time" posts which inevitably follow any post we make which takes a stance against our competitors... (and what other stance are we to be expected to take?)

However...  Being the technical guy of teamxodus, I will respond to a technical statement you made here....

The "problem" with 1.6b boxes was a small difference in ram bus timings, specifically a timing configuration bit which is set by the xcodes.  Xcodes, mind you, are used by ANY firmware booting on the box, whether it be an MS bios, cromwell, or an embedded OS.  During development of XeniumOS 2.0, we had the foresight to actually investigate the significance of the various configuration bits set in the xcodes, and tried to determine the most flexible and reliable values for those bits.  One of these bits was this memory timing configuration, hence why our OS was not affected by the change.

We had fixed the problem before it was a problem.

If the competitor had taken the time to do the same, they also wouldn't have had a single problem with their cromwell based firmware.  The didnt have a problem with their MS based firmware because MS had already taken the time for them.

Anyways, just thought I'd clarify.

--Artifex

[Artifex]

QUOTE (el_diablo @ Dec 16 2004, 03:35 AM)

but they dont contribute to the scene like some of the other teams. they just post a whole bunch of bs thats why im annoyed

Dont contribute to the scene?  I think perhaps you should look at my history of contributions, alone....

from the xbox-linux team, to BiCoE, to PBL, to xbox-windows... and quite a few other things which didnt even end up being released under my name directly....

The other members of the team have similar backgrounds....

Not to mention the support and help we've given to other teams in their work and development....

And what has a single member of the other major competitor really contributed?  Some illegal bioses that MS developed, and they put their name on?  I'm not impressed....

Perhaps you'd like to rethink that statement?

--Artifex

[Artifex]

QUOTE (el_diablo @ Dec 16 2004, 03:38 AM)

mmm... vineger the chips are the same,  but team xecuter acctually make their own bios and make add ons for their chip. even smartxx made the lpc rebuild for their chip. what did team xodus do? nothing..

The same..... except for one is poorly designed (from an electrical engineer's standpoint), and poorly planned (from a legal standpoint), and poorly supported (from a users standpoint).....

Oh, I suppose they do illegally make their own trivial changes into MS's firmware code.....

While we, instead of being lazy and just using MS's, wrote our OWN firmware code which we maintain and distribute legally and openly.....  But I guess that's "nothing"?  How about you take over the firmware development then?  Hope you like writing lots driver code..... for weeks on end.....

--Artifex

[flbeserk]

If you don't like Xodus then don't buy their products or don't continue using their products, it all depends on your opinion and what you prefer.  Although i have only tried xeniums, i don't thinkt hey're the best they have features others might not, and i'm used to the xeniums they're good, others prefer xecuters well more power to them.  I wouldn't pay 70 dollars for a xecuter for the same things i WANT on a xenium,  unlike other people i don't do many of those feature things such as the lcd screen and control panel, although they are cool, i don't plan on using them or i don't find them necessary, but anyways it's all on your liking...  Starting this thread to complain about promises and broken promises and boasting is just ridiculous, it's called marketing and advertising that's how you sell, i doubt xodus or xecuter would make these chips if they couldn't get money from them.

[IvanK]

Bluntly, it's misleading.  Sure the Xenium OS boots up, but you can't do anything with XDK-build binaries until you go get a bios.  So it's more like:

OTHERS:(Just to get started)
Install, search through underground scene for an OS after learning the ins and outs of IRC, get into illegal sites and choose a hidden OS (one that is not a virus), download to PC, burn a cd (if you have no CDRW go out and get one), transfer to Xbox and pray like hell it accepts the file, flash the OS without destroying the chip. MAYBE NOW YOUR CHIP MIGHT WORK
XENIUM:
Install, it works. Done.
Oh no, you mean I can't actually *do* anything useful but look at this red screen?  @#$!  Okay...  I guess I have to search through underground scene for an OS after learning the ins and outs of IRC, get into illegal sites and choose a hidden OS (one that is not a virus), download to PC, ftp over to chip and set it up to be a bootable bios.

Okay, so maybe that's a *little* easier than the X3, but considering how easy it was to flash my X3 over a wireless network by using Flashbios 3.0.0's http flashing mechanism, I think I knocked a couple steps off so it's debatable.

Basically, I think the post was misleading.  I have no problem with Xenium as a product, and have installed several for others, but I'm all about competing on concrete merits of the product and from this point forward will actively steer potential buyers away from Xodus.

BTW, I look at both the Xecuter forum on their site and the Xodus form on Xodus's site.  I find the community over at Xecuter's site to be far more friendly and helpful.

[IvanK]

Bluntly, it's misleading. Sure the Xenium OS boots up, but you can't do anything with XDK-build binaries until you go get a bios. Legal or not, if it won't run unsigned XDK-based binaries it's not much more than a feature-packed bios-loader, but a bios-loader nonetheless.  So it's more like:

OTHERS:(Just to get started)
Install, search through underground scene for an OS after learning the ins and outs of IRC, get into illegal sites and choose a hidden OS (one that is not a virus), download to PC, burn a cd (if you have no CDRW go out and get one), transfer to Xbox and pray like hell it accepts the file, flash the OS without destroying the chip. MAYBE NOW YOUR CHIP MIGHT WORK
XENIUM:
Install, it works. Done.
Oh no, you mean I can't actually *do* anything useful but look at this red screen? @#$! Okay... I guess I have to search through underground scene for an OS after learning the ins and outs of IRC, get into illegal sites and choose a hidden OS (one that is not a virus), download to PC, ftp over to chip and set it up to be a bootable bios.

Okay, so maybe that's a *little* easier than the X3, but considering how easy it was to flash my X3 over a wireless network by using Flashbios 3.0.0's http flashing mechanism, I think I knocked a couple steps off so it's debatable.

Basically, I think the post was misleading. I have no problem with Xenium as a product, and have installed several for others, but I'm all about competing on concrete merits of the product and from this point forward will actively steer potential buyers away from Xodus.