XeniumMods v3.xx SneakPeak!

[Bowlsnapper]

37 minutes ago, NeMesiS said:

So, I'm having a bit of a grace period before ordering the next prototype batch in case any last ideas pop up. This will also give me a bit of time to catch up on things at home...

Been thinking that I would really like an intro video for YouTube videos and Cerbios. I like things to have a bit of a nostalgic vibe to them. Funny enough I watched "RoboCop" the other night and the "Orion" intro gave me that vibe.

Would like to do an "Xenium" themed intro based on the "Orion" intro, the colors are rather fitting being "blue", "black" and "white". Instead of that cluster of stars outlining the "O" in orion, we could have a star outlining each letters for "Xenium". Came across the above wallpaper which I thought would make a great background.

 

Interested in what the community think of the idea...

 

 

That sounds like a REALLY good idea... I actually just watched 35MM on VHS for the first time last night. DAMN that movie is intense!

I was wondering what let to your design for the N and M in your name logo.

[NeMesiS]

1 hour ago, Bowlsnapper said:

That sounds like a REALLY good idea... I actually just watched 35MM on VHS for the first time last night. DAMN that movie is intense!

I was wondering what let to your design for the N and M in your name logo.

 

I did it after restoring the "Xenium" logo, reused the "M" and trimmed it for the "N". Also modified the "E" from xenium for E and S in nemesis.

Edited September 1, 2023 by NeMesiS

[Nier]

@NeMesiSWhen will the xenium hdmi kit for the Xbox possibly be released? Will it be sold at your ebay store?

[NeMesiS]

On 9/5/2023 at 1:51 PM, Nier said:

@NeMesiSWhen will the xenium hdmi kit for the Xbox possibly be released? Will it be sold at your ebay store?

 

Little hard to tell at this stage...

Testing:
Still need to send test kits for a handful of people to tryout the new mods.
I just finished ordering everything for this yesterday, expected to arrive in 2 weeks.
Another 2-3 weeks for the testers to receive their test kits.

Manufacturing:
If all goes well, it would take another 4-6 weeks for have these mods fabricated and
then another 2 weeks for delivery, followed by a week to programmer these devices.
Roughly it could be another 2 to 3 months depending how everything goes.
I'm only wanting to do around 100-150pcs for the first round, then scaling up as we go.

Thinking Ahead.
I'd like to get these things out as soon as possible but I really wanna make sure
these things a thoroughly tested. I may start discussing large batch order
with my supplier so we can iron out any potential issues in the meantime.
I know that I will probably need to supply some components for them, like the Xilinx CPLD.

Logistics:
I got a reseller lined up in North America, so this should help with availability in that area.

[Ernegien]

This community never ceases to disappoint me. As a creator and general contributor to all things Xbox, it makes me less inclined to help people, and I'm sure others feel the same way.

[Dempsey_86]

3 hours ago, Ernegien said:

This community never ceases to disappoint me. As a creator and general contributor to all things Xbox, it makes me less inclined to help people, and I'm sure others feel the same way.

What do you mean with that? Other people like PixelFX or Nemesis can make there own take on a HDMI mod for the ogxbox? Dustin was the first to release a mod like that (and with great success), kudos to him for that. But I do not see a reason that other people cant do a take on an internal HDMI mod.

And as far as I know you cant buy the standalone xboxHD+ anymore. There is a gap left there. Not everyone wants a stellar to have a hdmi mod in there consoles. Like me, I have a stellar but its not that I will buy one for every console I use. Why? Because I have some X3CP xbox consoles and I want to keep using the X3 chip for these (my main console is one of the X3CPs) Thats a good point to support projects like this from my point of view.

[Bowlsnapper]

6 hours ago, Ernegien said:

This community never ceases to disappoint me. As a creator and general contributor to all things Xbox, it makes me less inclined to help people, and I'm sure others feel the same way.

Well hey there new guy with a minority opinion... posting literally right after the first criticism I've seen in all 19 pages of the worklog of this project.

[Dempsey_86]

6 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Well hey there new guy with a minority opinion... posting literally right after the first criticism I've seen in all 19 pages of the worklog of this project.

Ernegien is not a new guy. He is well known the scene (also under another name) and did release lots of open source og xbox projects

[Ryzee119]

1 minute ago, Bowlsnapper said:

And how would he be ripping it off? By selling something that MakeMHZ is, just put of principal?

I don't really know how to answer this lol. The board is a clear copy of the xboxhdmi board and from what I can see even uses the same firmware. That's how it's ripping it off.

8 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

 I welcome an HDMI mod that isn't tied up in proprietary bullshit intentionally and that works with all other existing mods... not just one modchip and one bios. 

I don't know how this project is improving this so far. Achieving that is easier said than done.

9 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I'm honestly astounded to hear that come from somebody who designed an open source product.

Even less of a reason to clone someone else's hard work right?

[Ryzee119]

Nem does awesome work and his attention to detail is top notch. Everything of mine we had worked on he had made it much more polished no doubt about it.

Was just expecting a more original design with the initial claims of it working on every bios. (Like I was expecting an FPGA to achieve that or a excellent technical discussion on how he was going to achieve universal compatibility on the mess of OG Xbox video outputs). I genuinely think it is it impossible to achieve this with the ADV7511 without unique bios patches (back to square one) or an FPGA.

My open source version would probably work fantastic with a few tweaks to the bioses (but still would be limited to bioses that could be patched) and the boards firmware. I even mentioned earlier in this thread he could use my hardware design freely and It would be easier for people to help and contribute.

[trencherfield]

1 hour ago, Ryzee119 said:

My open source version would probably work fantastic with a few tweaks to the bioses (but still would be limited to bioses that could be patched) and the boards firmware. I even mentioned earlier in this thread he could use my hardware design freely and It would be easier for people to help and contribute.

So then why haven't you done that and saved everyone the bother????

You could of done the 'tweaks' to the firmware, instead you find the time to sit watching this progress. Hmmmm nice. Then interject and bitch about MM's firmware being copied, which everyone can get a copy of anyway and is already out there. Nem has not even said he's selling that. How do you know? He hasn't even got to that stage. Plus he can sell it blank if he so desires and therefore it's hardware only with no 'IP'.

User can then choose their firmware, just like the whole history of modchips from the days Xecuter sold their chips blank.

So why don't you step up and release an open source tweaked version of HDMI firmware then that works with a patched BIOS. Then the 'community' would be being supported as far as this mod goes.

Plus, I believe Nem also used your open source schematic and just replaced the STM IC, easy enough to do in Eagle etc.... so is changing that up and adding the same chip copying now? Funny that.... there's me thinking your OpenXenium used the same chips too....

I think we all know why to the above points.

[trencherfield]

6 minutes ago, coldasijs said:

calm down Bowl, take of you tinfoil hat and be a bit more respectful. We are not animals on this forum . Don't let your hatred for Dustin cloud your judgement.  @Ryzee119 makes a fair point, if the design is based on what Dustin build and starts selling this for a buck @NeMesiS can start to expect cease and desist letters. It's not only because Dustins personality he would be doing it, he needs to protect his own IP. Hell I would do the same thing if somebody starts selling a product that looks an awful lot like what I designed and starting eating away my market share. It's merely protecting my bread and butter.

Would be a shame if all the hard work from @NeMesiS would frivolous if he ends up with 100-150 XBOX HDMI products he cannot sell + the damages he would have to pay, let alone the legal fees.

PS I'm not suggesting that the design is a copy, I'm not the right person to judge that. Just want to make a point that you shouldn't take IP law lightly. Companies have literally departments of lawyers employed who's only task is to figure out if competitors copied their IP.

https://github.com/Ryzee119/XboxHDMI-Ryzee119

Look familiar much?

[RMM]

Im not sure what the issue is here.  Dustin doesnt use the same design with his Stellar XboxHD+.  He abandoned the old design and went with something he felt was better with the Stellar XboxHD+  and as Dustin himself says, he doesnt even use the same BIOS for Stellar.  The old design is no longer being made, doesnt use the same BIOS and was abandoned.  His Stellar XboxHD+ is a different design.

It reminds me of the original Xenium modchip that was originally made by TeamXodus.  They stopped making that modchip and you know what happened?  Somebody took the TeamXodus design, recreated it and came out with their own version called Open Xenium.  Was that a rip off of the original design?   If TeamXodus is no longer making it and someone else takes that design and makes a working recreation, what is the problem.  I think before people complain they need to look in the mirror.

Edited September 7, 2023 by RMM

[Ryzee119]

There is no "reference design" or "reference firmware"  you just download and you're good to go.

You read and understand the guidelines the manufacturer put out hand pick all the passive components and lay them out how they vaguely suggest then you reverse engineer Xbox pixel format then write a custom firmware that setups the adv7511 (why pick the adv7511 anyway?) firmware specifically for the Xboxes timing just right, and because Xbox timings are non HDMI compliant you have to write custom timings for every resolution. Just writing this firmware is weeks off painful work. Then guess, what you open another game and the timings are all different. Then you try another TV and it doesn't work on that TV so you go back and coding.

The guides don't suggest any Microcontroller to use yet we happen to use the exact same stm32f030c8t6 (why that chip exactly?) and the way the pins are layed out just magically line up exactly the same and in the exact same spot with the same blinking and power led logic that is custom? What are those odds? 

Then ofcourse you design the flex cables which Nem would know is expensive and you're doing all this on a bunch technical assumptions it's going to work unless you can copy someone else's.

Why do you.have a QSB? Whats it for? How did you know you needed it?

There is alot of work to this. If you can justify cloning his without even an acknowledgement to MakeMhz for his help that's unfortunate. 

But at the end of the day I just asked Nem are yes or no question. Is he ripping firmware or did he write his own? I don't really care about cloning the hardware that much to be honest but to achieve the goals of the project I'd thought you be having to do something different. 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Ryzee119

[Ryzee119]

1 hour ago, RMM said:

It reminds me of the original Xenium modchip that was originally made by TeamXodus.  They stopped making that modchip and you know what happened?  Somebody took the TeamXodus design, recreated it and came out with their own version called Open Xenium.  Was that a rip off of the original design?   If TeamXodus is no longer making it and someone else takes that design and makes a working recreation, what is the problem.  I think before people complain they need to look in the mirror.

Openxenium has a fully custom vhdl that is freely opensourced and available. It happens to work with xeniumOS a bootloader made my TeamXodus 20 years ago.

I made the open xenium but I also never sold them and never included XeniumOS in my repository and I openly acknowledge their good work on that chip because it was awesome. It's not smoke and mirrors that it's highly inspired by the xenium modchip. 

[eeksdee]

I do wonder.... He's said it's not a clone before, just similar, could you produce and talk about the steps that required you to have a QSB? Why is it needed?

[Ryzee119]

If this is Nems original design hats off to him and I am amazed how quick he managet

[trencherfield]

6 minutes ago, Ryzee119 said:

If this is Nems original design hats off to him and I am amazed how quick he managet

Okay. Let's return the question back to you. So why don't you just finish off what you started, shouldn't take you long surely.... probably could of done it by now with the time you've spent on this thread and following it. Yes/No?

Or is that a conflict of interest?

It would make the entire thread a moot point, would it not?

I mean since as already mentioned and as you claim, as a copied unit, it's already discontinued by MM as well.

Care to elaborate? Or does that spoil your fun here?

[Ryzee119]

This thread is full of childish bullying about MakeMhz. Shouldn't genuine personal concerns be done privately?

I'm just trying to have an open technical discussion about the inspiration for the project. If the reason is

"MakeMhz is unable to support the legacy HDMi version, and currently requires a stellar modchip to function. This projects goal is to recreate the original xboxhdmi made by MakeMhz. For best compatibility we plan to make it pin to pin compatible and will release our own firmware to work with cerbios and other modchips. Huge thanks for MakeMhz for his work to date"

Personally that would be gone down alot better with alot of people and more transparent.

Currently it looks like "Makemhz is a big smelly fraud so to teach him a lesson we'll clone and sell his product as my mine, checkmate"

 

[Ryzee119]

Didn't he write patches for m8plus and indbios? Probably the two most popular bioses at the time? (And released source for these patches) Could he do the same for Cerbios? Sure probably but it's an actively developed bios so would have to do it again and again. And the cerbios team presumably have the source code and could support it easily (I think).

I barely said anything bad about Nem at all. I like Nem and a fellow aussie. I've been responding to you so you forced my hand a bit.

I was expecting a quick response like "yep been testing with MakeMhz fw but have plans of my own" and I'm sure that's the case tbh 

[KaosEngineer]

On 9/7/2023 at 5:23 PM, Ryzee119 said:

Didn't he write patches for m8plus and indbios? Probably the two most popular bioses at the time? (And released source for these patches) Could he do the same for Cerbios? Sure probably but it's an actively developed bios so would have to do it again and again. And the cerbios team presumably have the source code and could support it easily (I think).

I barely said anything bad about Nem at all. I like Nem and a fellow aussie. I've been responding to you so you forced my hand a bit.

I was expecting a quick response like "yep been testing with MakeMhz fw but have plans of my own" and I'm sure that's the case tbh 

I did not see source for the patches.  They were provided as binary data without any code to read through to understand how the patches worked.

[KaosEngineer]

On 9/7/2023 at 7:27 PM, LM666 said:

Can we please stop this bickering? Im sure im not the only one fed up with this. I signed up to this forum for updates on what is new with the scene, but so far all i am seeing is a massive argument.

I've hidden the bickering in the last few pages and requests by those to clean this thread.  

If I've left posts in that you think need to be hidden, let me know. Thanks.

 

Carry on civilly.

[Ryzee119]

1 hour ago, KaosEngineer said:

I did not see source for the patches.  They were provided as binary data without any code to read through to understand how the patches worked.

I was referring to these.

https://github.com/MakeMHz/xbox-hdmi-kernel-source

Admittedly I don't know exactly what they are doing but I assume you apply these to stock m8 and Ind to make it communicate with xboxhd over smbus and send the required video mode parameters to the encoder. There were written in ASM so there is no C sources etc.

[Ernegien]

I'm still interested in Nem's input on all of this. The hardware is indisputably a 1:1 clone, but what's the plan for the firmware side of things? Is he expecting people steal Dustin's or is he creating his own? I already know the answer, but I'm giving Nem the chance to own up to it.

[Bowlsnapper]

...sigh...