How To Install Ubuntu Linux On Your Xbox 360 HDD

Yes, its finally here!!.  I have tried to make this tutorial as clear and easy-to-follow as possible.  Lets get started...

If you want to make this work, you're going to need some tools.  This means hardware and software.  I am also assuming, in this tutorial, that you have an Xbox 360 with a DVD drive flashed with the latest hacked firmware.  However, since these forums already have many excellent tutorials on how to perform these modifications, I won't go into details here.

You are going to need:

- IMPORTANT: Xbox 360 with Kernels 4532 or 4548 -

- King Kong ISO -

- King Kong Shader Exploit (ftp://linux360:linux360@mydedibox.homelinux.com/embedded_xell.zip) -

- Location of Ubuntu script (http://mydedibox.fr/burgerbee/ubuntuinstall.sh)

- Ubuntu HDD Boot CD (https://home.comcast.net/~ssmurf/XELL-B … a2-new.iso) -

- Gentoo PPC LiveCD (http://downloads.sourceforge.net/free60 … ta.tar.bz2) -

- USB mouse and keyboard -

- DVD+R DL burner -

- DVD+R DL discs - 

- Xbox 360 is connected to a PC LCD monitor via VGA -

- Basic - Intermediate linux knowledge -


Assuming you downloaded the software, and your Xbox 360 meets the Kernel requirements, we'll start the installation...
    First, patch your King Kong ISO with the shader hack.  The zip file it came in provides in-depth instructions on how to do this.
Now that you have a patched ISO, you will need to apply the security sector (if not done already), and burn the game to DVD.  Next, you need to burn the Gentoo livecd to a CDR.  For convenience, you could also burn the Ubuntu boot CD, as you are going to need it soon.
    So, once you have all that done, make sure your Xbox 360 has a wired internet connection, and insert the hacked King Kong DVD.  At the title screen, press start, and a few seconds later the DVD drive door will open.  When this happens, you must quickly insert the Gentoo LiveCD and close the drive.  After a bit of disc activity, you will see some linux boot messages, and eventually a login GUI screen.  Here, don't do anything and in about 20 seconds it will autologin.  This is important, as you don't know the login yourself. 
    Once the desktop loads, you will need to open a terminal by going to Accessories > Terminal.  When you get the terminal window, you will notice that the keyboard is acting strange, with certain keys having different functions.  Under the System menu on the start menu bar, you will find options to change the keyboard type, if you wish.  Finally, in the terminal, type: (without quotes)

"sudo su"

And then:

"wget http://mydedibox.fr/burgerbee/ubuntuinstall.sh"

Last, type:

"sh ./ubuntuinstall.sh"

When you are told to, reboot the Xbox 360 using the King Kong DVD, but this time, swap it with the Ubuntu HDD Boot CD when the drive opens.  When you have done this, it will ask you for a new admin password.  Take care when entering this, as you MUST remember it to access linux!  The installation will now proceed automatically, and eventually ask you to select the Xserver-drive.  When this happens, choose "xenonfb".  This installation may take a while for some people, as it must download almost 600MB of files.  When the installation in complete, you will either get a message telling to reboot the Xbox 360, or it will happen automatically.
When you reboot, you will be presented with a login screen.  Here, enter your password (please tell me you remember it ), and you will be in Ubuntu Linux!!
Any time you want to use Linux, simply do the King Kong boot and swap method, using this boot CD.  You can even eject this CD afterwards to access any files you have on disc! 
I hope this tutorial was of some help to you, and you can expect to see more (Specifically on my 360 Windows XP project) tutorials very soon .

Last edited by troy2000 (0705.19 17:44:29)