Retropie in a Xbox 360 Case

cyberneticwired

I recenty wanted to see if i would be able to use a xbox 360 case with the power button, ports, etc. to use with a raspberry pi and retropie to make a retro machine for myself...I have no experience though in hardware stuff.. Can anyone provide any tips?

Pifan

@cyberneticwired - I don't own an xbox and can't even say that I have looked that closely at one to know what you have to work with, but in theory it would be entirely possible. It looks like you would have a fair bit of space so it should be fairly easy to fit everything you need in there.

Start by opening up the case and gutting it, if you havent already. Examine all the existing hardware as you go to see what can be repurposed, it probably won't be much. The important thing to note is what type of power button does the 360 use? When you press it does it have a momentary action or does it latch on like a ps1 power button. This will influence your choices when it comes to wiring up. If it's the latching type of power button you could wire it to something like the PowerBlock. This would give you something to wire your switch to, the ability to add a status led and also the power in jack of the Xbox could be connected to it I think. If the Xbox uses the other kind of pushbutton for your power switch, the kind you press and it instantly pops back up after sending the signal you might be able to use a power management pcb like the Pi Supply power switch. The nice thing about this switch is that it comes with a script that performs the shutdown sequence on the pi before completely killing the power 2 mins later, so sd card corruption is unlikely to happen. If the Xbox has a reset button you could wire this up to it as well.

If you have a choice then you may aswel go with a Pi 3. You get the benefits of built in wifi and bluetooth to connect your controllers to aswel as the top performance the Pi can achieve.

I attempted to look up what connections the 360 has but came up short. I'm guessing hdmi and usb? You can relocate both of these from the Pi to external sockets by making use of short cables inside the case and hacking them if needs be. USB is easy to hack, hdmi is not and if you aren't too experienced with this stuff it would be better to use a complete cable with a male and female end to affix to the external socket of the case somehow.

If you need a lot of storage for roms you could also consider using a hard drive. Western Digital do this one which is designed specifically for the Pi. I don't know why it's marketed as optimised for the Pi, lower power draw perhaps.

I should mention that I have not used any of the hardware that I mentioned so I cannot guarantee that any any of it will work no fuss and fit your needs.

If you don't already own one, I would suggest buying a soldering iron. Doesn't need to be too fancy, a mid range 30 watt iron would do. It is hard to do any level of hardware hacking above simply plug and play without one. I have seen people use electical tape for joints which may work in the short term, but you can save yourself a lot of hassle trying to find why x doesnt work if you do it properly to begin with. Wire strippers are also reccomended - cleaner than a knife and saves your teeth!

Lastly, most importantly, take your time and do your research. It is much better to spend a few minutes thinking about your design than a few minutes cutting the case, only to realise you now have a hole you don't need and can't undo without making a mess of it.

Sorry I couldn't be of more specific help. As I say, I don't have an Xbox to reference. If you have any questions then don't hesitate to ask. I can try to help, or someone else who actually knows that they are talking about.

cyberneticwired

Thank you so much for all of the advice! I am going to learn more about the soldering stuff and when i start to build I will post some pictures!