Newsletter

Game still on...!

This is the time for many changes, and there are many obsticles to overcome when making new things. It's difficult for the auto industry to actually change without screwing themselves and others. No real changes in the way we use oil/gas will happen unless we remove ALL those involved. Large automotive companies spend more money each year on advertising their new 'bigger and better' american trucks, and expect us to buy them, instead of actually trying to make the needed changes for our future. Oil/Gas has made this country what it is, but the greedy bas-turds continue to rape the planet and kill innocent people everyday. Big Oil continues their crimes against nature by seeking faster and more complex ways to pump the planet's limited resources into barrels. Oil and Energy companies need to pay for their sins now, and accept the fact that; they are killing the Earth and ALL it's inhabitants. I also beleive that; the oil below the sea is part of the Earth's way of keeping the planet's oceans and core temperatures constant, and it also acts a lubricant under the Earth's Mantel.

For weeks now, a hole made in the Earth by BP (Brittish Petrolium) is gushing off the southern coast of North America. It's one of the worst made to this day. BP forced engineers to dig deeper and produce more, but their simple corrupt minds never cared to think twice. They expected to cover it up by dumping micro-bacteria into the spill for days, but that failed, and now the planet's lubricant will change the temperature of the oceans and major currents. Normal evaporation creates rain storms and is vital to many parts of the Atlantic Belt, but with the oil and bacteria 'binding' to the water molecules; sea life and even the weather maynot be the same for years to come. Hundreds of miles of coast-line and even thousands of sea-life will die. I wish I could come to a sollution, but nothing will change unless; we shove ALL the Oil and Automotive Execs. into the pipe and close it forever! We as the inhabitants of this planet have the right and responsibility to take action. If we do nothing; we are just as guilty as they are.

Digital TV Kite Antenna and WiFi Pickup

The new DTV Kite has flown more than twice now, and each time i send it up; I get more channels 'stor'ed than before. On my last flight (in March), I got 35+ channels. Click here for an updated "Las Vegas DTV Channel Listing". Some channels may not be viewed without a good antenna, download my Newsletter Spring 2008 for more info on using a standard DTV Antenna.

XBOX 180' - Retro Game Machine

With my favorite club (Las Vegas Gun Club http://lasvegasgunclub.net) forced out of business because of political greed and local reasons; I am forced to pratice Trap, Skeet, and other Shooting games on my PC and XBOX. Yeah sure, I could go checkout the new County Owned club but what good would that do...? They don't throw legal targets, nor shoot on official legal fields, and they charge too much money for targets and ammo, plus I can't see the 'outrageous' membership / user fees...so... this is what I have come-up with...

After all these years of holding out on "mod-ing" my XBOX I finally got the reason to do it. First i had to look into the benefits and the help available to "soft-mod" it; Using some of the common "exploits" that are available on the Net and the help of a couple friends, it was a success. (Note: A modified XBOX is not allowed on XBOX Live! but there are alot of other sites that don't care)

Now, with my newly hacked XBOX; I can play all my favorite gun games from days gone past, and I have made it a promise to return the favor to the authors of the underground hacking community someday. With everything that this XBOX can do, I have named this new game machine the "XBOX 180". The 180 now can be used as a classic Arcade Machine, and all that I needed now are game ROMs and a Light Gun. Most, if not all ROM files can then be played on a PC, Mac, Linux, or XBOX using a MAME. (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).

There are some "real" useful Apps and Utils for a "moded" XBOX these days, and one of them is the use of "Emulators". EMUs for short; are little apps that trick the XBOX (or PC) into thinking its another machine. As far as i can tell... there are about 11 or 12 different EMUs available as "Shareware" these days and of course; if you [Donate] to the authors, you'll get all the good stuff!

With all the ROMs available for free on the Net these days, I decided to spend a few dollars on some accessories and upgrades for the XBOX. The first thing of course was to; modify a standard XBOX controller with a USB port. Putting the USB port on the controller was vital for the transfer of the game exploits and patches. It also serves as a port for Keyboard and Mouse, standard USB flash drives, and maybe an external HD or DVD burner.

Its so cool to be able to play all the classic arcade hits that inspired me as a kid except; some of those shooter games that required you have a Light Gun. Now, I really miss my 'ol Atari XEGS, and the SEGA Phazor! As far as I know, Microsoft only made 3 light gun games for the XBOX, and House of the Dead III was one of them. I remember dropping a pocket full of quarters into Area 51, Operation Wolf, and HOTD everyday after school., and then coming home hours later with a sore wrist or what i call: 'arcade arthritis'.

Looking at the list of Light Gun Games I quickly went on search for an XBOX or PC Light Gun, but instantly came to halt when I found how few and over-priced they are! An old friend, offered to give up his Nintendo Zapper for those shooting urges and instantly; thoughts of it working blasted through my mind. But, not-so-fast...the Zapper uses a 4-bit Data port (not USB), and there seems to be nothing out there for using it on the PC, or even XBOX without making major changes.

Using a standard XBOX Light Gun on the PC is not currently possible. Although, there is a Light Gun that claims fame to this need;_ ACTs TopGunII_ which uses a 3rd party software pack ("Gun2Con" driver or there abouts) for the PC. If you want...you can add a USB connector to any XB Light Gun, but it won't work because there is an extra wire (the yellow one) that the LG needs to work. This 5th wire is not on the standard 4-wire universal USB port. Nor is there anything you can do about it...because it requires a timing signal from the trigger circuit which; in return gets its signal from the TV. The "TV" should be a CRT (Cathod Ray Tube) type, and not an LCD Monitor, or Projector or Plasma or LED either. (now, i see why no one uses an LG anymore.)

The Light Gun I found for the XBOX was a closeout deal for $18, and I had to by a game with it, of course the game does'nt work with the gun, but i bought it none-the-less. Now, as with all standard XBOX guns, it will work with MAME, and even the Atari, SEGA, NES or SNES Emulators out there. But just as it was for the Atari years ago... the Light Gun is doomed. With No games, No PC support, and limited use, the Light Gun over time has been changed into a presentaion pointer, a simulator tool for hunter training classes and scholastic education for young shooters. But, for some...like my generous friend, MOE138 (godlikemikead@hotmail.com) they still want to use it for games someday.

Because of my new found joy...a few good friends SoftMod-ed their boxes as well. Now, they too; have wishes to find a cheap XB Gun but, long searches show there are only a few left...and they are at the $50 dollar mark. The money is tight these days and looking on the net for compatible Light Guns for PC are almost non-exsistant and XBOX guns are limited. With luck, i found a couple of guys that built a "HID Mouse" (Human Interface Device) out of a Gyroscopic Mouse using lots of tape and glue for about $30 or so. I know what it takes to use a Light Gun on a TV but for a LCD or LED screen, I will need a something differnt. Different is good, but something common is better.

The gyration mouse is a great idea, and using it for reasons like; No programming needed...and it has its own drivers already, plus it's battery powered! (but i don't know what happens if you drop it) Wanting to use a self-powered, driverless, wireless, and weightless device for years; I think I have come up with an alternative to the Light Gun for the PC... the "MouseGun". Actually, it maynot be a new idea, someone may have already figured this thing out and I have yet to see it. This project has been on my mind for sometime now, and is meant to be easy and requires very little techno intervention.

This is an experimental project, and is a WIP (work in progress). Nothing has actually been built, nor been taken apart for any permanent changes. Just bare with me while I explain the idea...

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Looking at the forward assembly in fig.01; we can see the possition of the collecting lens. Its too far back from the opening for our project. Here we have a choice, we can either move the lens and entire assembly forward, or just cut a 1/2 inch off the barrel. Before any futher steps, we have to find what will produce the best movement detection on the mouse lens. Fig.03b shows the 'screen' (regular nylon-type window screen) mounted on a washer in the 'casting zone' of our IR beams. (With the screen or small lenses being so tiny, I found that; putting them on standard washers first; makes handling and mounting them much easier.)

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It did'nt take long before i found an old mouse to use for the project... an older low-dpi, low-bps (dots-per-inch and bytes-per-second) micro-ps/2 laptop mouse. It has a 'wheel', but we don't need it. All we need is the left and right mouse buttons for A (trigger) and B (select weapon). Even though i wanted a higher quality wireless version, this should do for now.

There are several types of "mice" that can be used but the one we want is the USB or PS/2 kind. We will also need two or three (2-3) high-intensity Infrared Emitters (fig.04a / fig.04b) mounted on our Monitor, Screen, or TV. The mouse has to be a "optical-type mouse" (fig.02) (with a red LED underneath). This optical mouse 'sees' reflective pits, divits, dots, or small grooves in the surface of its travels. The way it works is; the light gets reflected off the surface up into the receiver lens of the mouse, thus making a sort of 'slide show' as it moves along its path.

As with all EXPERIMENTAL works, things change. You should take your time and never use anything thats not yours. If you have the ability to see this through, or already know someone who built their own Light Gun for the PC (without needing drivers) just drop me a note, and I'll check it out. As for the Emitters; they can be found online at most Major Electronics Suppliers for about $3 dollars each (I think we just need 2). Some of those new IR emitters really put-out! Often you'll see them (or not) mounted on security cameras to provide an invisible source of light.

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Once finished, the MouseGun can be used normally as a Light Gun on the PC. No drivers needed, and it should work just fine for all your gaming/shooting needs. If you are experiencing problems try holding the gun closer to the screen (IR beams) or try adjusting your "Mouse Settings" in the Windows Control Panel. The only thing is; if its your only mouse...you'll have to have a strong/steady arm to use windows!

(Please be carefull when looking for 3rd or even 4th party software; some programs are really viruses and can damage your computer or XBOX.)

XBOX Hacking Tools, Tips & Tricks:

World of Stewart - (http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com) Has several links to helpful content

XBOX Hacker Archives - (http://www.xboxhacker.net/) Tons of technical info, Forums, and Archives

XBOX HQ - (http://www.xbox-hq.com ) or the newer (http://www.360-hq.com) One of the first XBOX modding sites to offer FREE downloads and on-line assistance to all members. They also are producers/supporters of the old EvoX and UX (Evolution X and Unleash X) dashboard systems. These are the most popular OS Kernels for a moded XBOX.(NOTE even if you signup-you'll never gain access to the tools you need...just the "who's online now" feature.) If you send them money or Donate, you'll get access or a disc thay say, but I am not sure. OR if you have access to a FTP program (built into FireFox) or server and know how to use it, you might get the tools online from the underground. (Read everything on this process completely!)

XBOX BINARY DEPOSITORY - Underground access details (http://www.xbins.org) - No explaination needed.

XBOX SKINS (dashboard covers) - (http://www.xbox-skins.com) - Skins as they call'em are; much like "Themes" for the PC. Some are fancy, cool and sometimes weird. There are hundreds, if not thousands of ways you'll want your XBOX to be seen.

XBOX-SCENE (http://xbox-scene.com/ ) Another great start when looking for help on your XBOX mod. Plus, they have tons of Forum Info (http://forums.xbox-scene.com) for the public to use and (not-so-free) Freeware/Sharware selection for download.

LINUX XBOX - (http://xbox-linux.com) has files, info and links for Linux users.

Some of the sites I found for classic games:

DopeROMs - (might be banned by Google at the time of these writings) (http://www.doperoms.com ) has a decent collection of NES and SNES, also links to past EMUs and other group sites.

FREEROMS - Removed

ROM WORLD - (http://www.rom-world.com) or ROM GODS - (http://rom-gods.net)

ROM Hustler - (http://romhustler.net ) has a fantastic collection of Atari, SEGA and MAME games plus links to current EMUs and other sites.

ROM Bay - (http://www.rombay.com ) has a nice collection of ROMS and tools. Requires e-mail/verification before you can download.

LIST OF LIGHT GUN GAMES - (this is a TXT (text file) of games that use a light gun)

If you have built or plan on building your own MouseGun, please send me your photos and comments. I am always open to new ideas, and would like to hear from all those involved with programming. If you are a Dark BASIC or V BASIC user, just send me what you got and maybe i can add it to the new handler/gui i'm workin on. It should be something that allows the 'pointer' of the mouse to be seen at all times or 'toggled' (on/off) during game play, plus its own (crosshair) icon with a _ calibration/centering _ option.

APPENDED: 09/15/2010 - the XBOX Service and Repair Guide is available for download. Click Here to learn more or goto the Downloads page to download it now.

Thanx Again to all supporters...and I hope everyone has a safe Summer.

-CopyCat

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