Tutorial written by : Chippy (original location - posted here with permission of author)

Many thanks to Slain for the excellent tutorial posted on xbox-scene.com on which this one is based, works a treat. The only problem being that the X-win32 X server used in that tutorial costs US$245. Let me say now, this is NOT an unreasonable cost for such excellent software in a commmercial environment, however for the home user it is a little dear. The following tutorial uses Cygwin/XFree86 which is about US$245 cheaper, that is to say free. I like free.

I assume you have the following:

* Linux set up on the Xbox. This has been tested with Ed's 0.1.0 testing distribution, but I see no reason why it shouldn't work with Mandrake. If not, use Jukko Aho's excellent tutorial.
* You have set up a non-root user, if not, refer to Jukko Aho's tutorial.. Ok, so this is a local secure session, but I still think it's best to run most things as a non-root user.
* XFree86 installed on said Xbox, and I am using KDE3 as window manager.
* A windows PC. This has been tested under Windows XP Pro and Windows ME, it should work on any windows from 95 onwards.

In this tutorial, the Xbox has IP address 192.168.1.151, because that's how mine's set up. Please substiture your own IP where appropriate. When it says [enter] it means press the Enter key, don't type [Enter] :-)

Step 1: Set the PC up.

First grab the Cygwin setup program from http://cygwin.com/setup.exe (167k) and when asked, save it to your desktop.

Execute the program and click 'Next' on the first screen.

Ensure 'Install from Internet' is selected on the following screen, and press 'Next'.

The next screen asks you for the root diectory for Cygwin and options for installing for all users and the default file type. Unless you know better, leave it like it is and press 'Next'.

Next, you are asked for the local package directory, by default the desktop, these files are temporary anyway, so best to leave it and press 'Next'.

Now you are asked to specify what sort of connection you have, if you know, enter it, if you are sot sure, select 'Use IE5 Settings'. Press 'Next'.

The program will go off and download a list of mirrors, twiddle your thumbs while it does so.

You are then presented with a list of available download site, pick one near to you, click on it, and press 'Next'.

A bit more thumb twiddling later, you are presented with a page which allows you to pick packages, this is the tricky bit!

Scroll down to 'Net' and click on it, a sub-catagory will open up, scroll down again to 'openssh'. Click on the word 'skip' to the left of it, this will change to '3.5p1-3' and add another couple of packages.

Scroll down again, almost to the bottom, to 'XFree86', and click in the word 'Default' next to it, so it changes to 'Install'. Click 'Next'.

Go and make a cup of tea, go for a jog, watch some TV or something this is NOT a small download.

When it's finished downloading, click on 'Add icon to start menu', then 'Finish'.

Step 2: Set the Xbox up

On your PC go to Start, then 'All Programs' (Programs on Windows 9x/ME), 'Cygwin', 'Cygwin Bash Shell'.

A window will appear that looks like a DOS shell with a $ prompt.

Type:

ssh -l root 192.168.1.151 [Enter]

Enter your root password and press enter.

You should get a window like this:

You now need to enable X11 forwarding through SSH, which by default is disabled. Type:

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config [Enter]

Scroll right down, and near the bottom you'll see a line 'X11 Forwarding no'. Change the 'no' to 'yes', and press Ctrl-X to exit, then 'y' to save the changes, and 'Enter' to confirm.

Type:

exit [Enter]

to log out of the Xbox.

Type:

exit [Enter]

to close the Cygwin window.

Step 3: Getting the whole shebang going

Using you favorite Windows text editor (notepad if you must) create a file called 'xbox.bat' on your desktop containing the following:

@echo off
SET DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0
SET CYGWIN_ROOT=\cygwin
SET PATH=.;%CYGWIN_ROOT%\bin;%CYGWIN_ROOT%\usr\X11R6\bin;%PATH%

REM Cleanup after last run.
if not exist %CYGWIN_ROOT%\tmp\.X11-unix\X0 goto CLEANUP-FINISH
attrib -s %CYGWIN_ROOT%\tmp\.X11-unix\X0
del %CYGWIN_ROOT%\tmp\.X11-unix\X0

:CLEANUP-FINISH
if exist %CYGWIN_ROOT%\tmp\.X11-unix rmdir %CYGWIN_ROOT%\tmp\.X11-unix

start XWin -screen 0 800 600
ssh -X -C -l chippy 192.168.1.151

Change the last line so that 'chippy' is a user set up of your xbox and make sure the IP is correct. You can also change the '800 600' to whatever size window you want.

A command prompt will open up, and an X window above it. Change focus to the Dos prompt and type your password followed by 'Enter'.

just to test, type:

xeyes& [Enter]

you should see a pair of eyes that track the cursor appear in the window. If you do, it's working!

Asuming you have KDE3 installed (if not, why not?) type:

KDE3& [Enter]

and the KDE3 desktop environment should appear in the X window a bit like this:

Just one last thing, if you find you need to install extra Cygwin componants for whatever reason, make sure that all Cygwin windows are CLOSED before you do so, or the the installer will fail. Thanks to Ulf Lamping for this info.

Well that's it!

Many thanks to:

* Slain for the original tutorial on which this is based.
* xbox-scene forums for making this available
* The Xbox linux team for all their effort
* The Cygwin team for making the Windows end of this available