Xbox and USB, Continued
With the remaining female end of an Xbox USB cable, as well as the male end of a broken cable, I decided it would be interesting to try doing the opposite of what I did last weekend. Upon soldering together the cable ends, I plugged a controller unit into my new PC.

The controller is a standard USB hub (since it has room to plug in other accessories), as well as a somewhat less standard joystick. Searching the internet, I quickly came across drivers and it worked fabulously. A quick game confirmed that everything works as it should.

This cable may prove helpful in debugging Xbox accessories in case they do not seem to work, when Linux is on the Xbox. The accessory with the standard USB end could plug into the Xbox adaptor, which could then plug into this new adaptop, bringing it back to standard USB. Though seemingly pointless, it might help find an error somewhere along the way. For now, it is fun to have a game pad connected to my PC.

My supervisor has asked me to keep a web log of progress on this project, so this entry is part of the new Xbox section of my log.

I am currently in the search for the MechAssault game needed to gain entry into the unit. Looking at the stores, the game sells for about 25 dollars, but is the fixed "Platinum Hits" edition. This one is patched to prevent the installer from working. There is also a strong possibility that my Xbox has firmware that makes this process more difficult. If that is the case, I will either have to find an older used unit, or go directly to the hardware modification. Either way, I will have to rent the original version of MechAssault from the rental store to find out.

I am over half way through reading Hacking the Xbox. The chapters get more and more interesting. I am currently reading about the internal hardware encryption methods the units use. I am glad that this part has alrady been figured out by others.