Mini Sega Aero Table MAME Cocktail Cabinet...

[emphatic]

That really sounds like a sweet setup for MAME.  What video configurations do you have on an XBOX when modded like this? Is it capable of outputting 480p? 240p would of course be optimal, but 'tis unlikely, right?

[slapaham]

Standard signal is SCART/Composite... however, you can get it to output VGA... I should imagine a screen that size there is little point upping the resolution...

I need to set the HDD up next - wasted a day doing it but balls-ed it up and so have to start the process again - with it being TSOP-ed this won't take long to sort out... think it could do with a bit of a HDD upgrade (perhaps double the capacity and go for a 20gb HDD - that way the MAME roms will fit on comfortably rather than what I was doing before which was squeezing them into every gap on the HDD)

Once I have it set up, I'll probably make a video of it booting and loading a game or two...

[emphatic]

Standard signal is SCART/Composite... however, you can get it to output VGA... I should imagine a screen that size there is little point upping the resolution...

I need to set the HDD up next - wasted a day doing it but balls-ed it up and so have to start the process again - with it being TSOP-ed this won't take long to sort out... think it could do with a bit of a HDD upgrade (perhaps double the capacity and go for a 20gb HDD - that way the MAME roms will fit on comfortably rather than what I was doing before which was squeezing them into every gap on the HDD)

Once I have it set up, I'll probably make a video of it booting and loading a game or two...

I was thinking about my own needs about the video possibilities.  Would be great to have an XBox to put in the EGRET II outputting VGA to my Ultracade Video Converter. Are you running Xbox-MAME only btw, or Final Burn Legends 1.0?

[slapaham]

Not sure yet... last build of Xbox MAME seemed fairly competent at running most roms so I might just use that... means less menus, etc, slicker and easier to navigate.

Well, you can buy the adaptors from Ultimarc to make a Xbox run on a cab... but I'm sure you knew that anyway... all that J-Pac shizzle... OR... for what I think you're after, you could buy the 'Frozen VGA Cable' - I've got a couple and they work well... and they aren't too pricey... you will have to change the BIOS though to run through VGA as it's obviously not Xbox-native - there is a way of doing it so that you don't have to flash them (I did it a while back... if you're interested I'll see if I can figure out how I did it!)

[slapaham]

40gb HDD just purchased... this will make life a bit easier now... 

Not bad for £10.90 delivered...

[emphatic]

Cool stuff, but I'm too busy playing Futari on the 360 to muck about with the old box. I don't currently own one of the old units, but I've found that this kind of knowledge is good to have when a unit pops up cheap and locally. I need to keep my game collection tiny to really enjoy the titles I have. 

[slapaham]

You're right... I have a pretty big collection... but do I play any of them... barely... probably because of time, the fact that I'm overloaded by choice, et, etc...

Xboxes can be had for as little as £10 - if you mod them (which, on the whole, isn't a tricky thing to do!), you can make them into incredibly machines. The Xbox is definitely my fav machine ever based on it's incredibly versatility! I have 5 of them on my last count!?!

1x unmodded - used for 'collective' purposes...
3x 200gb-500gb Media Center Xboxes - awesome for streaming stuff around the house.
1x hacked to pieces Xbox - the one being used for this project!

[Yvan256]

Well, I got myself a used Xbox with no hard drive and no optical drive for 10$CAD. Not even sure the damn thing works, but we'll see... Keep me informed of your progress. 

[slapaham]

Stumbling at the last hurdle... I'm trying to hardwire the screen to the mobo and well, I can signs of life but a garbled image at the moment... I think it might be the 5v at the moment as it only seems to randomly power on as well... I'll take another look when I have a bit of time!

Good buy on the Xbox by the way... if you TSOP it and stick a new HDD in it then it'll work fine without the DVD drive...

[Yvan256]

Stumbling at the last hurdle... I'm trying to hardwire the screen to the mobo and well, I can signs of life but a garbled image at the moment... I think it might be the 5v at the moment as it only seems to randomly power on as well... I'll take another look when I have a bit of time!

Good buy on the Xbox by the way... if you TSOP it and stick a new HDD in it then it'll work fine without the DVD drive...

If only I knew what "TSOP it" meant. AFAIK TSOP is an IC type.

[...please wait while I'm reading about the topic...]

Okay I'm done, thanks for waiting.

It seems easy enough, some bridges to solder, custom things to boot... Do you know if the Xbox uses the hard drive for swapping? I'd rather use a Flash IDE module instead.