For those of you wanting to try a project like this, the Engadget articles below can help supplement the Popular Science article:

Part 1 - Xbox Begins

Part 2 - Return of the Xbox

Part 3 - The Final Countdown

Also, for the first time ever, I am making available the Adobe Illustrator (AI) files used to design all 3 Xbox laptop thus far! You’ll need AI 10 or newer to open them, so any reasonably recent version should be good.

Original white water-cooled 360 laptop, 2006

Black 360 laptop, 2007

Green Halo-inspired 360 laptop, 2008

Also now would be a good time to talk a little more about the new chipset. From what I have seen the old chipset has been pretty much “washed from the shelves” though I did see a 203 watt Arcade unit when I bought my last Xbox for modding 2 weeks ago. The new chipset 360’s have a 65nm process CPU, use a lot less power and (the CPU at least) runs a lot cooler, so use them if you can. All Xbox 360’s now have the supplemental GPU heatsink, though the GPU is now by far the hottest part of the system, so it actually needs more cooling consideration now than the tri-core CPU.

What to look for:

• On the box below “Xbox 360″ text: “Go Play” (arcade) “Go Pro” (premium) “Go Big” (elite)
• On the side of the box, under specs, the word “Falcon” (name for this revision of motherboard)
• If it is listed on the side sticker (not always anymore) 175 watts for power. (203 watts is the old one)
• The lot number should be above 0740 but this isn’t always sure-fire, the other signs are better.
• After Opening: The power supply will be labeled 175 watts.
• Camera though bottom of unit trick: Check out that link, which shows what the new GPU heat sink looks like, as well as the old copper heat pipe CPU heat sink. On the new Xbox the CPU heat sink should be a simple, less shiny aluminum block WITHOUT the vertical copper heat pipe.

Have fun and happy modding! Also be sure to check out our forums for lots of great help and tips.

Click here for a larger version

These replace the strum and whammy bar from a standard guitar, allowing you to use a single hand for the chords. What you do is use your foot and click your toes up or down to strum or navigate menus. To perform a whammy you lift up your heel - the spring loaded plate is shown in the up (full whammy) position in the photo, but normally your heel compresses it (no whammy). The pedal plugs into a modified Guitar Hero 3 Les Paul wireless controller. You can still strum the modified guitar but the whammy is only on the pedal.

For more photos and info check the rest of the story below. This project also finally gave me an excuse to throw together a “music video” demonstrating its use, check it out here.

I first started with a wooden prototype… it’s really quite simple but I guess it’s the though that counts.

As you can see my woodworking skills are not very good, but all it had to do was sort of work to test the concept. At first I tried using a separate pedal for whammy, but it was hard getting my feet to do separate things. (Maybe it’s just me) An all-in-one solution seemed better…

When stumped I usually go hit the local bar and sketch out ideas. (I also do this when non-stumped as well) Scribbling on the back of a karaoke sign-up slip, I came to the idea of putting a pedal under the heel…

The actual slip. (Much better writing surface than bar napkins)

I then modified the wooden prototype with a flimsy heel pedal, as shown above with one of my Sperries. One of the trickiest parts of this projects was figuring out the correct range of rotation for the whammy potentiometer. This then has to fit the range of a spring, and yet be within the range of lifting ones heel.

A shot of me playing GH3. And yes, I do still have an Atari 2600 hooked up to my TV - why wouldn’t I?

Myself with the pedal and guitar. The pedal kind of resembles a big metal shoe, kind of like if Robocop went to Holland.

Click for larger version, suitable for use in press releases and/or print without having to email me asking for larger pics. Using the stickers included with the guitars really tied the look together, wouldn’t you agree?

Click here for larger version. Fun fact - I used an old Atari Jaguar controller cable with this pedal. Hopefully it doesn’t jinx anything…

The near-final prototype of the production model Access Controller from eDimensional. Please direct inquiries to access@edimensional.com

You can read more about the conference by visiting their site using this link. I’ll also update my site with the new items once they’ve gone live at the show. Stay tuned…Check out greatest website with huge movies collection, movie download, download movies right now.

Listen to Benheck.com Podcast Episode 43

www.benheckpodcast.com

As an addendum, the main thing I’d say about GTA4 is that it’s a next-gen version of GTA - awesome graphics, amazingly deep (the fake internet is gut-bustlingly hilarious) but still retains some of the control / aiming issues of its predecessors. I’m sure we’ll discuss it in detail come next podcast.

A 2007 behind-the-scenes photo from one of our many movie concept tests that haven’t come to fruition.

They might be of interest to anyone who has seen my films and would like an idea of the writing process that went into them. Warning: none of them are done in the correct screenplay formatting, something I didn’t get into until after Port Washington. Also - like my modding projects - no incomplete or work-in-progress scripts are available. So in their place I threw on the above photo, to confuse and confound you all.

Here’s one with an Apple-based site.

There was once a time when a person had to use separate consoles for playing their Atari 2600, NES, SNES or Genesis games… This filled the land with sadness, despair and an overabundance of power bricks, threatening the very fabric of the universe! (Or at least clogging up power strips)

But now, in this brave year 2008, Richard has come to rescue us all. The “Super Genintari” combines all these fine systems into one easy-to-use beast that goes great with any decor. (Includes giant glowing Pac-Man icon) I especially like the chunky solid selector buttons.

Click here to take a look at his site which contains more pics and a video of the unit in action. Swell work Richard!

Now’s your chance to get a one-of-a-kind Ben Heckendorn creation! Engadget is sponsoring an auction to sell the PS3 laptop I built, with all proceeds going towards the National Cancer Coalition. Click here to check it out, and place a bid if you so desire.

It’s for a great cause and it’s also a sure-fire way to get a Benheck product - without having to email me 79 times that is! Happy bidding…

1. Musical scores in movies - they aren’t good or memorable anymore. We need Jerry Goldsmith back!
2. The cost of Blu-Ray discs - too much!
3. Hollywood’s dwindling box office - what we think are the real reasons even though they’ll blame it on gas prices at year’s end.

Enjoy…

Listen to Benheck.com Podcast Episode 42

www.benheckpodcast.com

A custom-built Apple IIgs laptop. Click for larger version, suitable for framing.

Some quick specs:

• Large 15″ color screen. Much bigger than the ones on my other 8-bit computer projects (thus far)
• Uses an original Apple IIgs motherboard with RAM expansion.
• Custom acrylic keyboard. It uses the original keyboard PCB, but the buttons were custom made for a cool modern look.
• CompactFlash adapter inside unit functions as an original equipment hard drive.
• Glowing backlit “][” logo. Blue for on, with a bit of yellow during disk access.
• Built-in stereo speakers.
• Side port access for floppy drive, joystick and mouse.
• Can play Arkanoid II!

For more photos and details, see below. I’ll post a Making Of story in the near future… in the meantime you can also watch this amazing demo video I put together:

Small iPod Version
Larger MPG version

(Note: Music was the most “frolic-ey” that I could find)

Please note, as usual, this is a one-time custom project and thus I will not be making any more of these. It is a one-of-a-kind single project. But I am always open to new modding requests if you’d like to drop me an email. Variety is the spice of life!

Begin photo gallery now!

Luckily I had a nice Apple logo sticker laying around from my recent iPod Touch purchase that I could slap on this baby when done. It really ties the room together, so to speak.

Shot of the unit from below. This is a very good “emulation” of a sneak photo from CES, wouldn’t you agree?

View from left. The basic idea with this unit was to make it look like an laptop that had been designed in the 80’s. The large amount of vertical air holes (basically pointless since this machine gets about as hot as your average pocket calculator) are meant to subconsciously remind the viewer of the fairly compact Apple IIc. You can see the speaker slits from this angle as well.

A closer view of the custom keyboard, one of my best looking ones but also fairly complicated to do. These keys are .188″ thick acrylic with the letters laser-etched onto the fronts. This etching was then painted black. Each key was masking taped again (ug) and their backs were painted white. Finally each key was attached to a thin, sticky backing which holds them all in place for the PCB which contains the switches.

Note: Upon taking apart the original IIgs keyboard (also used on old Mac Classics) I must say that it is without a doubt the best built keyboard I have every come across in all my days.

Unit opened shown from the back. Dimensions when closed are 14″ x 10.375″ x 2.25″ (not quite small enough to fit in an envelope, sorry) There is a slightly raised section on the screen lid to allow for the decoder circuit board on the LCD. In technical terminology that makes it a “design feature”.

View of the closed unit. The small buttons on the screen lid (above the mouse port here) let you adjust color, brightness, etc. The screen once again comes from good old AEI Components.

Side view, with bright blue light. I choose blue because it’s the most monochromatic color in my opinion. (Which is suspect as I am slightly colorblind)

Unit closed, rear. You can see the external power supply jack in this view, as well as the cable connecting the halves. Note to self: I need to update my hinge design one of these years…

The IIgs, booting up. Fun fact - this computer has the same CPU as the Super Nintendo.

Close up of the floppy drive/joystick ports. These are in their original positions on the motherboard, and a hole in the case gives us access to them. As a fun fact, I am now using, on average, all size 2 or 3 screws in my projects. Started with 6’s, moved onto 4’s around 2003, been going smaller since. McMaster-Carr is a great place to order screws and stuff in bulk.

Preview of the insides, before the upcoming “Making Of” story. Note the re-wired right-angle memory expansion (right) and right-angle Compact Flash reader (center). I even had to rewire the DIP 40 controller IC on the keyboard for the best fit. Why? Because… that’s what I do!

That’s it for now but I’ll try and throw together a “Making Of” story within the next week. Hm, by my count this only leaves ONE classic 8-bit computer left for me to mod… (No, not the MSX)

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