Possible retro mod case for UK ebayers

[xmastree]

Oh boy, how much would I love to get this and squeeze a hotrod motherboard into it?
Collection only, from Saffron Walden. Damn, my sister lives there...

But I don't have the space, the time, the money, etc...

http://cginternet.net/286/1.jpg

A DVD wouldn't look out of place in there either.

GAH, somebody stop me...

[xmastree]

Hmm, it appears to have been bought by somebody calling themselves the_xmastree... :think:

I wonder who that might be... :D

[Zephik]

Hey nice man, have any plans thought up in your head yet? How much did you get it for? and last but not least, lol what is it? It looks like a really old server maybe?

Expecting to see a worklog soon mr. the_xmastree. ;) Congrats on the purchase!

[xmastree]

If you click the picture, you'll see the ebay sale. It's not a server, it's an epson 286. Originally offered as working, but then my first bid was cancelled as the seller tried it and it didn't boot. So, I said that's fine, I only want the cse anyway, and bought it.

For £5.

The only idea I have so far is to have some sort of light coming from those two rows of holes along the front. A couple of cold cathodes behind them perhaps.

[Nagoshi]

286... these damn machines are getting slower and slower. xD

I have an old IBM lying in my basement... Ill try to get pictures soon. It works perfecly, play games such as F15 Strike Eagle 2 and F18 Stealth Fighter, Police Quests and Space Quests series, and much more... it also contains a HUGE 50mb hard drive. :) Also, the case is not as beige as that Epson... which is surprising, cause the IBM is more older than the Epson. :)

[Drew]

Restore it as a 286.... take my most pants everyday rig crown...

[xmastree]

Well, for one thing it doesn't boot, and it may well need an EGA monitor so unless I can find a ISA VGA card I'm stuck. TBH, I did have a slight problem with the idea of ripping out perfectly good hardware, but now that it's dead I feel better.

Two 20MB Winchesters, nice paperweights...

[Redundant]

Two 20MB Winchesters, nice paperweights...
Who uses paper? lol:banana:

I think it would look best painted white but that's just my opinion.
Do you think you can make a "scanning kind of light" coming through the holes?

[SSGM4DCOW]

would be pretty funny to take to a lan party lol

[xmastree]

would be pretty funny to take to a lan party lolWell, Firstly, I don't go to LAN parties, and secondly, at 17kg I'd do my back in...

[Nagoshi]

These old cases are made of heavy steel... god bless Aluminium for the Thermaltake Armor and Lian-Li cases. xD

[Redundant]

These old cases are made of heavy steel... god bless Aluminium for the Thermaltake Armor and Lian-Li cases. xD

But they sure can take some abuse! Which reminds me, you should make that into a tank! lol

Eventually, I hope we have frames made out of carbon nanotubes or titanium.:D

[Nagoshi]

LOL Taht would be one heck of a mod!

Turning an old "tanker" computer into a miniature Tank :)

like, copying a kitbashing model and make a computank :)

[xmastree]

So, the case was bought, and collected by my sister on the understanding that I was in no hurry to get it. She would stick it in a box in her garage until such a time as an opportunity presented itself for getting it to me here some time in the distant future.
Well, she's coming near here tomorrow, so that opportunity seems to have arrived...

[xmastree]

And, today is yesterday's tomorrow... It's now in the boot of the car.

[Bucko]

And your today is my Yesterday.

Can't wait for some better pics and seeing this build.

[xmastree]

Better pics, soon. The actual build... could take some time.

[intergalacticman]

If you click the picture, you'll see the ebay sale. It's not a server, it's an epson 286. Originally offered as working, but then my first bid was cancelled as the seller tried it and it didn't boot. So, I said that's fine, I only want the cse anyway, and bought it.

For £5.

The only idea I have so far is to have some sort of light coming from those two rows of holes along the front. A couple of cold cathodes behind them perhaps.

epson?? like the printer company??

[intergalacticman]

These old cases are made of heavy steel... god bless Aluminium for the Thermaltake Armor and Lian-Li cases. xD

tru dat, but i find steel to be more rugged:banana:

[Nagoshi]

tru dat, but i find steel to be more rugged:banana:

And Impossibly more heavy... The differences between my IBM, 486, Pentium1, Pentium2, Pentium3, Pentium4 and Athlon cases are so great, lol. The Athlon and P4 having the most lightweight cases (aluminium and plastic), P3 using aluminium and steel and plastic, Pentium2 using steel and some plastic, Pentium1 steel and plastic (mostly plastic), 486 ALOT of steel and some plastic, IBM using steel and aluminium. :P

[xmastree]

And, today is yesterday's tomorrow... It's now in the boot of the car.

Blimey, this is an old thread...

Well, that 286 was still in the boot of the car until last week, when me and Mrs. xmastree moved into our own house. With a cellar...

Maybe I can finally get round to doing something with this old banger after all.

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Sadly, the original picture/link is down... I'd really like to see the beast, though. I love that old hardware.

[xmastree]

Don't worry, there will be pics once I open it up.

[xmastree]

I took it apart today.

Firstly, the front view:

http://cginternet.net/286/1.jpg


Behind those front panel covers:

http://cginternet.net/286/2.jpg

That switch slows it down from 12 MHz to 8 or 6, just in case some applications run too fast...


First look inside, at all the expansion cards:

http://cginternet.net/286/3.jpg


The cards, one by one (from top/left to bottom right in the above photo):

Modem:

http://cginternet.net/286/4.jpg
Yes, it is bent...


Memory expansion:

http://cginternet.net/286/5.jpg


Video:

http://cginternet.net/286/6.jpg


FDD/IO controller:

http://cginternet.net/286/7.jpg


HDD Controller:

http://cginternet.net/286/8.jpg

RAM:

http://cginternet.net/286/9.jpg


Motherboard:

http://cginternet.net/286/10.jpg

CPU:

http://cginternet.net/286/11.jpg


The mobo slides in through a slot in the front,

http://cginternet.net/286/13.jpg


and connects to the expansion slots via that grey connector:

http://cginternet.net/286/12.jpg


One of the disks (20MB I believe):

http://cginternet.net/286/14.jpg
http://cginternet.net/286/15.jpg

(not as big as I had imagined)


The case almost empty. The drive cage is welded in place.

http://cginternet.net/286/16.jpg

[slytherock]

Ok, now I feel old... I remember those part.... :D




These old cases are made of heavy steel... god bless Aluminium for the Thermaltake Armor and Lian-Li cases. xD
Your Armor is in Aluminium? ;) only the silver one is...

[Xpirate]

People restore really old cars and really old furniture. But I have never seen anyone restore an old 286 to it's original specs. A couple of years ago I sent everything that used the old AT type power supply or ISA bus to a recycling place.

[FuzzyPlushroom]

That's incredible. Reminds me of the Hyundai I took apart a while back - also a 12 MHz AMD 286. :D Great stuff. This is even better, though - a little door on the front! Gonna hide a fan controller behind it?

+rep for an awesome project.

[Nagoshi]

Hyundai made computers? Damn, those Koreans have made everything, lol

can't believe this thread is still active, I remember a couple of months ago this had started. XD