So who's still around from the old days (pre 2010) ?

Hey TBCS,

Long time no talk!

Just thought I'd stop in and see what's up. The site is certainly different than I remember!

I see some of the old dogs are still around AIRBOZO! :)


I was searching up an old thread of mine, and realized that when I disappeared from here awhile back, things were looking pretty rough for me, so I figured I should drop a positive update on y'all.

Solid job, wife and kids are healthy, moved to a new city, got some new toys, life is good.

I left the rock band a couple years ago, and they are doing well for themselves; they just came back from the Rockstar Uproar Tour! Band is called Tattered, those are my boys.. I'm proud of them. :) It was just time for me to grow up and focus on family/work. Getting old now!

So who all is still around from back then? I think I started showing up around here in.. 2007? Maybe earlier? Man it's been a long time!

Apparently I joined in 2006. :)

Hey Luke! It has been a long time. Glad things are looking up and you are enjoying life.

Yes I am still here. I have been doing some computer mods, but mostly for work and mostly things I cannot share (yet).

I've been promoted to CTO and have been meeting with customers and traveling a bit. Kind of funny to have to wear a suit and tie now, but I still come in in jeans when I am just working in the labs and doing testing and design. I am actually working on a couple of case mods and new ground up builds for some customers that are about to go live with products. Some pretty cool stuff too (geek wise). Interesting to get Industrial Design guys involved. They come up with stuff the normal human can't imagine. I've actually referred some clients to TBCS to get ideas of what is possible.

Where are you living these days? What are you doing for a job?

Working for an IT consulting company; money is decent, culture/benefits are great, close to home, and I'm home every night. Cant beat that when you have young kids. :)

Living in Red Deer, right between Edmonton and Calgary.

Congrats on the CTO position! I knew you'd get it sooner or later. :D

I'm still around. Haven't posted much in five years it seems. Got my degree in Architecture and am working in Philadelphia now. Life's pretty good. I have one kid (he's two years old now, crazy) and another due to come next month. Things are pretty alright. Still no shop or extra money, so I probably won't do another mod for a little while longer still.

And when did I join . . . 2005. Nice. I think that's when another forum I belonged to died. R.I.P. so I had to find a new place to hang out, and TBCS was the place.

Time flies!

Architecture.. very cool! :) Having kids is a pretty wild experience.. it certainly shifts your priorities around!

Been here since 2007. This forum is less active than it used to be.

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Originally Posted by Xpirate

Been here since 2007. This forum is less active than it used to be.

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Any suggestions on how to generate more traffic are welcome. We have been tossing around a few ideas, but we feel the extended shutdown due to some hosting issues killed traffic.

Maybe time for another contest? (see my thread on custom chassis for a clue).

I think the biggest way to drive traffic is a high profile, TBCS exclusive mod. Then we go promote it on the other sites we visit.

Agreed... who's gonna build it? I don't have the time or the skill to generate that kind of traffic, but I could donate towards something awesome. :)

I have an awesome build I've slowly been designing and collecting components for. I'm not sure where I would build it, but there are a few makerspaces here in Philly and I could sign up at one. I'm not sure how much it would cost to build, but there would be aluminum anodizing and copper chroming involved. I think that if I got the case up to a certain level that I could get sponsors for hardware. My time is somewhat limited, but maybe my wife would let me take an hour a night, and several on weekends.

We should start a private thread for us "Senior Members" and start discussing this! :)

Also, how do I still have more posts than Airbozo? I'm still 7th overall for post count here!!!

I joined in 2010!

But I have no friends here and somewhat esoteric technical requirements and never really got that mad gleam of crazed modding some of you folks cultivate so dearly.

Apparently, it's only been since 2008 for me. The year of lurking prior to registering doesn't count but it was enough to get me into modding. I'd love to help out with conceptualizing a major build if it happens.

i thought i joined in 2009, but looks like 2007! success!

This guy!

I'm still here, keeping the lights on, and lurking in the shadows. I've got alot going on, but I try to make sure and check the boards at least once a day. I don't always have time to reply to threads, but I still try and keep up with all the builds.

I still check in every so often, but usually forget to log in. It's been a busy few years. Working on that game got me several job offers, and I've been with a company for a few years now. Was married, purchased a house, built a rock climbing bouldering wall in the garage, and I'm sure there's more.

I've been thinking of starting a new mod, but we'll see. Owning a home is a lot of work and modding as it is.

I haven't been here that long yet but was sad to see what happened to the side after its long time down. Hope we can one day see the traffic it used to have. I guess I need to stop being lazy and do my part to boost traffic by completing and posting my projects

I'm baaaaaack. :D Need to post pictures of the most recent Lian Li build.

Hey Luke! Glad to hear things are going well.

I signed up in 2008 and still doing the same things I was then: working too much at a job I despise and watching my kids grow up. Did a big mod for Quakecon this year, took 1st place in the Bethesda theme category.

I lost my dad right after that and it really kind of changed my point of view. I was doing some writing and review work for another site but dropped that and I'm in the process of selling off my excess pieces and parts. Refocusing on the family as you did, because we never know when the day will come.

I'll get back into it in a few years when they are grown and on their own but for now I'm just... consolidating.

But I'll still be here.

i joined in 2009 i guess

Since 2005 for me. I'd be willing to paint said TBCS super mod.

I'm still here as well, though like a number of others I disappeared for a good while.

I have returned though, and am even working on a case mod with my girlfriend!

It's sure great to see so many familiar names are still around!

This site certainly has changed since my last visit, so it's good to have a bit of familiarity to it.

Ok, so... TBCS vintage members super mod.. lets get something together, and start a new thread for it. :)

Since I've developed quite a few contacts in the industry I may be able to get some goodies from Intel and a few other companies.

Intel has actually provided me with some pretty cool stuff for my own builds (couple of 240gb 720 series SSD'd, Msata card, K series processor, Motherboard from Asus (Z87WS) and a few other things). I also have a fully loaded NUC to play with.

They have also recently supplied a dual socket workstation motherboard and 2x E5-2697-V2's and enterprise grade SSD'd for a watercooled workstation I am planning. I actually have to modify my Thermaltake Sword M chassis to accommodate the motherboard.

The custom chassis is also on the table as well as a _possible_ chassis from ProtoCase (TBCS design) (My rep is still getting approval from Marketing if we give them some advertising space).

Ive been around since 2008, but kinda back to lurking lately

I've found my way Back here. Been a wild ride the last several years... Too many moves, division of assets, long hours at work, and a couple of 80+ year old hot rods have gotten in my way. But I've got some Ideas for a new mod that might be kind of cool and will most definitely test my abilities and pull in some "new" skills that I've picked up during my time away.

CBB



(I can help with some small part copper or nickel Plating, 3d printing, or cnc routing all things done "in house")

I love that this thread is moving fairly slowly, but that we have so many "old-timers" posting when most of us usually just lurk.

Whatever this mod might be, it's bigger than what my concept was. We should go to the drawing boards (including me) and post some concepts so we can decide what we want to do if we're going to do this thing.

I still pop around every now and again, although not as often as I used to do before the site crash :(

Hey, I'm still here occasionally. I'm in my last year of undergrad now, so I'll graduating with a BS in Global Supply Chain Management within the next year. Hoping that I can get myself a good enough job when that time comes.

edit: wow, I've been here since 2008

I pop in about once a week. Been around, here and there keeping an eye out and trying to keep some ideas going. Been around since 07 so I might count as an 'old dog' Had to do a move back cross country so I left Nebraska and settled in North Central MA. Hoping with the room I have now I can get some projects going in the future. Nice to see some people popping back in.

Oh my god this was just a major throwback seeing all of you guys on here. I usually pop in every 6 months or so to see whats going on.

Haha, to give you an idea of how longs it's been, I don't even think the Modder's Wiki in my sig exists anymore. --edit: Aww, it sounds like that's a recent development. So sad but makes sense. I think I had written a lot of that. I actually used it to get a job at Sears back in high school and put it on my college resume back in 2007.

I was just checking the site out today to see the state of it, and ran across this thread. Figured I would drop in my 2p.

There was a time when I would have torn myself a new one for posting in a thread that had been inactive for 1.5 months, but hey, times change many things I suppose.

Been around since 2008, give or take, but haven't really been active since 2011...and apparently it's been almost two years since I last posted...wow. I noticed that I still have the #4 top post count (was #2 once upon a time :whistler: )...that actually makes me a little sad.

Good to see so many of the old names on this thread, though.

I have a couple projects that I'm planning that I think I'll be documenting on here. Not "mods" per-se, but interesting applications of computer hardware. So you may see more of me around in the near future. Nowhere near what I used to be (actually have a job that requires my full attention now; who'dathunkit), but more than the last few years.

I think it's kinda strange how the whole concept of modding has fallen by the wayside as mobile has taken over. Very few people are willing to tear-down a phone and rebuild it. I tried vinyl wraps, paint, and plastidip but couldn't get anything to stay on my phone. I think it all started with laptops replacing desktops. It's just weird but not unexpected really.

I'm planning on going back to a desktop because I can't add any more monitors to laptops :-P. When I do I think I'm going to give it a full over custom build like the old days and document the whole build in video.

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Originally Posted by Aero

I think it's kinda strange how the whole concept of modding has fallen by the wayside as mobile has taken over.
I'm planning on going back to a desktop because I can't add any more monitors to laptops :-P. When I do I think I'm going to give it a full over custom build like the old days and document the whole build in video.

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I'd love to do a video log of a build, but I'd have to convince my wife to let me get the equipment to do it. I also think a major reason why modding has become less common is that there are actually good cases available on the market. It used to be that you got your Dell, HP, Gateway case and so did everyone else. They were generally crap and definitely not unique, so you modded so you could add a few extra fans, do some cable management, and add a window to show off your hardware. Today there are 1000+ cases at newegg.com, and they aren't even exhaustive in what's available. It's easy to get something good that fits exactly what you are looking for, and you'll still be one of only a handful of people with that case.

I've always liked this video. I would like to do something similar if I did a video log. He has a behind the scenes too where he shows off his film setup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TggHtINGIyc

Wow, nicely done video.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aero

I'm planning on going back to a desktop because I can't add any more monitors to laptops :-P. When I do I think I'm going to give it a full over custom build like the old days and document the whole build in video.

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Not to give you a reason to stay away from desktops, but I've had wonderful results with assorted of the current crop of USB 3.0 DisplayLink products. I've used both of these[1][2] dual-head adapters, and had great results with both. No lag or anything. Drivers have some occasional quirks, but overall, unless you're needing to do anything more graphics intensive than desktop work and displaying video, these things should work great.

That being said, I do still have a desktop myself. ;) Custom miniITX build in an NCASE M1.

[1] http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G5OAT88
[2] http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZB328U

Funny progression for me and case mods. I have done several, but only _partially_ documented 2 of them. Over the last five or so years I have trained half a dozen folks on how to neatly wire computer systems and racks. I have also designed 2 full cases and 2 custom face plates. Most of that was on paper and handed to my metal fab guy. I am now working with an industrial design group to help them with a new rack design for a large company. They mainly need my help for how to handle the cabling since some of it will be visible and to make sure their design is "serviceable" (I did something similar when I was working at SGI).

One project I keep putting off is a mod of the Intel NUC. I need to create a custom case unique to my company. I have also been tasked with helping to design an custom face plate and bezel for a line of storage boxes we are working on.

It is also interesting to see the full circle of water cooling in the data center. Looooong ago, there was the chilled water cooling for the IBM servers and then everything went to air. Now I have seen water cooling back into the data center with small closed loop systems that work in a 1U server, all the way up to racks with a radiator on the back door and all the servers have drip-less connections on the back to plug into the rack system. My how times change.

It is also pretty cheap to go from a concept drawing to a full custom built chassis in less than 2 weeks and under $500. Even cheaper and faster if you have a real CAD drawing. One of the companies we use for metal bending can take a drawing and feed it into their production machines and it will tell you exactly how many different pieces need to be made based on the metal brakes, water/plasma cutters and punches the shop has on hand and how long it will take to fab. For one project (duplicate an off the shelf chassis with a custom face plate and mounting brackets) the guy took a couple of photo's with his phone, fed it into the system, added some detailed measurements and it created a drawing and a production packet. Took him less than 2 hours.

I will say that I have seen a lot more orders for desktop systems lately. We only really do desktops for existing customers or to go with a server order for new customers, but the demand has risen again. Some of them want "unique" desktop systems with their own logo and custom face plate. But then again, the Silicon Valley is booming right now and there is room in the budget for extra items.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aero

I think it's kinda strange how the whole concept of modding has fallen by the wayside as mobile has taken over. Very few people are willing to tear-down a phone and rebuild it.

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I took my Samsung Galaxy S3 apart to fix the GPS. Some guy posted how to fix the intermittent GPS connection by helping the contact on the board touch the antenna with a little piece of cardboard. My wife looked at me and said, "What are you doing?" She believed that I was going to destroy the phone. I have a fully functional GPS in the phone now. It can get a signal indoors.

You are correct. Modding is fading away because the desktop is. If the new USB type C connector can act as a universal docking port, you will easily be able to use your mobile device as a desktop. When it comes time to upgrade, I may just get something portable that I can dock at my desk.

I have come to realize that I really do not need a heavy duty high powered desktop machine for the things I do at home. I use virtual machines, but I do not need to run more than one at a time. I like using my big monitor, keyboard, and mouse. All three of those items can be plugged into something portable. If you ever have to take a trip, you can take the portable device with you that already has all your software set up.