New Media Center (Xbox)

With the coming of the Spring and my theory on power fluctuations, my Xbox bit the big one.  At first, I couldn’t be bothered because I was studying for a final exam.  The TV didn’t get much use for those couple of weeks as Mike moved his ass downstairs to watch his episodes of Alias and any time I wanted to watch an episode of something, it would hiccup along the network and I could never really watch it in peace (that is another problem I should investigate in the future).

I got fed up from this on Sunday afternoon and decided to buy another Xbox.  Luck had it that I found one on usedottawa.com for $60.  I was conversing with this gentleman throughout the day yesterday to arrange for pickup.  I had arranged to pick it up at the University but then I started wondering if I would be scammed.  How was I supposed to know if this thing would work?  It’s not like there was a television around to plug it into.  All I had was this person’s email address.  In the end I decided to get his license plate number if I entered a worst case scenario.

The transaction went smoothly, I felt like a drug dealer in some back parking lot exchanging money for goods and I was off on the bus.  I couldn’t get the thought of holding an Xbox frame with peanuts inside for parts so I ended up skipping out on the gym to rush home and plug the thing in.

The moment of truth came and went and I had a sigh of relief.  The thing worked!

Eric was gracious enough to come over and help me modify it so I could install the Xbox Media Center onto it.  Years ago when I first modified the Xbox I chose the hardware type mod-chip but I can’t even remember why I did opt for that route.  The thing took me all weekend to install and was a pain in the ass.  I believe I had spoken to Matt and Duncan about modding the Xbox and they both had the chip so maybe that’s what convinced me to do so.

But a few months ago Eric had been doing some research on ‘soft-modding’ the Xbox which involved modifying it without any mod chip installation.  It dealt with overwriting the operating system with Linux.  I was skeptical but he wasn’t and lo and behold, he had a lot less trouble with his installation.  I opted for this one last night and as I packed up Philippe in the back seat and headed over to my place, anticipation grew.  In the span of ten minutes I had a modified Xbox back in the house.

Having a media center hooked up to the television is an amazing thing.  I wouldn’t go without it ever again.  In fact, 99% of my television usage is with the media center.  I could easily go without having basic cable with all the other TV that I watch.  If you don’t have a media center and want a demonstration, drop on by!

Anyhow, a happy camper I am now.  Now I can start studying for my Great Philosophers final exam.  This morning I was reading some Nietzsche whom I’ve heard about over the years but never been introduced to.  He is…interesting?  I don’t know what to make of him yet as he deconstructs all of the readings we have done so far.  I have realized now that philosophy is a point of view…you either agree or disagree with a philosophers views and it’s up to you to decide which you believe.

On another note, 80% final exam on Quantitative.  Awww yeah.

On another note, the Smashing Pumpkins have finished their world tour supporting their Zeitgeit album.  It’s been almost a year since they’ve hit the road and now they’ll be returning to studio and there are plans for them to do album based touring…that would be interesting.