X-DSL v0.21, a linux distribution based on Damn Small Linux has been released. It weighs in at less than 50MBs with a nearly complete desktop, and many command line tools. The small size of bundled programs make it very suited to the Xbox's limited 64mb memory. It can be run as a livecd or installed to your Xbox's hard drive.
Coming hot on the heels of version 0.2 this is mainly a bugfix release. The changes since v0.2 are as follows
XDSL comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law
1) Introduction
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X-DSL is a small (about 50MBs) but fully functional Linux distribution for the XBOX, based on Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org).
2) Licence
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X-DSL is more than just a software application, it's a complete Linux distribution comprising of many software packages. All the programs and libraries used by the X-DSL are protected by their respective licenses. They are all free software and most of them are covered by the GNU General Public Licence. X-DSL itself, meaning all the scripts written specially for X-DSL (init files, configuration files, etc) is covered by the GNU General Public Licence version 2, or (at your option) any later version. See GPL.txt for a copy of this licence.
3) Usage
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XDSL requires a modded Xbox(see www.xbox-linux.org or www.xbox-scene.com for help on this). You can then run XDSL from a livecd. Simply burn xdsl.iso to some recordable media using your favourite cd writing software and place it in your Xbox.
When XDSL loads you will be presented a choice of video modes (640x480, 800x600, 480p, 720p). 480p and 720p require your Xbox to be connected with component cables to a HDTV. Once you have choosen a video mode XDSL will boot and you'll automatically be logged into X as the user 'dsl'.
4) Interacting with XDSL
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If you have a usb keyboard/mouse and a usb connector for your Xbox they should be automatically detected. Alternatively you can use a Xbox controller to move the mouse pointer. To launch programs right click on the desktop (B on the controller) to bring up the fluxbox menu. If you need to enter any text a virtual keyboard is available from the fluxbox menu under Apps.
5) Installation
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If you want to install XDSL to your Xbox hard drive you have 3 options:
Frugal install - The XDSL compressed filesystem is copied to E:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX. This takes up the least diskspace (50Mbs). Since the filesystem is heavily compressed it is mounted readonly so this is just like running the livecd, except all the files reside on your hard disk
Loopback install - The XDSL filesystem is installed onto a loopback file (either E:\xdslfs or F:\xdslfs). This requires a loopback file of at least 200MBs (you can choose a size upto 2GB).
Native install - XDSL will be installed onto a linux partion in the extra space on the Xbox HDD for those with hard disks bigger that 8GBs. This will keep the standard Xbox partitions (C,E,X,Y,Z) entact but will wipe all data on the F partition if it exists.
To perform one of these installations open the fluxbox menu and select the appropriate option under Apps, Tools. You will be guided through the install process.
6) myDSL extensions
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If you are running from the livecd or a frugal install you can load addition programs using myDSL extensions. XDSL should be fully compatible with extensions made for Damn Small Linux. Extensions are available from
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distri...amnsmall/mydsl/ or via the myDSL icon on the desktop. They should be copied to E:\ to load them when XDSL boots or E:\optional\ to give you the option of loading them via the fluxbox menu. Since each extension is loaded into the ramdisk it is recommend that you use E:\optional\ if possible to save on memory usage.
7) Backup your settings
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When using the frugal install/booting from a livecd it is not possible to write any changes to the XDSL filesystem. To get around this your settings can be saved in a seperate file called backup.tar.gz. Go to Back/Restore in the desktop menu, type in hda50 and hit backup if you wish to make this file on your E drive. Once made your settings will be automatically saved on shutdown and restored on boot. To change what files are saved edit /home/dsl/filetool.lst. None of this is necessary with Native/Loopback install methods since the root filesystem can be written to.
Enabling the apt package utility
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If you are running from a loopback or native install you'll probably want to re-enable the debian package utility apt to allow you to install a huge range of programs from the debian repository. It is also recommended you restore the GNU Core Utilities. If you choose 'enhanced' when you performed you installation this will have already been done for you. Otherwise you need to load the myDSL extension 'gnu-utils.dsl' and then choose enable apt from Apps, Tools in the desktop menu.
Once this is complete you can then install programs via the command 'apt-get install myprogram'. It's a good idea to edit your /etc/apt/sources.list beforehand to point it to the debian testing repositary (comment out the existing lines with # and uncomment the testing lines). 'apt-get update' updates the list of available programs and 'apt-cache search myprogram' searches for a 'myprogram' in the debian repository.
9) FTP install
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If you don't wish burn XDSL onto a cd and have the ability to ftp to you Xbox, it is possible to simply copy across the required files. Extract all the files from the iso and copy them to the following locations:
E:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX
E:\KNOPPIX\linux24
E:\KNOPPIX\minirt24.gz
These are case sensitive. Then create a file E:\linuxboot.cfg with the following content
title XDSL
kernel KNOPPIX\linux24
initrd KNOPPIX\minirt24.gz
append root=/dev/ram0 init=/etc/init rw video=xbox:640x480 frugal quiet kbd-reset
Finally if you are not using the Cromwell BIOS copy default.xbe somewhere where you can run it from your Xbox.
Then run Cromwell/default.xbe to boot XDSL. If you then want to peform a loopback/native install simply select your desired option in the Apps, Tools menu.
11) Developers
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Richard Osborne (friedgold), Mathew Saxton (keo keo)
12) Acknowledgements
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None of this would be possible without the work of John Andrews and Robert Shingledecker for creating the Damn Small Linux distribution and the XBOX-linux team for getting Linux onto the XBOX. Additional thanks goes to greenfellow, chadkeck, cbagger01, big_xbox_n00bie, Mailynn, daveh and XanTium.
