| The scoop on the Xbox 360's embedded OS |
May 24, 2005
 When the Xbox 360 was launched two weeks ago amid much brouhaha over its custom-designed IBM PowerPC-based CPU with 3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2GHz each, WindowsForDevices.com wondered aloud, "What OS runs inside the Xbox 360?"
We offered a few alternatives and called on our readers for their ideas on the subject. Now, we think we have the answer to our question.
But first, a bit of background.
 As we stated in our previous story on this topic, the earlier Xbox (shown at right) was based on a Pentium-family processor and was said to run a variant of Windows 2000. But the new Xbox 360 has a completely different architecture, based on a custom triple-core IBM PowerPC processor along with other specialty silicon including a custom graphics processor made by ATI, plus 512MB of system DRAM. Further Xbox 360 specifications appear at the bottom of this article.
Since neither Windows XP nor Windows CE supports the PowerPC architecture (Windows hasn't supported PowerPC architecture since Windows NT 4.0 SP3), we devised the following set of alternatives for the Xbox 360's embedded OS: - A hitherto unpublicized port by Microsoft of Windows XP or Windows CE to the PowerPC
- A version of some off-the-shelf embedded OS, possibly even a variant of BSD Unix or #%$@& (sorry, our censors deleted the "L-word")
- A new embedded software platform developed specifically for Xbox use
And the OS is...
So, which is it -- choice 1, choice 2, or choice 3?
Our readers had some interesting comments, ranging from a derivative of the "yet to be released Longhorn" to "a ported Win XP kernel" to "its own private OS that was built from the ground up for gaming." And, to no one's surprise, nobody seemed to think Microsoft would embed BSD or "#%$@&" inside its Xbox!
We also asked fellow editor and ExtremeTech technology analyst Jason Cross (and self-described "certified geek") whether he had turned up anything about the Xbox's embedded OS while he was at E3 2005. There, we seem to have struck gold. "Yes," Cross replied, he had indeed uncovered some interesting tidbits in conversations with folks both inside and outside of Microsoft. Here's what he told us . . .
 The original Xbox ran an OS that had its roots in Windows 2000. Granted, by the time you strip out everything that is not needed in a console like the Xbox and replace some of the parts with stuff specific to that device (like the file system), and add a few pieces, it hardly resembles anything remotely like Windows 2000 at all. But you could say that's where its original roots lie, even if 95 percent of it has been cut or heavily altered.
The Xbox 360's OS, in turn, has its roots in the OS of the original Xbox. I've been told (not by Microsoft, but by one of its hardware partners) that the Xbox absolutely positively does NOT run Linux [oops, the censors missed that one --Ed.] or Unix or some variant of that. The Xbox 360 project started with the Xbox OS the same way the Xbox project started with Windows 2000. They cut, added, and changed it in both large and small ways. It's now quite a bit different from the Xbox OS, which was itself quite a bit different from Windows 2000.
Really, the best way to think of it is as "The Xbox 360 OS." But if you really have to think of it in Windows terms, you could say it has roots in Windows 2000 by way of the original Xbox, albeit with sweeping changes along the way.
So there you have it: the Xbox 360 reportedly runs a second-order derivative of Windows 2000 that has been ported to the custom triple-core IBM PowerPC processor. Well, that's what we think, anyhow.
Why does it matter?
Bear in mind, Microsoft has big plans for the home -- plans that include media center PCs, family entertainment centers, TV set-top boxes, portable media players, mobile phones, and, of course, gaming devices.
Considering that the Xbox 360 represents a powerful new computing platform that will be finding its way into tens of millions of homes, it seems likely that Microsoft will attempt to leverage the device to extend its reach throughout the home, offering a wide range of capabilities and services. As a case in point, Microsoft already offers an upgrade kit that turns the earlier version of the Xbox into a Media Center Extender in support of Media Center PCs.
Hence, the Xbox 360 appears likely to become a hardware/software platform that will host a multitude of Microsoft and third-party upgrades, add-ons, and applications -- consisting of both software and hardware products. All of which means the Xbox 360's embedded software platform may soon be a software platform that developers need to learn about, and use.
What's your opinion?
Join the discussion: talkback here!
Hardware specs -- Xbox 360 compared to Xbox
| Xbox 360 | Xbox | | CPU | Custom-designed IBM PowerPC-based CPU with 3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2Ghz each; 2 hardware threads per core and 6 hardware threads total | Intel 733MHz Pentium III; one hardware thread | | CPU Floating Point Performance | 115.2 GFLOPS | 1.466 GFLOPS | | Graphics Processor | 500 MHz custom-designed chip, developed by Microsoft and ATI; 48 parallel processing units (at 24 times total power) | 233 MHz custom-designed chip, developed by Microsoft and Nvidia; 4 parallel processing units | | Total Memory | 512MB GDDR3 RAM | 64MB | | Memory Bandwidth | Main memory: 22.4GB/sec; EDRAM rendering memory; 256GB/sec; frontside bus: 21.6GB/sec | Main memory: 6.4GB/sec; EDRAM rendering memory: N/A; frontside bus: 1GB/sec | | Polygon Performance | 500 million/sec | 116.5 million/sec | | Simultaneous Textures | 16; bilinear filtering | 4 | | Pixel Fill Rate | 16G/sec | 3.7G/sec | | Compressed Textures | DXT1-5 | 6:1 | | Input / Output | Wireless game controllers (support for up to 4); 3 USB 2.0 ports; 2 memory unit slots; Ethernet port | Game controllers (x4); Ethernet port | | Audio Channels | More than 256 | 256 | | Audio Support | 3D audio; Dolby Digital 5.1 | 3D audio; Dolby Digital 5.1 | | HDTV Support | 16:9; 720p and 1080i standard | 16:9; 720p and 1080i supported | | Software Format | DVD | DVD | | Size | 3.27 x 10.16 x 12.17 in. | 3.5 x 10.25 x 12.75 in. | | Weight | 7 lbs., 11 oz. | 8 lbs., 11oz. |
More techie bits about the Xbox 360
To learn more about the Xbox 360, read this comprehensive coverage at WindowsForDevices.com sister sites, 1UP.com and ExtremeTech.com . . .
Other related stories
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