Xbox Controller->Computer Gamepad

Taking an old Xbox controller that I previously put a female usb port into (for flash drive use), I stripped the female head off, and added a male connector. Using an Xbox driver off the internet, it is possible to use an Xbox controller as a gamepad. Combine that with a good MMOFPS or a good N64 emulator and you have years of fun on your hands

iPod Altoids USB Battery Charger

For the 98% of people without a 3rd generation iPod, I have created a smaller USB charger for just about every other type of iPod. This time without a tutorial, I wired a 9v battery clip to an on/off switch, then to a 5v regulator, to a nice blue 5v LED, to a USB port, all in series. Everything can be bought at RadioShack for under five dollars, except for the USB connector, which I bought from digikey.com. A breadboard helps, but is not necessary.

iPod Altoids Firewire Battery Charger

A successful experiment, I followed a tutorial over at unixmonkey.net for building an iPod charger that runs off of two AA and two 9v batteries. This should charge a 3rd generation iPod from dead to full at least twice. Sorry about the lack of pictures, I thought of photos after I had hot glued the case shut.

iPod HD Hack

A friend recently gave me her broken 4th generation iPod, 20 gigs, which had a broken screen and would not start up. After some searching I found a $48 screen on eBay to replace the broken one, but now I had a problem; I love the look of the 3rd gen, on the left, but my iPod had only 10 gigs and was full. I needed the extra HD space.

To open up the iPods, I used a guitar pick to go around the edges and pop up the six clips. The hard drives are held in place by a piece of tape, I removed that, then removed the HD. Switching the HDs is easy, but the different generations use a different filesystem, which requires using either the ‘restore’ button in the ipod updater, or ‘erase’ in Mac X’s disc utility. Both hard drives run like new. As for the screen, five screws are required to be removed to get to the broken screen. Pulling it out is easy, replacing it with a new one is close to impossible. Two hours of careful pushing put the new screen in it’s place, working perfectly.

Xbox Hacking- Firsthand

xbox
Originally uploaded by gojukebox00.

Today I decide to try something I have always wanted to, but was never able to because of my parents or brother. Xbox Modding. I wanted to do everything myself, besides the programming, so I quickly set off to break into a broken controller to see what was inside. Finding exactly what I had expected, I promptly went for a solder gun and USB cord that I could use to have a USB flash drive in the controller. By cutting the cord from one controller and putting it onto the other, I then had two cords coming from the same place, one without wires on the end. Stripping the end, I decided to test it before I soldered it to the female USB. In a few seconds, I effectively burned out a 1 gig USB drive ($60). At that moment, I had the thought that it wouldn’t be as bad to burn out a $6 xbox memory card. Brilliant. Cut and splice and there you have it: an 8mb USB flash drive. It was even easier to make a USB-Xbox cord. A few Action Replay files later and I now have a softmodded Xbox. Now all I have to worry about is getting the warranty filed on the flash drive. One day, I will finish the controller port, but for now, it is too much fun playing Super Mario 64 on my Xbox.