Linux on an XBOX for CarPC - Page 2

avengerki · 05-08-2006, 11:17 PM

I still use mine but I mostly pay for any game I get anymore. *gasp*. As I've gotten older and try to stay more on the legal side of things.

will1384 · 05-09-2006, 12:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by oldskoolvwlover

hmmm I modded my xbox for free, you can get a 30-40 gig HD for next to nothing now. Really the only thing you can't do is GPS.... touchscreen is probably possible with some work, the few threads I have found on it were of people who just plugged it in, and it didn't work.... there is major homebrew development for XBOX, if you have the skill you really could do it all for next to nothing.

I just don't get how you say a Carputer does not cost a lot of money, but a modded box does? Sure you could buy a crappy 700 mhz PC for about the cost of an XBOX..... you still would have a big *** desktop you would have to cram into your car, and you would not have any of the positives of the xbox.

Like I said above, figure out what you really wanna do with it... then go from there. I personally like XBMC better than any of the mp3 player interfaces I have seen for a carputer. A lot of the people on these forums want the top of the line do everything carputer.... if you want a box in your car that can hold all of your music, movies, etc, play games and cost you less than $200 + monitor. I say rock it and see where the limits are. If you really want GPS, you could give it a try, but probably not worth it.

For the guy talking about windows.... the only windows that has been run on a xbox was thru emulation from linux. Can't remember the specific reason why, but windows is a no go on the xbox and even when it has been ran it is not stable and is slow due to lack of ram.

I have a desktop in my car - that BTW is not much bigger than the XBOX

- Its only 2 inches thicker than the xbox - the rest of the dimensions
are smaller
- It does VGA without and adapter - That would cost extra
- I can upgrade the memory to 1GB
- I can run any thing I want
- No driver issues
- Runs faster
- Has PCI slots
- I can use an M1-ATX or any car-computer power supply
- Software is out there and free, to use in a car - Road Runner

- And you can get cases that are smaller than the XBox
- You can get a NEW computer that is faster plays games ect ect
for $200 or less - IF YOU MAKE IT YOUR SELF

Like I said - its easy - to use a regular desktop or laptop
but if you want to do things the hard way and not get results
as good as a desktop or laptop - then have at it, If you want
to do it for fun - then have at it

But thats the only good reason

I have softmoded a few xboxes my self - and chiped one
- Mine has a custom paint job, see threw jewl, 2 usb ports on back,
usbport on the controler, 100GB hard disk, HardDrive LED, and uses
a moded DVD drive that can read CDRs, shows a custom logo, on
start-up - no microsoft junk, and a XChanger mod chip

the mouse and keyboard in the pic are used with the XBOX
- BECAUSE I CANT STAND USING XBOX MEDIA CENTER
WITH THE GAMEPAD -

Dont get me wrong - its ok if you just want to load a file
real quick - but from there it get to be a pain and
complicated

oldskoolvwlover · 05-09-2006, 12:50 AM

with all those cool things on your carputer.... you still can't just throw in an xbox game and have it load.

not putting you down, just saying you want different things. I am having this battle now, this is why I posed in this thread.

I have a ripped apart desktop sitting on the desk I am typing on right now..... I also have a softmoded xbox. The problem is, what will you get more use out of.... the only reason I want GPS and touchscreen is to have the toys (same reason most people here have carputers). At the same time I would like to be able to play XBOX games and as far as car show cool factor (I have noticed lots of people run carputers in non show cars) the xbox seams to be the easier options. I really like the XBMC large icons with cover art from the albums of the music I would be using, this would probably get more use in my car than a touch screen and gps.

Like I said the original poster has to decide what he wants, I have seen some really cool custom installs of XBOX' with remote power/eject buttons and remote mount dvd-roms.

When you talk about size, a desktop mobo with PCI cards.... won't save you any space, even if you remote mount the DVD drive from the desktop. I am sure you have seen the custom mini xbox cases, these are much smaller than any mobo w/ pci cards sticking out off of it.

There are good and bad points to each, the original poster really needs to post up what they want to do with their install to get a better idea of what solution would be better for them. In my case either option loses some of the things I like about each, in the end it's gonna be the choice that best fits my overall install.

will1384 · 05-09-2006, 04:42 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by oldskoolvwlover

with all those cool things on your carputer.... you still can't just throw in an xbox game and have it load.

not putting you down, just saying you want different things. I am having this battle now, this is why I posed in this thread.

I have a ripped apart desktop sitting on the desk I am typing on right now..... I also have a softmoded xbox. The problem is, what will you get more use out of.... the only reason I want GPS and touchscreen is to have the toys (same reason most people here have carputers). At the same time I would like to be able to play XBOX games and as far as car show cool factor (I have noticed lots of people run carputers in non show cars) the xbox seams to be the easier options. I really like the XBMC large icons with cover art from the albums of the music I would be using, this would probably get more use in my car than a touch screen and gps.

Like I said the original poster has to decide what he wants, I have seen some really cool custom installs of XBOX' with remote power/eject buttons and remote mount dvd-roms.

When you talk about size, a desktop mobo with PCI cards.... won't save you any space, even if you remote mount the DVD drive from the desktop. I am sure you have seen the custom mini xbox cases, these are much smaller than any mobo w/ pci cards sticking out off of it.

There are good and bad points to each, the original poster really needs to post up what they want to do with their install to get a better idea of what solution would be better for them. In my case either option loses some of the things I like about each, in the end it's gonna be the choice that best fits my overall install.

Xbox games cool

I have yet to find any one that thought that
computers, Xbox and stuff like that in a car was cool - and I have tried
- they all thought I was a dork - or watching porn in my car,
dont do it for the cool factor - it wont work - do it for you

I play games in my call all the time - NES SNES SEGA PSX
- I was siting at a gas station waiting for a friend, and was
playing a playstation game, and I herd - "oh my god what a dork,
look he is playing video games in his car", another time I was
watching TV - just regular TV - I over hear - "hey hey look I think
that dude is watching porn - yea and I think he is jerking to"

not one time - except here, has any one said it was cool
- not once - even my friends think I am a retard for doing it

I think its cool - and if any of you ever get one install
post picks - but dont do it to make you self look cool

on a second note

why not do both then - car-computer and an xbox - they could even share
the same screen - just mod the X2VGA to have an external switch

could even have 2 screens - 1 would be shared and the second would
be xbox only

Xbox Media center is really cool and I like it, a lot - but I like simple
and easy, better - and I cant seam to remember all the button combos
in Xbox Media center - its like I am playing mortal combat or
something

Good luck -

PURDooM · 05-09-2006, 06:54 AM

Realistically, you are putting a computer in your car. If you *have* to choose between GPS and xbox games and that is the only limiting factor, you should probably go GPS.

You can't play dead or alive 3 and watch the bouncing boobies very well going 70 MPH down the interstate and still drive safley. I would be distracted

sama · 05-09-2006, 06:57 AM

I'm sure if someone put their mind to it, GPS can be integrated. All GPS is, is a stream of data. XB has USB no? so wouldn't it be a case of writing a driver? assuming of course some OS emulation is running and working well.

sparky85 · 05-09-2006, 07:26 AM

I'm about to buy a car that has a in dash screen (also with TV turner), only problem is that it doesn't have a cd or dvd player. It used to have a stacker in the boot but no longer does. Looking at the price of DVD stackers I was thinking it might be cheaper the put a modified XBOX in there. I want to play music and movies, games are a bonus. I don't want gps or nav. Any ideas on whether this is a good option. I'm not familiar with the carputer culture.
Cheers.

sama · 05-09-2006, 07:29 AM

sounds like a viable and cheap option to me.

will1384 · 05-09-2006, 08:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by sama

I'm sure if someone put their mind to it, GPS can be integrated. All GPS is, is a stream of data. XB has USB no? so wouldn't it be a case of writing a driver? assuming of course some OS emulation is running and working well.

most of what is made for the xbox - is illegal - because
its made with the stolen microsoft dev software

- If you some how made it, you would ether be on your
own - or have to give your files out in a warez kind of way

there is a free dev kit in the works - but I dont think its anyware
near being able to make a usb driver - on top of that
like whats was said windows runs slow and is a little unstable
and thats windows 98, - GPS short of a miracle ant happening

peeps for years have tried making the xbox into a PVR,
never go any ware because of the lack of a usb driver,
and it had a heck of a lot more peeps wanting it, and
working on it - more than will ever be for putting a
xbox in a car

will1384 · 05-09-2006, 09:02 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by sparky85

I'm about to buy a car that has a in dash screen (also with TV turner), only problem is that it doesn't have a cd or dvd player. It used to have a stacker in the boot but no longer does. Looking at the price of DVD stackers I was thinking it might be cheaper the put a modified XBOX in there. I want to play music and movies, games are a bonus. I don't want gps or nav. Any ideas on whether this is a good option. I'm not familiar with the carputer culture.
Cheers.

for just that, why not - it would work good

PURDooM · 05-09-2006, 10:10 AM

Ok so you make a gps driver, piece of cake. Im sure there is serial to usb drivers on debian. Now you have 2 numbers in your computer, latatude and longitude. Easy as you say. The trick is doing something with them.

How do you get maps?
How do you render maps quickly and efficently?
How do you make routes?
How do the routes know where one ways are?
How do you know where addresses are on the maps?
How does it determine when you are off course?
How does it determine where POIs are?
How do you make the interface pretty?
How do you make the speech engine?
How do you do all this on an xbox where the developer support community is pretty small?

Thats at least 1,000 hours of coding/testing there. If time were worth $15 an hour that project costs $15,000 dollars.

Its not easy making that software. And its even harder to port one from windows to the xbox. And the demand is slim to nil - xbox is going out of style and the only people that want xbox gps software is 20-30 mp3car people like you who aren't willing to work at a part time job an extra 8 hours to get superior hardware.

Sorry if I seemed hostile.

Edit: Didn't see that you meant run the software in an emulated os...

will1384 · 05-09-2006, 10:19 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by PURDooM

Ok so you make a gps driver, piece of cake. Im sure there is serial to usb drivers on debian. Now you have 2 numbers in your computer, latatude and longitude. Easy as you say. The trick is doing something with them.

How do you get maps?
How do you render maps quickly and efficently?
How do you make routes?
How do the routes know where one ways are?
How do you know where addresses are on the maps?
How does it determine when you are off course?
How does it determine where POIs are?
How do you make the interface pretty?
How do you make the speech engine?
How do you do all this on an xbox where the developer support community is pretty small?

Thats at least 1,000 hours of coding/testing there. If time were worth $15 an hour that project costs $15,000 dollars.

Its not easy making that software. And its even harder to port one from windows to the xbox. And the demand is slim to nil - xbox is going out of style and the only people that want xbox gps software is 20-30 mp3car people like you who aren't willing to work at a part time job an extra 8 hours to get superior hardware.

Sorry if I seemed hostile.

it would be easy-er to port Xbox media center to the PC - HAY -
thats a good Idea - but even it would take lots of time and effert
- but I dont think it would be real hard tho - they should do that
it would be cool as heck

sama · 05-09-2006, 10:35 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by PURDooM

Edit: Didn't see that you meant run the software in an emulated os...

no problemo dude... moreover, I'm a software developer as a living so I completely appreciate what you're saying re software.

I'm tryign to get tomtom working on our carputers thru an emulator. I've done it using a pocketpc emulator (easy) and now I'm working on doing it using a palm emulator (much faster).

anyhoos... hurry up and get ig working with Europe

oldskoolvwlover · 05-09-2006, 08:36 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by will1384

Xbox games cool

I have yet to find any one that thought that
computers, Xbox and stuff like that in a car was cool - and I have tried
- they all thought I was a dork - or watching porn in my car,
dont do it for the cool factor - it wont work - do it for you

I play games in my call all the time - NES SNES SEGA PSX
- I was siting at a gas station waiting for a friend, and was
playing a playstation game, and I herd - "oh my god what a dork,
look he is playing video games in his car", another time I was
watching TV - just regular TV - I over hear - "hey hey look I think
that dude is watching porn - yea and I think he is jerking to"

not one time - except here, has any one said it was cool
- not once - even my friends think I am a retard for doing it

I think its cool - and if any of you ever get one install
post picks - but dont do it to make you self look cool

Like I said the concept is for a SHOW CAR.... not so that people think I am cool sitting in a Gas Station. It is about what you want, like I said a lot of people put PC's in their cars for daily use on these forums.... not everyone is looking for that. Some people may want to be able to listen to music, watch movies, and play some games. The GPS would be "cool" to have, but who really uses GPS unless you drive A LOT in places you don't know.

I would like GPS for the function of installing it and having the experience, for use I would get more use outta the XBOX than I ever would out of most of the Carputers people on here are running.

From what I have seen some people on here put PCs in their car because they like PC's (this seams to be where you are at). Then there are people like me who like cars and think it would be "cool" to add some extra unneeded stuff to the car. For me it's driving a couple hours to a show or GTG and then having an xbox game to play while your dicking around waiting for everyone else to show up (because your crew rolled in 2 hours before EVERYONE else).

Like I said it's all about what the person wants.... not doing this at all so that people will think I am "cool." I don't build cars that way, I build cars the way I like em because I like the style.

Xynergy · 05-09-2006, 11:45 PM

Holy cow, this inspired a lot more feedback than I anticipated. Thanks for the input from everyone! Like was said earlier it all depends what you want to do... I am learning a lot more about CAR PC's as I have already exploited my xbox to max also... I just love to put random un-needed stuff in places it doesnt belong!