Xbox-Linux: Free 60 Project Begins

November 26th, 2005, 09:39 Posted By: wraggster

The Xbox-Linux team have got to work on trying to port Linux to the xbox 360, in a project named 'free 60'. The Free60 Project aims to port open source operating systems like GNU/Linux and Darwin to the Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console. Here is some interesting documentation already from their website...

- The flash is encrypted with a per-box key
- The key is stored inside the CPU
- The boot ROM is stored inside the CPU
- Also inside the CPU is a hypervisor that verifies the running state of the kernel, making sure there is no modification (RAM checksums), else the Xbox360 panics and blows up!
- The CPU contains RAM inside of it to store the checksums
- All interrupt/exception handling is done by the hypervisor
- All code runs in kernel mode
- The emulator for first generation games can be updated via an official Microsoft download burned to CD by the user, though the CDs' content will be encrypted and signed with public key cryptography.
The Xbox 360's Hard Disk appears to connect to the Xbox 360 via 7-pin SATA, internally the drive connects to the external connector through standard SATA data and power connectors. This should be of some help.

More info here --> http://www.free60.org/wiki/Main_Page

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