whoops, nevermind...repost...I fail...

Wow, I wonder what took more time, building the computer or doing all the video editing.

Badass!

L33t!!

My original Xbox is still connected to my TV...

I ended up disconnecting mine when I got a new TV (46" XBR9 ) over the winter holidays. I only have a couple of games that don't work on the 360 so it never got used and my new component shelf system looks too cluttered with it in there (I disconnected my N64 as well). I may consider putting it back in if/when I upgrade to an HDMI upconverting receiver as the cable management that is built into the shelf system is pretty full since I have 4 HDMI cables plus the slack stuffed in it along with a network and power cable all to the TV. It would be fun to build it into another XBOX Media Center, but its so outdated now, the end result would just be less than stellar relative to all the stuff hooked up the TV now.

I'd rather just put linux on it, put it in my glove box, and have it run my music.Always planned on doing that, but then my 360 got stolen, and I wanted SOME gaming system I could still play.

Hope you have a really big glove box. I had trouble mounting it under the rear shelf in the G35. The system is relatively big and it seems to feel bigger in a car. The cables need some space behind it and even wireless controllers require a plug in adapter that needs some clearance. Some nifty modification might solve these issues though.

A Linux build would be neat, but XBMC can already play music through the XBOX. Its been a while since I did any real research into XBOX modding, but my impression was that you couldn't play XBOX games with Linux installed. At least not without rebooting to the XBOX bios. XBMC also handled ripped DVDs as well. Though last I checked, they didn't have the ability to play the DVD menus so you had to find the file in the directory and play it manually. Using an XBOX as a media center's point was its ability to play media AND play games. If you're looking for something to handle playing music, a modern car stereo with a USB connection and a small HDD or USB thumb drive would do just fine. This is actually the set-up we use in the GF's car. If you have an ipod, that would surely take up less space than an XBOX and handle music playback just as well. Probably even easier if your stereo is capable of controlling the ipod.

C-Kwik wrote:Hope you have a really big glove box.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I've never owned a car with a glovebox anywhere NEAR large enough to house an Xbox.

Much better option is just to buy a nettop. Specifically designed to be compact, efficient, and cool, and they're positively DIRT cheap (as in a couple hundred bucks). Boot whatever OS/media software you want on it, throw in a touch screen LCD, and you're ready to rock. You can even find them with bluray drives, although those ones are pricier (but still under $500).

You pull the powersupply and disk drive out and mount them elsewhere (you really don't need the disk drive if you hook up a wireless connection and your WiFi can reach your driveway). You don't mount the actual box, you have to gut it and basically turn your glove box into a case.

As I said, modifications can solve the issues, but would still be a whole lot bigger than a thumb drive or ipod if all you are using it for is music.

As for the power supply, I'd probably look to see if I can find an adequate power supply that has the voltages and power needed that will run straight off the car's 12 volt. With more and more people installing car-puters I would think it might not be as hard to find a power supply that would do just this.

I'd probably try and keep the drive, personally. Wireless G is relatively slow for streaming a large amount of data over a network. And I can't find any N routers with 8 ethernet ports. Hell, with all the headache I had getting my G router with 8 ports to work, I'm not sure I ever want to remove this one. That said, having the drive made it possible to rip my DVD's rather quickly. Maybe 10 minutes per movie. Its been a few years since I had the G so I may be a bit fuzzy. A fast wireless might make sense if you keep ripped movies on your drives at home already. It was also needed to rip my XBOX games directly to the drive. I'm sure it could be done through a PC, but that would be a hassle considering it could all be done on the XBOX. If anything, convert the controller ports to USB and use an external.

MinisterofDOOM wrote:Much better option is just to buy a nettop. Specifically designed to be compact, efficient, and cool, and they're positively DIRT cheap (as in a couple hundred bucks). Boot whatever OS/media software you want on it, throw in a touch screen LCD, and you're ready to rock. You can even find them with bluray drives, although those ones are pricier (but still under $500).

A carputer would be fun. I could probably fit one in my center console and replace the DVD player. But I barely use the DVD player as it is. I could pretty easily get internet by tethering my cell though. Not sure it would be totally useful for me though.

Thinking about a little more though, Zotac makes some Atom powered mini-ITX boards that use an external power supply. Thus, the board has what looks like a standard sized DC connector. Not sure what kind of voltage it uses, but all you need is something to regulate the voltage to the needed voltage. Their specs say its 19V/90W though, so you would need something that can step it up. They all seem to use a NVidia 9400M chipset as well. Though HD on a typical 7" screen in a car would seem unnecessary. All one would need is RAM and a SATA HDD (preferably built to handle higher shock loading). An external DVD drive would do the trick if one needed to rip DVD's and CD's. God, I'm tempted now. I'd end up spending way too much on such a project though, just making it more car-friendly as far as controls are concerned.

My "old" Xbox has Linux softmod and WMC. I play halo and thats about it on xbox anymore.

he needs to learn how to use masking tape.

other than that, I need a home workshop so I can hatch some master creations after a 12 pack and a stupid idea among friends.

awesome vid and quality of work. my original xbox is hacked and i use it for cool stuff