# Xbox original question **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194 "2009-09-23T03:04:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/1 "2009-09-23T03:04:35Z")
My laptop went pffftt in the night and I have to rely on the iPhone for net access till I get word on if the mobo is gone, an acer 5100 and the keyboard and USB mouse I’d unresponsive. But for the moment I need net access and money is too tight at the moment for a new laptop. What I was thinking of doing was pulling the hard drive out of the xbox original and putting a larger hard drive in, as it’s not going to be used for live, I have the 360 for that, will a standard Linux distro install with no mods? Declan ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/2 "2009-09-23T03:55:21Z")
I toyed around with the idea of doing that when I had one but never got around to it. I can’t really answer your question but there are a lot of articles that tell you how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/3 "2009-09-23T12:08:10Z")
No, a standard Linux distro will not install with no mods. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/4 "2009-09-23T23:39:19Z")
Thanks for the replies and info Declan ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/5 "2009-09-24T00:43:20Z")
[http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/vgm/1387865261.html](http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/vgm/1387865261.html) > [@](#): > > Got an old Xbox Laying Around? I can turn it into something you will love again, A Fully functioning Media Center & Old School Gaming Machine. > > XBMC Is The best media center out there. > XBMC is a program that turns the original xbox into the best media center out there. > It allows you to play media off the dvd drive or Plug it into your network, and watch all you movies, listen to your music and look at all your pictures that are stored on your computer on your TV. It also streams media off the Internet, like shoutcast, youtube, aol videos. > XBMC collects info on all your movies, music videos, and music and creates a library for them that can be browsed or searched by genre, artist, album, year, actor…etc > XBMC Plays pretty much any media format you can think of, add an HD A/V Kit and XBMC can go up to 1080i. > It can even give you the weather report. > > XBMC also has a huge community behind it, making new skins, scripts and improvements non stop. > > Here Are The Emulators, 14 Are Installed on the xbox, 5 on DVD’s. > > Atari 2600 (523 Roms) > Atari 7800 (62 Roms) > Atari Lynx (85 Roms) > Coleco Vision (185 Roms) > Gameboy (557 Roms) > Gameboy Color (422 Roms) > Intellivision (155 Roms) > MSX (477 Roms) > MSX2 (150 Roms) > NeoGeo Pocket (79 Roms) > Nintendo (783 Roms) > Sega Master System (322 Roms) > Super Nintendo (997 Roms) > TurboGrafx 16 (342 Roms) > > And These 5 On DVDs > > Arcade Games (707 Roms) > Gameboy Advance (535 Roms) > NeoGeo-CPS1-CPS2 (219 Roms) > Nintendo 64 (337 Roms) > Sega Genesis (829 Roms) > > For an additional $25 I can install a larger hard drive (that you provide) that will hold all 19 Emulators Listed above and Another that is two big for a DVD. > Before buying a hard drive please get in touch with me, The hard drive needs to be an EIDE 3.5 inch (not 2.5) Hard Drive (At Least 60GB), Not SATA. SATA hard drives WILL NOT WORK. > > The added emulators with a hard drive install is, > > NeoGeo-CPS1-CPS2 (732 Roms) > > You might Just Find Yourself Playing your old system more than your 360, PS3 or Wii. > > $75 For Mod, XBMC and 19 Emulators > $100 For Mod, XBMC, Hard drive install (that you provide) and 20 Emulators > $30 For Mod And XBMC Note: I am not the dude that is doing this in Dallas, I just have seen the ad on Craigslist before. I am not advertising for the service, I just posted it here for info. I don’t want to get in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/6 "2009-09-24T06:29:46Z")
That thing sounds pretty sweet. Would be a nice item. I wonder how well those emulators work with the XBox controller and all. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/7 "2009-09-24T12:56:29Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > That thing sounds pretty sweet. Would be a nice item. I wonder how well those emulators work with the XBox controller and all. They work great. Fantastic, even. I can’t recommend it highly enough, but it’s definitely not legal, and it won’t run on an Xbox that you buy off the shelf without some tweaking. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/8 "2009-09-24T22:10:21Z")
> [@Flymaster](#): > > They work great. Fantastic, even. I can’t recommend it highly enough, but it’s definitely not legal, and it won’t run on an Xbox that you buy off the shelf without some tweaking. One day when I have money to burn this might be something to try. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xbox-original-question/511194/9 "2009-09-25T01:41:11Z")
The money investment is not large. Maybe $50 total.