Computer Hope
Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: linuxlover on March 06, 2007, 01:24:27 PM
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I've been wondering, since the xbox uses the same archecture as the PC, and since I have an old PC sitting around, how hard would it be to make it think it were an xbox? I've heard that you can't simply use a regular dvd-rom drive because the xbox reads the disc backwards, but I also know that the xbox uses a standard IDE bus and a custom power port. I'm pretty sure I could write a bootloader to run the xbox dashboard and firmware so that it could be tricked into being an xbox, however, wouldn't it detect that My hard drive is a 20GB standard drive instead of an xbox drive? If so would I need to get an xbox hard drive too? And yet another question - the motherboard and cpu. Would it detect that I have an ATX motherboard and a Pentium III @ 800MHz? Instead of a custom mobo and a celeron 733. I have exactly 64MB of RAM so I don't expect any problems from that end which is good. And yet another question - how would I plug in the controller? Are there adapters that I can buy for that? And what if I ever want to use a memory card? I suspect that the controller for the xbox is on an usb bus, and probably the memory also. And could I use my ethernet port to transfer files to and from my computer? I'm not interested in hacking the 'xbox' or copying games or anything. Just another gaming console made from a useless PC. And would the graphics card even be compatible with the xbox firmware? Thanks in advance ;-)
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Wow, nice project.
I don't think it would work though.
However, if you can write the bootloader, I guess you could trick the "Xbox" into using a standard drive,motherboard and P-3.
The controller interface is just a modified USB port.
I'm not sure about anything else but I'll keep watching, this is a really interesting project whether it works or not.
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I would love to see the results if you give this a try!! What a neat project, good luck if you try it!
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Ok, first thing I'll need to do is get my hands on an xbox dashboard file. Anyone know where I can get my hands on one? And is there a way I can hack my 'xbox' into using my pc controller? I'll need at least that. I'll continue googling for some results... once again, thanks in advanced.
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The dash files are found at a place commonly know as "the usual places". Here [highlight]http://xbox-scene.com/articles/xbins.php [/highlight] is a tutorial on how to get those.
Because the xbox is mostly firmware and BIOS based I don't think you'll be able to turn a regular PC into one. However, there are many people that have upgraded the CPU in xbox's to faster PIII's and installed more RAM. If you happen to find any info on doing this let me know, seeing as how I am probably wrong.
Going the opposite direction is a much different story, though. Turning an xbox into a PC is pretty easy.
EDIT: Using a Keyboard and Mouse on the Xbox is easy. You can either buy a little dongle thing that will do it or just wire a USB cable right into the controller port on the inside. The controller port is a USB port in a different shape pretty much...
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Ok, I'll try it tonight. It says that it's only homebrew software. Will I be able to at least download unleashX? Actually that woud probably be a better choice than a cold-boot xbox because the cold-boot will not work with any games because of the dvd-rom drive. One more thing, is there anything on exactly how to mod a standard DVD drive to run in 'xbox-mode'?
(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8924/pc2xboxai5.jpg)
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I have had some significant breakthroughs in the project! :D Unfortunately, the work has already been done for me. :-( See Cxbx (http://www.caustik.com/cxbx/). I have already ported XBMC to a windows archetecture. Would it be legal if I were to release such on the internet???