project: Resistance Is Futile

[XcOM]

Hi all, Most of you may know me as the little man that sits there admiring work and giving out prase leaft right and center.

Also i offer good advice (On a good day)

Anyway, this idea has been in my head for a few years now, and with recent devolpments on the forums, theres a member thats been making a star trek themed mod, this has inspired me to start Project: Resistance Is Futile.

My idea is to have a themed PC (Oviously) based on The Borg. my idea is to use a Mini-ITX system, to keep size down as small as possable, as this is only going to be used for basic web browsing, but its going to sit on the desk.

The other idea i had was to have a monitor inside of someform, this would be the only monitor. the base would hold the CD drive and electrics ie, PSU, Circet boards if any and the like.

Sofar im liking the spehere idea:

the only problem is how am i going to build it, it would be too difficult to mod a case, so it would basicly have to be made from scratch, this then brings me to my new problem, How to form a perfect sphere, i was thinging of fibre glass then using stirine(Plastic sheets stuff) to build it up, and maybe some kit bashing. Maybe even find a bord kit in the UK i can use, Even if its only for refrence.

So, Any idea would help, i am starting a fund for this. I don't really want to spend more than £200 on the hardware, £50 electrics, £100 Materials and £50 paints. I will be using mainly cans of spray paint, then moderlers paints to finish it up.

Thanks for your time in reading this.

XcOM - Your frendly SSA

[dgrmkrp]

well, how big is the sphere? someone (on this forum too , doing a sphere computer) used an exterior lamp and used the round part as a visor.. also, there could be lots of similar plastic stuff at one of those big stores..

I would mold styrene parts after that.. I'm currently modeling something to a transistor level and it is painstakingly boring and repetitive.. but I'll be happy at the end so, mod on!

[XcOM]

its got to house a motherboard @ 17CM Sq

It might have to house the monitor also, but as it will be in everyday use, im thinking against that, and just using a good old swap box.

But the keyboard and mouse will have to have a paint job to match.

So im thinking 17cm mobo, that would mean a safe size of about 22cm Sq


But, price check on mini-itx.com:
Universal 80W Silent Mini-PSU Kit - UK Plug £55.00

VIA EPIA CN 10000EG 1GHz Fanless C7 Motherboard £99.00

Panasonic UJ85J Slotload DVD-RW Drive £69.00

512MB DDR2 533 DIMM £35.00

Standard 48cm IDE Cable £6.00

Seagate Momentus 80GB SATA 2.5in HDD 8MB Cache £55.00

Serial ATA Power Connector £3.50


SHIPPING £8.00
SUBTOTAL £330.50
VAT £57.84
TOTAL £388.34

BLOOOOODY HELL mini-itx stuff is expencive, this is the cheapist i've been quoted, and i would rather get everything from the one location (Hardware wise anyway)

------------------

Thanks for the idea, i will do some ebaying to try and find an old lamp shade, maybe 70's style ball thing, Ahh, what about a disco ball, if i smooth it out with putty?

[dgrmkrp]

Hmm.. this stuff is expensive well, if it is gonna be small, some sacrifices have to be made.. by 17 cm square.. u mean like 17cm x 17 cm? There is a big difference to the next level: 25cm for micro atx would make a big table accessory.. and then there is the psu and cpu cooler.. itx is the best choice as far as space goes..

errm.. you have a disco ball you are willing to sacrifice for the borg?

[Bucko]

What about a globe for the sphere?

[Crazy Buddhist]

How about buying one of these £1 and making a fibreglass or papier mache housing around it as a mold. Then you could cut the sphere in half, discarding the ball and you have your shell

Papier Mache used to be used for furniture - it would be plenty strong

[Crazy Buddhist]

This is a "hangover " - mock up of one idea - i.e. I have a bad one so no complaints about the bad artwork please .

Have the screen fold up out of the front of the sphere - ideally motorised on startup, leaving behind a nice blue window with the Mobo and guts revealed lit up inside. When you shutdown the screen folds back over closing the sphere.

[Crazy Buddhist]

... i will do some ebaying to try and find an old lamp shade, maybe 70's style ball thing ...

Also worth trawling ebay for your itx bits - there are several Via Epia Mobo's ending today on ebay uk at between £30 - £50 current bidding - some with memory included.

[XcOM]

thanks for the recommendation guys, the globe seems a good idea, the beach ball, Too big for my idea, and yes, 17cm x 17cm.

For the globe idea, could i just fibre glass the globe as is, from the inside, or just use the globe as the case, and cover it in strine sheets. I think the latter would be a good idea, but then i would need to strengthen the inside,

Im after a passive ITX thatway it can be near silent when running.

I like the screen idea folding out, but i would like a decent size for using, as its going to be an everyday PC, That and im not into seeing the guts of a pc, i will keep it in mind though, if i could fit a 15" monitor then i would be happy, but then that would make it HUGE.

All ideas taken onboard, and working them over.

XcOM

[modmansage]

personally i would go with one of the borg cubes.
if you don't want to do much kit bashing, you could build one of the cubes from Voyager, more specifically the one where Janeway, Tuvok, and someone else joined the collective for a while.
if i remember correctly, there was a large solid piece of metal on the sides leaving only the corners and edges exposed.