What To Do With a Free Xbox 360 Pro? 416
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the donate-it-to-me dept.
from the donate-it-to-me dept.
OzPeter writes "Last week I won an Xbox 360 Pro. However, I am not a gamer, and after looking at the current MS offerings, I am not tempted to become one. But I am in the market for a Media Center PC that I can use for streaming TV shows off the 'net as well as general web browsing and displaying video through the HDMI port. With that in mind, I again looked at MS and saw they seemed to have positioned the Xbox as an adjunct to a separate Windows Media Center PC and not as a stand alone unit (which is not what I want). So, once again, I did some more research into the Xbox homebrew scene and discovered things like Xbox Linux. But after reading that site, it is apparent that MS is trying to beat down the homebrewers, and I am left wondering how much hassle it would be to go down that path. So my question is: how should I re-purpose my Xbox? Is it worthwhile doing the Homebrew/Linux option (and can anyone share any experiences)? Are there other ways of re-purposing the device that I haven't considered? Or should I just keep it boxed up as a Christmas present for a favorite nephew?"
Why bother? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why let yourself in for a world of hurt for a device which will likely never operate in the way you require.
Best to give it as a gift, or sell it on eBay and pocket the cash, and invest that in your stand alone box.
Frankly, I can't believe you are even contemplating it.
Well, (Score:3, Insightful)
Though, Xbox Linux is probably the way to go if you want that kind of thing.
eBay it (or otherwise) (Score:5, Insightful)
Favorite nephew (Score:5, Insightful)
Penny Arcade Charity (Score:5, Insightful)
Penny-arcade.com has a charity called "Child's Play" which provides hospitalized children with toys and electronic entertainment. If I were at a loss for what to do with a new video game console, that would be the way to go for me.
Congratulations on your good fortune.
How is this even a question? (Score:2, Insightful)
Use it for casual gaming gift it, or sell it (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, you're trying to use a proverbial hammer to saw a tree. An XBox 360 is the wrong tool for anything but gaming, which is what it was built for. Therefore trying to run Linux on it or do other cool stuff is a waste of the machine UNLESS you're into that cool stuff to start with and THAT is the game. Given that you're still wondering how to use it, the answer is simple. Use it for gaming. Or sell it and let someone use it for gaming. Or give it away and let someone use it for gaming. As a media center, there are better options - if you sell it put the money towards buying one. As a linux PC, an XBox isn't the best solution. Sell it and buy a nice Intel or AMD based machine.
The world's full of interesting geeky stuff to do. One of the least interesting things you can do is to waste time forcing a machine to do something it's not designed for. Especially since you'll be using it not writing the software to do it in the first place. Life's too short.
If you've got a big screen, sell it and get a PS3 (Score:3, Insightful)
HTPC/Media centers are a pain in the a$$ and streaming video is for kids with 22" screens and huge pipes. Get a PS3, it's not perfect but it's an excellent blu-ray player, will stream stuff, and you won't have to spend an hour fiddling with it every other time you use it. Use it with TVersity or the like for more flexibility on streaming. Or if you do have just a small screen, keep the 360 and stream all you want.
Hospital (Score:5, Insightful)
Give it to a local children's hospital. Cheer up some kids that could use it.
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:4, Insightful)
Last I heard, that premise is patently false or as I like to put it, complete fucking bullshit.
Sony does actively fight to prevent anyone from having complete control of the hardware they rightfully own. PSP is the perfect example of this.
When Sony allows you to install Linux AND have complete access to all the hardware, let me know, and I will agree with your statements. Right now, you can install Linux. Yes, that is true. Do you really have access to all the hardware though? Yeah.... you don't.
Sure you can borrow my car and mess with all the radio station presets. Tires? Well, of course not! Don't be silly. I'll keep those at home.
Lets see... (Score:5, Insightful)
Store Credit (Score:0, Insightful)
If you were dishonest you could "return" it to best buy or other store, say you lost your receipt and use the store credit towards what you want
Re:Use it for casual gaming gift it, or sell it (Score:3, Insightful)
Huh. Really?
I guess by that logic McGuyver was one of most boring shows on the fucking planet, and Mr. T from A-Team was the lest interesting man on television. I pity the foo.
ebay (Score:2, Insightful)
ebay
Re:eBay it (or otherwise) (Score:4, Insightful)
You're not really fixing anything, are you? What you wrote is at best orthoganal to the real point and adds nothing more than a bad attempt at trolling to the discussion.
Grade: D-
Notes: See me after class
(The sooner this fucking stupid 'LOL FIXED THAT FOR YOU' meme ends the better, sorry)
Why would you need to ask this question? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:5, Insightful)
It is not a good reason. It is not ethical, moral, legal, etc. Sony does not rent me a PSP or PS3, they sell me one. I have had these arguments before, and quite simply, it is corruption in our legal system that allows them to continue.
The DMCA is absolute fucking bullshit. I have the absolute unequivocal right to completely own my hardware. To use a car analogy on Slashdot, there have been cases similar to this with auto manufacturers. All of the cases had been decided in the favor of the consumer. So why is electronics any different? They brought copyright infringement into it.
Without the DMCA it would be absolutely legal for you to put whatever you wanted onto a PSP or PS3 and Sony would have absolutely no recourse at all. However, since they used those cock-sucking whores in Congress to create a law that states my perfectly moral and ethical enjoyment of my own property circumvents Sony's bullshit, that I am somehow a criminal.
Last time I checked we can still own guns in this country. Well, by Sony's logic, they can take away my guns since it could possibly be used for something bad. That logic does not work, and thankfully, has not worked yet to deprive me of my right to bear arms.
This fallacious logic that is being used to deprive citizens of their rights and properties has to be fought at all costs. It has to stop.
Let me put in another way. I brutally raped some young girl because I was horny. "It's not like I did not do it for really no good reason"
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:3, Insightful)
On top of that, given that the new model PS3s don't allow linux at all, this seems particularly laughable. Apparently the hardware change was too radical to keep Linux installed but the rest of their software doesn't skip a beat? Sure....
Re:eBay it (or otherwise) (Score:4, Insightful)
You rang? And to be slightly helpful, he could trade the xbox for an older PS3 fat model that can run linux. It actually runs ubuntu fairly well.
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:3, Insightful)
Christ. You talk about fallacious logic but you really run face first into some of your own(the whole bit about Sony taking guns away should be enshrined as a shining example of what an improper analogy is, for instance).
I said that Sony does have good reasons why they would lock down a console like the PSP or the PS3 to keep out cheating and piracy. No where did I mention the DMCA.
Sony doesn't care whether or not YOU go through the hoops to tinker with your PSP. Just don't expect bug fixes, new firmware updates, warranty, etc. Your PSP as sold, is YOURS. Their update software is THEIRS.
Is Sony coming to your house to take your modded PSP? No. Sony isn't even serving C&Ds or DMCA take down notices to the GEN team or Dark Alex, or anyone who's hosing the files necessary to get CFW working. They're just doing the libertarian thing and setting rules on what happens when you install their new firmware, and what firmwares go out when they ship consoles out of their factories(hint: Google GEN-B 5.50 PSP).
To use a proper gun ownership analogy with Sony, Sony is saying, "Do you want to own a gun? Great. Don't bring it into my place of business." You forget that when you play online, you're playing on their infrastructure, or the infrastructure of who ever's providing the online servers. You're also playing against other people and you cheating ruins their experience with Sony's product. Much like how business owners can throw you out of their place of business for bringing a gun into their domain, Sony is locking down Firmware updates and new consoles sold in stores.
Donate It (Score:5, Insightful)
Give it to your local childrens' hospital. Be a gent and throw in extra controllers and an E for everyone game like Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Star Wars, or Viva Pinata.
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:3, Insightful)
My analogies are perfect. Sony is preventing me from having full unfettered access to my system so that I can use it without their control and software. That it is not something I am making up. Your "good" reasons are anything but.
Saying Sony will take your guns away was stupid. Really. really. stupid.
I'm not sure if you're an idiot or a troll or whatever. If you're not a troll, then I hope in good faith you understand the next following statements. Sony is in business to sell games and consoles and make money, not general purpose computing machines.
It's no shock to anyone when you, or some other OSS, or Free Software or whatever movement zealot screams this. They lock down their games console so that way some schmuck with a HDD to USB adapter couldn't just dump games to the hard drive, and run them with out paying for it. This would hurt their business, severely. Why would they ever expose themselves to that kind of risk?
Many consumers also recognize the fact that while some devices do have similarities to general purpose computers, they also recognize the fact that why someone would pigeon hole such a device towards one task and set their expectations accordingly, and in many cases, accept it and purchase a machine. Some don't. Sony is not forcing you to purchase a PS3. This is not a totalitarian regime with forced consumption.
The DMCA is obviously at issue here because there would be no way on God's Green Earth they could stop me without it. Once again, not by the use and installation of my own software, but by the removal of theirs. You act like I can just choose not to use their software freely and without hindrance. That is a damnable lie.
The DMCA is not an issue here. When has Sony ever issued a DMCA notice to Dark AleX or the GEN team or anyone else in the PSP hacking community? This is why I'm pretty sure you're a troll, or some sort of blind crazy zealot.
How are they stopping you? By implementing a DRM scheme that activates when reading EBOOT.PBP files off of the memorystick and chosing not to run software that doesn't validate. That's how. Not DMCA take down notices, or other legal threats. Using technical means, not legal ones. Shut up about the DMCA already. It is a red herring.
Christ I feel like I just wrote an article for simple.wikipedia.org
"Give it to charity"? (Score:3, Insightful)
With games at 50-60 bucks a pop the actual 'box' part of the XBox is only the beginning of the expense of owning a console.
Re:Keep in its box (Score:2, Insightful)
Eventually every 360 that is actively used will RROD
Every 360 that is used will eventually stop working if given enough time (you have no basis for "rapidly"), but the "red ring of death" is an indicator for a specific hardware malfunction that not every 360 will fall victim to. It's a bit like saying "Eventually, everyone will die of a heart attack." Everyone will die eventually, but not necessarily of a heart attack.
Also, "desperate M$ fanboi"? Seriously? Am I on /. or am I on the gameFAQs boards?
Re:Use it for casual gaming gift it, or sell it (Score:2, Insightful)
One of the least interesting things you can do is to waste time forcing a machine to do something it's not designed for.
If everyone thought the same way as you do we wouldn't have XBMC, the best media centre software around. Hacking and Modding is all about using things for purposes they were not designed for and in doing so has brought about some really innovative stuff.
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, a country without guns... That most be HORRIBLE!? There can be no high school shootings when there's no access to guns!
Yes, you're right. That's exactly why kitchen knives et al should be banned as well! Will someone please think of the children?!? http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/12/2568031.htm [abc.net.au]
http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/news-gossip-chat/26459-stabbing-mountain-creek-high-school.html [pomsinoz.com]
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-42523133.html [highbeam.com]
A gun is a tool exactly like a knife is a tool, except of course for those who gleefully eat meat and yet seriously have no idea where it comes from.
Re:Why bother? (Score:3, Insightful)
Paragraphs
Re:Why bother? (Score:3, Insightful)
at the end of a paragraph. It's a pain, but it's what you have to do to format your text in a way that's readable.