Do debug kernels higher than 5455 exist? If so, where do they come from? Kernel 5455 seems to be what the recovery disks for the later XDKs install, even though the Dashboard is a higher version, typically the version number of that XDK.
Never seen either. But we do know xblade 5455 is included in the 5849 and 5933 recoveries. There is still a chance that there might be newer kernels, but I don't think late internal recoveries would have anything different. Would be nice to see full internal recoveries pop up.
The internal recoveries are nothing interesting, they were just used by the hardware team to debug the dashboard itself. The only difference between the internal and the standard debug dashboards is that the internals were compiled with the debug flag enabled, so that the debugging information was included. This means that you can attach the XDK debugger (XB Watson) to the dashboard itself. The 5933 dashboard was made exclusively for Halo 2. I don't remember the technical details, but MS had to make a special firmware/dashboard to give the halo 2 team enough RAM to run the game on the debug kits.
The 5933 XDK, though, comes with the same 5455 debug kernel as the previous versions. What changed in retail kernels higher than 5455, anyway?
The special firmware/dash for Halo 2 has me confused too. I thought 5933External went to Halo 2 dev's, and 5933Internal was to be used with internal boxes, to test it first. I had thought the 5933 internal dash files were tied to an internal debug bios, like an xblade. Though, I haven't tried booting the internal dash with xblade 5455, or xblade 5455 itself for that matter. Your post tells me a special bios was built, 'current' with 5933, specifically to test 5933 SDK through a debug xdash. Can you confirm this or maybe shed some more light on internal motherboards like QT (Quality Testing?) and xblade (Internal Testing?) and what their actual purpose is? I have only dug up speculation. Do all internal builds have a special married bios? Sorry that I think this is so interesting!
Xblade seems to mean a few different things, so I'm not sure what you're asking. Xblade was originally just the codename for what became the 1.6 retail motherboards, is that what you're referring to?
Yes, I think that is what I am referring to. Reading alot of forum post tells me "xblade" can specifically mean the codename for the 1.6 xboxes. More loosely, I interpreted it as a codename for internal testing units that tested cheaper hardware. http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?50077-Xbox-Black-Debug-Prototype-Kit This xbox shared with us by XboxSurgeon, says XB-DVT2. A very confusing model number. To me "XBlade DVT2" makes more sense than XBox DVT2, provided Alpha 1 and 2 came before DVT3. Myria pointed out a smaller TSOP suggesting it holding an xblade bios. This one got me confused if xblade was specific to 1.6's or if the codename was more encompassing.
