Starting my first PC mod.

[AngryGnome]

Ok... so... I'm not new to computers or to computer hardware... but I have never modded anything in my life and so I have come here.

I've had an Atari 2600 in my closet for quite some time now and I recently decided that I want to turn it into a Linux box. I don't want it to be anything fancy... I don't want it for gaming or anything like that... I just want to see if I can do the mod. The only computer mod I could find using an Atari 2600 case is a Mac mod where they take a MacBook apart and jam it into the Atari. That's not really what I'd like to do. As of right now I have not purchased any parts. I imagine the MOB will need to be a Mini-ITX.

What I would like the system to have:

- At least 512MB of RAM
- Card slots and USB 2.0 slots
- At least a 1Ghz processor (as long as it's not a celeron D... blech)
- Ethernet (built in WiFi would be a plus but not required)

What I don't want the system to have:

- A CD/DVD Drive
- A floppy drive

What I'm on the fence about:

- Hard Drive (whether it should be a solid state drive or not... HD size doesn't really matter much as long as it's at least 5-10GB)
- Power Supply (I know almost nothing about power supplies, especially when it comes to Mini-itx boards.)

I want to do as little cutting as possible to the Atari case. I would also like the system to run as cool as possible.

Basically I just want parts that will last a long time but aren't necessarily the fastest on the market, and I need it all to be as low cost as possible... heh.

Any suggestions on any of this?

[Particle_man]

Um, how is it gonna run with out a cd drive? Isn't that kind of important?

[NightrainSrt4]

Um, how is it gonna run with out a cd drive? Isn't that kind of important?

I guess it is and isnt. My "certain game that hereby go unmentioned" server's box only had a cd drive in it to get xp up and running. I used a spare drive I had lying around and then took it out once i was done. If I need anything I just plug in my external Hdd and im set.

So in effect, really you dont. Its not like if the pc doesnt see a drive it wont boot or something.


Edit:

And celeron D's arent bad processors, especially as you say you want it to be as low cost as possible. I had a brand new socket 775 mobo lying around, thats why I built that game server. All I really needed was a cpu and a case. 35$ couldnt argue with the brand new in box 2.8Ghz Celeron D down at Microcenter. Retail mind you so got the hs and fan as well. Quite a snag and fell right into what i needed. Went back again to get another one incase I had another project and they only had a 1.6Ghz one and that was 67.95 or something. Oh well.

But the celly fit what I was using it for. Cheap decent proc. Then again I am more limited by bandwidth, and it didnt matter that it wasnt dual core or anything because the scripting only recognizes one core anywho. Yaya the system could use the other core doda...not for that price it wont lol.

Just dont write off Celly's, they really arent that bad.

[Bucko]

Just dont write off Celly's, they really arent that bad.

They aren't that good either. I have a 3.07Ghz Celeron D and it's fine if you aren't doing much, but try doing anything processor intensive and do a secod and it lags badly.
Mine is becoming part of a media PC. Core2Duo for the win!