Topic: Damn Small Linux Port (Read 1018 times)

greenfellow · « **on:** February 03, 2005, 02:53:00 PM »

Hello, I am unhappy with the two major linux distributions for xbox, they are memory and hard drive hogs. I would very much like to see a version of damn small linux ported to the xbox, we have to conserve as much of that meager 64mb of ram as possible! Does anyone have any linux from scratch type experiance who would be interested in a project like this?

luther349 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 03, 2005, 11:36:00 PM »

well i knoe the kernel needs to be patched as well as whatever window manager it uses be it xfree or xorg. as for making installers and the file system in clueless there. but you can port any linux to the xbox so yes it can be done.

greenfellow · « **Reply #2 on:** February 03, 2005, 11:04:00 PM »

I know that it CAN be done, look at this tho : http://www.damnsmalllinux.org

it runs on 486's just fine! Imagine the speed up...

daveh · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2005, 09:14:00 PM »

I am all for this too. I run dam small linux on an old 486 and it runs well. It should be lean and fast on the xbox. The other linux distro's are too slow. This would be great if it could be done, so all you tech heads out there tell us how to do it. or go one better and do it for us.

greenfellow · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2005, 10:30:00 PM »

yeah exactly, we don't have that much hardware to work with here! We need something slimmer and a distro like this would be perfect.

luther349 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2005, 11:53:00 PM »

like i said you need to recompile the kernel with the xbox patches. as well as recomple the window manager if you whant a gui. as for the rest i do not have any clue with. wile its alot smaller and would make sence to port to the xbox i dought it will be mutch faster then a full distro. if you whant a fast linux for xbox hears another small distro ment for weak computers. http://delilinux.berlios.de/

This post has been edited by luther349: Feb 11 2005, 07:59 AM

greenfellow · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2005, 11:56:00 PM »

why must it be recompiled? it's already compiled for x86 cpus and even then recompiling is easy smeazy. the biggest challenge is figuring out the bootloader. Is that open source? How did they compile that xbe anyhow ... not with the xdk I hope

luther349 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2005, 12:00:00 AM »

couse thers some things the stock kernel dont support. wile the xbox is x86 it does have some miner diffrences that will couse a stock x86 kernel to panic. and no you dont need the xdk for anything linux the paches are for download. one of the things the kernel dont support is fatx thats one of the reasions it needs to be remcompiled to support that and a few other miner things.

This post has been edited by luther349: Feb 11 2005, 08:03 AM

greenfellow · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2005, 12:08:00 AM »

interesting... the differance should not lie with the cpu at all. perhaps the bios? well anyways this definately requires a few experts.

daveh · « **Reply #9 on:** February 11, 2005, 03:17:00 AM »

Is there anyone in this forum who is able to port dam small linux. We just need a tech head with a few hours to kill. Most of the work is there for download in the xbox-linux cvs. So come on guys lets not waste anytime with this. I think it would be a big hit and a much better option for those of us who want a small, lean and fast linux distribution. For those of you who have not tried dsl on your pc - give it a go. I have it on an old 486 machine and it runs very well. On the xbox it should be fast. If there is enough support for this I would be willing to use one of my domains xboxbrowser.com to host a dedicated website to the project. So lets have some feedback on this.

greenfellow · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2005, 03:59:00 AM »

I'm emailing the people who work on the real version, perhaps they'll be interested in helping.

greenfellow · « **Reply #11 on:** February 11, 2005, 03:47:00 AM »

ok I emailed the guy who does everything and I posted on their forums

Now we wait for a response. If anybody has any experiance with linux and thinks they could maybe modify the gentoo installer or debian to install damn small linux's lighter gui and browser and maybe trim the distributions down that could work in the mean time...

Potato Bob · « **Reply #12 on:** February 11, 2005, 06:54:00 PM »

the bootleader would be xromwell

greenfellow · « **Reply #13 on:** February 11, 2005, 09:04:00 PM »

I've contacted the guy that runs the dsl show and he said he's interested. My goal for today is to compile Dillo - the browser from dsl and see how much faster it is than firefox on the xbox. my guess is it's a hell of a lot faster.

syphonsphere · « **Reply #14 on:** February 12, 2005, 10:53:00 PM »

This would be a great linux os, for xbox. good luck

Author Topic: Damn Small Linux Port (Read 1018 times)