2005
Modding my X-box
I soft-modded my X-Box tonight and am currently listening to an album in MP3 located on a network share on an external hard drive in my den from the comfort of my living room as I type this.
I used the Mech Assault hack to get the Evolution X dashboard installed, and then just FTP’d over the software for X-Box Media Center.
Reading the instructions X-Box Scene seemed daunting. 30 steps, downloading this file and that file, modifying files, etc. In reality, it was just a few steps:
- Plug in the memory card into a controller and turn the X-Box on
- Copy the MechAssault save file from the controller to the hard drive
- Reboot the X-Box with MechAssault and load the savegame which starts the softmod installer
- Follow the instructions, including backup your files, and Evolution X is installed
- Go to a PC and download the X-Box Media Center file and extract it
- Edit one file and follow the instructions in the notes of the file
- Look at your IP address on the X-Box dashboard and go to a PC. FTP in to your X-Box
- FTP all the XBMC files to your apps directory on your modded X-Box
- Reboot the X-Box. From the Evolution X dashboard, choose Applications and choose X-Box Media Center
Voila – you’re running XBMC. I went in to Music, chose look over the network, chose my Buffalo Terrastation’s workgroup, and 30 seconds later was listening to Liz Phair – and it automatically uploads the songs you’re listening to Last.fm, which I mentioned in the blog a week or two ago.
It’s pretty slick – the UI is fantastic, the applications and formats XBMC supports is impressive, and the performance is blowing away the experience I had using Microsoft’s Media Center Extender for X-Box.
I have some research to do to see if I can automount samba shares (which could be really slick when I have MythTV working later) but for now automounting music and photo’s would make me very happy.
BFG Recap
All the pictures are now up, and grouped in 3 sets by time:
- Friday night.
- Saturday Part 1 (X-Box & Flatout)
- Saturday Night (FPSs & Awards)
Feel free to leave comments on the pictures if you want!
Thanks again to the fine folks at BFG for hosting this and having us – it was a blast!
Congrats to the Winners
Congratulations to the winners: Fazin overall, Stirling in 2nd, Haf and Vhex tied for 3rd. (Updated per Haf’s comment).
Overall, the event was even better than last year. Well coordinated and executed, and a ton of fun. The food and drinks were good, the games and gamers even better, and a ton of fun was had by all. Except for Vhex placing for a second year in a row.
Sat. night’s pictures are up at my Flickr site, I’ll get them a group and link ’em tomorrow.
Jenny is a gamer
Here’s another favorite from the pictures so far.
Jenny, Jim’s (Fazin/eth0) wife sits down and spanks us all in her first time playing Flatout. Towards the end of the match she’s playing (and winning) as she answers a call on her cell phone.
Beginner’s luck!
Click the picture to see the notes on my Flickr site.
Saturday Part One
The morning events started with Fusion Frenzy on X-Box and Flatout demolition derby style.
I’m proud to announce I won (well, tied with Fazin) the Fusion Frenzy event.
Good thing as I sucked seriously at Lastetron last night and started the morning with negative points.
Whirlyball
The BFG event is off and running and we’re having a blast. We played Whirlyball & Lasertron last night.
Here’s a shot of the first winners for Whirlyball.
Ubuntu 5.10 Released!
Today is the day Ubuntu Breezy Badger is released and becomes Ubuntu 5.10!
Lots of good stuff built in to this release, some big, some small. (Release Notes). Bluetooth support, better partitioning, Edubuntu/OEM/Server versions (all new!), graphical boot and even editable GNOME menus.
