Use an XBOX as carPC - Page 3

SubaruSTi · 12-13-2005, 08:58 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by sdashiki

no its not perfect for all the carputer applications a "normal" carpc can.

There is NOT going to be GPS for the XBOX now that the 360 is out, and if you want it so bad, you write the code....and somehow make it legal. LOL.

Upgrading the RAM in the XBOX is pointless unless you have something to specifically request more than the 64MB is came with, which is very rare and requires coding is seems you want others to do for you.

The XBOX is a damn good media center, gaming center, but in the end if you want GPS or a few other fancy :::cough cough bluetooth::: options you need to add a carputer to the equation.

As Cartman says "Quite yer *****in"

ummmm.... Bad day?

1) I'm not all that concerned about gps, the only way to do that would be to run cromwell.

2) I was just mentioning that i had done a ram upgrade in the past. Xbmc and almost all emulators automatically detect if you have upgraded ram, it made a huge difference. So I guess someone has already done "the coding for me". In fact while they were around I had them spoon feed me my gerbers and change my diaper.

Sorry if it came across as a whiny ***** post, demanding you to take some course of action, I was just trying to rekindle a little enthusiasm and support to get something (that would have made this project much easier and inexpensive) done.

With nano-itx on the horizon I think its best for me to move on to a real carpc. after building a few computers myself I would probably feel more comfortable with the hardware support than the xbox.

I dont have a bluetooth phone but gps and obd-II functionality is interesting.

dazinith · 01-16-2006, 09:54 AM

sorry to revive an old thread, but i think i found a decent solution to the xbox but no GPS issue.. i was hoping for some input..

apparently the 'Finedrive 400' GPS has an auxilary video/audio input on it..

so i am thinking that it could be used as the GPS, and then the aux-in could be used to display the xbox which could be the video/audio media center.. does this sound like a reasonable setup?

the FineDrive 400 only has a 4 inch screen, but the FineDrive 700 has a 7 inch screen and a 20GB harddrive (but is not out yet).. im not sure of the quality of the sound/video input (stereo hopefully), which would be very important for me..

i was wondering if anyone knew the feasibility of extending one of the xbox's controller inputs via a USB cable to the front dash, and connecting the remote control to it on the dash to be used to control the media center?

with the finedrive at 400$ and a modded xbox at ~$150 or so it sounds like a quick and easy solution.. plus it has a suction cup mount already, so no fabrication needed.. any thoughts?

p.s. yes im a n00b

hateeecs · 01-17-2006, 07:55 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by dazinith

any thoughts?

Don't do it! For 500 dollars you can get a real epia MB, hard drive, etc with a 50 dollar GPS mouse.

An xbox is not a good platform for a carpc for the reasons already mentioned in this thread.

Mista · 01-25-2006, 04:24 PM

as you can see im only new here, but i cant say ive seen it mentioned once that you can install and run windows 98 on xbox, now im sure there would be a GPS program that could run on 98 surely.

dazinith · 01-25-2006, 04:50 PM

well, since the GPS is part of the lcd there is no reason for gps on the xbox.. i think im going to wait for the finedrive 700 (7" GPS with 20gb harddrive) to come out.. ill use it for a bit and eventually hook up a pc to it..

Evilbunny1114 · 01-26-2006, 12:58 PM

mista yes you can get 98 runing on an xbox but i think its through linux so it would be liek adding onto the slowness of linux already.

it would probably work it if want to screen to refresh after you have driven a mile passed your turn

PURDooM · 01-26-2006, 02:31 PM

Don't forget the xbox only has 64 mb of ram.

Techoverload · 02-01-2006, 04:20 PM

And since nobody else pointed this out..........even if (and thats a huge doubtfull if) one could get GPS running on a xbox.........it would still be missing one thing that probably the larger percentage of American carputers have......XM radio.

Without XM and GPS I wouldn't even bother with a car pc I would just buy a screen and head unit that would spin multi format disks.

No1CaNTeL · 05-30-2006, 11:43 PM

With regards to the GPS idea there is one major aspect you have to take into consideration when selecting your device. An Xbox can only supports USB 2.0 devices, so anything higher most likely would not be compatible. This would probably mean you would have to stick to an older device. Has anyone attempted to setup a script for a GPS unit yet? I can lend a hand if you guys like, I think I just bumped up from noob to decent with python scripting in XBMC, and I'm quite familiar with XBMC skinning. I can't say I've ever looked into driver programming, but with some more info I don't mind taking a look.

Some additional info:

XMRadio

You should all check out the rest of the scripts on XBMCScripts, that's pretty much all of them.

Also, there's some theme pics availible:

Car Themes

xbmc.ckdvt

No1CaNTeL · 06-01-2006, 11:37 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Mista

as you can see im only new here, but i cant say ive seen it mentioned once that you can install and run windows 98 on xbox, now im sure there would be a GPS program that could run on 98 surely.

Ok, Windows 98 1st edition on the Xbox is possible through GentooX linux, yes, but it is not really usable for anything substancial. That project was created simply to say "It is possible to run Windows on an Xbox". Actually, it is possible to run WindowsCE as well, but again, that was to say it can be done, it's not really for any specific use. Remember 64mb RAM is quite low, and by the time your Xbox has finished loading GentooX linux, then you must run Windows. There will be no memory left for a GPS unit.

Python is not the only method to create this type of software, the XBMC sourcecode is pretty much in C++ so it can be some code to implement into the actual XBMC application. but that is way out of my league. IMHO, I think the first step is to find a USB 2.0 GPS device for this project. after you select the device, maybe donating one to the XBMC team to hack at would help motivate them to take a look at this option. I can have a word with the dev team about this idea to see if they have any interest, but I need to know this concept is still an sometihng worth the effort, it's been a few months since the last post here, I just want to make sure I didn't get here too late.

simeon411 · 06-01-2006, 08:53 PM

the ram on an xbox can be upgraded to 128... Just thought I'll drop that knowledge.. I've been modding xbox for quite some time...

No1CaNTeL · 06-06-2006, 12:07 PM

yeah, you're right, it can be upgraded, but it's a bit pricey and as far as I remember, you can only make use of the extra RAM in linux as the games require you to be at the standard cpu speed to run. I don't think XBMC itself utilizes the extra RAM either, so that concept is only for the select few Xbox/Linux users. I just spoke to one of the XBMC devs and they too are pretty sure that the extra RAM would not be utilized in XBMC.

sdashiki · 06-06-2006, 12:53 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by No1CaNTeL

yeah, you're right, it can be upgraded, but it's a bit pricey and as far as I remember, you can only make use of the extra RAM in linux as the games require you to be at the standard cpu speed to run. I don't think XBMC itself utilizes the extra RAM either, so that concept is only for the select few Xbox/Linux users. I just spoke to one of the XBMC devs and they too are pretty sure that the extra RAM would not be utilized in XBMC.

you are correct.

the 128MB upgrade is for the super nerds only.

MAME uses it, sometimes.

and

if done right

Linux uses it.

edraws · 06-13-2006, 02:00 PM

I still have my xbox setup in my van and it's still working good.

Has anyone else done an xbox install recently?

coolnkw · 06-21-2006, 11:44 PM

I hear that google earth for linux is on the way, might be a wat to get GPS like on an xbox.