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According to wikipedia, the GPU in the XBox 360 puts out 240 GFLOPS. The CPU is harder to nail down, but it seems to have a peak around 115 GFLOPS.

The iPad 3 has a CPU that, from what I hear, has a peak capacity of 1.5 GFLOPS. The SGX 543MP2 in the new iPad 3 has 4 cores and does 6.4 GFLOPS per core, per 200 MHz. If we assume the 4 cores are clocks at 600 Mhz, that would mean the GPU output would be, in theory, 77.6 GFLOPS.

In short, whatever Carmack was thinking or testing, he sure wasn't hitting the peak performance of the Xbox - the console is still leagues ahead of the mobile CPUs and GPUs, and it's 7 years old.

the average household does not have a pentalobular screwdriver... the days of Apple encouraging the user and hobbyist to open up their products and tinker and learn are over. Wozniak's Apple is dead. This is no conspiracy. This is simply fact; the final screw in the hobbyist's ass is yet more unneeded evidence indicating this.

The average household? Seriously? The average household has never stocked ANY tiny screwdrivers, be they Phillips like the old screws, Torx, or this "new" one. The average household has a #2 Phillips, an old fashioned slotted screwdriver for stupid things like switchplates that still use them, and a hammer. Probably a few leftover allen wrenches from Ikea. Anything more exotic than that pretty much requires a trip to Radio Shack, or a $5 order from some website. Therefore, almost nothing has changed. In fact, I got a nice little screwdriver for FREE with the kit the times I changed batteries and screens and things. The average household doesn't disassemble electronics, not least because they would rather not void their warranty.

Quit being so dramatic. "Wozniak's Apple," as you put it, existed in a world where computers cost a lot of money, were only purchased by skilled electronics experts or those planning to become experts, and needed to be modified to do pretty much anything. That world has been gone for more than 20 years. Today, computers (and tiny computers called "smartphones") are a mature technology, of which the target market is 99.9% made up of NON-experts, who don't take things apart and don't want to. The fact that it's been this long and you still expect there to be some kind of huge "enthusiast" contingent who are soldering things onto the boards of their Apple IIs, just ends up sounding naive.

The market has gone towards simple, integrated, and (especially in portable devices like laptops and cell phones)--SMALL. You can't have those things and still be "tinker-friendly." Will a few people still take these devices apart to tinker and to perform some repairs (like the battery) more cheaply? You bet. I do it too.

I think if Apple were trying to screw those people, they would seal the iPhone completely so that you had to break plastic to open it, and, coat the board in epoxy like they do with some consoles.

...that Microsoft's Xbox 360 *still* has not been exploited? PS3 has had a number of exploits over the years, but Xbox 360 is still locked down tight. Too bad desktop Windows still has remote code execution vulnerabilities discovered every month...

Probably an economic issue. Microsoft (and Sony, for that matter) doesn't make money from console hardware sales ... they need game sales to make a profit. So there's a clear incentive to make the Xbox hard to crack. Perhaps Microsoft is just better at that than Sony.

Have either of you actually played a video game before? Where do you get your intel from?

The 360 was the first to have a hypervisor exploit: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEZkykVkkFmojzapEq.php
The 360 was the first to allow playing burnt games: http://digg.com/news/technology/Modded_Xbox_360_Plays_Burned_Games
The 360 was the first to have homebrew: http://beta.ivancover.com/wiki/index.php/Xbox_360_King_Kong_Shader_Exploit

This is my source: More on LIVE Bans, HDD Crippling, Possible Ban Causes

Have you tried running the games installed on your harddrive? I am sure that when you do, it will fail and you will be required to run it from the disc, and be unable to install it to the hdd.

not anymore

mainly: Your Gamertag may be corrupted. This does not mean your gamertag has been banned, you can recover it using any live-capable 360, however ANY ACHIVEMENTS YOU HAVE EARNED SINCE BEING BANNED WILL BE LOST. Your gamertag will be corrupted EVERY SINGLE TIME it is used on a banned console. This means you cannot use your banned console to play backups offline just to get achievements - it wont work, the second you put your profile back on a good 360, it will be corrupted and all progress lost. There is no way around this.

WHOA THERE COWBOY!!! Anyone considering this would do well to note that the product number of the drive you linked and the drive needed for this hack are NOT THE SAME and you will fail if you use the model that ends in BEVT. The BEVS version is no longer produced, hard to find, and has an inflated price as a result of this known procedure.

That's really interesting considering the reviews (several) to the right of the Newegg BEVT product read:

xbox 360

white Reviewed By: Nick on 9/2/2009
Rating + 5
Tech Level Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Purchased this device to upgrade the capacity of my 360. I now have a 120GB 360 drive for a fraction the cost of a ms one.
Cons: none
Other Thoughts: You must be experienced with computers to use this drive for the 360. (Not just plug and play)

Although I have not done this myself (I don't own an XBox360) I know of people that have done it successfully with the BEVT and there are posts online of successes.

I would be really surprised if the firmware didn't work for the BEVT the same way it does for the BEVS. I think the inflated price of the BEVS is simply because they don't make them anymore. Not a hardware guy but I'd be surprised if Microsoft's latest XBoxes aren't shipping with later drives like the BEVT.

You can sometimes "fix" a finicky XBOX DVD-ROM drive by opening it up, accessing the laser assembly, and tweaking the laser output voltage. There's a little potentiometer that you have to adjust. I did this to one of my XBOX drives once and it fixed the problem. I've also used the laser assembly for an almost-compatible Samsung DVD-ROM drive to replace the laser assembly in a faulty XBOX Samsung DVD-ROM drive. This repaired drive works better than any other XBOX drive that I've used. Check this link for instructions on how to adjust the laser voltage: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox-tutorials.php

Hmm, most of the homebrew stuff for the Wii can be distributed without having to worry about license agreements since most do not seem to be using official Nintendo license stuff. (As in the libraries are homebrew)

Most of the Xbox stuff however, is using Microsoft's own SDK, which is why you normally can't find a high profile website offering the files.

To quote Xbox-Scene.net "Built with (MS) XDK" or "Built with (MS) SDK" What does it mean?

It means the software you are trying to download has been compiled with the official Microsoft® SDK (System Development Kit) for Xbox.
This compiler is only available to Microsoft approved programmers and can not be used to build 'homebrew software'.
That's what makes the software you want to download 'illegal' (not in our eyes - as the software itself has completely been written by the programmer - but in the eyes of the law it is illegal).

There is an even easier fix... MS should just install foam pads. See here:

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEyyyZFZAuDOQEAioX.php

There is also do-it-yourself guides on xbox-scene, but it involves voiding the warranty by opening the box.

yay day old news AGAIN, thanks slashdot. http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EkklFFlpZuWHSHGbml.php

I was wondering the same thing so I did some looking around. It is easy to find used drives (especially 20GB) - look on ebay, amazon, your local game shop, etc.

If you want a larger drive, you can hack one in. I don't think anyone has had luck getting any SATA drive to work, but you can buy the exact same model that MS uses and flash the firmware to make it compatible. Then you can either swap out the case with another 360 hdd, or solder up a cable to use the drive internally.

I was wondering the same thing so I did some looking around. It is easy to find used drives (especially 20GB) - look on ebay, amazon, your local game shop, etc.

If you want a larger drive, you can hack one in. I don't think anyone has had luck getting any SATA drive to work, but you can buy the exact same model that MS uses and flash the firmware to make it compatible. Then you can either swap out the case with another 360 hdd, or solder up a cable to use the drive internally.

Where did you find the Xbox port of XBMC? Last one I tried there was a problem with the video resolution, the screen would be cropped around the sides. If you know a port that works better, let me know.

Not only have I see this happen with an Xbox 360, but I used the following methodology to stop the router crash... http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php/t502544.html Unfortunatly it required making the directly wired unit a DMZ host. I wonder if anyone has tried this with an affected PC/Win unit.

Actually with a bit of coaxing you can get Linux onto the 360.

It's kind of ironic (suspicious?) that you can pirate 360 games way easier then you can run homebrew/Linux on it.

And best of all, you don't have to worry about minutiae like hardware video acceleration! Only standard definition videos for us in Linux, please!

A friend of mine had his laptop "searched" when returning from vacation through Florida. He wrote about his account if you're interested. He used to own a website that sold console modding/hacking paraphernalia and their reason for searching is that they assumed he was smuggling something into the county.

I think the real question is whether or not they can search all storage media or just the computer itself, what's to stop you from removing the hard drive and replacing it with a small flash media card on a hard drive adapter containing a clean install of Ubuntu whenever you fly? Or better yet just leave a Live CD in the drive and install a switch under the battery to cut power to the HDD.

The biggest cause of failures that I've seen on the Xbox commmunity forums is from MS' flawed heat sink clamp design. Take off those damn x-clamps and 90% of the time the system will boot right up without a problem.

Here's a thread with more details, and instructions.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=595746

I've done it, didn't even need a soldering iron. All you need is some 10-32 x 3/8 and 10-32 x 1/2 machine screws along with some #10 nylon washers. You'll also want some Arctic Silver paste to replace the cheap crap that MS uses on the CPU and GPU.

Take the system apart and remove the xclamps that hold on the heat sinks, clean up the old thermal paste and apply new stuff. After that you insert the screws (they thread right into the heat sink dies) and tighten everything down.

On my system I also had to cut out the little square panel that's under the processors, for some reason it was causing the board to flex and not boot.

There's a thread on how to do all of this located at http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=471958

You may save a little money going this way but most of the broken systems I found on Ebay are still about $200, if you want to take a gamble and enjoy working on electronics it's a good option though.

The PS2 had a standard dual layer DVD drive that supported 4GB for single layer discs and 8GB for dual layer discs.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_2 _DVD-9_games

The Xbox had the same storage space as the PS2.
This one is not true the Xbox had a 8GB disk drive (http://www.xbreporter.com/xbox_system_specificati ons.php) but a modded Xbox could take a much bigger drive. The PS2 could take a 40GB add-on disk drive although from what I can gather it wasn't really supported.

The PS3 has a BluRay drive that supports 25GB for single layer discs and 50GB for dual layer discs.
If you want conformation type "PS3 Specifications" in any search engine or read any electronics or HI-Fi store catalogue.

The Xbox 360 has a standard dual layer DVD drive that supports 3.5GB for single layers discs and 7GB for dual layer discs.
This does seem odd since a single layer DVD is 4.7GB and a Dual Layer is 9.4GB. If this is true then what is being done (DRM anyone?) with the spare capacity. The URL I found was http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEFpFlZApk tdrRCUeP.php and there are many others.

Well they have fixed/will be fixing most of the design flaws

They've added a much improved heatsink to the GPU, They've reinforced the PCB around the processors to keep it from warping, and they should be pumping out the 65nm chips any day now (for all we know they already are).

It will be much less costly for them to actually fix these errors than to pay for additionally two way shipping and replacement of 1/4 to 1/3rd of everything they produce.

Not necessarily...

I manage the largest (AFAIK) Xbox360 error code list.

Basically the most common error that people _REALLY_ have when they get the "3 red lights of death" is a 0102 which has been tracked down to an issue with the Graphics Processor. What happens is the processor runs exceedingly hot to the point where the PCB actually weakens and the solder in the BGA softens (it's eco friendly lead free solder too so it's weaker right off the bat). The heat syncs are held on by springy metal brackets referred to as "X-Clamps" mounted on the back side of the motherboard (so the screws go right through the mobo)... What this does is create a perfect storm for deformation of the motherboard and cold (figuratively of course) connections within the BGA.

Once a motherboard has been sufficiently deformed it doesn't really ever get better, like frame damage to your car it can be repaired but it's never quite the same again. A temporary fix is to pull off the heat syncs and reflow the BGA with a heat gun... but it only takes weeks to a month before you'll get the red lights again. A more successful fix is to remove the "x-clamps" altogether and bolting the heat syncs directly to the case chassis... This prevents the unnecessary flexing of the PCB below the GPU and even when the area gets hot from use does not deform the PCB and thus does not create cold connections in the BGA.

What does this have to do with the same person having 11 faulty consoles? Simply put... the consoles he's getting back are NOT NEW. He's not returning it to the store but Microsoft themselves and either getting his original console back "fixed" by Microsoft, or he's getting a refurb that originally belonged to some other poor schmuck who had the same problem... again "fixed" by Microsoft. Once a console throws that error it's prone to failure again and again...

I don't have a broken 360, mine has been working a-ok since I picked it up on launch day... but I know thousands of people who've experienced broken consoles and I know many people personally who take great care of their console and just had it stop working one day... and then the next one they got was DOA... and the next one only worked for a week... etc. etc. etc.

In most cases you either have had no problems at all or you've got through 2 or 3 or more consoles. The only people I know who have had to replace it only once after the 3RLoD were those who were out of warranty and simply bought a new one instead of sending it in for repair.

Not necessarily...

I manage the largest (AFAIK) Xbox360 error code list.

Basically the most common error that people _REALLY_ have when they get the "3 red lights of death" is a 0102 which has been tracked down to an issue with the Graphics Processor. What happens is the processor runs exceedingly hot to the point where the PCB actually weakens and the solder in the BGA softens (it's eco friendly lead free solder too so it's weaker right off the bat). The heat syncs are held on by springy metal brackets referred to as "X-Clamps" mounted on the back side of the motherboard (so the screws go right through the mobo)... What this does is create a perfect storm for deformation of the motherboard and cold (figuratively of course) connections within the BGA.

Once a motherboard has been sufficiently deformed it doesn't really ever get better, like frame damage to your car it can be repaired but it's never quite the same again. A temporary fix is to pull off the heat syncs and reflow the BGA with a heat gun... but it only takes weeks to a month before you'll get the red lights again. A more successful fix is to remove the "x-clamps" altogether and bolting the heat syncs directly to the case chassis... This prevents the unnecessary flexing of the PCB below the GPU and even when the area gets hot from use does not deform the PCB and thus does not create cold connections in the BGA.

What does this have to do with the same person having 11 faulty consoles? Simply put... the consoles he's getting back are NOT NEW. He's not returning it to the store but Microsoft themselves and either getting his original console back "fixed" by Microsoft, or he's getting a refurb that originally belonged to some other poor schmuck who had the same problem... again "fixed" by Microsoft. Once a console throws that error it's prone to failure again and again...

I don't have a broken 360, mine has been working a-ok since I picked it up on launch day... but I know thousands of people who've experienced broken consoles and I know many people personally who take great care of their console and just had it stop working one day... and then the next one they got was DOA... and the next one only worked for a week... etc. etc. etc.

In most cases you either have had no problems at all or you've got through 2 or 3 or more consoles. The only people I know who have had to replace it only once after the 3RLoD were those who were out of warranty and simply bought a new one instead of sending it in for repair.

Yea but that same customer owns a DS, PSP, PS3 and probably others. Why are people on /. proposing that this is his fault? This is ridiculous. If this were the case the article would have to be talking about how he goes through so many of these various gaming devices no matter what he buys. Why are so many of you wanting to blame him. It is fairly common knowledge that these XBox 360s are sucking at life at a truly epic level. At least this guy is saying what I said and not trying to relocate blame.

Finally, I leave you with a paragraph from a recent Penny Arcade post:
It looks like Microsoft is trying to get out ahead of heat complaints on their system, which I think we may take as an admission of guilt. Hardware troubles on the Xbox 360 have ceased to be something one reads about deep in forum threads, buried on page four, beyond the depth that wisdom can penetrate. Certainly, such tales would break the surface and then recede. Anecdotal offerings of a user's "fifth" or "seventh" consecutive failed Xbox always struck me as worse, the implication being that they have no solution, and are waving a censer over it or something and sending it back out. I wondered to what extent these reports were being gamed, their message of widespread failure amplified, but I don't think we need to look for a knife in the dark. I think it really is that bad.

well to be honest I completely expected to be modded as a troll.
but seriously, if you care at all about Live I'd recommend not playing a backup on Live at the moment, since there are many reports on http://xbox-scene.com/ as well as on http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/05/17/ 545414.aspx
which show that Microsoft has dropped the ban hammer.

isn't affected by the endless hardware and software problems of the PC

I built a quake 3 map of my high school on school property, using school computers, as a school project. We put a lot of work into it, adding a lot of detail and paying attention to the actual measurements and scale of every room and hallway. We even tested / played it at school, blowing each other up, etc. We wanted to put our skins in the game to add some more fun to it, but eventually the administration came down on us an told us we had to redo the project and do something else.

So, we made an Xbox game about blowing up babies instead. True story. http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEkEZEZpuF dnkwFqhz.php

Well, I respect Tycho from Penny Arcade, but he is referring to a launch day console that he purchased over a year ago; not one of the newly redesigned "elite" units being reported on in TFA.

I own a launch unit Xbox 360 as well, I've never had any problems, but I also maintain the largest (if not the only) FAQ on the subject of Red Rings of Death (at least it's the largest one I know of).

There is no denying that a large number of Xbox 360 consoles have gone belly up, I see that crap first hand on a daily basis. Even still MS claims the failure rate is between 3 and 5 percent. Considering they've shipped 10 million consoles... 3 to 5 percent is still 300,000 to half a million units. When you consider a chunk of consumers that size and the speed in which bad news travels over the tubes... whether it's FUD or not, you get a reputation for that sort of thing.

I have no doubt that some of the new elite units are throwing errors out of the box, despite the fact that it was "redesigned" the problematic components haven't been fixed or even addressed in the elite units and a potential fix wont go into production until sometime next month.

FWIW: If I had to make an educated guess I'd say 90% of the broken Xbox 360s can be traced back to a single design error and that is a GPU that runs too hot due to a shoddy cooling system resulting in either weak or bridged solder connections in it's Ball Grid Array. Neither the GPU, it's cooling system, or it's attachment to the motherboard have been modified since the console's launch, why would any new systems be any different from the older ones.

Well, I respect Tycho from Penny Arcade, but he is referring to a launch day console that he purchased over a year ago; not one of the newly redesigned "elite" units being reported on in TFA.

I own a launch unit Xbox 360 as well, I've never had any problems, but I also maintain the largest (if not the only) FAQ on the subject of Red Rings of Death (at least it's the largest one I know of).

There is no denying that a large number of Xbox 360 consoles have gone belly up, I see that crap first hand on a daily basis. Even still MS claims the failure rate is between 3 and 5 percent. Considering they've shipped 10 million consoles... 3 to 5 percent is still 300,000 to half a million units. When you consider a chunk of consumers that size and the speed in which bad news travels over the tubes... whether it's FUD or not, you get a reputation for that sort of thing.

I have no doubt that some of the new elite units are throwing errors out of the box, despite the fact that it was "redesigned" the problematic components haven't been fixed or even addressed in the elite units and a potential fix wont go into production until sometime next month.

FWIW: If I had to make an educated guess I'd say 90% of the broken Xbox 360s can be traced back to a single design error and that is a GPU that runs too hot due to a shoddy cooling system resulting in either weak or bridged solder connections in it's Ball Grid Array. Neither the GPU, it's cooling system, or it's attachment to the motherboard have been modified since the console's launch, why would any new systems be any different from the older ones.

First you say it's not worth buying, then you say people are going to be pissed off that they didn't buy one. Which is it?

Personally, I have no problem with extra choices (though some people do). I just want a bigger HDD - and I'd rather not pay US$180 for it, thanks MS, m'kay?

Microsoft isn't making money on the 360, it's selling at a loss (just like the xbox 1):
http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEFkZEZVFA VeytDAqV.php

If they have a long lifespan for the console, that loss might eventually become a profit. If they develop a replacement console sooner, that not only adds a schwack of R&D costs but it reduces the amount of profit they could get from this generation.

The exact same thing goes for sony; the ps3 is a loss leader, but they are probably making money from the ps2 due to its popularity and long life.

Plus PS3 has that blinking issue...maybe good for "3D" movies (ref to old vid cards that came with "special" LCD glasses).

The blinking issue that only people with 1080p televisions using HDMI have? Right, well apparently the problem is really HDCP handshaking and not the PS3 or the TV necessarily, and how does your 360 look with HDMI? Oh right, it doesn't have that yet. I bet you can buy a $200 add-on for it though, or just a whole new console in 6 months. But believe the hype, the $400 360 has so much more over the $600 PS3/Bluray player!

If you like to mess around with hardware, but not enough to actually solder on a chip (or don't want to open the XBox for another reason), you can make an adapter for the XBox controller by taking one of the tear-away ends of the cord and splicing in a USB male adapter (something like this, but in reverse .. and you don't have to cut the cord if you don't have extras).

It's pretty easy since the XBox controllers are basically just USB cables with a non-standard adapter. There are drivers for the controller and memory card (you can find them on xbox-scene), so all you need to get is a memory card (you should be able to find a used one at a local game store) and you're set. Plus you can use the controller as a game pad for your PC if you want.

Datel Xport 360

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEupyFFAEZ zWsdKlrw.php

39.99 at bestbuy.com

I guess it may be possible.

I almost want to try it now :)

Would just have to figure out how to format a drive properly, and transfer my data from the old drive to the new one.

I completely agree, there's nothing wrong with simpler chips, there's no real need for 100Mhz+ devices in your projects unless it calls for them. You don't pick some high speed piece of kit and thinking of something to do with it (that's a totally wrong approach IMO). You should be thinking of an application and then build the circuit to fit your application. You need to find a problem and develop a solution, not have a solution and try to find a problem it might fix. Choosing to use simple through hole logic circuits, or microcontrollers as opposed to modern high speed surface mount devices should be a decision you make based on the problem you're trying to solve... and there are quite a few problems that can be solved with simple circuits.

To the OP: As someone who has already gone down that road (from following pre-planed projects to building my own custom stuff)... There is just one simple factor to do...

Decide what you want to do (define your "problem) and then build it (develop the "solution").

Today I basically have an idea for something I want to build, and then I begin figuring how I can accomplish that using the individual part data, usually from simple chips like 74XXX and 555s to more complex chips like Basic STAMP and PIC chips. Most often I choose projects that I feel are just a hair out of my range and I learn some new skills along the way.

I've been working on many little projects but my last BIG project was an adapter that allowed you to use a Sega Saturn controller on an Xbox 360. I had limited microcontroller experience so I learned about them, figured out which one would best suit my needs, and costs, and then I learned the assembly language used to program it. I also learned a lot about multiplexers (and why they wouldn't work for what I was trying to do). But that project like many others weren't following any kind of guide, and they weren't based on something someone else had already done. I find developing a circuit similar to piecing together a puzzle, you have an idea if which pieces might fit where and you might have a few holes in your design and then hunt around for pieces that might fit that you didn't know about, expanding your knowledge along the way.

Basically just learning what the function, capabilities, and limits of number of electronic components do is the first step. Once you have those in your pocket you can start to utilize them for something unique. Like the words of a foreign language... now all you have to do is think of something creative to say. It's not anything you'll learn from a book, because the next step is be creative and think of something to build.

Good for all the knobs who believe Sony is going to win pushing the PS3...

I think the console thing is moot, MS is preparing to update the XBOX 360 with HDMI and other goodies (http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEylpyZkV pwzemjZKk.php). I would be surprised if there where not an XBOX 360 w/ an HD-DVD drive in it retailing for the same price as the PS3 by the time the year is done.

BTW, I hate both Sony and MS but ATM I think I hate Sony's arrogance more.

The 20GB HDD won't be an issue with PCTV when the new Xbox360 roles out with HDMI and a 120GB HDD. Thanks M$ for screwing your current xbox customers. There better be a good trade-in deal.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=5 75582&st=0

Oh is it possible.

Why is slash not covering the 23C3

Actually they've got a really cool addition to the latest VB emulator that lets you use the Red/Blue 3D glasses to actually play the game in 3D. I've actually tried it, it's quite cool. It sill runs a little slow, but it's playable, I also didn't experience any of the sound issues you cite.

Did you attempt to extract the 4 digit secondary error code from the console?

If not I maintain a list of all know Xbox 360 error codes (including instructions on how to extract the secondary error code). AFAIK it's the most comprehensive list available online, though it's still in it's infancy.

Maybe you should look into this: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEyukkkFEZ drrNQpqZ.php

Heh - yeah...I kinda mentioned MCE/X360 as the lowest of the low (well....apart from the Sony combo, of course ;-) ). You might find a certain amount of assistance on xbox-scene.com> if you still want to do some more flexible media streaming to the 360. FWICR there's some on-the-fly format conversion trickery you can do with the streaming. Don't use it myself as I (a) don't have MCE, and (b) have a perfectly adequate XBMC set-up for getting my pr0n on the big-screen ;-) .

I would go in search of a more detailed link, but sadly the site is blocked by our company firewall. Oh, and please spare us all the "This is your boss - why are you slashdotting on company time" comedy posts.

If we ignore "official" for a while, modded Xboxen with morrowind can play almost any community made mod for the morrowind PC version. http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php /t369851.html Yet another great reason to mod you xbox...

Why isn't there an emulator for it that's shutter-glasses compatible by now?

I don't know how long ago you wanted to softmod your xbox but these days its very simple providing you aren't afraid to open your xbox up.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=4 96263

Follow that tutorial and in a few hours you will have a softmodded xbox.

Can't help you with the whole websense thing, but these graphs clearly show that these modders take perforamce seriously: http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/Dano2k0-wat ercooled-360/news/ledspoweredon.jpg http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/Dano2k0-wat ercooled-360/news/windowviewwholesidelitup.jpg

Can't help you with the whole websense thing, but these graphs clearly show that these modders take perforamce seriously: http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/Dano2k0-wat ercooled-360/news/ledspoweredon.jpg http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/Dano2k0-wat ercooled-360/news/windowviewwholesidelitup.jpg

No bricking here and people over at http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=5 18359 forums have confirmed games working still on Live. No banning/bricking at the time of this comment.

Cycle-accurate Genesis emulation? I've never seen it. Care to elaborate? There is only one cycle-accurate SNES emulator, bsnes, and it is fairly new and extremely resource intensive. For some reason, internet saavy people put give far more credit to the accuracy of console emulation than is justified by the actual accuracy of console emulation. Few emulators are as accurate as many would like to believe. For example, most console emulators would be completely unable to win a "Turing-test" like comparison between real hardware and the emulator.

From the looks of this mod, it appears as if it would be far easier to see what would happen by modifying the hardware, as opposed to modifying a supposedly cycle-accurate emulator, as the emulator might not be setup for such modification, and it might contain bugs that would lead the experiment to the wrong conclusion.

On a related note, Nestopia is a NES emulator that takes accuracy seriously. It goes beyond being just cycle-accurate, as it goes as far as to emulate the analog video signal generated by the NES's digital-to-analog converter, which turns the NES's frame buffer into a human visible video signal. Hence a side-by-side comparison of a real NES hooked up to the PC via a TV-tuner or video capture card, and the emulator running on the same PC... even a hardcore NES fan will have difficulty telling the difference. Check out a screen capture comparison of a real NES, Nestopia, and FCE Ultra.

Test it out for yourself. Follow that last link and try to determine which screenshot is a real NES and which screenshot is Nestopia. Meanwhile, the screenshot of FCE Ultra sticks out like a sore thumb, even though it is comparable to what many consider to be highly accurate console emulation.