Print

[Textbook]

Ok, from the person who brought you amazing tutorials in the past, I now introduce Textbook's VGA Tutorial.

For those expecting to see the tutorial right here, sorry.  This time, I wrote my tutorial in webpage format and used a free web host to host it.  It was a new experience for me, with it's ups and downs, but all in all, the main point of any tutorial is the user.  I chose a web tutorial this time because it can be more interactive, and show you only the stuff you need to see, but still give you a complete tutorial without clutter.  I basically compiled information from many other amazing tutorials and put it all into one.  I spent a long time working on this, and will be updating it if it needs be.  Hopefully, people will find this helpful, and maybe it can be stickied and put an end to all the VGA questions.

Please take a look at the tutorial HERE.  Remember it is hosted on a free host, so if a page doesn't load, just hit refresh, it's there.

Please post any comments/suggestions/changes/questions in this forum.

Thanks.

[dstealth]

I'm pretty hacked off about there not being a VGA compatible bios out for the v1.6 xbox. Especially when I run Linux on my 1.6 and I was going to buy a VGA adapter.

[leeloo5]

i love when websites say copyright ... when they haven't copyrighted anything.  anyway, there can never be too many tutorials.  If you want, post a link at the end of my pinned topic, or email a mod to ask for a pin.  nice lengthy work.

You might want to note that the EASIEST way to get a working cable w/o soldering is to use a triple RCA joiner to connect an xbox component cable to a RCA to VGA 15pin plug.  Then if you have SOG, you're done, no soldering, plus you still have your component cable.  Oh, and for sound you might need to buy an RCA to stereo miniplug adapter.

[simsbox]

i heard you need to flash your chip if you want to put on a VGA,
I dont have a chip, Will i still be able to watch the xbox on my monitor?

[johnnyrico]

I don't wanna act like an a$$h0le(intentinally put in 1337 speak to do a little bit of censorship), but I see you took some pictures from xboxrepairguide.com
actually those photo's and the xbox repair guide copyrighted, causing confusion on wether I can consider this guide fully legal or with "Stolen" pictures.
overall I like your guide a lot, but couldn't you perhaps remove the xboxrepairguide.com part under the pictures?
just to keep people like me from saying it contains "stolen" content.

I know I'll get flamed for this, but my intentions are good

[Textbook]

QUOTE(dstealth @ Jan 23 2006, 06:12 PM)

I'm pretty hacked off about there not being a VGA compatible bios out for the v1.6 xbox. Especially when I run Linux on my 1.6 and I was going to buy a VGA adapter.

Actually, Yoshihiro released a BETA 1.6 VGA BIOS, but it's debug only and isn't working very well.  And Team Xecuter has the option to enable VGA on their X3 chips.  This doesn't work very well either.  Maybe with both of them working together, we could see a fully functioning retail VGA Bios compatible with 1.6.

QUOTE(leeloo5 @ Jan 24 2006, 11:04 AM)

i love when websites say copyright ... when they haven't copyrighted anything.  anyway, there can never be too many tutorials.  If you want, post a link at the end of my pinned topic, or email a mod to ask for a pin.  nice lengthy work.

If you notice, the only things I said were copyrighted were other people's work, just so people like that johnnyrico up there wouldn't flip out, but he did anyway.  I just didn't want people thinking I made the diagrams, pictures, or anything like that, so I figured a C symbol was the easiest way of mentioning the source.

QUOTE(leeloo5 @ Jan 24 2006, 11:04 AM)

You might want to note that the EASIEST way to get a working cable w/o soldering is to use a triple RCA joiner to connect an xbox component cable to a RCA to VGA 15pin plug.  Then if you have SOG, you're done, no soldering, plus you still have your component cable.  Oh, and for sound you might need to buy an RCA to stereo miniplug adapter.

Wow, I didn't even know they made those things, looks like I'll be adding to my tutorial.

QUOTE(simsbox @ Jan 24 2006, 12:07 PM)

i heard you need to flash your chip if you want to put on a VGA,
I dont have a chip, Will i still be able to watch the xbox on my monitor?

If you read the guide, it gives you options for 1.0-1.5 softmodded Xboxes.

QUOTE(johnnyrico @ Jan 24 2006, 12:27 PM)

I don't wanna act like an a$$h0le(intentinally put in 1337 speak to do a little bit of censorship), but I see you took some pictures from xboxrepairguide.com
actually those photo's and the xbox repair guide copyrighted, causing confusion on wether I can consider this guide fully legal or with "Stolen" pictures.
overall I like your guide a lot, but couldn't you perhaps remove the xboxrepairguide.com part under the pictures?
just to keep people like me from saying it contains "stolen" content.

I know I'll get flamed for this, but my intentions are good

Not exactly flamed, but corrected.  Yes, I took some pictures from www.xboxrepairguide.com.  Although it would be another story if I got those pictures out of the private, pay-for guide, I did not.  Those pictures actually come from a completely public "sample" page by www.xboxrepairguide.com.  If you don't believe me, you can view the page HERE.  And as I said earlier in the tutorial, I do not take credit for any of the pictures/diagrams in the guide.  I gave credit to XboxRepairGuide underneath those images, with a link to that sample guide.  So I believe I am "OK" here because I didn't claim them as my own, and they are completly public work, meaning it's free game.  I would never display images from a pay-for guide.

QUOTE(zwinglio @ Jan 24 2006, 02:00 PM)

Hi Textbook,if you want i could translater your guide in italian and put it on the italian xbox forum ** People linking to that site hosting BIOS files, etc. ** Do Not use that link or site name reference on XS * so many italian people as me can read it;)

^^ Obviously, XS doesn't like the site in question, but by all means, you can save all the webpages to your computer, translate it, and host it on a different site.

[HardcorePooka]

QUOTE(leeloo5 @ Jan 24 2006, 10:04 AM)

i love when websites say copyright ... when they haven't copyrighted anything.  anyway, there can never be too many tutorials.  If you want, post a link at the end of my pinned topic, or email a mod to ask for a pin.  nice lengthy work.

Just so you know, you don't have to actually go through the process of copyrighting for it to be considered copyrighted. As soon as someone creates a work it is considered copyrighted.

Taken directly from the US Copyright Office's website:

Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright.





And... I like the tutorial. If I was interested in doing this I would like it even more. Good work nonetheless.

[AfterTheInsanity]

I like the tutorial. Very thorough. Resize a couple of the pictures though, because theyre breaking the border even at 1024x768 resolution. Also, I do lots of work on webpages (check out my bands webpage in my sig, I wrote most of it in notepad and tested it in coffeecup) so if you need any help with yours, Id be more than happy, since I noticed you made yours in M$ Word

[Textbook]

Thanks for the compliment.  I spent a long time making sure I covered everything possible.  I guess some pictures could be resized.  I forget with my new monitor that its resolution is 1280 x 1024     Actually, I made mine in MS Publisher, and could have chosen pre-made layouts/templates, but decided on a blank web page.  I like it the way it is, nothing distracting, straight to the point.  But thanks anyways.

[Devastater]

hey i saw that one picture and recognized it as this one only this one is a little more detailed......
http://photobucket.c...Def_AV_Pack.gif
will this work??? and the kicker.....will it work on a 1.6??? ( of course the version i have)

[Textbook]

The only way to play on LIVE is with a retail BIOS.  Therefore, since you are using a retail BIOS and not the VGA BIOS, it wouldn't output in VGA.  Basically, it will do the same thing as if you were modded, and didn't use the VGA BIOS.  Everything would be green.  So, in the simplest terms, doing this mod requires a modded Xbox running the Modded VGA BIOS/Patch.  So, to sum it up:

Q:  Will this work on LIVE?
A:  Yes, but everything is going to be green

Q:  Will this work on LIVE, and not be green?
A:  No

Q:  How can I then?
A:  Buy a transcoder like the X2VGA+ or VDIGI VD-Z3.  The first one plugs right into your Xbox and converts it to VGA, and it can be used with no BIOS/Patch, meaning you can use it on LIVE.  The second converts component to VGA, so you would also need Xbox HD pack or other Xbox Component cables.  This also works with no BIOS/Patch, so you can use it on LIVE.  These will also work on all Xbox versions.

Q:  Does making the VGA cable/port yourself work with Version 1.6 Xboxes?
A:  No, not at the moment.

[Devastater]

QUOTE

Q: Does making the VGA cable/port yourself work with Version 1.6 Xboxes?
A: No, not at the moment.

do you say that because the port itself will not work for some reason or is it that there isn't a reliable bios for it yet???

amd will all these other ports in this picture work on a 1.6
http://photobucket.c...Def_AV_Pack.gif

[Textbook]

There isn't a reliable BIOS for it yet, it would simply display everything in green.  So physically it works, if that's what you were asking.

By the way, the picture in that album comes from JaredC01's Guide Here On Xbox-Scene.  But yes, all the other ports will work.  They didn't change any of the connectors/pinouts, they just changed the video encoder.

[johnnyrico]

QUOTE(Textbook @ Jan 24 2006, 08:58 PM)

Not exactly flamed, but corrected.  Yes, I took some pictures from www.xboxrepairguide.com.  Although it would be another story if I got those pictures out of the private, pay-for guide, I did not.  Those pictures actually come from a completely public "sample" page by www.xboxrepairguide.com.  If you don't believe me, you can view the page HERE.  And as I said earlier in the tutorial, I do not take credit for any of the pictures/diagrams in the guide.  I gave credit to XboxRepairGuide underneath those images, with a link to that sample guide.  So I believe I am "OK" here because I didn't claim them as my own, and they are completly public work, meaning it's free game.  I would never display images from a pay-for guide.
^^ Obviously, XS doesn't like the site in question, but by all means, you can save all the webpages to your computer, translate it, and host it on a different site.

yeah, guess that can be considered ok than I guess, since you did give credit to xboxrepairguide.com for the pics
I dunno wether XS doesn't like this site because you need to pay for the guide or some other reasons, but it is a good guide to learn the basics indeed.

BTW: seems the original XBRG page has been taken down or something.

QUOTE(Textbook @ Jan 24 2006, 08:58 PM)

If you notice, the only things I said were copyrighted were other people's work, just so people like that johnnyrico up there wouldn't flip out, but he did anyway.  I just didn't want people thinking I made the diagrams, pictures, or anything like that, so I figured a C symbol was the easiest way of mentioning the source.

I wasn't flipping out, I was just making an observation and intended to help with improving your guide(and preventing some of those jerks to come with their lawyer and order you to take down your fine guide)

[Textbook]

QUOTE

^^ Obviously, XS doesn't like the site in question, but by all means, you can save all the webpages to your computer, translate it, and host it on a different site.

QUOTE

I dunno wether XS doesn't like this site because you need to pay for the guide or some other reasons, but it is a good guide to learn the basics indeed.

Actually, my quote about XS not liking the site in question was referring to the italian forums that zwinglio tried to post a link to.  I was saying XS doesn't like the italian forums (whatever URL it is) not the xboxrepairguide site.  Xbox-Scene applies filters to URLs that may contain anything that is against the rules here.  Usually piracy, as this is the case with the Italian Forums.

QUOTE

BTW: seems the original XBRG page has been taken down or something.

It's sort of hit-and-miss.  It's never been taken down, but every once in a while it will give you a "Page not found" error even though the page is there.  I'm guessing the xboxrepairguide server or host is not perfect.  But the site is still up, has been for a couple years (I think).  Just have to hit refresh.

QUOTE

I wasn't flipping out, I was just making an observation and intended to help with improving your guide(and preventing some of those jerks to come with their lawyer and order you to take down your fine guide) wink.gif

You're correct, I should choose my words more carefully.  I do appreciate your post, as I am open to any questions/comments/feedback that anybody will give me.  I could see where you were looking out for me, and I appreciate that.  Thank you for being honest and intelligent, it's good when I can talk to other civilized people on the internet.  I haven't updated the tutorial since the first day I uploaded it, because I have been swamped with work.  Will do so in the early future, as well as begin writing my NDURE tutorial.

Just trying to help out the scene in the only way I know how...