August update 2017
In February I wrote this blog’s first post, where I talked about my plans for upcoming posts. Today I’ll be starting a series of monthly posts similar to my first post, where I talk about my plans for the month. This is my August update for 2017.
July post summary
Last month I wrote four posts covering modding three video game consoles. Topics include console fan upgrades to reduce noise, an HDMI video output mod, and a guide covering how to RGH an Xbox 360 S for only $10.
- SCPH-39001 PS2 fan upgrade
- The PS2 fat is a fairly noisy console, especially when a hard drive is installed. To make things more quiet I upgraded the stock fan inside the console to a much quieter Noctua computer fan.
- Original Xbox 80mm fan upgrade
- This post is similar to the PS2 fan upgrade, but for the original Xbox. Just like the PS2, the Xbox isn’t very quiet. I was able to fit a larger, and quieter, 80mm computer fan into the original Xbox.
- Adding an HDMI port to the PS2 fat
- This post is similar to a post I made in March where I added an HDMI port to my original Xbox. The Xbox post has actually been the most popular post I have written this year. I was able to do the same sort of mod to my PS2 fat using pretty much the same parts.
- Cheap Xbox 360 S Trinity RGH using an LPT port and X360Ace
- This post covers the process of doing an RGH mod on an Xbox 360 S. My goal was to do the mod as cheaply as possible, it ended up costing about $10. If you already have an LPT connector, and some resistors, it might only cost you $7.
August post plans
This month I’m planning to write another four posts, not including this one. I plan to start covering some topics other than video game consoles. In particular I have been spending a lot of time over the past few weeks working on my outdoor weather station, which could result in some blog posts. Here’s a short list of some possible posts:
- Powering an Arduino weather station using solar power
- Arduino weather station node PCB design and layout
- Arduino weather station node software setup
- Particle Photon weather base station PCB design and layout
- Particle Photon weather base station software setup
I also have a large backlog of completed video game console projects that just need to be written up and published. Here’s a short list of those topics:
- GameCube teardown guide
- PS3 slim teardown guide
- Xbox 360 S teardown guide
- Failed original Xbox RAM upgrade
- PS3 slim custom firmware installation guide
- X360Key Xbox 360 ODE review
- Xbox 360 controller teardown guide
- PS1 teardown guide
- PS1 MM3 modchip installation
- Fixing a broken PS1 disc spindle hub
- Building a PSP battery using a new battery cell
- Xbox 360 RRoD repair
I also bought my first oscilloscope, a Rigol DS1054Z, which should arrive within the next week or so. I may end up making some posts on using the scope. Using the scope I plan to work on more complicated console mods, like direct digital HDMI video output from consoles like the PS1 and PS2.
August blog updates
Here are some blog updates that I’d like to mention.
Last month I switched the commenting system over from stock WordPress comments to WPDISCUZ. This plugin lets you subscribe to comment threads, so that you can get an email when I reply to comments. In the past I have been replying to the comments here, and then emailing the people who left them, since WordPress doesn’t send email reply notifications.
I have also been spending some time improving the blog performance. I may eventually write posts about servers, if there is an interest. I’ve learned a lot while running blogs in the past, so there is a lot of interesting software I’m using to run this blog.
Another change I’ll be making is how topics are linked together. In the past I have written introduction posts that introduce projects, and cover my plans. Instead I’ll be making separate pages for each sort of project, and updating them as I go. They’ll be similar to the current projects page, but specific to each project.
For example I’ll have a page called Xbox 360 project, where I outline all of the posts I have written about my three Xbox 360 consoles, and any future plans for the project.
I’m also planning to create some sort of newsletter subscription thing that you can opt into to get new post notifications. This was a suggestion I have gotten.
August summary
I have plans to write four posts this month, and have at least one not be related to video game consoles. If any of the topics I mentioned above interest you please leave a comment. I’ll prioritize posts based on what people are interested in.
At the end of August I’ll close the comments to this post, and add a link to the September post where you can leave comments for the month of September.