The Xbox is Microsoft's first console gaming device. Staying with what they know, Microsoft built their gaming system out of parts that are very similar to a desktop system. Its CPU is an Intel Pentium III 733-MHz processor. It has a custom Nvidia GeForce 3 graphics card. It comes with 64MB of RAM, an 8GB or 10GB Hard Disk, and a 2X to 5X DVD drive. In addition, it has an Ethernet port and each one of the controllers is a USB port.

At the time of its release, the Xbox had the components of a mid-range computer for half the price. Because the Xbox is really just an x86 at heart, the Linux community started creating distributions for it immediately.