Desktop Window

[Frogon]

Well, it all started when I went and got a P3 computer for $25. However, unlike most cases that I've seen modded, this one's lying on its side, old school style. So, I thought of putting a window on the side that faces up, just to look cool, however, the cover is much like a power supply, where 3 sides are all connected together. So I was wondering if anyone had ever put a window in one of these kind of computers, and what I should do to get it to work.

It pretty much looks like this: http://www.tomsvariety.com/images/bobjohnson/desktop.jpg but I'll probably take some pictures of it soon.

Also, something I really didnt want to do, but I could, is just make the whole top acrylic and rivet the sides down, so it becomes something like a top panel. But the window would be alot cooler, I think.

[crazybillybob]

Frogggy,
Welcome aboard!
You can do it!
While the one peice case is a bit of a pain cutting a window in it can be done. You just need to know where all the mounting points are for the cover. Just don't cut off any of the eins that hold the case to the frame (if it has them...dif. models have dif. locking mech.)

Get some pics of the cover (fornt & back) and of the frame umder ths cover.
Also draw the out line of the window you want on the cover ....Then you see allot of Idea's here.

Crazybillybob

[Frogon]

Here's some images:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/frogon/p3casecover.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/frogon/P3casenocover.jpg

those little clippy things go underneath that metal lip at the front of the case, so that means I can cut everything else off right? : ) There are some holes cut in the cover on the side where that metal rod is, but other than that the cover is one flat sheet.

I actually have another question now, you know those covers that go on the back of the computer that have the openings for the motherboard things like USB, mouse, keyboard, ect, what happens if I... lost mine? I replaced the motherboard in there with another P3, but I dont have that cover thing...

[Crimson Sky]

I actually have another question now, you know those covers that go on the back of the computer that have the openings for the motherboard things like USB, mouse, keyboard, ect, what happens if I... lost mine? I replaced the motherboard in there with another P3, but I dont have that cover thing...


thats the I/O (input/output) panel or bezel. If you cant find a replacement for it--you can be adventurous and make your own. Simply take a sheet of white paper, tape it over the motherboard, and make a gentle pencil rubbing of all the inputs/outputs. You now have a perfect template to transfer the markings to say, a piece of plexiglass or scrap plastic--or even aluminum ;)

[Frogon]

Thanks man! I looked at the one that was in there before, and its pretty close, it just has the audio input things set up differently, so I could just chop off what doesnt fit for now, and then later get something to fit and just shove it on.

[wingman358]

thats the I/O (input/output) panel or bezel. If you cant find a replacement for it--you can be adventurous and make your own. Simply take a sheet of white paper, tape it over the motherboard, and make a gentle pencil rubbing of all the inputs/outputs. You now have a perfect template to transfer the markings to say, a piece of plexiglass or scrap plastic--or even aluminum ;)

That's actually a really good idea... thanks Crimson!

[Guttenaffe]

:omg: Ooooo the things I would/could do to that case 8) :D

good luck looks like a great mod case lots of extra room to work with.

yea, can't see it to well but if it's standard ATX P3 prob is, don't think there were many P3 babyAT comps (if any at all) and

If you ever swap the mobo, the new mobo will come with a replacment I/O shield (more common name though cover or bezel won't get you dumb looks from people) as they are not "standard" anymore and are custom per mobo now-a-days.

If you want to make your own do like Crimson said, you can hold it on with the hex screws/sockets by taking them off with a nut driver.

[Frogon]

Since is the same computer, I'll use the same thread...

Since I'll have a giant window, I'll need some sweet lighting, so here's what I was thinking: I'd have a switch with 3 options, off, on, crazy. They'd probably be just a jumble of LEDs placed around the case. For "crazy" I was thinking of having the lights basically all become strobe lights and flash really fast. I pretty much have no experience with any kind of electricity, but I remember I did use a soldering iron a long time ago.. Anyway, is there an easy way I could set it up, or would it just be easier to have the "crazy" on a different circuit?

I have this odd plan of somehow making an air duct out of PVC pipe that leads to the heatsink. I first thought about having it come from the front, however the only way that could work is if it went over the entire motherboard, which would mean I couldn't have any cards plugged in, so that got scrapped. Then I thought about having it come in from the back, right above the I\O panel. Since there isnt much space to put a fan, I thought about putting two smaller fans, maybe 60mms or something about that size in, then getting one of those Y shaped PVC pipe and connecting them. However, I've never worked with PVC pipe like this before, but I think it'd look pretty sweet...

[Guttenaffe]

Blinking LEDs is easy :)
All depends how many you want to be able to blink and how random you want them blinking, more info and I'll hook you with a quick easy schematic you can build a circuit from.

[Frogon]

Well.. can I get them to really randomly blink, maybe every half second or so? Its kinda hard to guess how long since it also depends on how many LEDs I use, which depend on how much they light up... I was thinking maybe around 8 white LEDs for the flashing. They'd probably just be placed around where the window is so you they'd shoot light into the viewing area. Basically, I figure I can put like, 8 yellows and 8 purple LEDs which would be the main lights, and then for "crazy" I think I want maybe 2 purple and 2 yellow LEDs so there's still some light, but then 8 white LEDs for the flashyness, so they still way overpower the other colors. Mainly, I dont want them all flashing at the same time. If they went off once a second, and kind of randomly, that'd leave some space for it to get dark again. So, basically, I just want them all to flash at different times, and have each LED go off around every second. Unless you think thats way too much light\fast for a computer case, I've never done any of this so I'm just kinda guessing here.

[Frogon]

(double post)

Ok, since I remember a little bit of electricity, I figured out this much for the purple and yellow LEDs, which wont flash like crazy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/frogon/modding/leds.jpg

however, I dont know how to hook up the 4pin power supply thing into this, or how to hook it up to a switch. I figured I should ask you guys before going to radioshack so I actually know what I'm talking about ; )

[crenn]

Depending on the amount of LEDs you have and what voltage they need depends on what you need. How many LEDs are you planning and what is the max voltage for both types of LEDs?

[Frogon]

Well.. I know what it is for the yellow, but they dont sell purple LEDs, so I'm going to have to change my color plans a tad. I'm thinking probably like 5 or 6 yellow LEDs at this point, which have a voltage of 2.1V, but there's some writing on the back saying the max voltage is 3, so I assume it totaly burns out at 3V, and is recommended to be 2.1V, right?

I'm thinking maybe yellow and blue now.. But I'll figure more about the colors and stuff tomorrow. If each is 2.1V, how abouts would you go about figuring out how to set up the circut.

[crenn]

3v is it's max voltage before it will start to burn out. If you want to run LEDs in parallel without any resisters, then you should use the 5v rail and run 2 leds in series on this rail and adding other LEDs parallel to this?

If needed be I'll draw up a diagram to what I mean.

[Frogon]

I think I understand what you're saying.. would that be the easiest way? and... could you draw a diagram for me just incase? : ) thanks man

[crenn]

Ok here is a nice text diagram.

_(LED)__(LED)__ < Add more lines depending on how many you need, but be careful.
| |
|_(LED)_(LED)__|
| |
+5v -5v

That's as basic as I can make it.... without going into paint. As for the comment about being careful, I'm talking about the current being drawn from the 5v rail on the molex connector. The above setup will allow each LED to have 2.5v. If you ever need good but cheap superbright LEDs goto www.ledsales.com.au (http://www.ledsales.com.au/), they have good LEDs and other things that you may want. Also you could get some of those RGB LEDs and have more than one colour inside!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frogon]

ok, thats what I was thinking : )

One thing about that site, do they ship to the US? : P Also, I realize the LED's size must change the voltage and light output, but is there one that's ideal for computers, like I dont want the sun in my case sucking out all my power, but I also dont want it to be dark either.

[Guttenaffe]

Eeek!

I apologize; I just noticed I misread your post!
I thought you said you knew how to make them blink randomly!

Well.. can I get them to really randomly blink...
My offer of help still stands.

First off NEVER use LEDs without a current limited resistor. A LED is a current driven device; it does not dissipate voltage like a resistor does. Think of it as a low-head dam in a river. It will limit the height of the water flow to what the dam is. example: w=water d=damn

wwwwwww
wwwwwwww
wwwwwwdwwwwww
wwwwwwdwwwwww

Say you have a 5V line with a 2.5V LED with a max current of 25mA. Now that LED will chop off 2.5V and allow 2.5V to pass through. The thing is that 2.5V is at infinite current (well max your power supply can provide) so you need to find a resistor that will limit that line to say at most 25mA. How do we find this? We use ohms law
Voltage=Current*Resistance

We want to find resistance so Resistance=Voltage/Current
We know the current we want max is 25mA, but what about the voltage? Well we need to know the Left over voltage that isn't "damned up" by the LED. (Vsource - Vled)/current
Hey look! that is the same formula that people use with LED resistor calculators :D you see we aren’t just telling you this because we want to make LEDs confusing but because we want your LEDs to work and not catch on fire when to much current runs though them.

Back on topic:
The blinking I will do via a 555, they are easy to setup and cheeper than an oscillator crystal.
We will use this for our clock, now to randomly blink LEDs we will use a 7400series counter and a 7400's demux. Then, by feeding the 555's oscillations into the counter and then the 1st four up from the LSB of the counter into the select of the demux, and then some of the others into the data for the demux. We will get these weird blinking effects from the outputs of the demux :D
I might even do some feedback loops to trigger the 555 and more random times, I'll have to play around with the circuit.

edit: fixed some typos prob some more but I suck at editing :P

[Rankenphile]

Yeah, I... um... hmmm...

Ya had me until the last paragraph, there, Gutte. After that, my brain kinda went POP like a LED without a resistor. :p

[Frogon]

I've read through that a few times, and I think I understand it now. Though with that last paragraph, I figure you're talking about special chips maybe that go on the board? I remember seeing a bunch at radio shack with not so obvious names and some numbers.

For the current resistor, would I have one that limits it to 25mA at the very front, and string all the LEDs behind, or would I have a smaller number of mA, depending on how many LEDs are in the circut?

[Guttenaffe]

Yea, some ICs that will be used to control your blinky blinky LEDs :D

[crenn]

Well, the 555 ic will make things sort of simplier. As for the resistor, tell me how many LEDs in total you going to have and I'll do all the maths for you. I do Physics you see. I just keep on forgetting about the current of LEDs, I normally use button batteries which don't need resistors.

[Frogon]

this is kinda a bit different, but I was wondering how you got mesh to stick to your computer, with like glue or a nail\screw?

[Frogon]

Ok, the LEDs are in!

These are the one's I've got, 10 of them: http://www.frozencpu.com/ele-12.html

So, I went to http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz and put in all the stuff, and it says I need a 56ohms resister per LED (in parallel), and I'm mainly just checking that this is correct.

The real question is here: I've got 2 LEDs that I want to be on the same circut, but I want these to blink, unfortanetly, they're different voltages, 2.1V, 20mA, which says I need one 46omhs resister (lights would be in serial) As for the blinking, I'd rather if it was more flickering than repeating blinking, going for the 'almost dead but still on' feel, so how would I go abouts setting that up? Also, I think I'll just rig it up without a switch, so I dont have to worry about that.

[onelegout]

randomly flickering LEDs? That would drive me absolutely nuts, I would just see it out of the corner of my eye haha
But good luck with it, im sure you know what you're doing!
Peace
H :)

[Frogon]

haha, thats why I'm only using 2 LEDs instead of 50 : P Also, it's my spare computer : )