The Hidden Boot Code of the Xbox

Device666 writes "In order to lock out both copied games as well as homebrew software, including the GNU/Linux operating system, Microsoft built a chain of trust on the Xbox reaching from the hardware to the execution of game code, in order to avoid the infiltration of code that has not been authorized by Microsoft. The link between hardware and software in this chain of trust is the hidden "MCPX" boot ROM. The principles, the implementations and the security vulnerabilities of this 512 bytes ROM will be discussed in this wikipedia article entitled How to fit three bugs in 512 bytes of security code."

Dupe

[dkf]

Thanks for not reading your own site, CmdrTaco

Not Wikipedia

[c0l0]

Just because some text is available on a Wiki, it's not automatically so on Wikipedia, y'know?

Re:dupe

[moonbender]

Not only that, it's also certainly not a Wikipedia article. Not every Wiki is Wikipedia, for crying out loud.

Re:Hey now...

[FireFlie]

It would seem that this article has nothing to do with wikipedia either (except mentioning the name). Correct me if I'm wrong, but wiki != wikipedia.

Re:Hey now...

[1u3hr]

In all fairness, the previous posting of this had NOTHING about Wikipedia in it. Perhaps that was the intended news to spread?

Duplicate story, duplicate link.

The previous article [slashdot.org] linked to the same page on xbox-linux.org, which is a wiki; not part of "The" wikipedia. [wikipedia.org] Taco is asleep at the switch again.

Re:Why?!

[Anonymous Coward]

My memory must be shot, I'm sure I didn't sign a license agreement.

MOD PARENT UP INSIGHTFUL

[th0mas.sixbit.org]

If I had the points, I would. Precisely what I thought when I read the GP's comments.

Until you see xbox media center play media off a remote samba share, or you sit down and enjoy playing all your old console games in similiar environment (tv/couch).. you would say things like the GP. Afterwards you would shut your mouth and learn to mod your xbox.

Re:3 bugs?

[chrismcdirty]

Please show me where they trounced Nintendo in the market place. And when I say market place, I consider the entire world where Nintendo and Microsoft have basically been neck and neck in hardware sales since their respective releases. Sure, Microsoft is doing surprisingly well in NA, but Japan is a different story.

Re:Pointless

[Nightspirit]

What are you talking about? The security stops everyone who does not have a modded xbox from playing copied games. Infact, the security is decent enough that you can't copy Xbox DVDs on your computer, you have to ftp from the DVD drive on the Xbox (which you can only do on a modded xbox). Sure, with a modchip you can bypass the protection, but what percent of xbox owners have a modchip or softmod? Likely the number is low enough to be insignificant. So it accomplishes exactly what they want it to do: stop the majority of users from copying games. By the way, anyone with a modded Xbox should check out the OSS (I believe) Xbox Media Center. It takes the Xbox to a whole new level.

Re:Ah, slashdot

[doublem]

It depends on the state. It's discrimination of the first order, but sexual orientation isn't consistently protected across the board. The company's habit of tossing resumes based on "foreign sounding names" was highly illegal, but doing so because the applicant was gay, bisexual or androgynous may not have been.

Re:Dupe

[Metasquares]

"Alter Relationship" is the alt text for those buttons. The image might not have loaded :)

huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

"The Xbox is an IBM PC, i.e. it has an x86 CPU. "

I didn't know PPC was x86....

Stupid article.