OG Xbox PC build
#1
Hey guys,

This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time but I never really got around to it for various reasons - but its finally happening. This thread is going to be a build log, because I know if I don't start it now, all you will get is a couple of photos of a finished build. I'm still waiting on parts to come and I have alot of other things going on so it will probably take a while.

Why am I doing this? The OG Xbox rocked our world - we still call the media player 'the xbox' to this day. After it was modded it became a media powerhouse that was way ahead of its time. Loading games off the HDD, emulators and of course, XBMP. Unfortunately, due to the march of technology, it had to be retired. With my s912 box giving me headaches and the board I wanted was finally back in stock, I decided it was time to start this project and get the Xbox back into the lounge room.

The hardware I will be using is a Odroid H2. I chose this because of the Intel GPU which has great support under Linux, with HDR support coming soon + the x86 CPU, which outperforms ARM boxes and opens up more software possibilities, such as emulators, Firefox, Steam and Project M visualisations (its not a media player if it doesn't have Project M!). The board has 2 video outs (HDMI2.0 + DP++) and with a passive DP to HDMI adaptor the DP++ port becomes a HDMI port which allows me to send 4k60 video to my TV and send HD passthrough audio to my HDMI 1.4 AVR at the same time. The board runs cool, has an external PSU and is small which will allow me to integrate a few things into the case and keep it uncluttered and quiet at the same time. I did think about a mini-itx board, but the H2 has almost everything I need at a reasonable price.

The plan is to keep the outside fairly stock. I'm not going to use an optical drive, so the DVD faceplate will be attached to the case. The LED will be changed to white and the front buttons will be used for power and reset. The smaller button as a power imprint and the larger one has an eject imprint and I'm going to fill those up, paint them a similar colour and leave them blank, because I want to use the big button for power. I though about attaching power + reset decals to the buttons, but I don't think that's really that important as 99% of the time a remote will be used to power it on. The left two controller ports will be covered with some smoked acrylic, with a IR receiver hiding behind one and I did think about putting a headphone port on the other, but I've never had the need for one and I have a USB soundcard or a USB DAC + amp that can be used if I ever do need it. The right two controller ports will be a USB 2 and 3 port, which again I don't often need, but they'll be handy for the occasional USB drive, wired controllers and charging the DS3 controllers I'll be using with it. I did think about adding some kind of Kodi branding to the front, but I think the textured surface would make it difficult to get a good finish, so I'll probably skip that.

Inside will be the board, 2x 4gb RAM sticks, a 60gb SSD for the OS and a 2.5" 320gb HDD for some backups and media storage. These are drives that I had spare, and the 320gb will fill up very quickly so it will probably get upgraded pretty soon, maybe to an old 3.5" HDD I have. I will be using the NVME slot for a Intel WiFi + BT 4 card (7265ngw) via an adaptor, which will allow me to use dual large internal antennas and provide good BT range for controllers. There will also be a 4 port USB3 hub inside to provide ports for the ir receiver, BT module, an arduino to drive TV backlighting and a Logitech unifying receiver. The front USB ports will be directly connected to the rear ports, which will leave 1 spare USB2 port on the rear. The H2 is about 10x10cm and the Xbox is about 35x30cm so I don't see any issues fitting all that, just cable management. I purchase a 5v 92mm fan with the H2 and it is too big to fin in the same location and the original fan, so I'm going to mount it to the heatsink. It will overhang a bit so it will also move some air around the case which should help keep other components cool. I'll keep an eye on temps and add a rear fan if need be, but many people run these fanless without issue so I don't think it will be a problem.

Software used will be Xubuntu 19.10 for now and I'll upgrade it to the 20.04 LTS and keep it on LTS versions. Because multiple aplications will be used, I wanted a simple, light and customisable deskop environment. I generally run LTS versions for these types of applications, but I had some stuttering issues at first and tried a few versions of Xubuntu + Ubuntu + Libreelec while nutting out the issue and finally got it fixed on 19.10 and with 20.04 so close I decided to stay with it because I didn't want to do another reinstall. If I knew what I know now I'd stick with 18.04 because it has more precompiled software available (eg attract mode, emulationstation and an emulation PPA I found). Because it is a dual monitor setup, though not it the traditional sense as the two monitors are the one TV, I have disabled use of the AVR monitor through some xrandr trickery because having a second monitor that wasn't easily accessible was really annoying. Mirroring doesn't work because of the different max resolutions of both monitors and disabling the second monitor would also disable sound. The only issue I have with this now is that the alt-tab switcher shows up twice, which isn't a big issue because it will really only run one graphical program at a time, but a quick google shows that there are some possible alternatives for workarounds.

So far I am really impressed with this little machine and I highly recommend it for HTPC use - it plays 4k60 content smoothly, HDR coming soon and I don't have to buy a new AVR to get 4k video with passthrough audio. I have a script which automatically switches audio outputs depending on if the AVR is on or off and unlike the s912 box, it doesn't send audio to multiple outputs at the same time which makes operation simpler. 3D performance is lacking, but I was always expecting that. At 4k the Kodi GUI + Project M lag, but they're smooth at 1080p. At 1080p, the 3D map of Broforce is choppy, but the 2D sections are smooth. Super Meat Boy runs smoothly at 1080p. I tried Portal 2 but it loads to a blank screen. I've read that using DXVK can improve performance, but I haven't delved into that yet. And there is always Steam in home streaming for anything too demanding.

Finally, some photos of the H2 in its temporary home. Next will be dismantling the Xbox and I'll be finding a home for the unused parts.

watch gallery
Reply
#2
New pics added. I have made good progress and now have a fimr plan in place. Biggest hurdle going forward will be waiting for parts to come.
I've just realised you can add images to imgur posts, so I'll keep it all in the one post and bump this thread each time there is something new.
Reply
#3
I mean no offense, but I'm legit disappointed that you couldn't find a way to use the original DVDROM mount and faceplate to include a SATA BDRE drive.

Now, I KNOW it's not terribly useful in 2019 sure, but it'd have been super neat to see that functionality maintained.
Reply
#4
Haha, yeah I'm sure there is a way to get one in there, and do I have a blu ray drive left over from my old htpc, but i really have zero use for one in there and I'd have to rework the entire project. I guess its balancing what was required 16 years ago vs today. I'm tossing up the same with the USB ports - OG Xbox had 4 ports, so do I put 4 USB ports in to keep it similar even though, as most controllers sold today are wireless and I have 4 BT controllers, I will never use 4 ports... and I can use a hub for edge cases where I need more ports.
Reply
#5
(2019-11-17, 01:14)teeedubb Wrote: Haha, yeah I'm sure there is a way to get one in there, and do I have a blu ray drive left over from my old htpc, but i really have zero use for one in there and I'd have to rework the entire project. I guess its balancing what was required 16 years ago vs today. I'm tossing up the same with the USB ports - OG Xbox had 4 ports, so do I put 4 USB ports in to keep it similar even though, as most controllers sold today are wireless and I have 4 BT controllers, I will never use 4 ports... and I can use a hub for edge cases where I need more ports.



I mean I would do that.  But I'm also in the process of restoring an eMachine from 1999, including getting it's original floppy drive working via an additional internal floppy to USB PCB, ditto with the front gameport working over an internal adapter I'll install inside. Tongue  I even found a beige SATA DVDRW drive and mounted the faceplates from the original IDE DVDROM drive so externally it'd look original while offering a more modern drive. Lemme tell you, it's not super easy to fine a beige SATA drive!

https://imgur.com/5meAv1e
Reply
#6
Love it, can't wait to see when it's finished Smile
I also have an OG xBox in the basement somewhere (with XBMC as default dashboard), I wanted to do the same but sadly I have no time for projects like this anymore..... if I had the tools and the tech back in the day.... oh boy  Big Grin
Kodi 21.0α | Ubuntu 22.04.3 | Kernel 6.4.x | intel i5-12600K | Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X DDR4 | Corsair 2x8192MB (DDR4-3200) | HDPlex H5v2 | HDPlex 400W HiFi DC-ATX | Pioneer VSX-934 | LG 65B7D
Reply
#7
(2019-11-17, 06:38)DJ_Izumi Wrote: I mean I would do that.  But I'm also in the process of restoring an eMachine from 1999, including getting it's original floppy drive working via an additional internal floppy to USB PCB, ditto with the front gameport working over an internal adapter I'll install inside. Tongue  I even found a beige SATA DVDRW drive and mounted the faceplates from the original IDE DVDROM drive so externally it'd look original while offering a more modern drive. Lemme tell you, it's not super easy to fine a beige SATA drive!

Thats cool! Those beige boxes bring back memories. Do you have any more photos?
Quote: 
Love it, can't wait to see when it's finished
I also have an OG xBox in the basement somewhere (with XBMC as default dashboard), I wanted to do the same but sadly I have no time for projects like this anymore..... if I had the tools and the tech back in the day.... oh boy
I'm having a blast doing it so I recommend it if you can. I was bummed it didnt output video so I could relive the boot up video. Smile

Also, bump for more photos
Reply
#8
Major kudos for doing this. I've often thought about it but... I look at the Xbox and I don't have the courage to "put it down". Big Grin
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first (usually it's enough to follow instructions in the second post).
Reply
#9
I see it more as a rebirth 😀 especially since it wasn't booting.
Reply
#10
Where are the pics?
Reply
#11
Its taken a while with Christmas, holidays and work around the house, but its finally done!
Image


More in the album in the OP
Reply
#12
What a wonderful build! And what a great documentation!

Don't want to know how many hours you've spent to make this happen, but without doubt, a thing of beauty! Congratulations!
Server: DIY NAS w/ i3-8100, 32GB RAM, 4x6 TB WD Red, DD Cine S2 + 3xDuoFlex, OMV w/ Emby, TVheadend, Oscam
Living Room: Odroid N2 w/ CE, Panasonic DP-UB9004, NAD 758v3, LG OLED 65 B7, L/R B&W CM10, B&W C S2, B&W ASW10 CM, SL/SR Elac WS 1445, HL/HR Dali Alteco C1
Library: RPi2B w/ LE, Xbox One X w/ Kodi, Nintendo Switch, Panasonic Viera TX-P50 Plasma​​
Reply
#13
Thanks!
I got a lot of help from the other xbox builds so I wanted to share my take on it.
It did take a while, but it was fun - I had a blast with it! I'd love to do another build in the future with a Sega Master System.
Reply
#14
Thumbs Up 
Very nice, I need two more handy to give it four thumbs up Smile
Kodi 21.0α | Ubuntu 22.04.3 | Kernel 6.4.x | intel i5-12600K | Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X DDR4 | Corsair 2x8192MB (DDR4-3200) | HDPlex H5v2 | HDPlex 400W HiFi DC-ATX | Pioneer VSX-934 | LG 65B7D
Reply
#15
(2020-02-12, 08:45)3dfx Wrote: Very nice, I need two more handy to give it four thumbs up Smile
Thanks! Glad you like it!
 
Quote:I'd love to do another build in the future with a Sega Master System.
So I though I'd check out gumtree for Sega Master Systems and found this for $10 
watch gallery


Its a empty shell which is perfect for a future build. While I dont have any plans to replace the Xbox or the need for another HTPC, for that price I couldnt resist.
I dont know when it will happen, but the wheels are in motion Smile
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
OG Xbox PC build0