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Monday, November 14th, 2005 at 4:28 AM

Here’s a quick Xbox hack I did a long while ago when the 007: Agent Under Fire exploit first debuted. The hack called for an Xbox memory card or a USB flash drive to transfer the files. At the time I did not own a memory card, as the Xbox ships with an 8 GB internal hard drive for storing game saves and caches. However, I did have a 32 MB USB 1.1 flash drive, which is small by today’s standards. I had read that the Xbox would easily format most flash-based media, so I decided to build a little adapter. Internally, the Xbox uses USB for all its controller I/O, including the overpriced, low capacity memory cards.

To build this adapter, I purchased an extra $5 breakaway cable replacement, cut the cord in the middle, and snapped open the green plastic connector. You could also use the same piece from an existing controller. Regular computer USB cables have four wires in them, but the Xbox has a fifth for powering light guns and other devices — its wire stands out a bright yellow. Jameco sells the necessary female USB A connector, but one can be acquired more quickly by de-soldering one from an existing device. In my case, this was a dead USB hub. Following a pinout of the USB standard, I soldered the appropriate wires to the matching color of the Xbox connector, simply skipping over the yellow wire.

To finish up the hack, I fit the whole assembly into the original Xbox controller plug with a little Dremel work. (What hack would be complete without a Dremel?) Only a small few bits of plastic at the end needed to be removed to fit the USB connector into the space where the cord used to protrude. The halves can be snapped or glued together to hold the plug secure. The finished adapter can connect USB flash drives, keyboards, and mice to the Xbox. A hub can also be attached to use all three within Xbox-Linux.

You can see larger images in the gallery or at Flickr.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2005 at 4:28 am and is filed under Hacks, Xbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 4:16 PM

I finally got around to subscribing to MAKE, a magazine about technology related do-it-yourself projects ranging from household things to in-depth circuitry. I’ve put it off for so long mostly because of the $35 price tag, but I recently got a small promo code pushing it down to $29, and so I made the jump. In the long run, both prices are cheaper than buying most magazines off the shelf (MAKE is published quarterly), and I’ll bet that none are as jam-packed with information as MAKE. While I have yet to receive my first issue, I have been a fan of Associate Editor Phil Torrone’s work since his first Engadget Podcast. He also featured a hack of mine on G4TV not too long ago, which was a welcome surprise. I look forward to doing many of the MAKE projects in the near future!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 at 2:24 AM

I just tried out the Myst V demo, and the first thing I noticed while getting it set up was the neat background image put into the application’s Installer package. Almost always, this is a good sign. It means someone cares about the program enough to spiff up the installer and make it stand out before you even experience the game itself. This is not unlike what Apple does with product packaging. Both Apple and Beenox (the folks who ported Myst V to Mac) realize that the user experience starts at the very beginning, not at the end of set-up when you finally reach the bulk of what you paid for, be it hardware or software. Attention to detail throughout the product makes it remarkable. I should point out, too, that changing the background image is an option built-in to the Installer package maker. What other software titles have you seen that pay attention to this detail?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 at 2:24 am and is filed under Mac. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Monday, November 7th, 2005 at 5:16 AM

Reading about the XBox’s video output, I’ve decided to build an adapter that will allow use of a VGA monitor, such as a fine new LCD. There are a number of hurdles involved related to video sync signals, but the Xbox-Linux wiki comes through again, detailing how to (among other things) use the Xbox’s internal sync signals and external red, green, and blue connections to build an adapter which provides a perfect display. It’s noted that this is the most difficult to build, but I’ll surely document it along the way for others to follow. My intent is to build everything inside the Xbox, secure the circuitry under the DVD-ROM, and have only a simple VGA connector showing on the back. Any recommendations or deals on a new VGA LCD?

11/14/05 Update
For reference: detailed Xbox AVIP Pinout (local copy)

This entry was posted on Monday, November 7th, 2005 at 5:16 am and is filed under Hacks, Xbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.