Xbox Laptop or Gamecubehh

HBN · Post by **HBN** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:24 pm

XBOX = I have no idea.

GameCube = Really thick MiniDisk drive. Beyond that I don't know.

Neildo_64 · Post by **Neildo_64** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:27 pm

Do you have any PC hardware experience? An Xbox is basically a PC with software to be an Xbox. And yes you can use a keyboard on an Xbox. I've never attempted making one portable, but I've modded a few and own one myself so I would say you would at least have to get a laptop dvd drive and hard drive to save some space, as these components take up the most room. Also, xbox uses standard USB, so a USB keyboard, mouse, etc. should work just fine if you hook it up to the controller ports. The controller ports and memory card slots are just USB in disguise.

Post by **Skyone** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:45 pm

Hackmodford wrote:Gamecube
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Is there any way to make the disc drive smaller?:?
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Not really, no.

Xbox
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Is a keyboard useful for anything on the Xbox?:?
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Homebrew apps, etc.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:46 pm

Well, you can run linux on it, and use the keyboard for that. So then you would basically have a real laptop.

Neildo_64 · Post by **Neildo_64** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:53 pm

ghosstt wrote:Well, you can run linux on it, and use the keyboard for that. So then you would basically have a real laptop.

Not quite. I have yet to see any linux for xbox that actually acts like a PC os. They all just have menus to go to programs (apps, emulators, games, etc) and there isn't any sort of mouse or keyboard action. Although, you can use the keyboard to scroll through menus, or change text in files. I know there are Xbox ports of a lot of old school FPS like Doom and Quake but I'm not sure if you can use a keyboard on them or not. I suppose you could also use a keyboard to chat during online play, not sure though. Other than that, there really isn't much use for a keyboard besides the fact it's cool to have a keyboard on your Xbox.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:13 pm

Neildo_64 wrote:
ghosstt wrote:Well, you can run linux on it, and use the keyboard for that. So then you would basically have a real laptop.
Not quite. I have yet to see any linux for xbox that actually acts like a PC os. They all just have menus to go to programs (apps, emulators, games, etc) and there isn't any sort of mouse or keyboard action. Although, you can use the keyboard to scroll through menus, or change text in files. I know there are Xbox ports of a lot of old school FPS like Doom and Quake but I'm not sure if you can use a keyboard on them or not. I suppose you could also use a keyboard to chat during online play, not sure though. Other than that, there really isn't much use for a keyboard besides the fact it's cool to have a keyboard on your Xbox.

Ugh, you can run dam small linux (DSL) on the xbox, with mouse and keyboard support..

Neildo_64 · Post by **Neildo_64** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:53 pm

Really? I didn't know that. I might have to try it.

Edit: Tried it, works great. And yes, it has full mouse and keyboard control. I'm using a bluetooth mouse and keyboard with my dongle in my cool usb port.

seb · Post by **seb** » Sat May 03, 2008 12:32 am

hi, i know this thread is a couple of days old, but i didnt want to start a new one and its fairly relevant.

i've been looking at making my xbox either very portable, or into a 'laptop', after seeing bens work. basically i would take a lot of the steps ben did with making the xbox 360 and ps3 laptops, ie flattening caps etc, but there are two things i would like to ask: one, how can i make the heatsinks on the cpu/gpu smaller? and two, i have a 14.1" laptop lcd, can i use it somehow? i understand it is difficult to interface a laptop lcd with a pc, but i was wondering if anybody knew anything about it...

thanks in advance,
Seb

evilteddy · Post by **evilteddy** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:02 am

Firstly you cannot use a laptop lcd. Read the screens sticky. As for making the xbox smaller use better smaller heatsinks not the originals and softmod the thing upgrade to a bigger hdd and get rid of the cd drive.

seb · Post by **seb** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:34 am

Any idea where I can find said heatsinks? I have little knowledge of them, so I wouldn't know what to look for.

I softmodded my box quite a while ago, but I had heard that you can't replace the HDD if you have a softmodded box, it has to be chipped? Don't know how much truth there is to that, but I wanted to check.

Is there any way I can use a laptop dvd drive? (I dont want to drop the dvd drive, as I can't afford a new hdd, and i intend to use a laptop 20gig drive ive got hanging around.)

So I definitely can't use a laptop lcd? Thats more than irritating. Ive got a whole dead IBM R31, and I want to use its parts (like hdd, dvd and lcd and possibly keyboard if i can) for this, as it would be quite handy, seeing as I have no money so I want to do this on the really cheap.

So basically, what I need to know is: how to use a laptop dvd drive (if at all possible), and if i can use the laptop hdd. later on i might want to use the lappy keyboard.

Edit: I would also like to know if it possible to make a smaller psu? if so, is there an existing thread/website that details what is necessary? i intend to have it still run off mains power at this stage, as I cant afford batteries that could do the job

Meleeboy0 · Post by **Meleeboy0** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:50 pm

First of all, forget using anything from a laptop. I've been working on my own Xbox Laptop recently and I know for a fact that you can't use anything from a laptop besides the HDD, and you still have to get a 40 to 44 pin ribbon cable adapter. If you want a slimmer DVD drive, just find one of those Slim drives they have at places like tigerdirect.com.

Also, I found the best thing to do if you can't find a proper heat sink is, just take about a cm off the top of the heat sink with a hack saw.

reflex · Post by **reflex** » Sun May 04, 2008 7:30 pm

From what i've read on the subject, making the newer generation of consoles portable are a lot more in depth than older generations. Some may make the procedures of the portabilizing process seem simple but in reality it really is difficult and has a pretty high learning curve. Unless your very experienced, have a lot of extra time and cash to spend i would advise trying something easier to start with. That being said making a xbox into a laptop would probably incorporate a custom enclosure (unless there is another crazy/exciting/cool way to make a enclosure), new heatsinks (probably custom made, depending on the weight and over all thickness your going for) , repositioning the optical and hard drives, and finding/building a way to regulate power going into the xbox. As for the screen i know that using old Laptop LCDs is for the most part out of the question considering that they are specifically designed for the laptop they came from (correct me if im wrong) which makes hacking them extremely hard.

seb · Post by **seb** » Sun May 04, 2008 9:49 pm

hmm ok. none of that is particularly encouraging. at the moment i'm leaning towards just making it ultra portable (so basically I'm going to laptoperize it but no screen and no battery). I intend to make a new enclosure, which I'm aiming to be only slightly bigger than the motherboard... do the slimline dvd drives use the same ide interface? (same size connector and protocol) also, what does anybody know about powering non-xbox dvd drives? im sure the must be some purpose to the 9 (?) power wires to the original drive...

APHawkes · Post by **APHawkes** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:05 am

seb,

For all things related to xbox modifications I found the resources at http://xbox-scene.com most useful. You'll probably find out more about what will/won't work from them.

evilteddy · Post by **evilteddy** » Tue May 06, 2008 1:09 am

Check out xb scene. i know you can get rid of the dvd drive and then replace the hdd with a laptop battery. Then ftp back ups of games you own from another xbox or for other programs

you can ftp the dowloaded programs from your computer. I can recommend doing a softmod as it is cheap and works.