Would an Homebrew Console Be a Realistic Venture and What Would you Need ?

**Turn2** · January 20th, 2007, 17:55

You don't have to chip an Xbox just a soft mod. Its gotten to be easier than the old Dreamcast days. The Xbox also make great media extenders. I can keep my videos on my pc and stream them to my TV through the Xbox not to mention all of the emulation and old pc ports to the xbox.

If you don't have a Xbox you better get one because the market for the used ones is already starting to go back up and I suspect just for this reason. It is close to perfect for a homebrew console.

The PS3 running Linux to my understanding only runs slightly faster or about equal to a 800MHz PC and it costs 5 times as much as a used Xbox.

**nebulator** · January 20th, 2007, 18:43

I err .third or forth the whole xbrick idea, however i think it isn't exactly what is asked for, a homebrew console being one made just for that, and with surrport and to make it easy for stuff to be developed for it .. or something ..

**drEDN4wt** · January 20th, 2007, 19:13

this is what you want...
..it even comes with a handle.
http://206.14.132.88/products/Travla/c134/C134.html

**BrooksyX** · January 20th, 2007, 19:25

Yeah I say that the PC is the greatest homebrew console ever but to have a decent one it may cost you a lot of money.

If I were to say the specs on a good homebrew console I would go with a 1ghz x86 cpu, 256mb shared ram, decent video chipset, 40gb upgradeable HDD, Standard dvd drive, Ethernet for ftp/online. usb ports, customizable linux os. $200

But basically what you are buying is a cheap linux box. So I don't think that now days something like that would sell.

**RibStabsHeart** · January 20th, 2007, 19:36

I love my XBOX. Playing most all games with an actual controller on my TV is amazing. I need a good/full set of DOS games though, for memory sakes.

The main thing it needs is for EPSXE to pull the stick out of their ass and release the source to people can port it to xbox. PCSXE is a ****ing terrible emulator about 75% of the time.

**mnky** · January 20th, 2007, 19:42

um, xgp anyone?

**Herbster** · January 20th, 2007, 19:46

Won't a PS3 running Linux do what you want?

**Veskgar** · January 20th, 2007, 19:51

Wow, I had no idea that the XBOX was such a versatile homebrew mega-machine. Full speed N64 Emulator? Damn.

I actually saved my old XBOX and it is in great condition. I want to soft mod it but I'm not sure if I can. What if I played Halo 2 on XBOX live a while back? I'm sure Microsoft put some sort of update on it to not allow soft mod, right?

I have one of the games that has the linux installer but now I need Action Replay right?

**J_Villa1983** · January 20th, 2007, 20:16

I believe it could be done by reengineering a version of linux, almost like TIVO. Next create a battleplan of what specifics are needed. For example, Decide whats going to be the lowest processor to be supported and create everything to work off of that. For instance, If someone has a more powerful machine.. it wont take anymore advantage than the lowest processor speed supported (just to keep development on a level playing field).
Next after some standard like that is created license it out the OS like what was done with the 3DO back in the early 90's. Except.. don't hire Trip to run it. =)
The problem that I have lies with getting people to trust it with their dollars as a platform. I have tried many different "based on open source" products and I have mixed feelings on it. Tivo is impressive and I'm not too thrilled with the gp2x.. The unit itself is kind of cool but the corporate support really sucks. So if you could get a decent group of people behind it, it may be a cool idea to build not just for video games but as a complete media center solution.

-JV