The XBox is currently a pretty hot item, and many people have started projects to be get the best of the console system developed by Microsoft. We have already seen a multi media player that will turn the XBox into a DivX playing machine, and also the bios seems to be hacked.
Another project, housed on the open source development platform Sourceforge, is trying to get Linux on the Xbox, making the device Microsoft free. Now they have posted on their website that there will be a 200,000 USD award for those who succeed in running Linux on the box:
The basic goal of the project is to find a simple and completely legal way to run Linux on the Microsoft Xbox. |
The whole project is divided into two sub-projects, the first one consisting of four tasks.
Project A: Porting Linux to a modified Xbox:
Project B: Xbox hack without any hardware modification
A total of US$ 100,000 will be awarded for the completion of each of the two projects.
The money will be distributed by the anonymous donor either upon completion or after the deadline. Since their identity is known to the project leaders and well-respected, all participants can be sure that the money for goals that will have been reached will of course be distributed.
The site also mentions that the anonymous donor is known by the project leaders of Xbox-Linux and that the donor is trustable. The goal of this donation is probably to boost the speed of the development of the project. More information can be obtained from here.
Source: Xbox-Linux
