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Hardware

The Next Level of X-Box Modding 262

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-wait-a-minute dept.
nikitin2k writes "A swedish guy did a really sweet xbox mod. He moved the whole thing into an aluminium chassis, changed the dvd and hdd, installed a mod-chip, wireless lan, leds, switches and Linux. Meet the xXx-box. The site is in swedish, but the pics speak for themselves. Lots of pictures here." I gotta ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer? The green lighting is a nice touch tho.
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The Next Level of X-Box Modding More

The Next Level of X-Box Modding

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  • Boom (Score:5, Funny)

    by worst_name_ever ( 633374 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:11AM (#5378005)
    Apparently he's serving the images from his Xbox too...

  • I wonder... (Score:5, Funny)

    by darkov ( 261309 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:11AM (#5378009)
    He moved the whole thing into an aluminium chassis, changed the dvd and hdd, installed a mod-chip, wireless lan, leds, switches and Linux.

    ... if the warranty is still valid.

  • Pretty classy look. If I ever made a XBox mod, I'd probably end up making something really unique, like making it look like a toaster.

  • Dude! (Score:3, Funny)

    by redneck_kiwi ( 267118 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:12AM (#5378014)
    A Dell would have been cheaper!

  • swedish chef (Score:3, Funny)

    by dizzy tunez ( 89390 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:12AM (#5378016) Homepage
    zee svedeesh meet bull X-Bux.
    bork bork bork!

  • How is this Swedish? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chewie ( 24912 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:12AM (#5378018)
    I mean, how dumb do you think we are? I checked the site, and there's not a "bork bork bork" anywhere!

    • Re:Hoo is thees Svedeesh? (Score:5, Funny)

      by MyHair ( 589485 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:03AM (#5378271) Journal
      I meun, hoo doomb du yuoo theenk ve-a ere-a? I checked zee seete-a, und zeere's nut a "bork bork bork" unyvhere-a!

      Translation courtesy of The Dialectizer" [rinkworks.com]. For effect, here's the Slashdot summary:

      Zee Next Lefel ooff X-Bux Muddeeng Herdvere
      Pusted by CmdrTecu oon Tooe-a Feb 25, '03 08:04 EM
      frum zee noo-veeet-a-meenoote-a dept.

      Um de hur de hur de hur. neekitin2k vreetes "A svedeesh gooy deed a reelly sveet xbux mud. Bork bork bork! He-a mufed zee vhule-a theeng intu un eloomeenioom chessees, chunged zee dfd und hdd, instelled a mud-cheep, vureless lun, leds, sveetches und Leenoox. Meet zee xXx-bux. Zee seete-a is in svedeesh, boot zee peecs speek fur zeemselfes. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Luts ooff peectoores here-a" I gutt esk thu, et vhet pueent vuoold it hefe-a mede-a mure-a sense-a joost tu booy a regooler cumpooter? Zee greee leeghting is a neece-a tuooch thu.
    • Quote from a Swedish friend of mine to an American one:

      Bork! Bork! Bork! is Swedish for OMFG! We make the best food! :P

  • damn...... (Score:2, Funny)

    by nebenfun ( 530284 )
    I'm totally jaded to xbox mods now....

    It won't impress me unless someone manages to cross fruit and an X-box. "Banana Box" "Lemon-Lime Box".....

    or turn the X-Box into a Cray....

    or implant a X-box into an unsuspecting human and unleash him at a Linux fest.....

    otherwise, YAWN!...back to my 'L'-Box.........

  • Sometimes (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dreamchaser ( 49529 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:15AM (#5378029) Homepage Journal
    Sometimes, as most geeks out there know, it's OK do to something silly just because you can. Sure, it probably be smarter to just buy a PC or buy the parts to build one, but many people get into either the 'coolness' factor or the 'because it was there' reasoning. Nothing wrong with that.

    • Re:Sometimes (Score:3, Insightful)

      by simong_oz ( 321118 )
      You know a lot of great things have come about because someone, somewhere, at some time has thought "Because it's there". See my sig for the classic (and my favoursite) example, but there are many others.

      In fact, you could say that it is that inquisitive attitude that is the reason we (as a human race) are so successful.
    • I totally agree with that. Its like Kennedy said, we do it not becauase we can or should, we do it because its there. I personally like this guys mod, as long as it still plays X-Box games as well (I cant read Swedish, but Im pretty sure it does, otherwise it would be a step backwords, not fowards). Id like a case like that for my Freevo box, but Im not all that creative...

      • Re:Sometimes (Score:3, Informative)

        by Tenebrious1 ( 530949 )
        Its like Kennedy said, we do it not becauase we can or should, we do it because its there.

        At least get the damn thing right. He never said because it was there. He didn't imply man climbed mountains because they were there. He did say

        We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

        Man, a simple google search would have made you look insightful instead of clueless.

        • Thank you for sucking the meaning and inspiration out of a great mans speech to try and look intelligent and insightful over a syntax error. You must be a teacher, and in that case I pity your students.

  • Well... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Hellraisr ( 305322 )
    I'm behind a firewall so I can't see the pics right now, but Xbox modding is something that is a really interesting topic right now. The whole thing of MS not wanting you to do things to your own system etc. It is refreshing to see someone actually mod their Xbox and not just paint the plastic X on the top red and call it modding or hacking.

  • The point to give up (Score:5, Insightful)

    by questamor ( 653018 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:16AM (#5378036)
    I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?

    probably at the point where imagination gives up, I think most mods are useless from a practical point of view but feh, you have fun doing it
    • And don't forget at the point when you can play
      Xbox games on a 'computer'.

      Not only do you have fun doing it, but
      people also enjoy seeing it. Hence this /. story :)

      Why do I get picked on at work for my case?
      Just because it's nt beige like everyone elses?
      Should I have bought a 'regular' computer?

      -J

      • Should I have bought a 'regular' computer?

        Nah, you should've bought a Mac ;-)

        *ducks*

        (disclaimer: I am the proud owner of an iMac, so no mac zealotry please, I am already a convert )

    • I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?

      Also, regular computers don't come at a $150 loss to Microsoft.

  • An Xbox because: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Max Romantschuk ( 132276 ) <max@romantschuk.fi> on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:16AM (#5378038) Homepage
    I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?

    If you ask me, yes. First of all it's a nice feeling to buy something and give it a personal touch. On top of that a comparable sized PC hardware would probably be hard and or expensive to find (can't look at the pics, /.ed).

    And it's always nice to do something which is supposed to be impossible and or has been made hard to do.

    It's all about the sense of accomplishment :)
    • Something impossible: like the little diamonds in the middle of the "XXX" that appear to be floating on thin air? How in the heck did he do that?

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DarklordJonnyDigital ( 522978 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:20AM (#5378051) Homepage Journal
    You ask why? I think the question is, why not?

    Running a webserver on an X-Box or a GBA, we geeks do it because we can. It was the same with the Linux Dreamcast and the laptop Amiga 600 before it. I mean, at least now the X-Box is good for something - heaven knows it's already the SIZE of a server case... ;)

  • The point is... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MojoMonkey ( 444942 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:22AM (#5378057) Homepage
    I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer? The green lighting is a nice touch tho.

    What's the point? Well, since the site is slashdotted, I was unable to read the article.... but, the point is, to have a nice looking machine... that, get this, plays X-BOX games. I'm sick and tired of the "buy a $300 Walmart PC", for most people a $300 Walmart PC doesn't DO what the want to do. Believe it or not, hardware doesn't mean squat if it doesn't run the software you want.

    • Nonsense. Nobody has the Xbox to play games... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by alexhmit01 ( 104757 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:16AM (#5378323)
      The game selection is far inferior in quantity to PS2 (if you dig quantity) or quality to the Gamecube. It's an oversized mess with lousy games and decent graphics. BTW: I have an Xbox, it was a gift. The gaming experience is SO inferior to by Gamecube (4 Wavebirds vs. a couple of clunkers). The games are inferior. And everything is built to appeal to sex-starved teenagers.

      Compare Beach Spikers (GCN), a really fun volleyball game with some over-the-top scenes, to DOA X Extreme Beach Volleyball, a collection of gratuitous scenes with casino, "hopping game," and volleyball miniggames.

      You get the Xbox as a gift, or the "wow, it's got a powerful video card" factor. Nobody gets the Xbox for the software, unless they already have a PS2 and GCN and wanted to play a particular game (Buffy is pretty cool).

      Alex

      • Live? (Score:3, Informative)

        by lowe0 ( 136140 )
        Bullshit. I have an Xbox, and I've got more games for it than for my PS2 and Gamecube put together. Sure, there's one or two crap titles, but I've got crap games for the PS2 as well (The Bouncer - WTF was I thinking?)

        On top of that, Xbox Live is a lot of fun. Load up MechAssault, Ghost Recon, or Unreal Championship and blast away with full voice support, so you can talk trash while you're lighting people up.

        And, there's Splinter Cell, which isn't even out for the other two consoles yet.

        In short, don't dismiss the Xbox just because you think people don't play games on theirs. I don't even have a modchip in mine, let alone Linux, and I'm perfectly happy with it.
        • Four good games (Mech Assault, Ghost Recon, Unreal Championship)?

          Seriously, what good games does X-Box really going that are exclusive? Splinter Cell I would've given, but now it's going to be ported to PS2 and Gamecube, so what's left?
      • Wrong, I do. I'm not a fan of MS, but I actually bought an Xbox for the select few games that it can run. While I will not argue that there are more games on Xbox or that those games are overall higher quality, you should keep a couple things in mind:

        a) some people (like me) will buy xbox just to play a few games that they really like, even if they don't play them all that often. In other words, I'm willing to pay a premium and accept (much) fewer choices in games if those few games that I do choose play better or are offered only in Xbox (or at least with unique features, i.e., internet play).

        b) xbox live (internet/multiplayer support) is far superior to what is offered on for playstation and gamecube. For some people (again, like me) the ability to play online games is HUGE, especially since I find most single player games absolutely mind numbingly dull.

        c) the graphics are in fact substantially better on xbox. Although I hate most single player games, I do enjoy Splinter Cell, in large part because of the graphics. It's not just "oh wow I have a powerful video card", but that it adds depth to the environment and contributes substantially to playability. I don't believe that you'll see a good port of it on PS2 or a game approaching that level of graphics on the other platforms.

        Now this is not to argue that this constitutes a successful business model for MS. Most kids may be deterred from buying xbox because of the relative lack of games and the prices. Players like me (i.e., those that will opt for xbox for xbox live, graphics, and those select few games) are probably too small of a niche to profit from on this sort of venture, but that still does not mean that it is not the best choice for players such as myself. Frankly, I'd love to see MS fail here, even if I did purchase Xbox :)
        • Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
        • Capcom VS SNK 2 EO
        • Fatal Frame
        • Gunvalkyrie
        • Ghost Recon
        • Jet Set Radio Future
        • Mech Assault
        • Robotech
        • Sega GT 2002
        • Serious Sam
        • Shenmue 2x
        • Splinter Cell
        • Timesplitters 2
        • Unreal Championship

        In addition to their great single and multiplayer modes, some of those games also have online multiplayer and online new missions (without PC-patch-upgrade-Windows hell), and a lot also support system link (without the LAN-party PC-patch-upgrade-reinstall-new-hardware-Windows hell). The Xbox is a better gaming PC, and the best console for multi-platform releases.

        If you don't have an Xbox to play the games, sell it. Or go to an EB and ask someone what games are good. Don't whine about it like a spoiled brat.

        Note: I own almost every console (next-gen, first-gen, etc), and have over 200 games. If a console has more than 7 good games, I buy it and the games. Very, very few consoles actually can't reach that limit; the Xbox had no problem doing it (although the GCN does have ~20 great games).

      • It's an oversized mess with lousy games and decent graphics

        Two words: Steel Battalion [capcom.com].

        Of course, if you think the XBox is oversized, you probably couldn't stand the custom controller =).

    • $300 Walmart PC (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sparkhead ( 589134 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:24AM (#5378366)
      I'm sick and tired of the "buy a $300 Walmart PC", for most people a $300 Walmart PC doesn't DO what the want to do.

      For most people, a $300 Walmart PC does do everything they want it to do.

      Slashdot readers are not "most people".

  • The slashdot effect strikes again (Score:4, Funny)

    by termos ( 634980 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:22AM (#5378060) Homepage
    He changed the DVD!
    He changed the HD!
    He inserted a wireless network card!
    He installed Linux on it!

    .. But he got slashdotted.
  • The case actually looks like an old JVC receiver case. And why would you take an X-box and place it into another chassis and turn it into a Linux box... wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to just use regular PC components?
  • "[...]at what point would it have made more sense just to[...]"

    Huh? Think Mt Everest - because it is there.
    • so right, i can't even begin to think how many times i've seen and x-box and though - wow, everst. i hardly think its fair to compare a mountain and a mod
    • Huh? Think Mt Everest - because it is there.

      Do you even understand that statement? How such a flippant comment says so much about a killer mountain that takes lives without mercy, taking some of the best (and some of the not so best) mountaineers mankind ever produced.

      There's a world of difference between pitting yourself against mother nature, knowing that even the smallest mistake can lead to the the deaths of you and your entire team; and being out $200 because you shorted out the GPU of the xbox.

  • Ummm.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by corporal_clegg ( 547755 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:30AM (#5378101) Homepage
    I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?

    Since when did heavy case modding ever make sense? Isn't the point to do something frivolously cool?
  • So the Xbox is a PC made for console gaming.

    He switched the Xbox into a PC.

    Wow...you just blew my mind.

  • i can't believe noone has made an xbox-powered vacuum cleaner yet...

  • Point? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by freeweed ( 309734 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:35AM (#5378126)
    I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?

    Right about when a regular computer is capable of playing Xbox games.

  • CmdrTaco != Geek (Score:5, Funny)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:35AM (#5378131) Homepage Journal
    I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer? The green lighting is a nice touch tho.

    Kathleen has finally done it. She's turned Rob into a normal guy. Let this serve as a warning to all you geeks out that, this is what marriage will do. It'll strip you of your desire for case mods, installing Linux on anything with an electronic pulse or ability to see if articles have already been posted! *shudder*

    Rob. Put the mouse down, move away from the computer, leave the room, turn the lights off, get your sixpack and ride your lawnmower around the yard (or w/blade, plow driveway.)

    I knew this day was coming. I've also noticed Gabe at Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] has begun to lose his hand to eye coordination, so vital in video games. Next thing you know, he'll be playing strategy games.

    Come to think of it, loss of hand to eye coordination is probably as good an excuse as any to convert that old Xbox into a server.

  • I gott ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?
    Because then he couldn't get it on slashdot?

  • Problems ahead (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    One Finnish XXX site called "XXX-Box" just got into trouble because of their name. MS lawyer contacted them insisting that the name needs to be changed. This poor Swede will most likely face the same problem very soon.
  • This would fit in nicely with a home entertainment center, especially if some of your other components have the classic 80's silver finish.

  • Almost, but not quite. (Score:5, Funny)

    by war3rd ( 650566 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:39AM (#5378148) Homepage
    He forgot to add the 8-track!
  • Enough with all the "why not ?" and "cause it's never been done before" justifications.

    He changed the DVD, the HDD, he added loads of extra hardware.

    It's no longer a friggin XBox!

  • Sorry but ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ascii ( 70907 ) <ascii AT microcore DOT dk> on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @08:44AM (#5378173) Homepage
    ... whenever I see one of these modding projects I get this odd taste in my mouth and it all reminds me too much of my gawky teenage years and the mech-geeks that would mod Puch Maxi mopeds to go 100km/h either by using illegal german tuning kits or by drilling or filing various parts of it.

    To those who don't know the Puch Maxi let's describe it as a ... pratical vehicle. With its slim bycyclish appearance it looked kinda stupid with a death-defying teenager on top of it at a hundred kilometers per hour.

    Whenever modding is brought up I come to think of these things.

    Sorry, flame me to death now.
  • I gott [sic] ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?
    Hmmm, my pictures of my stock Dell 550 never made it to the front page of Slashdot, earning me tons of rep with my geek friends ...

    I'm I going to get modded as redundant for that [sic] I put up there :-)

  • Erm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by arvindn ( 542080 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:01AM (#5378257) Homepage Journal
    Meet the xxx-box. The site is in swedish, but the pics speak for themselves.

    Er, CmdrTaco, are you quite sure this is about hardware?

    Being at work, it put me into a dilemma: to click or not to click?

  • Oh No! (Score:3, Funny)

    by MarvinMouse ( 323641 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:01AM (#5378263) Homepage Journal
    Slashdot has done it, They've melted his X-Box modded box!

    Oh the Humanity!!!!

  • Typical /. crowd... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nautical9 ( 469723 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:05AM (#5378280) Homepage
    Figures that when a case mod article is posted like this one where the editor says "at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer?", almost every response is "because it's cool, you dolt!".

    Yet when a case mod is posted without that disclaimer, everyone claims "this is sooo non-news... why, oh why would anyone bother doing this?"

    Poor /. editor's ain't gettin' no respect...

  • uh.. well.nice, but.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:06AM (#5378285) Homepage Journal
    ..why did he waste xbox on it? he wanted to play halo?

    after so extensive modding he could just have used a proper smallish motherboard for the job(mATX/itx/whatever), and then he could have also had more memory than xbox's 64mb.

    yea i'm bitchin and it yes it does look nice and is a cool project, but it's like modding a dodge neon into viper and leaving the neon's engine block in it.
  • Well good thing he's running Linux, since a real xbox DVD drive has weird microsoft stuff[tm] in it, like provision for reading backwards I think? And it isn't on a normal ATA channel.. it's probably some weird abstracted serialized ATA

    So this wouldn't play games.. which, lets face it, the x-box does reasonably well.. except the DoA ones (dead on arrival, not dead or alive ;p)
  • can it still play XBox games? ;)
  • But I just don't understand why people who don't get the concept of modding a case as fun keep posting about it every time something like this makes the front page. Sure, there may have been other more technically inclined posts that could have made the front page instead, but why worry? If they're really important enough, they'll get posted whether this goes up or not.

    I like to see this kind of news, I find it amusing and kinda cool. I haven't gotten into the case mod thing yet myself, but have been seriously considering a few ideas that come very close. I'd like to propose a new section of Slashdot for the kinds of news that don't quite fall under the other categories. The "It's funny, laugh." category here doesn't seem quite right. How about a "Geek Culture" section to catch the items that keep getting responses like this? Sure, some people will debate the specifics of Geek Culture, but I think it's pretty easily defined.

    Unfortunately, I'm at work so can't really put the time into it (started this paragraph three times already) so maybe someone else can pick up the slack?

    I'd like to point out that modding the Xbox would be quite fun. I've wondered just how much I could get away with on mine since I just got it. Perhaps trying to build a megaconsole might be in the cards soon, taking the boards from a PS2 and an Xbox and seeing what I can stuff in one case...
  • Here I thought I was pretty hardcore chopping up old cases for mounting parts to build a portable mini-itx box into a toolbox.

    This guy is the poster child for "too much time on your hands".

    Snow Day, Snow Day, no work today, I wish my fscking gp32 would come in from the UK today...
  • 'A rose by any other name would still smell just as sweet.' - Applies for bad(ish) things, too. Like the Xbox. You can dress it up all you want, I still won't go near it.

    But that's just me, and my pesky preferences. *hugs his PS2, GameCube, and Game PC*

  • Open letter to Kathleen Malda (Score:5, Funny)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @09:40AM (#5378455) Homepage Journal
    Dear Mrs. Malda,

    Please do the community a favor. Tomorrow, stand behind your husband with a large foam bat, and every time he misspells a word, or uses a non-word like "tho", club him.

    I gottTHWACK ask thoTHWACK, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer? The green lighting is a nice touch thoTHWACK.
  • I am dumbfounded by these posts and comments that constantly ask "why not buy/build a regular PC?" VERY SIMPLE ANSWER - A REGULAR PC DOES NOT PLAY X-BOX GAMES. There are other things you can do with this other than run a crappy port of Mandrake. We would like to "ignore" the backup scene, but simply put, you can store TONS of x-box games on a replacement hard drive. The replaced optical drive does the trick for reading CD-R rips that the X-Box wouldn't normally read. A PC would be pointless if you were actually interested in playing any real x-box games.

  • Where's the mod that makes a PC into an XBOX? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by What is a number ( 652374 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @12:21PM (#5379798)
    So we can PC-ize an XBOX, and, up to the point that it still plays XBOX games, I would still call it an XBOX. So the next obvious mod is a chip (or whatever is necessary - software in a VM?) to enable a PC to play XBOX games. Come on, where is it?

    ....

    I type this every time.

  • I'll tell you why. You need Xbox innards to play games like Halo. And Halo. And oh yeah, don't forget Halo!

    That's about it.

  • New Mirror (Score:4, Informative)

    by MikeBabcock ( 65886 ) <mtb-slashdot@mikebabcock.ca> on Tuesday February 25, 2003 @01:21PM (#5380318) Homepage Journal
    Thanks to comment http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=55018&cid=5378 313 I've set up a mirror of his/her mirror at http://www.fibrespeed.net/~mbabcock/mirrors/www.to mmarsh.net/xmod/

    It is still downloading from the original site, so some pictures may not come up when you initially visit.

    Good luck. I'll be throttling it in case it gets Slashdotted too badly. And yes, the server penalizes rapid reconnections.

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