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.Maleficus.
08-19-2008, 10:55 AM
And/or download box.

So here's the thing. My dad was telling me about some scrap computers they had at work and said he could bring some home if I had any use for them. I figured they would all be dead/too old to be of any use, but it turns out one of the three he brought home was working and didn't have too bad of specs. He got me a Compaq workstation running XP Pro and two more computers that were missing parts. Here's the specs of the Compaq though.

P4 2.4GHz
512MB RAM
40GB Seagate HDD (probably to be replaced by a larger drive)

.. with some other proprietary hardware I haven't identified. As you can see, not a bad box for media storage. With this thing using ~60W average, it's not too bad on power either, making it the ideal way to manage large downloads. Ubuntu Server will be installed. Anyways, on to the pics.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/DSCF0010-1.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/DSCF0011-1.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/DSCF0012-1.jpg

Those of you who looked closely at the last pic might have noticed something in the back of the case. Yes, it has a free PCI slot.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/DSCF0013-1.jpg

And a nice copper heatsink.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/DSCF0014-1.jpg

One cool thing too (though not too useful for me) is the CD drive. This lever:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/DSCF0015-1.jpg

ejects the CD drive.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/DSCF0016-2.jpg

So, there are the pics. I'm in the idea stage still, but right now I'm kinda leaning towards a steampunk theme or an overly complicated sci-fi computer look (think the side panel from Dave's TIP3000). I'm open to other suggestions too. I'll be heading to a hardware store today to look at some ways to sleeve the wires and some metallic paint and after that I'll hopefully be drawing some ideas. Comments?
J-Roc
08-19-2008, 08:00 PM
The best part is now you have an extra product key :)

*cough*can you get more of thoes?*cough*
.Maleficus.
08-19-2008, 11:46 PM
Hehe, I have three of those computers sitting in my basement :D. I'm going to be using Ubuntu though (LAMP config). Anyways, I picked up some brass and copper metallic spray paint at the store, found some awesome (and cheap-ish) copper plumbing to add to the look, and some decent "sleeving". The only problem is it's metal, which is conductive. Obviously I don't want to short anything in here, so how should I go about using it? I know it was used in Orac3, but this is an extremely crammed case and the sleeving would definitely have to touch the mobo and some other parts.

Well, after I finish up some ideas and sketches, I'll start up a worklog. Since I'm waiting on parts for Shark I don't have much to do right now besides work, and I want to get this running ASAP.
J-Roc
08-20-2008, 12:42 AM
you could clear coat it with some varnish or somthing like that.

With 3 of thoes babies, you could use them as digital receiver boxes for every tv in the house :)

I can hardly wait for the worklog!
BerticusPryme
08-20-2008, 03:30 AM
the great thing about that optical drive coming out like that is you can swap it out for a laptop optical so easy.I really dig the case and cant wait to see what you got planned.
.Maleficus.
08-21-2008, 12:05 PM
I've decided to scrap the steampunk/sci-fi ideas. It's an extremely small case and with everything being small and proprietary, I don't have enough room to work with to do it right.

Right now I'm contemplating doing an Ubuntu mod. Yes, I know, I'm a fanboy. What I'm thinking though is a window made to be the logo, but oversized so that it would "wrap" around the sides of the case too. I'd use clear plexi and color the specific segments with red, orange or yellow LEDs. Tan outside, darker brown inside, "Linux for Human Beings" somewhere on the case and I can Bondo/reshape the front bezel.

logo - http://www.ptysor.com/images/Ubuntu-Gutsy-Alternate-i386.jpg
window idea (Cannibal's Banzai mod) - http://thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8077

I'll GIMP up some ideas soon.
.Maleficus.
08-21-2008, 12:33 PM
:dead:

After 5 minutes and my short attention span, I got this.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/andypwnsall/crappygimp.jpg

Kinda gives you an idea of what I'm thinking. Thoughts? (other than you suck at GIMP)
AMD Killa
09-24-2008, 04:54 PM
I really like the ubuntu theme. You should definatly stick with that. What colour are you thinking of painting the case?
XcOM
09-25-2008, 09:41 PM
i would bondo in the HP logo so it isn't visable anymore, and the window wrapping around the side is a great idea, never seen that done before, would be a great move.
AMD Killa
09-26-2008, 10:13 AM
I would paint it black, and yea, I would bondo over the top HP logo , but keep the front one, it would be a nice addition.

As for the window wrapping, defyant is wrapping a window around his HP6 mod, you should check it out, might help you with any problems. You should definatly keep the window wrapping anyway, because it looks sweet! XD

Good luck with this.
The_Crippler
10-09-2008, 02:12 PM
What colour are you thinking of painting the case?

It's Ubuntu, what do you think? Brown, of course. :D

\And no, I'm not hating - almost every one of my machines runs some form of Ubuntu.
AMD Killa
10-09-2008, 10:46 PM
It's Ubuntu, what do you think? Brown, of course. :D

\And no, I'm not hating - almost every one of my machines runs some form of Ubuntu.

Yea, I know there's nothing wrong with ubuntu, I used it my self for about 6 months until I got hold of an XP disk. Only because Windows is what I'm used to. I need to learn a little more about linux before I'd make the jump perminantly.

Sorry to thread-jack, but does linux support SLI or Crossfire, mainly for openGL based programs?
The_Crippler
10-09-2008, 11:04 PM
Sorry to thread-jack, but does linux support SLI or Crossfire, mainly for openGL based programs?

I know that Nvidia has put together SLI support - but it's still being tweaked. So far as I know, ATI hasn't hopped on board with Crossfire yet...but then, Nvidia has always rolled with more support for the Linux community.

However, both are much better in a Windows environment. It really comes down to what the two operating systems are used for. When push comes to shove, Linux is not the best gaming environement, and that's what SLI/Crossfire is generally used for. (And yes, I realize that Linux can be bullied in to running games, but it's not the strength of it.)

I hope that answers some questions for you. (I also appologize for thread-jacking.)
AMD Killa
10-11-2008, 10:57 PM
Yea, the main reason for asking was mainly about games, but it could also apply to CAD software, if there is any for Linux. What about the CUDA based stuff, does that work for Linux?

I think with the amount of money AMD has thrown ATI's way, they should support everything, but I guess they want to beat nVidia hands down in the next generation of GPU's.

I read somewhere that intel are bringing out a CPU/GPU mixed thingy. I wonder if they will make it dual-core/own version of SLI/crossfire. Imagine two of them on a skulltrail like board (two CPU's). Two quad-cores, one for CPU, and the other for graphics. Should handle crysis very well, depending on whether intel could actually produce a decent graphics side of it. There will probably be loads of bugs with it too.

How the hell I manage to waffle this much at nearly 4 in the morning I don't know.

Back to the mod. This mod should look sweet when it's finished. By the looks of things, it will do ubuntu proud. Shame you coulden't fit watercooling in there XD. Although you could use something like the reservator.