The AnandTech Linux XBOX PC Experiment
by Kristopher Kubicki on November 10, 2004 4:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Linux
The Test and Initialization
Obviously, we want to benchmark a few things on our XBOX cluster, but we need some points of reference. To do that, we took a few systems that we had around the lab of various cost and power, and configured them with SUSE Linux 9.1. All of our benchmarks are run without X running, since we want to minimize the load on the systems. Below is a breakdown of several of the systems that we are looking at to compare our XBOX on a desktop level.| Various Cheap Desktops | |||
| Desktop | XBOX Linux Cluster | Sempron 2200+ | Celeron 2.0GHz |
| Processor | PIII 733MHz 128K L2 | Sempron 2200+ | Celeron 2.0GHz |
| Motherboard | NVIDIA MCPX X3 | MSI K7N2G | ASROCK P4I45GV R5 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 5400RPM 8GB | Seagate 5400RPM 8GB | |
| RAM | 64MB Shared PC3200 | 256MB PC2100 | |
| Operating System | Xebian 1.03.2 SUSE 9.1 |
SUSE 9.1 | |
| Kernel | 2.4.26 (Xebian) 2.6.4 (SUSE) |
2.6.4 | |
| Compiler | linux:~ # gcc -v Reading specs from /usr/lib64/gcc-lib/x86_64-suse-linux/3.3.3/specs Configured with: ../configure --enable-threads=posix --prefix=/usr --with-local-prefix=/usr/local --infodir=/usr/share/info --mandir=/usr/share/man --enable-languages=c,c++,f77,objc,java,ada --disable-checking --libdir=/usr/lib64 --enable-libgcj --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/g++ --with-slibdir=/lib64 --with-system-zlib --enable-shared --enable-__cxa_atexit x86_64-suse-linux Thread model: posix gcc version 3.3.3 (SuSE Linux) | ||
| Cost | $210 (including mod chip) | $287 | $277 |
As you can see, it's pretty difficult to get a cheap AMD or Celeron system in the fray (cost includes case, CPU, motherboard, memory, hard drive, DVD Player and cooling). All configurations use integrated video. The Semprons and Celerons are going to be much faster than our 733MHz XBOX, although the footprints on the Sempron and Celeron setups are pretty terrible - they take up the full space of a mid-ATX case. The XBOX is also the significantly quieter solution. Unfortunately, the XBOX has very little memory and when we fire X, the XBOX is really going to take a hit in performance.
As you may notice, we are still running SUSE 9.1 instead of 9.2; we haven't had the chance to validate and update 9.2 yet, and our server benchmarks were already done on SUSE 9.1 configurations with GCC 3.3.3.
| Various Performance Configurations | |||
| Desktop | XBOX Linux Cluster | Dual Opteron 250 | Dual Xeon 3.6GHz |
| Processor | (8) PIII 733MHz 128K L2 | (2) Opteron 250 | (2) Xeon 3.6GHz |
| Motherboard | NVIDIA MCPX X3 | Tyan K8W | SuperMicro X6DA8-G2 |
| Hard Drive | (8) Seagate 5400RPM 10GB | Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE 8MB Cache | |
| RAM | 64MB Shared PC2100 | 4GB DDR-400 | 4GB DDR2-400 |
| Operating System | SUSE 9.1 | SUSE 9.1 | SUSE 9.1 |
| Kernel | 2.6.4 | 2.6.4 | |
| Compiler | linux:~ # gcc -v Reading specs from /usr/lib64/gcc-lib/x86_64-suse-linux/3.3.3/specs Configured with: ../configure --enable-threads=posix --prefix=/usr --with-local-prefix=/usr/local --infodir=/usr/share/info --mandir=/usr/share/man --enable-languages=c,c++,f77,objc,java,ada --disable-checking --libdir=/usr/lib64 --enable-libgcj --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/g++ --with-slibdir=/lib64 --with-system-zlib --enable-shared --enable-__cxa_atexit x86_64-suse-linux Thread model: posix gcc version 3.3.3 (SuSE Linux) | ||
| Cost | $1680 (included mod chips) | ›$4000 | ›$4000 |
Our XBOX cluster costs considerably less than a performance workstation or server. The machines listed above were actually tested back in August, so we used the same OS and compiler setup from August. The eight-node XBOX cluster comes in at less than half that of the Opteron or Xeon setup, but of course, cannot offer us 64-bit capabilities amount other things.
Installing SUSE on the XBOX for the first time was not a simple task. The problem is that that the 8GB hard drives shipped with each XBOX is "locked" (you may read more about this here) so that it may only be booted by its own XBOX. There is an old, hacky guide that details how to get the normal XBOX hard drive to boot on a PC so that we can cross-install an operating system. The basic jist of the article follows:
- Leave the hard drive connected via the IDE and power cable to the XBOX and boot the Microsoft BIOS
- Boot the PC, but pause the installer before the Linux kernel loads
- Hot swap the hard drive from the XBOX to the PC (dangerous)
- Install Linux near the end of the hard drive
- Disconnect IDE cable, reboot PC
- Connect IDE cable before kernel initializes, then continue with installation and configuration of the OS
- Power down PC and XBOX, then reconnect the hard drive to the XBOX as usual
In the SmartXX OS, we actually have a tool to unlock the hard drive completely (or lock it back up later). This saved us a ton of work and we simply unlocked all of the 10GB hard drives shipped with our system. Thanks, SmartXX!
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ukDave - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Yes the xbox has a PS1 emulator, only one that i know of. Its called "PCSXbox". Good place for emulator info: http://xport.xbox-scene.com/ , obviosuly a subsection of xbox-scene.And before anyone asks, no there are none for the PS2 (nor will there ever be).
ukDave - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
I'm not 100% sure about the SmartXX, as i have the well known Xecuter 2.3b chip which has DIP switches mountable on the outsode of the xbox so that youc an disable it in order to play X-Box live and whatnot.From what i've just read over on the forums at xbox-scene, SmartXX is fully X-BoX Live compliant. You simply (as you say Kris) boot back into the MS BIOS. This can be done by turning the xbox on by pressing the EJECT button. To enable the modchip, turn on with the POWER button. (source: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=3...
SmartXX section of the forums: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showforum=6...
ksherman - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
#3, you said there is mulators for n64 and down. Is there an emulator for PSone games? would love to be able to play FF7 againKristopherKubicki - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Jeff7181: I think with the SmartXX chip you can actually boot back into the normal MS BIOS and have no problems with X-Link and such. If you install Linux on the last 2 unpartitioned GB of your 10GB drive, your XBOX should basically have no idea that the machine is modded at all.LotoBak, ukDave, am I correct on that statement?
Kristopher
ukDave - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Oh and Jeff, i believe many mod chips have the facility to simply turn them off with a flick of a switch, so you can continue to use XBOX Live. But as LotoBak says, there is the free X-Link service available too.ukDave - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
http://www.xbox-scene.com is really the only place to go for XBOX related discussion, tutorials, really anything you need to know that isn't covered in this article.I bought a bodged XBOX mod from someone in the UK, got it professionally fixed and re-modded. It now has a 120GB disk for all my games, its connected to my LAN. With the excellent XBMC i can play literally any media file from any PC over the network, be it standard files such as MP3's or AVI's, or images such as .bins/cue's.
Well worth looking into if you have an XBOX that is currently un-modded.
Also, /me wants 8 XBOX's :D Although, those 'leccy costs, eek!
Jeff7181 - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
I've been thinking about modding mine to use to play video over the network... but I don't want to lose normal Xbox (and Xbox Live) functionality. Wish that was covered here, but I guess it's not really a "mod your Xbox" article as much as it's a "mod an Xbox to make a cheap PC" article.LotoBak - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Nice guys... besides your linking problemKnowing a little more about the xbox scene a few things your might consider...
1) Mods go for as cheap as 10USD retail.
2) Software exploiting the xbox is always an option which results in a 'free' modchip
3) http://tutorials.xbox-scene.com to learn about most anything
4) XBMC dvd menu support is comming!
5) XBMC irc channel on irc.efnet.info #xbmc
6) Online gaming is free through Xlink www.teamxlink.com
7) Emulators for n64 and 'down' are available
8) This is the cheapest htpc with 480p 720 and 1080i available
9) xbmc supports many formats
Audio : wav, aac, ac3, mp3, flac, ra, vorbis
Video : ogg avi mkv rm, mov containers
Codec : xivd, divx, mpeg2, mpeg1, quicktime, realvideo and realaudio (limited) and many others. The video engine is based apon mplayer open source project
Networking :
Shares :Supports ccx, samba (windows file sharing), and replaytv shares.
Streaming : Supports a multitude of video and audio streaming formats. webradio is included which has a 'channel' browser for online shoutcast streams. There is also a apple movie trailer browser.
Scripting :
XBMC has python scripting language implimented so its open to many possibilities
XBMC does have some rough edges but it is maturing quickly. If you are interested in contributing to the project check out www.xboxmediacenter.com and the 'XBMC' project on sourceforge
Feel free to ask questions about xbox stuff here... ill watch it for a while
Marlin1975 - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2271...Marlin1975 - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
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