xbox saga

So, here's the story on the xbox project I'm working on. You know, the one you don't care about but I mentioned I was going to post about. Yeah, that one.

I had this great idea a few months ago on how to manage my xbox software from within my arcade machine. Normally I have to open up the back and unplug the control panel and plug in a regular controller. But then an idea -- I could splice in a controller! Should be easy right? I just have to figure out how to hook up a controller to the same port as the control panel. And even better, I could use a wireless controller for that!

After mulling over the options, I decided to open up the xbox and splice a cable into the wires that the controller connects to. That way I have 2 controllers connected at once right? Sounds good, let me order up some cables.

After round 2 of ordering (I ordered the wrong cable the first time, doh) and a few weeks I was ready to begin.

Today I cracked my xbox open here at work on break. A couple of my buddies come to see what's going on and after talking about this for a few minutes they decide that it's not going to work. WHAT??? The xbox controllers are USB based. Apparently there's a reason you have to have a USB hub with more than 2 USB devices -- just splicing 2 USB controllers (or devices in general) into the same wire isn't guaranteed to work.

So I'm wondering what I'm doing now, with my xbox torn open and it's guts spilled all over my desk. I have a few ideas. What the current idea is is that if I put a switch in the +5v power line of the controllers it should switch one on and one off. Assuming I don't screw something up and overload my xbox, maybe I'll take some pictures and post what I end up doing next week.

By the way THIS is why my MAME machine never works. I just have to get some non-essential feature working in it, so the xbox stays out of the machine for weeks at a time... Oh well. The kids might be a little disappointed, but I'm having a blast!