Check out
http://wiki.rootzwiki.com/Motorola_Xoom
For instructions to get android sdk (adb/fastboot) up and running. fastboot wasnt in the current sdk. i downloaded release 1.6.r1 from http://developer.android.com/sdk/older_releases.html and put that in my platform-tools directory.
Links for the root image and what not are busted there, so go to
http://www.xoomforums.com/forum/motorola-xoom-development/9621-root-universal-xoom-root-any-xoom-any-update.html
Follow instructions. make sure to copy the Xoom-Universal-Root.zip to EXTERNAL sdcard before you start :-)
I followed the instructions exactly as written and after reboot the Xoom was rooted.
For BT5:
go here http://www.backtrack-linux.org/downloads/, download BT5 for ARM.
unzip file, follow instructions in readme. It takes awhile to copy and extract things. I had two adb shells so i could watch the progress.
Similar instructions here: http://www.secmaniac.com/blog/2011/05/15/backtrack-5-on-motorola-xoom-in-10-minutes-or-less/
The result:
Of course, about 5 seconds of trying to type on it made me not think it was so cool. So if there is an easy way to make it suck less to send text the console let me know.