Author Topic: Linux on GameCube (Read 7604 times)

WindyMan · « **on:** January 20, 2004, 08:20:43 AM »

Not even Nintendo is safe from Linux geeks.

Link: http://www.gc-linux.org/

Do you remember that big fuss about Microsoft not liking the fact that some homebrewers managed to get the open-source Linux operating system up and running on the Xbox? Apparently, since that job is done, a bunch of people involved in the Xbox Linux project have moved on to greener pastures, or more specifically, they're trying to run the OS on a GameCube.

The theory behind the project is that since the GameCube is nothing more than a specialized computer with a Mac-based CPU (the PowerPC), it shouldn't be all that difficult to have Linux run on it, despite the differences between the GC and an Xbox, the most obvious of which is a hard drive.

Since no games are being copied, ripped or otherwise stolen, and the actual GameCube isn't being modifed in anyway, this project is technically legal to do under the DCMA's Reverse Engineering exception, or so the Linux people claim.

To read all about this project, click here

jasonditz · « **Reply #1 on:** January 20, 2004, 08:48:55 AM »

Woooo

Guitar Smasher · « **Reply #2 on:** January 20, 2004, 09:00:45 AM »

And this means...

SuperCube · « **Reply #3 on:** January 20, 2004, 09:27:08 AM »

It means we might finally have an operating system on the GCN and unlike Microsoft, Nintendo will probably shrug it off since they don't know much about what it's customers does anyways. That's what I think anyways. Pretty cool they might be able to do that.

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #4 on:** January 20, 2004, 09:27:53 AM »

That's because Ninty is strictly sticking to games, where it should...

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #5 on:** January 20, 2004, 09:30:56 AM »

There is an OS on the Gamecube if there wasn't it wouldn't be able to accress games. Its a Nintendo made OS though.

SuperCube · « **Reply #6 on:** January 20, 2004, 09:34:05 AM »

Well, when I said operating system I meant one that could also be used on a PC. My bad on communication, sorry. ^_^

jasonditz · « **Reply #7 on:** January 20, 2004, 09:52:52 AM »

Actually this might be relatively useful. Since its netbooting anyways the lack of internal hard drive isn't that important. Of course if they could get a SD-card adaptor working for the purpose of saving user data that'd be good.

Saturn2888 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 20, 2004, 11:05:43 AM »

wait a sec then. Is an Emulator a system's OS on a PC (or whatever it's used on) or would there be some way to boot the gamecube OS specially designed for a PC as a separate OS other than DOS or Windows (and I know it's hard to get past DOS on a Windows PC).

manunited4eva22 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 20, 2004, 11:12:19 AM »

yes, but it requires a lot of work to do. The gamecube and x86 PCs (If you have a pentium, athlon, or any via cpu this is you) run on different ISAs( Instruction Set Architectures) This is the core of how things are read, a good analogy of this would be two different languages. You can translate them, but it takes more time to do and is much more taxing than doing only one languge. Becuase of this a much more powerful PC would have to emulate the gamecube, and at the moment it would be a complete pain in the ass and very unstable to do (the ps2 can cause even a great PC to get only 7-8 FPS on DDR.)

I thought that gamecube was running off a specialized microkernel of sorts, something not more than maybe 100kb, but who knows.

Shin Gallon · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2004, 06:06:16 PM »

Umm...okay...and the reason they wanted to do this was...what? To take a perfectly good game machine and run an OS on it that doesn't belong there just because? What the hell?
It must be nice to not have anything better to do, I wish I had that kind of free time on my hands...

Sebbo · « **Reply #11 on:** January 21, 2004, 12:49:36 AM »

does ne one know what the other serial port is used for? the GBP uses the high speed, the LAN adapter uses a serial port which leaves one left with no products announced for it. could the GC Linux team (or someone else) somehow find a way to connect this port to an external hard drive?
having a LAN adapter is gonna play a crucial role in running linux and its apps on ur gc, esp since the team mention servers quite a bit

i wonder what distro the GC linux will b with. the x-box had mandrake, will the gc b aligned w/ mandrake as well, or could we see lindows on our purple cubes?

oh well, enough pants wetting for me

KDR_11k · « **Reply #12 on:** January 21, 2004, 04:29:46 AM »

Probably some real Linux, so no Lindows (it's as secure as Windows 98, BTW). They have the tux program done already (that's how it began on the XBox as well). I hope for a Debian.

manunited4eva22 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 21, 2004, 09:59:28 AM »

Shin: well basically you summed it up.

Shin Gallon · « **Reply #14 on:** January 21, 2004, 11:19:58 AM »

Everything must have teh Linux!
Look, my toaster runs Mandrake!
My car runs on Lindows!
Awsome, I got Linux running on my girlfriend finally!

: P

Azalyn · « **Reply #15 on:** January 21, 2004, 01:12:53 PM »

Shin...

If you took a minute to check the FAQ and roadmap on their site. You would have your answer as there is a section that asks "why would I want linux on my GC?" and then the authors proceed to answer the question with a few potential uses.

Linux is a usefull OS to get running on any hardware. A gamecube is only $99 US now, thats pretty cheap for a box with hardware that packs a considerable punch. Some people could use it in a distributed computing network to enhance the collective processing power of the network.

This is mostly about using hardware you already have to do more.
In my case, my main PC is very very underpowered and ancient. It's a P2 400Mhz MMX.
My GC which costed me only $199 US when I bought it on release day (I think that was the release price?) is like twice as powerfull then my PC which costed me $2000 when I orriginally bought it.

I'm particularly fond of anime also, and I like watching some on my PC. But with some files, theres audio/video desync and so on, I have to rewind often just to resync it. It gets annoying after awile. Now, when GC linux is done, I'll be able to play the files that are on my PC's HD, over the network, and on the GameCube, they will be played on my TV screen, and I'll be able to use a wavebird controller as a remote.
Now before you say something extremely typical (as well as predictable) such as "buy a better pc!", may I remind you that not everyone has the money to spend on new stuff all the time. And what the hell would be the point, I already *HAVE* the hardware and the equipment needed to do this, I even have a keyboard that I got for PSO, so for me this would be a really inexpensive and very efficient solution. And I could save my money for other purchases.

Anyways, thats my story. And when GC-Linux is done, I'll live happily ever after.

Another obvious use is as a development environment, there are many people who are in the homebrew gamedev sceene, and developing on an actual console will give you a lot of nessesary experience if you ever decide to go into game programming as a carreer.

If you want more examples, then you can check out the site.

I'm done.

Shin Gallon · « **Reply #16 on:** January 22, 2004, 07:26:20 AM »

I still see it as a waste of a perfectly good game system...but, if that's something you're into, that's well and good. To be honest, I don't really care much, it's more the "We have to put Linux on everything! And you suck if you don't use Linux!" additude most Linux fanatics seem to have (at least, almost every Linux user I've ever spoken to seems to have that additude).
Personally, I'm just tired of Linux fanatics copping an additude with me every time I mention that I use Windows, and then they start talking to me like I'm either a corporate whore or a moron. This happens almost every time I talk to a Linux user (with a few exceptions, it's just that I find this to be the rule rather than the exception).
Myself, I'm perfectly happy using Windows or Mac, and leaving my Gamecube as what it should be: A game system.

el_papo · « **Reply #17 on:** January 22, 2004, 08:33:37 AM »

The feelings you have against linux users, don't have anything to do with the fact that Linux is a better OS than windows, there's no question about it. It offers stability, control and dependability you can count on, no BSOD (blue screen of death) and higher security (I don't to do updates every week on my linux box) now why do you need linux on gc? well let me tell you it is a great idea since the gc is inexpensive piece of hardware, it will allow you to run linux servers for a fraction of cost, imagine being able to run a apache web server from my networked gc!! for $99 or less, thats a deal, and since the gc has great native decoders for MPEG 4 /DivX, MP3 media formats, it makes an awesome top box set for playing streaming media from the internet directly into your tv!!.
the possibilities are countless once you put an OS that can manipulated on the GC...
that's my 2 cents.

Shin Gallon · « **Reply #18 on:** January 22, 2004, 10:07:41 AM »

That's all well and good if I felt like running an OS that I'd spend more time tweaking and recompiling my kernal than actually running productivity software on. I have no interest in running Linux, I never will have an interest in running Linux, and this is exactly what I was talking about in my last post...

Sebbo · « **Reply #19 on:** January 22, 2004, 02:29:42 PM »

if thats ur view shin, then thats ok. no one can change it for u, and i'm not going to try to either
i really can't wait. i've got a computer that only just lets me do some basics and the most advanced game i can run on it is the sims (doesn't go well tho, mind u). with linux on gc i'll b able to play heaps better games. just d/l a patch for halo and i can play it on the gc, same for UT and many more (i'd love to get online, go into a UT room w/ x-box players and tell them that i'm playing from a gc, hehe)
when linux for x-box was announced, my dad wanted me to ditch the gc and get an x-box just so he could run linux on it (he already has it running on many of the computers in the house). now that its on gc, i'm sure he'll b able to go out and buy his own gc to play around with

KDR_11k · « **Reply #20 on:** January 22, 2004, 10:45:30 PM »

I've talked to quite a few people who considered the XBox a cheap cluster system... Might boost GC sales a bit.

Shin Gallon · « **Reply #21 on:** January 23, 2004, 06:16:25 PM »

Well, I suppose anything that will sell GCs can't be all bad ; )

TrickyRicky · « **Reply #22 on:** January 26, 2004, 02:11:23 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Sebbo
with linux on gc i'll b able to play heaps better games. just d/l a patch for halo and i can play it on the gc, same for UT and many more (i'd love to get online, go into a UT room w/ x-box players and tell them that i'm playing from a gc, hehe)

Would this actually be possible? I'm unfamiliar with linux. Would I also be able to use my gamecube to surf the internet with linux and use instant messager, etc with it?

Ocarina Blue · « **Reply #23 on:** January 26, 2004, 06:06:50 PM »

Yes, but you'll need more than just a GC to store the games on. Even then, there are still a few problems that would have to be sorted out; but it's likley that someone will fix them up. There's also a chance that even with combined memory, it would be too much for most PC's to run a Windows program on Linux on a GC. A browser and instant messanger are possible, but you'd need all the equipment you'd normally have to use them.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #24 on:** January 27, 2004, 09:23:36 AM »

You could only play opensource games on the GC since you cannot recompile the binaries for, say, UT or Halo. Both are x86 games, the latter even Windows-only (WineX could overcome that restriction, though). The GC is based on PPC architecture, x86 binaries (and probably normal PPC binaries as well) won't run on it.

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Author Topic: Linux on GameCube (Read 7604 times)