Hi! I am Michael Steil from the Xbox Linux Project. I have had a conversation with Gael and Jacques from Mandrake and I was told that they don't officially support Xbox Linux, but they support it non-officially. Jacques suggested to discuss about this on this mailing list.
As you might already know, the Xbox Linux Project succeeded in running a full Mandrake distribution on a "modded" Xbox console; we just had to use an installer of our own because of some differences in the Xbox architecture. Me personally, and probably some others from Xbox Linux would like to extend our work to integrate full Xbox support into the next Mandrake release. Therefore we ask for some support in this mailing list, and we might have to discuss some things on how to integrate Xbox support. Some information about the differences of the Xbox: The Xbox is basically a PC, but with some small differences: 1) Kernel fixes: PCI bug, different timer base frequency, different shutdown method, no keyboard controller These issues are already addressed by our kernel patches and they are likely to be included into the main Linux kernel soon. 2) Kernel/driver extensions We have code for the FATX file system used by the Xbox system software, as well as drivers for the Xbox gamepad and the Xbox remote control. 3) Different boot method The Xbox needs the boot CD to be in UDF format (that's easy with mkisofs -udf) and the bootloader called default.xbe in the root directory of the CD. This bootloader has been developed by the Xbox Linux Project and boots Linux just as Grub or LILO. When booting from HD, the bootloader executable and the kernel have to be stored in a FATX file system. 4) Different HD partitioning The Xbox uses an implicit partitioning scheme, but we can also use the PC partitioning scheme in parallel. 5) XFree Currently, only Framebuffer is supported. So we basically have a patched kernel, some more modules and a different bootloader. So what do we have to change in the Mandrake installer? 1) Installer CD Boot Code A default.xbe has to be added to the installer CD and the CD has to be in hybrid UDF/ISO9660 format. The Xbox bootloader loads the standard kernel, which has Xbox support compiled in, as well as the standard ramdisk. Just default.xbe instead of El Torito & SYSLINUX. 2) Partitioning Tool The partitioning tool has to mark the space used by the Xbox system software as unavailable (if we're on an Xbox) for the user not to overwrite the original software on the HD and render the Xbox useless 3) XFree Configuration The XFree configuration program has to write its own XF86Config-4, if we're on an Xbox. Well, perhaps the standard routines will work out of the box. 4) Bootloader Installation If we're on an Xbox, the grub/LILO installation has to be replaced by the Xbox bootloader installation. 5) Kernel, /lib/modules The standard kernel has to include the Xbox fixes; one kernel for both PC and Xbox will be enough. The Xbox modules for FATX, Xpad etc. will be added to /lib/modules on all machines. It's not that much. I'd love to help adding Xbox support to the installer, and we can provide patches for the kernel to add Xbox support in the kernel to Mandrake. Michael
