Gebby's Slim Xbox Laptop

[samjc3]

If you really like T's, why not call it the tttttttop?

Vga modding though, is a bad bad idea for xbox. it produces washed out video, and is incompatible with a good bit of games, as I recall. If you want VGA, I would sooner go from hdmi to vga through a box. the interlace wont be an issue at your resolution, i imagine.

 

[ttsgeb]

I know no way to get digital video out of the xbox. :/ If I did, I would be using DVI.

If you know a way, please tell me.

More progress! The plastic finally shipped. I'm super excited... like... I was bouncing in my seat when I got the email saying it.
Can you tell I've wanted to do this for a while?

Also, the quote button is too Dang close to the edit button. :/

 

[ttsgeb]

So... The plastic got here. I'm excited.

It's slightly more flexible than I expected, but I planned to double it up anyway.

I need help deciding... textured or smooth?

Got it from here: http://www.professionalplastics.com/
Specifically 4 sheets of .62*24*48 of Black General Purpose ABS
It's thin, but not so thin that I can't use it. Has a few imperfections on the smooth side, but may be decent for vacuforming, especially if you're frankencasing after it.

 

[bud]

Textured. It'll show less scratches.

 

[ttsgeb]

That's what I'm thinking... also the textured side matches the xbox's color a lot better.

The bezel will need to be the smooth side though, but that shouldn't be much of an issue.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not painting this. Because I'm awesome like that.

 

[zeturi]

I agree with bud, textured is the way to go.

 

[samjc3]

I agree with bud, textured is the way to go.

 

[superben51]

I agree with bud, textured is the way to go.

 

[ttsgeb]

I'm pretty sold on the textured bit... it's just the texture is so... ugly... It makes me think of cheapo trailer kitchen or something...

I'll cut out a couple parts and then take some 1000 grit to a bit of scrap and see what I think.

That said... Now that I know how to get ABS sent to my door, my imagination is running wild.
I could make so many professional looking things...
IDK, there's just something to be said about building things out of something other than wood and crudely bent metal.

Also, I seem to have this problem where I keep remembering I haven't a clue what I'm going to do for sound, and then I forget to care... so somebody help me out a bit...

 

[PalmerTech]

As someone who works in a military research lab, let me tell you that there is a lot of high end/expensive lab gear that uses textures exactly like that. If you build it clean, it can look very professional.

 

[ttsgeb]

That's all well and fine, but what am I doing for sound...

*looks at the fact that his work on this has not gone past taking apart a disk drive and cutting apart an xbox shell*

Good news... I found a couple of dime sized speakers that are loud and sound good that I'm not going to sell to SonyQrio.
Also I'm about 90% through my list of "flax you need to do first, you lazy *Can'tSayThisOnTV*" and I have most everything I need, so legit progress should be happening sometime in the next week or so.

What Remains on my list:
Build a table
Make that bench seat out of the truck you sold into a legit couch
CLEAN THE MOTHER*Can'tSayThisOnTV*ING KITCHEN ALREADY YOU DISGUSTING lovely lady
Chop up some wood into some rectangles
Masturbate furiously to shops of SS
Pick the flax up that should be at the post office waiting for me by now.

 

[ttsgeb]

I got out my dremmel... and my plastic...

It Starts.

Moar soon.

Maybe I'll even *Can'tSayThisOnTV* with... whip out... pick up a soldering iron eventually.




also... the PSU... It's making me *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ing crazy. Someone that knows flax about this stuff, help me out.

PowON is a signal from the mobo to the psu telling it to turn on, so when the xbox notices that you have pressed the power button on the front it puts 3.3V on the PowON line to tell the PSU to turn on. When the PSU is stable it ouputs 3.3V on the PowOK line to tell the mobo that the psu is working correctly and that the whole xbox can be turned on.

Could I short the White and Blue wires together on the xbox and the green to ground on the atx supply, then throw a switch into the power input... or is this a bad idea to end all bad ideas?
I'm trying to find a way around bothering with a converter, and if this would work, it would make a DIY PSU about 20x more realistic for someone like me.

alternatively, could I just make the atx always on, and wire the 5v PowerOK line through a 3.3v regulator into the xbox? Maybe have the xbox's PowerON line short to ground through the same DPDT switch that shorts the green line on the ATX supply to a seperated ground?

A diagram for a converter:

I could probably build this, but... honestly... I want to keep this as simple as possible, and don't care if powering it on functions the same way as it used to.

 

[ttsgeb]

Minor amount of progress today... did some some on my heatsink setup.

I'm hoping this will keep it cool enough.

I took the fans all the way apart to solder this together... because that's how I roll.

They aren't actually attached to the board yet, just setting on it... but man, this looks so much less intimidating without the stock heatsinks.

 

[zeturi]

I will say, having used those before, they are excellent. Mine never got past lukewarm, playing Fable for a couple of hours.

 

[ttsgeb]

Only one of them is an iceberg.. It's one of the ones you sent me, btw. I can tell the difference between yours and Sam's... because I'm good like that.

Thanks for ripping the sync wire out, btw. REALLY appreciated having to take it all apart to reattach it.
Even if the xbox doesn't actually USE that wire, I had to have it. It just wouldn't feel right without it.

 

[ttsgeb]

*Can'tSayThisOnTV* it. I figured out power.

I have my best ideas when there's fumes from isopropyl, solder, plastic, and goo-gone running around in my head.

 

[zeturi]

Sorry about that Geb, I had totally forgotten about the third wire. I had cut if off a couple of years ago, so I didn't remember ever taking it off.

 

[ttsgeb]

It's all good. I like taking things apart, anyway... and it gave me the opportunity to dab a bit of (electric) motor oil in the bearings.

 

[SonyQrio]

Good news... I found a of dime sized speakers that are loud and sound good that I'm not going to sell to SonyQrio.

I just saw this.

 

[ttsgeb]

Ok, so I haven't figured out power, I admit it, and that's why this isn't going anywhere right now; but I think I found something potentially useful to me, and I *think* Herma is working on helping me out...

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tl1451a.pdf
http://www.ti.com/product/tl1451a
http://www.ti.com/product/tl1451a-ep

I plan to use a 5v brick, and have a step-down, step-up, and a passthrough to power this thing. I think this chip could be helpful in that. The problem being that I'd have to build a circuit for it. In the end, unless I custom etch boards and use surface mount components, I think this would give me a power board that is around 2*2 inches. Decent, but I'd still like it to be smaller.

Why I think this would be useful:
Supports two output voltages from one chip
Locks power output until internal circuit is fully powered on, thus allowing me to use the 3.3V output as the PSOK signal
There's a lovely datasheet that has a schematic for me to plug numbers into on page 21

Basically, I'm thinking All I'd have to do to make this work is build the circuit, and then wire up a couple of transistors that control my 5v line with 3.3v: One ahead of the chip, to turn the chip on; and one behind the chip, to allow the 5V to pass on to the board.

If I'm being an idiot, please, let me know. I have minimal actual knowledge of what's going on here, I'm just going by what I think sounds right.

I've also done a little bit of work on the board... pulled off ports, wired directly into the power controller, moved a couple caps, etc.
Haven't gotten around to testing any of it yet, though, so for all I know, I have a fried xbox now.