[mythtv-users] Xbox frontend - what features do I need

[chris at cpr.homelinux.net]

On Thu, Oct 05, 2006 at 05:29:40PM +1000, Phill Edwards wrote:
> > Keyboard?  Over SSH, or directly attached?  Is there a PS2 connector
> > inside my black box?  Or are you talking over USB, or soldering a PS2
> > on, or..?
> Good point. You can buy special adaptors that connect a normal USB
> connector to the XBox USB port. I think eBay was where I got it from.
> It's very handy.

At one time Microsoft used to give the adaptors away for free.  Not 
any more.

The key thing to know is that the XBox socket is just USB with one 
extra wire, which I'm told is used for games that use a light gun.  
If you can get a USB cable and an XBox controller cable then you 
can just match up the colours of the wires (ignoring the extra one 
on the XBox cable) and make your own XBox-to-USB converter cable.  
When I got my XBox (used) it came with an after-market controller 
that had a round connector on the controller cable and a short 
pigtail that converted the round connector to the XBox style.  I 
bought an XBox extension cable that had the round connector, 
allowing me to sacrifice the pigtail and a cheap USB extension 
cable to make the conversion.  The total cost was under $20 and I 
ended up with both a long controller cable and a long USB cable.  
The converted cable was initially used to load the game hack using 
a USB flash memory stick, but once the box was hacked I grabbed a 
cheap USB keyboard for Myth (and email and everything else).