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XBox (Games) Hardware Hacking Entertainment Games

XBox Can Now Be A Mini Rack Mount Server 68

Posted by CowboyNeal from the computing-on-the-cheap dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The X-Tender Case Mod for Xbox is a complete kit that will allow you convert your Xbox into a mini rack mount server or media center with activity LEDs and expanded space for two internal hard drives. Molded to perfectly integrate with your Xbox, this kit comes with a custom front panel, a 3 activity LED, a custom made hard drive mounting plate to accommodate one or two additional drives, and a custom molded rear panel. Specially designed X-Tender rods are included to internally support the expansion, allowing you to securely reassemble the machine. Additional space on front panel will allow the support of one LCD display on each side of the system, or additional LEDs or cold cathode lights. You can switch between the newly added drives via the buttons at the front."
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XBox Can Now Be A Mini Rack Mount Server More

XBox Can Now Be A Mini Rack Mount Server

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  • Your point? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Ianoo ( 711633 ) on Friday September 10, 2004 @05:56AM (#10210973) Journal
    How long has the XBox hardware remained the same now? When they were released, sure, they were a bargain for 733MHz/64MB, but I can go and buy dirt cheap components and build a 2GHz Celeron with 256MB of RAM and video on the motherboard for the same kind of money. Isn't that better value than this?

    • Re:Your point? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Let's say you have $150 burning a hole in your pocket. You can go buy an Xbox for $149 and go on home, or you can try to order and build this mythical system you describe (No cheating and taking parts out of old dusty machines you have laying around). The 2GHz Celeron alone will be almost half that, roughly $70. If you can build a fully functional PC with more power than the Xbox for $149 or less, then knock yourself out. The world will beat a path to your door...

      • Re:Your point? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Ianoo ( 711633 ) on Friday September 10, 2004 @07:06AM (#10211215) Journal
        Okay then, perhaps not a Celeron. They perform terribly anyway. What about an AMD-based system? This is from newegg.com, who are usually pretty good, or so I've been told (I'm not actually in America, so I don't usually find bargains in dollars):

        AMD Duron 1.8GHz: $53
        PCCHIPS M825G V9.2A: $37
        Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM: $48
        V-DATA 184 Pin 128M DDR PC-2700: $22
        SAMSUNG 16X DVD Drive: $25
        Linkworld Case: $13

        A grand total of about $200. This isn't much more. People who buy things just because they have money burning a hole in their pocket are fools, considering they could wait another month and buy something about 3 times as powerful.
        • PCCHIPS

          HAAAHAAAAAHAAAA!!!....

          Sorry, but if you want a solid motherboard, you may want to pay 20-30$ more for something that you know will be solid..... Some people have probably had success stories with these, but I'd steer clear.
          • Ick! I DESPISE PCCHIPS. Several years ago, I had a PCCHIPS socket-7 mobo that was reboxed as an Amptron. It was the biggest turd ever. It lacked a PCI SERR device and therefore my soundcard couldn't do any DOS emulation (because they are cheapskates). Eventually it started flipping out and the PC speaker would whig out and start beeping over and over again from some unexplainable internal problem. Finally, it just died one day.

            PCCHIPS is the company that is well-known for putting plastic cache chips
        • But can it play halo? (or burnout 3!) :)

        • Re:Your point? (Score:3, Insightful)

          by StocDred ( 691816 )
          considering they could wait another month and buy something about 3 times as powerful.

          Or wait another month and buy something 6 times as powerful. Or wait another month and buy something 9 times as powerful. Or wait another month and buy something 12 times as powerful. Or wait another month and buy something 15 times as powerful.

          I think you see where I'm going with this.

        • Re:Your point? (Score:3, Informative)

          by Carnildo ( 712617 )
          I don't know that particular mainboard, but I expect the on-board graphics aren't 3D accelerated. You should probably add another $30-$50 for a GF4 MX or equivalent card.
        • Your going to need an IR remote (and receiver) too (and a PSU too, if the Linkworld doesn't comes with one - and it it does I shudder to think of the quality!).

          So then, you have, for a whole 1/3 more, a device that's not only uglier but significantly more noisy (both things people dislike in a 'living room' Media Center scenario - the most common use for them that I can see) and it's built from quite likely unreliable parts (certainly not as reliable as a mass produced proven X-Box system I'm sure).

          The X-
          • [quote]The X-Box is powerful enough to do everything people want in a Media Center, it's *vastly* more powerful than my TiVo for a start.[/quote]

            While it's true that Xbox Media Center is far superior to other comparable Media Center apps at the moment, what's holding the project back at the moment is a lack of RAM and the slow processor (compared to current-day PCs).

            HDTV playback is not very smooth (although it's improving) and TV recording is also not an option.

            That aside, some things I'm still missing

      • Not just $150 (Score:5, Insightful)

        by CMiYC ( 6473 ) on Friday September 10, 2004 @08:41AM (#10211863) Homepage
        XBox -> $150
        Modchip -> $50
        This Kit -> $50
        New Harddrive -> $50
        2 USB XBox Adapater -> $40
        USB Keyboard -> $20 (no sharing components, right?)
        USB Mouse -> $20

        So for about $380 you can turn an Xbox into a PC. Not $150. I'm baffled why everyone uses your argument. "You can't build a PC for $150!" Well you still can't if you use a Xbox.

        • You don't need a new hard disk any more than you'd need a new DVD ROM drive, as it comes with one that works just fine.

          You don't need a keyboard and mouse either, unless it's not clear to you what people are using it for (they are using it for servers and media centres, not desktop replacements...). Just boot from a bootable CD, and ssh into it to install your free operating system of choice.

          You don't need a modchip to install Linux either (I'm not sure where you got the weird idea that that's the only wa
        • Wrong. Xbox -> $150 New $100 or so used. Modchip -> Not needed Kit -> Not needed - The faceplates can be made and be made to look better. [free] - The LED's are easy to install. [$1] - The Other random parts are easy to find. Estimated kit cost -> [$5-10] Harddrive -> However much you want to spend. USB Xbox adapter -> [$10] - Chop up an old USB cable, or just buy a new one for a cheap price, then hardwire it in. Then get a 4-port expansion. Keyboard + Mouse -> $40 So that is
    • Now I can hack my NetBSD sources to run on this thing, and go online with two 250 GBs! I'm gonna' run an IRC host with an open FTP server!

      I already have the perfect firewall for this. It's running a port filter on the Dreamcast - in a router-on-a-stick configuration...

    • ..and it's just a bunch of stuff to mount your xbox to a rack.

      it's not like you could do it before with tape or something... liksang advert.
      • I think the big deal is the ability to have 2 extra hard drives, not the little piece of plastic to make the XBox even HUGER.
        • 2 extra harddrives that you apparently have to switch between by pressing a button? how is this useful in any way for what is supposedly a 'server' modification for the xbox? last time i checked my servers are all far away at a coloc, not much chance that the techs down there will go running to press 'the button' because i forgot to mount the right harddrive... doesn't sound useful at all.
          • Ah I missed that part.

            This is clearly not aimed at someone who would be using a coloc though. More like "file/print server for home"

            Yeah the button would be lame. Better to have an IDE RAID setup.
    • Don't you see!? You can have a Beowulf cluster of this [m-2.jp] with the Xbox!
    • You're kidding, right? A video card of equivilent power as to what the XBox has (e.g. nVidia 5700) will eat up ~$100 of your budget. A 5.1 sound card will cost another ~$100. A 2Ghz Celeron will run you around $60. Without a motherboard, memory, case or HD you're already over budget by $110. It's still better to buy the XBox
      • The one reason I wouldn't care to use an XBox as a server is that I'd be wasting a perfectly good GeForce on a headless (or fuzzy 14" monitor) machine.

        Sound card? For the bootup beep?
      • IIRC, the XBox has a GeForce3 as the graphics card. You should be able to find one of those for around $30 or so. You might even be able to find a mainboard with one integrated.

  • Cool But (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Mr.Dippy ( 613292 ) on Friday September 10, 2004 @06:03AM (#10211001)
    Okay it was cool when people were running linux and what not on this but Jesus Tap Dancing Christ people! Just play the damn games and buy a real computer to do your computer needs.
    • There are some uses where an Xbox kind of makes sense. I considered using them for media players and they are still cheaper than I could build for (about £100 in the UK). They come in a nice small box that doesn't look too bad under the TV. I would need 3 or 4 units so the unit price was quite important.

      In the end I decided the hardware spec was really too low for an all in one solution and the price is too high for a front-end only box. I'm now fiddling with the Hauppauge MVP (IBM PPC box that r
  • Frankly, with all the people at home who have their own rack, I'm surprised this hasn't come out earlier. I mean I know there are articles out there about how to build your own, but sheesh. Build a box, with a rack mount case and you'll have twice the power for a pittance more.
    • That isn't what this is. If you look at the link you'll see this has nothing to do with rack mounting the Xbox.

      The link-sang description makes mention of "mini-rack mount" once and that's it. No where else is that mentioned or pictured.

  • How big? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by GrassMunk ( 677765 ) on Friday September 10, 2004 @06:36AM (#10211104)
    Isnt the Xbox big enough? This looks like it adds 2 inches to the damn unit, who has that much space? I remember when it came out people were mocking it because it was so big. This just makes it even bigger, i thought it would streamline it a bit, like a case replacement.

  • A new twist (Score:5, Funny)

    by StevenHenderson ( 806391 ) <stevehenderson@NOspam.gmail.com> on Friday September 10, 2004 @07:06AM (#10211216)
    Worker 1: Lemme configure this database...hey, why isn't it working?

    Worker 2:You forgot to press Up, Down, Up Down, Left, Right...

  • Seems like a bogus claim to me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by @madeus ( 24818 ) <slashdot_24818@mac.com> on Friday September 10, 2004 @07:18AM (#10211284)
    "is a complete kit that will allow you convert your Xbox(TM) into a mini rack mount server"

    In what way does it allow you to convert one into a 'mini rack mount server'?

    There is no rack mounting kit with this that I can see, nor does the mod do anything that would aid in rack mounting an X-Box as far as I can see (I had assumed some kind of side bracket to effectively make it wider, or possibly to allow two to a rack).

    Am I missing some element of the kit here, or is it just poor phrasing on their part?

    • Re:Seems like a bogus claim to me (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      To make use of the extra hard disk drive's you will require an upgrade device , the best one on the market is the Xenium [teamxodus.com] , it comes in a solderless form for those who are in-experienced with soldering.

    • Re:Seems like a bogus claim to me (Score:5, Informative)

      by Computerguy5 ( 661265 ) on Friday September 10, 2004 @07:34AM (#10211357) Homepage

      I wish I had mod points because I was thinking the exact same thing and no one else seems to get it. Goodness, all you have to do is say "rackmount" and the beowulf, toaster computer people come out humping.

      I'll ask the parent's question again: how does this turn it into a *rackmount* device? Sure, it allows you to add storage, but that has nothing to do with rackmounting it.

      On another note, did it say that it allows you to switch between the hard drives?

      You can switch between the newly added drives via the buttons at the front.
      This implies to me that only one of the drives can be active at any one time. Lame, and practically useless.
      • On another note, did it say that it allows you to switch between the hard drives?

        Oh I read that but didn't really take it in. Your right that is lame and practially useless. It seems quite expensive for what it is too (especially if - as it seems - you can only use one disk at a time).

        I'm not trying to be negative about it but it doesn't really seem there is much that's interesting about this kit.
        • I'm not trying to be negative about it but it doesn't really seem there is much that's interesting about this kit.


          Based on the features, it seems this is marketed towards the people who download and then store games on their hard drive. They probably won't care if they have to press a switch on the unit to play their "N-Z" games or whatever.

          And yea, this has nothing to do with rack mounting.

          --john
  • Imagine a beowulf of these ...
  • I guess the LCD Display will help when you want to turn your Xbox box into a PC computer?
  • This is only useful if you're running Linux on your Xbox. The drives won't be available to the original Xbox BIOS *or* even to a modded Xbox BIOS with a modchip.

    -psy
  • Now it will take up less space while gathering dust.

    *cough* Sorry, someone has to make an unwarranted stand against XBox...

    Gonna play the Dawn of War demo now...
  • I haven't really kept a close eye on the XBOX community. But wasn't it possible to boot linux without the mod chip? OR did I still have to buy that stupid game with a bug in it which ends up being more expensive than a mod chip?

    Second, provided I am willing to buy a mod chip (if the answer to above is no), would I be able to install winxp PRO on the machine? Do the modern (newest) xboxs still work with mod chips?

    Would an XBOX be able to play any PC games for winxp at a decent speed? it isn't even a 1ghz m
  • To everyone out there saying stuff about needing a modchip, and this wont work. Please skim through this:

    1.)The newest versions of Xbox do need a modchip that runs around $50 to run a modified BIOS on load yes. But the older versions do not. You can either flash the internal BIOS, or get a $10 modchip. And if you don't want to flash the internal BIOS, you van make a "bootable from media" [bfm] BIOS. Then hack the xbox dashboard, so that you can access Linux, or another prefered dashboard without ever open

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