Matthew Broersma of ZDNet (UK) reports that a German programmer says he has made the first step toward running the Linux operating system on Microsoft's Xbox game console — without running into any legal entanglements. Broersma writes . . .

“Michael Steil, a German programmer, has built an application called linuxpreview, which simply flashes the Xbox LED (light-emitting diode) and draws a penguin on the Xbox start-up screen, along with the message “Xbox Linux Coming Soon!” and a link to the Xbox Linux Web site. However, it is touted as the first application to run on Xbox without using tools from the official Xbox Software Development Kit (SDK), and is the first step toward turning the Xbox into a Linux-based PC.”

“Steil is the head of the Xbox Linux Project, which is marshalling volunteers to figure out a way to run Linux — which directly competes with Microsoft's Windows operating system — on the console without using any of Microsoft's proprietary development tools. In some ways, the project should be simple, since Xbox is built from hardware that is identical or similar to a standard Intel-based PC . . .”

Read full story

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.