Adding Usb Inputs On Your Xbox`, an easy task for the technical savvy? Options

[osmorphyus]

hey gang,

something just flew into my head, so i thought id ask about it. i have one of those usb extension cables, and i never use it for anything. i read about people having usb inputs on there xbox's and its something i think would be cool to have.

knowing that an xbox controller is able to be wired into a usb plug, could i also just wire a usb cable to the proper places on the controller are of the motherboard and fix them inside the box, with a hole cut out for the usb input?

it can probably be done, but before i jump into anything that ambitious, id like to know first. if its possible, is there a link to a tutorial on how to wire it up and stuff like that?

thanks for any help!

[osmorphyus]

this is pretty slick here... whoohoo!

a further question on this - after a port has been modified, is it impossible to use a controller and a USB device on the same port? an example would be, keeping a usb memory stick plugged into the port and using the controller assigned to said port - would there be any conflagration doing this?

This post has been edited by osmorphyus: Feb 26 2009, 11:39 PM

[Heimdall]

If you wire them in parallel then you can use one or the other, but not both. That's what the X3 front panel does.

If you want a permanent USB connection (like a keyboard) it's probably worth it, otherwise just buy or make an Xbox-USB adapter (like this one) and use it when you need to!

[osmorphyus]

right on heim, thanks for the info. been a crazy night with this xbox tonight. thats cool that someone made this port, actually!

now that i know how it works out, ill be all good just doing the mod and using it whenever, like most people do! i was wondering the other day, was there ever any kind of camera interface for the box? be it webcam style or other? probably not, but i have no idea the vast components that have actually been made for the box. just 9 months or so ago, i had no idea so much actually *is* out there for it.

i was wondering out of curiosity if there was ever a chat app in maybe x-live that used webcam capabilities or anything. after talking with my brother about the headset, we started wondering all kinds of possibilities. in any case, since linux is an option, theres probably some webcam drivers that would work then for chat apps and stuff.


and that leads to a quick question: if you are running linux on your box, can it "multithread" or multitask or whatever? as in, could you play mp3s, browse with firefox, and run chat apps at the same time, like a typical desktop?

[Bomb Bloke]

There are no cameras built with the X-Box in mind, at least, not to my knowledge.

But if you're running Linux you can use pretty much whatever USB based devices you like, assuming you can find the relevant driver.

Linux on the X-Box is pretty much like Linux on the PC. It's mostly the method to getting it started that's different (due to all the security in place, which softmods/modchips/etc neatly bypass).

So yes, you can run multiple Linux apps at the same time.

[osmorphyus]

heres one for ya,

anytime i have ever tried to play around with linux on the pc, it would only run 640 x 480 as my maximum resolution, which as we all know these days, looks cruddy to say the least. no desktop space to put anything, windows are sized way too big - we all know about it.

i would try to set my screen res. to 800 x 600, and the screen would turn into a nightmare of mis-aligned imagery. i know it comes down to a basic video driver issue, and drivers for linux are usually hard as hell to come by, as most people write what works for themselves.

with linux on the xbox, does the default included driver set a higher resolution than 640 x 480? i have seen various screenshots of various installs of linux-xbox. and they all look like they run 640.

i understand that a higher resolution would make some words harder to read on the TV screen, but its the overall appearence to me that matters. one of my biggest pet peeves with linux is its lack of video drivers for several common chipsets. old intel chipsets usually arent supported, realtek audio ususally isnt supported, ive had so many issues trying it out its not even funny.

i first tried with redhat years ago, that was a bad experience. then i tried ubuntu, which is very nice looking, but a guy like me needs resolution. you say you want a resolution? well, ya know - you better write your own driver!

i had to do it - its a sign that ive cooled off from my earlier frustrations

anyway, does anyone know anything about the screen resolutions on the xbox with linux? since the box is running with an nvidia chipset, i would imagine it would have native support for a higher res. than 640.

anyone in the know about this?

[Bomb Bloke]

The reason you see so many X-Box screen caps at 640x480 is because you can't go any higher without a HD screen. That's literally the highest definition a standard definition TV can output (unless you're in a PAL region, in which case the limit is slightly higher).

But yes, if you have a HD setup, Linux can take advantage of it. For the X-Box you don't need to worry about drivers all that much because all consoles have the exact same specs.

http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Download

[osmorphyus]

so basically, the system can "tell" that its plugged into a standard TV jack then, right? probably because its an analog signal (composite) thru the RCA jack? where as the HD output would have to be thru an HDMI jack, right?


if thats the case, i wouldnt even be able to connect my box to an HDTV since i only have the usual default video/audio output. if i am thinking along the correct lines, i would have to hardware modify my box to get hd out, yes?

if no, what about using an S-Video jack?

[obcd]

The xbox has a couple of pins on it's AV connector that can be connected to GND when you plug the AV pack in. The xbox knows that way what video pack is connected, and switches it's signals according. (Or gives you the option in the dashboard to go to higher video settings.

If you connect the xbox to a VGA monitor, you will need an adapted bios for that (VGA patch). You will also need to have the xbox settings to NTSC, as PAL xboxes didn't support hires video. If your vga monitor isn't supporting sync on green, you will need to build a sync separator circuit to have the separate sync signals needed for a VGA monitor.

If you connect it to a TV set with a hires RGB input, all you need is a hires video pack and an NTSC xbox.

If you live in Europe, switching to NTSC can be tricky. You probably won't have a picture anymore on a normal tv set. It's difficult to change settings without a picture...

regards.

[Bomb Bloke]

Note also that you can't just fool the console into outputting HD video through a cable that doesn't support it. It simply doesn't work like that. You either have the right cable for the job, or you don't.

S-Video is very bad in terms of quality. It does not support HD. Unless you're going with the VGA out, you'll need either a SCART or Component cable.