X-Box Super Computer Project
X-Box Super Computer Project
Build it and they will come.
The Goal: to create a 14 node cluster just so I can say I have a
10.2Ghz of processing power (733X14=10262) Why? Well, that will
come. Maybe turnover keys for the brute force encryption breakers
at distributed.net
or
search for aliens with SETI.
Who cares?
The Reward: A cheap Super Computer! A cluster is a type of server configuration
that shares the processing burden of large tasks over multiple PC's or in this case Xboxes. Each Xbox has a mobile
Intel Celeron 733 processor so it is a cheap PC with a good amount of processing power. If they are setup in cluster configuration they can all work together to
solve mathematical problems and other tasks.
Why X-boxes? I have been trying to scrape together the
resources to do this for some time and PC's aren't cheap. The best option
I could find would be a Celeron 500-700 with an all in one board to create a PC
for around $100.00. Hopefully this will work out a little cheaper and hey
this is more fun and more challenging.
What is a cluster server good for? There are some tasks with cash prizes like being the first to find a prime number over 1,000,000. The checks are fairly simple, divide the number by every number lower than its self and see if it is evenly divisible by anything other than itself and 1. The processing burden is huge! There are other uses for an extremely large prime number in cryptography and other mathematical theory tasks.
Here is a link for one called Stone
Soup the Souper Computer.
HOW? Since each of the four game ports on the front are actually USB ports a standard USB keyboard can be used during setup, using an
adaptor for the connector.
The hard drive can be loaded with Linux and the system works as a computer
rather than a game system. Since the Xbox has onboard 10/100 network card
and decent processing power it is a prime candidate, once it is setup with Linux it can be remotely administered across the network with no need for a keyboard, mouse, or monitor.
The Plan collect as may Xboxes as possible to get parts and finance
the purchase of more. DVD drives are of little use to an individual
node on a 100BT network since M$ used substandard ones in their first
generation units there is a great demand so I expect most of my nodes will
be lacking the DVD drive.
Milestones
DONECreate a modchip and mod chip programmer.
DONE
Get one
Xbox up and running.
Move this web page over to a Linux Xbox.
Have two working as a cluster.
Add nodes
12/12/03 an Un-modded Xbox Cluster http://www.cs.uh.edu/~bguillot/xbox/home.html Four Xboxes! Largest I have seen so far.
12/01/03 Well not a lot of progress here... four and a half months and not even an update to this page. Been busy, and building the cluster just has not risen to the top of the list of good things to do. Its not off the list and I would like to make some progress but every time I install Linux I have had a problem of one sort or another. If anyone would like to offer assistance please post to the message board section I have dedicated to Xbox Linux.
7/21/03 Link to the Worlds Largest Xbox Cluster (not mine) If someone knows my claim of it being the worlds largest to be untrue please drop me a mail so I can link to that one!
6/20/03 I now have one xbox up and running Linux. Take a look at some of the steps I did to accomplish the task.
Install a
Cheapmod with Cromwell bios
Make a Keyboard/Mouse adapter
Bought some Keyboard/Mouse adapters
Downloaded Linux I
tried Mandrake but Debian is out now and I would suggest using that one.
Once I got Mandrake 9 installed I could login and navigate but I could never display a web page. I tried messing with the network and all looked ok until changed a driver on the network card and could never get it back to how it was supposed to be (went from lights on the router to none) Now I plan to do a fresh install with Ed's Debian disk and see if that will get me back to working, otherwise I will re-image the drive and start from scratch.... much fun :-(
2/8/03 Well it has been a while since my last update. I have boxes coming and going like crazy. Seems there is quite a demand for replacement parts for the Xbox so that has been taking up much of my time. Not to mention I was just on a 2 week vacation! I now have a single box that will boot to the Linux installation screen from the disks at http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/ Now I need to make some converters to allow me to hook up a keyboard.
12/30/01 Still working on getting enough broken boxes to come up with what I need. The shelves are filling up...
12/17/02 The Llamma became newsworthy? www.lcic.org I'm not quite sure what to say! Thanks! Check them out they have some good resources on Linux clusters in general.
I now have a total of five Xboxes in the stack. Progress is slow, so far no easy fixes and much of my time has been spent getting this page up to speed and documenting what I have learned about search engines in another page here
12/04/02 Not much for news today but I added some additional information as to what a clustered server is capable of to clear up some questions I have been getting via mail.
11/27/02 Now have the second Xbox in the collection. Both non- working units at this time, put two on the same shelf and they are sure to multiply. I have freed up two shelves to house about 10 units. I may just tip them on their side and do it lateral rack mount style to keep the air flow in check.
11/25/02 First update I have begun a purchasing service to start the project. I have one, one more on the way and space for many more. I'm looking for non working units to begin with. Mail
I love the idea of taken broken entertainment units that have served their purpose and putting them to good use as a multi node cluster.
Great thanks to those at http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/ for making this a possibility.
I can use all the help I can get this will be my first true adventure into a Linux clustered server environment.
Last updated 12/13/2005