a weblog of thoughts and ideas about software, with a slight bias towards strongly typed languages http://www.stronglytyped.com
XBOX DVD Mod Pics
Just finished the installation of the SD-616T DVD drive. It seems to work pretty well. I'm content. From the out side you can't even tell the different (until you open the drive and see the white tray).
Took me a couple of hours just taking my time.
Here's my little venture...
The DVD drive is going out on my XBOX. A lot of times when I try to load a game or DVD I can hear the drive's motor shutter...like it can't figure out what the heck to do. Eventually it just gives up.
I went back to the place where I bought it..."sorry, 90 days warranty". Sooo....I figured this would be a good time to experiement with some hacking.
Let's build a little context:
The XBOX ships with one of three possible drives: Phillips, Thompson, and Samsung. I have the Thompson. After doing a little research I found a neat possiblilty. Samsung sells a DVD drive, model SD-616T, that functions nearly the same as the one that ships with the XBOX (SD-605b). So I bought one (only paid like 50 bucks or so). But there's a few mods needed:
SD-616T Mod's
The 605b has a different power receptor than your standard dvd drive. It has a few more connectors for the xbox to open the drive and to know when it's close (plus a few more things). So a typical 616T mod includes soldering new probes to the 616T's circuit board and reversing the motor. To test the idea I was able to leave the 605's power cable hooked up to fool the xbox while I manually operated the 616T (IDE cable plugged into it). Everything worked well ... except for:
SD-605b firmware
The 605 has a special firmware on it that can read the orignal XBOX games. My stock 616T can read CDs/R and DVDs/R but can *not* read orignal xbox games. BUT...one can pull the firmware from the 605 and flash it to the 616T. This would be really nice because then my XBOX would be capable of reading just about anything. I like that! (I want to store my digital 8 movies on DVD's)
So here I am...with a hacked up XBOX waiting for a source on the firmware. I've searched the net and asked other guys...seems like it's not going to be easy to find.
ASP.NET Menu: "ASP.NET Menu is an ASP.NET Server Control that allows you to easily add powerful and attractive menus to your web site or web application with just a few lines of code. "
I'm using ASP.NET Menu in a project at work. It's pretty well built and has a clean object model. I tried a few others but some of them were quite tedious to use. One for example had 3 or 4 different files that were required (.ASCX, .CSS, .XML, and the .ASPX). With ASP.NETMenu it's just a server control tag and CSS of formatting. Very clean.
Asynchronous Invocation Application Block for .NET This page provides an overview of the Asynchronous Invocation Application Block, which is a Microsoft® .NET Framework class library that allows you to increase the performance of your Web application and enhance the end users' experience.
Has anybody worked with this? I wonder how well suited it is for longer running transactions that are Fire-and-Forget.
Dude, You're Gettin' A Car: "Build-To-Order, Inc. is starting a custom-manufacturing business from scratch, to revamp the automaking industry the same way Dell reshaped computer making."
Can I order one with an electric motor?
Ximian : About Us : Press Center : Press Releases: "PROVO, Utah — Aug. 4, 2003: Novell, Inc., today announced it has acquired privately held Ximian® of Boston, Mass., the leading provider of desktop and server solutions that enable enterprise Linux adoption. This acquisition expands Novell's capacity to provide flexible information solutions to customers worldwide. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "
I wonder how this will affect the Mono project...or better yet...how do they plan to use it?
AGF00053 shows a picture of a Toshiba TabletPC running an HMI (WonderWare InTouch) that controls the entire almond plant (where I work). It's a great application for the TabletPC. With it we can monitor and control every motor and any other electrical system in the plant. Brand new plant, brand new technology....cool stuff =)
Richard Caetano is a dairy boy turned musician after hearing the late great Miles Davis. Richard plays bass for a few local bands and dabbles with guitar and piano as well. While music is his main passion, programming has been an interest since his preteen years. He has had success with many projects, both locally and throughout the United States. The opportunity to help develop 8tracks married both of Richard's loves: music and creative programming.
