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Thread: Random Bits - February

  1. #1
    Stupidity feeds my children blueonblack's Avatar
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    Default Random Bits - February

    A new story entry has been added:

    [drupal=615]Random Bits - February[/drupal]

    Why can't we just leave well enough alone? more

  2. #2
    Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus Technochicken's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    Here's why I mod:

    1. Aesthetics. You can almost always make something look better, and on the rare occasion you mod something that is absolutely gorgeous to start with, you can almost always use it for a more practical purpose than it was originally intended for. (I'm hinting at an upcoming project with this)

    2. Like you said, the challenge of designing something that is both good looking and practical.

    3. Most importantly: A. I love computers. B. I love building stuff. A + B = computer modding.

  3. #3
    Will YOU be ready when the zombies rise? x88x's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    Quote Originally Posted by Technochicken View Post
    A. I love computers. B. I love building stuff. A + B = computer modding.
    I think that sums it up for a lot of us.

    Other than that, for me it's often simply a desire to fill a need (or at least a want) that is not filled by any commercial products. Or maybe there is a commercial product that meets that need, but it is incredibly expensive. I also derive a great satisfaction from making something myself. So much so that sometimes I'll make something even if I could buy a very similar product for less. But the one that I could have bought wouldn't have been made to my exact specifications. It wouldn't have that little shelf there where I keep my phone. It wouldn't have that little ledge there to hide the cables. So on and so forth.
    That we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.
    --Benjamin Franklin
    TBCS 5TB Club :: coilgun :: bench PSU :: mightyMite :: Zeus :: E15 Magna EV

  4. #4
    If it isn't stock, it's modded! slaveofconvention's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    I'm a finish person myself - I love getting down and dirty with some paint and giving a case a finish that no manufacturer is ever likely to match purely down to cost - let's face it, I easily spent 1 1/2 times as much on the paint as I did on the Antec 900 I revamped (not allowing for labour) - it's just not cost effective for them, but as Shane said, it makes it utterly unique, and THEN it's truly mine....

    Current Projects: Lobo | Unimatrix | High Voltage | Antec 900 Revamp (Phase 2)
    Completed Projects: General Lee | Synergy Green | Liquid Yellow
    Planned Projects: K-9-PC | Limey

  5. #5
    A.B. normal msmrx57's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    One of my big reasons is that I simply can't bring myself to buy something if if can build/make it myself. Quite often I've got more time than money so why not.
    Quote Originally Posted by SXRguyinMA View Post
    Now, off to the basement to do some fiddling with the rods and such.
    so far left of center i'm in right field

  6. #6
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    Awesome article! I've done very few projects because of work/school commitments but mostly because I don't have a workspace. Having a proper work area and at least basic essential tools are completely necessary for me to get involved in a building project. If I have time and a shop, I would have a long list of projects under my belt (however they would likely be incomplete). But, the few times I have engaged in a build of any kind from PC modding, to furniture, graphic arts, etc... The drive for me is obsession I think. When I see a work of art, or a creatively inspired movie, or mod worklog that strikes me I just can't stop looking. I go over every detail again and again, not for any reason that I can think of other than obsession with understanding or seeing what the creator really had in mind when they built it. I'm sure most all of us experience this to one degree or another. When I build something I go a little over board on the effort side and can go nights with little or no sleep because I just don't want to put it down. I'm not even very skilled in any particular form of art, which is why at the end I usually don't have a finished result that is anything more than so so. But the process of learning to get that far is so exciting I can't get enough of it. I also rarely finish a project because by the time I get half way through a project, I learned so much more than I knew at the beginning that the whole design needs to be changed because it is no longer good enough to support the end stages of design. For that reason more than anything else I don't have any finished mods. I get to the mid point and realize that I want to start over, and then go off on another project. So the bottom line to answer the question; for me the reward is in the process. I love to create, tinker, play with toys (I still refuse to grow up), love computers, love miniatures and models, am fascinated with modern technology and sleek design as well as detailed modeling, and I love the experience of stepping outside the boundaries of the expectations laid out in front of me (ask any of my bosses, if they have been released from asylum by now that is). It all fits for modding and PC's. There is also a huge satisfaction I get from a finished project too though which is unfortunate for me that I don't finish many of the things I start. I absolutely love to get feedback from people especially if they love it, but who doesn't right? But even if no one sees it, the process is fun enough to drive me. I hope I can find a way to work and devote as much or even more time playing in a shop building...well whatever I feel like at the time I suppose. Great topic BoB!!!
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

  7. #7
    Will YOU be ready when the zombies rise? x88x's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    Quote Originally Posted by jdbnsn View Post
    There is also a huge satisfaction I get from a finished project too though which is unfortunate for me that I don't finish many of the things I start.
    Heh, I understand that far too well. For me I'll get obsessed with an idea, start a project to make it, get enough done that I've figured out the questions that sparked me to start it in the first place....and then get sidetracked onto another project...
    That we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.
    --Benjamin Franklin
    TBCS 5TB Club :: coilgun :: bench PSU :: mightyMite :: Zeus :: E15 Magna EV

  8. #8
    Retrosmith Mach's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    Nice article BoB! I mod to learn new things, like yourself, for the challenge, and to ultimately get the ideas out of my head. I'm intrigued by how things work and what I don't know or understand.

    I love the weird feeling I get when I see something I've made, forgetting what it took to build it for a split second, and going that's really cool. Just a little buzz. Kinda like when I see an attractive woman across the room and then realizing its my girlfriend. (yeah, I'll probably get in trouble for that in some way )

  9. #9
    Unlocked/Overclocked/Never Stock
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    "What makes me a modder? If I weren't a modder, I wouldn't be sittin' here, discuss it with ya, now would I?" - My shameless application of the (Team Fortress 2) Demoman's logic

    In all seriousness, though, I find modding to be a combination of my love for computers and my own self-expression. I've always been mediocre at best with most traditional forms of media: pen & paper, paint, clay, etc. However, when working with steel, aluminum, acrylic and circuit boards, I have a sense of investment, of ownership, if you will, in a mod, no matter how simple or complex. I've found a medium that I'm passionate about and that makes me feel like...well, an artist. For lack of a better way to put it, I see modding as art.

    Reading that back now, I realize how pretentious that sounds, but I honestly have no other way to describe it without it sounding even more pretentious (like how Maslow would say it fulfills my aesthetic needs to see and create beauty). And yet, it is even more than just art; I see every mod I do as an opportunity to learn, to improve, to become better. By improving my modding, I improve myself. (Maslow would say I'm self-actualizing; I say he's full of it.)

    To stop myself from rambling, I'll cut to the chase with this: I'm a modder on the most obvious level because I like it and it makes me happy. Whatever reasons beyond that are so seemingly ephemeral that I leave them as an exercise to the philosophers, the psychoanalysts, and all the rest of those with entirely too much time on their hands. Because, right now, I'm trying to figure out how to turn a tabletop grill into a high-powered LAN box, and that's taking up all my spare time.
    http://folding.extremeoverclocking.c...e.php?u=555808

    Quote Originally Posted by RogueOpportunist View Post
    In my experience the vast majority of "tech problems" are ID-10-T errors, usually caused by a nut loose on the keyboard.

  10. #10
    Overclocked Beta-brain's Avatar
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    Default Re: Random Bits - February

    For me it's the fact that something whole and complete when assembled from parts is far more than just the sum of it's parts, cars, motorcycles, PC's etc, can be just a pile of parts even junk but when assembled in the correct order they can become a functioning useful (maybe) machine.

    I trained as a motor vehicle technician (although motorcycles are my passion along with PC's) and repairing machines is all about getting all the parts to fit together and interact correctly, it can take just one part in the whole machine to fail and everything stops, to then diagnose and repair the problem is when an understanding of how all the parts work together and make up the whole machine.

    When it comes to modding or building from scratch you are producing the parts to make a complete machine yourself and that is when it becomes really interesting, many people with the right training can repair machines that other people have designed and built but far fewer can actually build their own machines, anyone with the money can buy the latest car, bike or PC, but where is the challenge and fun in that?

    I never design a build and have all the details or plans written down from start to finish as building something is an evolving process and you have to be flexible and accept that some ideas you have won't work and that's where the ingenuity comes into play, being able to think on your feet and find a solution to a problem and not just throw it all in the bin and give up, anyone can do that.

    My theory is that if you don't understand or have an interest in how something works you will probably be happy with a standard model, but when you have that understanding you want to see if you can make it work in a different way that no one has done before or by changing the way it looks so it's unique.

    I've built bikes and some people have said "I don't get it, you fit longer forks and stretch the frame, but why, my bike is faster and will go around corners better than yours" all they can see is function over form regardless of what it looks like and the fact that anyone can buy their bike.

    I have a need to make things and fit things together, I enjoy the process and even though I have done it many times I still get a buzz when I fire up a new build for the first time and it spins into life regardless of whether it's a bike or a PC and it doesn't really matter to me if the finished item doesn't work any better, faster, more efficiently than something standard, I built it and that means more to me than anything else.

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