Gebby's Slim Xbox Laptop

[vskid3]

Meh, some mods need things like an AR or USB adapter and such, and things like a clock loop can *Can'tSayThisOnTV* over your box.
Not to mention the lack of support for replacement HDDs(Which I forgot to mention earlier), a new BIOS will let you plop any old drive in instead of worrying about HDD locking and such.

I agree. When I was looking at how to upgrade my softmodded xbox's HDD, it looked like a pain. A few bridged points on the motherboard later, I had a TSOP flashed xbox and the HDD swap was cake (just don't ask me how I did it, that was 3 or 4 years ago).

 

[Zero]

Well, you need to unless you want an unreliable mod that could brick your box if it ever goes unplugged, and you'd need to buy extra stuff to do the mod anyways.(Which would come up to around the same price of a modchip IIRC)

That's for a really really outdated mod. The clock thing isn't an issue anymore.

Not to mention the lack of support for replacement HDDs(Which I forgot to mention earlier), a new BIOS will let you plop any old drive in instead of worrying about HDD locking and such.

Yep, the locking thing is true, but I'd hardly call it lack of support. Locking a drive to an Xbox isn't really hard, and can be undone. It just takes slightly longer for the initial install, but after that it's exactly the same. It actually used to have the added benefit of being able to use the drive in stock mode, and even go on Live with it assuming the console hadn't been on Live prior.

This is why it really depends on what you want to do.

 

[Mako321]

Yep, the locking thing is true, but I'd hardly call it lack of support. Locking a drive to an Xbox isn't really hard, and can be undone. It just takes slightly longer for the initial install, but after that it's exactly the same. It actually used to have the added benefit of being able to use the drive in stock mode, and even go on Live with it assuming the console hadn't been on Live prior.

This is why it really depends on what you want to do.

Not that easy if the drive can't be locked.

 

[Zero]

I've never had that problem, it always locks fine.

 

[ttsgeb]

Gebby's Slim Xbox Laptop

Maybe this should be split into an Xbox soft vs hard mod thread...
If you make me OP, I'll write up a prompt in it...

 

[ttsgeb]

Well, no Xbox today, so it will likely be around Wednesday before I have anything to work with.

I'll be ordering screen controllers soon, though. If all goes as planned, when they manage to get here, I'll already have everything I'm getting them for ready to go.

Edit: Now in the process of ordering controllers for *every* bare LCD I own. Oh God. At least I'll have no shortage of monitors.

 

[Pooploaf007]

I'm really looking forward to the finished product on this one. Good luck. Like everyone else said, soft modding it only takes a few minutes, you should do it.

 

[ttsgeb]

:/

Trust me, I know about softmodding and that it's easy, and all that... I just don't want to for this project.

Once it's done, and someone wants to buy it, and wants it to be softmodded? Sure... but this project is simply a casemod, and so modding this xbox is not in the spirit of this project.

Trust me, if I were shooting for the absolute smallest I could get this all to be, I would end up doing what Ashen did to the GC scene to the xbox one... but that is not something I care to invest my time and effort into. right now

 

[Pooploaf007]

Sorry, my phone wouldn't let me view the second page, and I didnt know you've already established this is a casemod. (Self face palm)

 

[ttsgeb]

Yea, honestly shooting for 1" total thickness without softmod is unrealistic. The dvd drive in the box is standard desktop sized.

Super excited for this either way.

You were saying?...

Now to track down a picoPSU, two Iceberg 4s, and some 1/4 inch black plastic sheet...

 

[Ashen]

Sexy. I hereby eat my previous words.

 

[ttsgeb]

I had to test it... xbox boots even with just the dvd daughterboard.

Well, this mod is actually more about the case than about making the hardware as small as possible... So I'm going to be getting to work on that.
I fit firmly into the camp of make the case, then force the flax to fit in it.

Did some very rough cuts and a mock up...

Looking at this, I don't think I actually want it to be an inch thick, purely for aesthetics sake.
It will probably be right between 1.25 and 1.5 inches so that it can still look right... also because that makes my job easier.
I'll make a thinner one one day... when I'm trying to make one more like a laptop than an xbox.

I will have an IR receiver in the power button's spot, and the power button will be inside somewhere.

That's not the actual screen I'm using, either... I'm using a smaller, higher resolution one for this. I'm just not feeling like pulling the 4 screws to get it out of it's casing right now.

 

[ttsgeb]

Looked at this a bit more today and came up with a couple of less stupid layouts:

I think I'll be doing the lower one, but flipping the mobo over so that I can close the xbox and still have ventilation, as well as not having the off-centered holes on top.
With the fans I'm getting, that would also give me a pimpin' blue underglow.

I also ordered a few heatsinks to work with and some abs sheeting for the parts I don't have case bits for.

Oh... and NJYTouch upgraded my order to DHL shipping for free, so... well... everything should be getting here for this within a week or so. *Can'tSayThisOnTV* yeah.\

Well... except the PSU I need to grab a multimeter and figure out what I'm doing for it. If I can throw together a few regulators for $30 or less instead of getting a picoPSU for like... $150... I'm going to do that.

Unless someone wants to just go ahead and tell me what the current draw on the 3.3V 5V and 12V lines in a stock xbox are...

 

[vskid3]

I believe the PSU in at least one of my xboxen was labeled with the power output for each line. The thing that makes it tricky is the negative voltage lines. dkap made his own regulators for his Xboxp back in the day, but I can't remember if he posted much about them.

 

[superben51]

bill and ted's excellent adventure?

all in all it looks like it's going to be pretty sweet looking

 

[ttsgeb]

The screen controllers and heat sinks have come in, but I'm still waiting on my sheets of plastic... that have yet to be shipped...

Also: This project, and all of my others, are on a hiatus... because I'm not allowed to have fun until the house is cleaned per myself.
I haven't cleaned since I moved in... it's getting bad.

Another thing holding me back is getting those Dang sheets of plastic to come already. Seriously... I need me some case making materials to get much further in this project.

 

[Tchay]

Downing probably has plastic supplies he could send you. He also does good case work (Envision). Great to work with.

 

[superben51]

Hey is your xbox outputting VGA or does your controller board accept composite?

 

[ttsgeb]

The board claims to accept component with a bit of soldering. I'll work on that once I'm to that point... If worst comes to worst, I can go through the trouble of vga modding the Xbox and building a sync separator, but I doubt I'll have to.

 

[ttsgeb]

Whilst waiting for dishes to dry, I picked up my xbox jewel and noticed something odd...

Anyway... I've been musing about corny names for this... Help me choose.

ttxbox
xgeb
gebox
gebbox
ttxtop


I'm partial to ttxtop... there are just SO many "t"s in it.
Oh... and Gebox ain't that bad either.

Ah, the joys of loving my name. Who cares if I look like a spambot at first? It has a uniqueness that's hard to infringe upon.

In other news, I've decided that with a VERY aggressive cut of the xbox... you MAY be able to fit it into... like... a PS2 Phat case... :/ Basically, the only chance it has for being realistically portable is to entirely re-engineer the Dang thing... In other other news, I'm considering going back to college now.

edit: good god, my arm/hand looks deformed like no other in that picture.