Domain: bit-tech.net
Stories and comments across the archive that link to bit-tech.net.
Comments · 304
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Re:Personally...
Like this?
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Got Wood?
Personally, I like the below case better. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=82060
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NVidia Heat Sink
I wonder if the breasts make it run that much cooler?
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=84357 -
What the hell!!!
if you are going to do something then at least make it stand out. http://bit-tech.net/article/149/ is an example of creative thinking and hardwork. I believe that this weak story was posted due to some kind of polictial pressure. Has someone beeing putting the pressure on the editors or was the news day that fscking slow...
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Re:...for shame....
>>That sounds like a really cool idea. Do you know where I might be able to find one and how much they would cost? I did some googling but didn't find anywhere that sells them.
How is this redundant? The other poster was making a joke.
If you are serious, I hacked up a 5" PSOne LCD (silly typo, that is what I get for posting without coffee), which was more or less readable if I ran a console in VGA resolution. Paid about $30 for it at the time, and took me the better part of the weekend to figure out how to properly solder the connection. Take a look at http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=62951& page=1&pp=20. All the pin outs, settings, and trouble shooting are in the thread. -
Nothing New Really
Modders have been doing this kind of thing for years. In fact, several PC's have been made inside of suitcases exactly like that one. I suppose putting a server in it is a new idea, but I still don't think it's slashdot worthy...
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BT Mouse + Gaffer's tape
Personally, I've always preferred the tactile feel of a mouse, particularly a small one. Macally has a nice optical Bluetooth mouse called the BTMouseJr. As an optical mouse, it will function on almost any non-reflective surface. As a Bluetooth device, no cable is required. (They have the OptiMicro if you don't have Bluetooth or don't want to deal with batteries.)
To avoid the possible problem of needing to use your laptop without an available mousing surface, just slap some gaffer's tape to the right of your trackpad, or cover it entirely. I've found that you need surprisingly little space to mouse accuratly. In addition, most current operating systems will allow you to disable the trackpad when a mouse is connected, and some can disable it entirely on command. Gaffer's tape is similar to duct tape, but is matte rather than reflective. (It's usually black.) You can also find more elegant solutions vis-a-vis adhesive mouse pads, though you will need to trim them to fit. (Hint: mark out your lines beforehand, or you'll likely end up with crooked edges. Ask me how I know.)
;-) Alternatively, there are a number of super-thin mouse pads to be had for very little that can simply be glued into place, or kept loose to be stow-able to protect your laptop's finish.If you prefer a trackball to a mouse, you may already have your best solution, unless you want to use one of those annoying little button that comes on the Thinkpads. (No offense to Thinkpad users intended; I've just never liked the feel or apparent lack of close accuracy that I associate with it.) If not, a small, portable mouse may be your best bet.
Good luck!
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Re:REAL Nerds...
Guess it depends upon how serious you want to take the art. The guys who develop unique moddifications have some serious skills. Same as the guys who develop serious case mods. Case in point the HyperCube
and its Building log
Thats serious artwork. -
Re:REAL Nerds...
Guess it depends upon how serious you want to take the art. The guys who develop unique moddifications have some serious skills. Same as the guys who develop serious case mods. Case in point the HyperCube
and its Building log
Thats serious artwork. -
final pics
The article drags on, so here's the final pics: http://www.bit-tech.net/article/152/17
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The Cube
I knew it had nothing to do with aliens ; it shows clearly a power outlet, something "they" are probably very much more advanced in... (tinfoil hat -is- on so I ain't being brainprogrammed he*$#)
I have The Cube and Hypercube(2) on DVD and am glad I bought them... Although the first, older one looks more "realistically" in effects it's still a fascinating sci-fi/mystery/thriller with certain horror effects ; the second one is more sf and advanced .. where the ending is a big difference with the first one (no spoilers).
I like the design of the case even more, but certainly because I have seen the movies a few times and it has a certain designaspect/boxed scenario; I wonder why no more case manufacturers go behind these designs and give the PC a breeze-for-the-eye too...
The Alienware cases are nice, but the costprice is too high; there should be interests to beautify the cases in such a drastic matter ? (not a box like usually)... -
Best part...
His girlfriend's pretty hot!
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another alternative : the 1.4 Ghz Xbox
If you have a wee bit more money, there is the upgraded Xbox...
Celeron 1.4 ghz instead of the 700 Mhz, 128 Mo Ram instead of 64...
Available as a reboxed set @ 399 US $.
For the more adventurous, you can have just the modded xbox mobo for 260 US $...
So you still have a microsoft box (which you don't want), but now with extra juice to run all apps...
No ultra-compressed video stream should pose problem anymore, and you have better perf on all Original Xbox Games (tm)...
+ Having access to just the mobo should give you the opportunity to mod your own media center, if you're into that...
As parent said, no video capture.
But you have everything else now possible 8) -
Actually...
actually the HL2-mod that Piloux built for Valve is IMHO quite a bit more impressive.
Complete thread att bit-tech
Summary, part one
Summary, part two -
Actually...
actually the HL2-mod that Piloux built for Valve is IMHO quite a bit more impressive.
Complete thread att bit-tech
Summary, part one
Summary, part two -
Actually...
actually the HL2-mod that Piloux built for Valve is IMHO quite a bit more impressive.
Complete thread att bit-tech
Summary, part one
Summary, part two -
Here's the newest mod!!!
Hey, down here, mod this one up. If you want a REAL HL2 mod, this is the Blackmesa 2 mod by the same guy. I believe this was a requisitioned mod from Valve, so this guy went all out to model it after real in-game models. I should note that parts 1, 2, and 3 for this mod are posted, and it's already been about a week since it was last on Bluesnews, so once again
/. is behind the curve anyway. -
Re:Heh
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More info
Here are the same pics with a bit more commentary.
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Dupe doo doo dupe dupety doo
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/08
/ 1438215 (almost a month ago)
This case was commissioned by Gabe Newell and will be inside Valve. Originally reported by Bit Tech. -
Re:Portable Display
It's a PSONE lcd.
I've seen people wire them for use with video cards or just use the video-in.
Example
http://www.bit-tech.net/article/136/ -
better pics
unfortunately the blurb links to a homepage, which links to another page, which links to a forum posting, which finally links to a pictorial. go here for the final design, and begin the pictorial here.
that's some serious effort and artistic skill involved in this. the only problem with extreme case modding is that your project is obsolete by the time you finish it. (that and i wouldn't ever want to use the keyboard/mouse, those must feel awful) -
better pics
unfortunately the blurb links to a homepage, which links to another page, which links to a forum posting, which finally links to a pictorial. go here for the final design, and begin the pictorial here.
that's some serious effort and artistic skill involved in this. the only problem with extreme case modding is that your project is obsolete by the time you finish it. (that and i wouldn't ever want to use the keyboard/mouse, those must feel awful) -
Re:Are we done watercooling yet?
I've been really amused talking to people about *my* water cooled computer. Generally the first question is something along the lines of, "Where did you buy it?"
They look at me like some sort of space alien (mind you it's computer folks I'm talking to) for buying all of the parts and getting it to work.
For the curious, the project log with pictures can be found at http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=64982
I'm not over clocking my system, I'm just making a piece of modern art. It glows blue so nicely. AT
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PSOne LCD
http://www.bit-tech.net/article/136/ cheap enough and easy enough
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More Links
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?article id=592&cid=1
http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/athlon64-fx55 /index.x?pg=1
http://www.bit-tech.net/review/364/
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=266
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1 666
http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=331
http://www.amdreview.com/reviews.php?rev=fx-55-400 0
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/processors/amd 4000_fx55/
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njc1
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlo n64-fx55.html
http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=614 -
Re:potentially dumb question
No, but someone figured out how to hook up a PSOne LCD to a PC:
http://bit-tech.net/article/136/ -
I sawed it!
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Re:It seems like..
Well actually I just have a rich audiophile acquaintance who has some sort of tube amplifier... I don't know how much it cost. He buys expensive audio equipment for the sole purpose of showing it off, which is the impression I get from a lot of audiophiles... I don't really worry about the price tags anymore, i'm just like "Oh you bought something new great." He uses his equipment primarily for playing opera very loudly.
As for the apparent ignorance of my comment, It is probably because I don't actually know that much about audio equipment. My philosophy is that if the equipment you play music on is better than the equipment it was recorded on, you are wasting some serious cash. The music I listen to is very low key... (Classical, synth, antifolk, classic rock) so I don't really see the need in my life for truly expensive equipment. As for my personal application of audio equipment, I use these headphones for some synthesis, gaming, and listening to music and movies. They sound good, they look decent, and they sure as hell don't cost $20,000. -
Absolutely
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More review links
Here are some more review links for those who are interested:
Tom's Hardware
Bit-Tech
Driver Heaven
AMD Zone
Hard Tecs 4U
PC Perspective
Ace's Hardware
Sudhian -
RTFT
There is a link in top of the page for the original thread. Maker explains very clearly there how he did it and what he used to make it. Even asks help for sometimes.
Sure its bit long (was over 90 pages 2 weeks ago), but it's worth of reading. -
Logitech MX 700 wireless mouse
All that we use to control our HTPC is a Logitech MX 700 wireless mouse. With the HTPC app that we use, SageTV, everything is accessible from a mouse-driven interface. We don't use that computer for email or games requiring a keyboard. My only complaint about the mouse is that its range is only about 10 feet.
The only thing that we can't do with the mouse is turn on the TV and the stereo. I am planning on programming one of the extra buttons on the mouse to do this. I'm planning on using it to launch a macro via the software program Girder that will send all of the appropriate IR commands out of the USB-UIRT IR blaster/receiver to turn on all the devices and switch their inputs accordingly. That should solve the only problem we have, which is explaining to babysitters how to use the TV.
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Re:Pretty boring
The X-Box is close enough to a PC internally anyway, so I submit that the ORAC project is one such vastly superior clear mod.
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P.O.S.: that's _all_ it is!
"Can I do better than simply dumping my computer's insides into a fish tank?"
With the bzzzt-ing and the fizzing and the fish backstroke swimming!
I can't believe some fool actually bought that tupperware-on-steriods crapfest on ebay. A-nyway here is a much better example of encasing components in plastic.
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Why people do case mods
It seems to me that there are two kind of people who go in for case modding. On the one hand, you have your causual modders. They like pre-fab windows. Might add a cold cathode light and some round cables. These represent perhaps the majority.
However, then you have the real "hard core" modders. The kind of people who build their computers in to old radios. The kind of people who want to do some special cooling project, or who want to have a unique case. My personal favorites are the concept cases, and mods that have some practical purpose (like better temperature monitoring for servers etc). They want to be creative. It's not just about pimpage.
This memory seems to be for members for the first catagory. -
This ammo box rocks my socks
It may not run Linux, but this mod is much cooler IMHO.
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Re:Homer sez: Booorrring!
Actually, you can find more pictures and an entire project log of how it was created at bit-tech.
Zap's done a lot of really good mods, as have all the other modders at bit-tech. -
Some good sitesVirtual Hideout has some good case reviews. One of my favorites is Bit-Tech. Bit-Tech tends to cover the higher end cases, but touches on some cheaper ones too. Based on their review of the Coolermaster ATC-101, among other sites reviews, I decided to buy one, and haven't been dissapointed at all.
I know cases are dirt cheap nowadays, and Coolermasters are a bit expensive, but you get what you pay for: great looks, great performance, and great construction. No matter what, I reccomend going with an aluminum case. The difference in weight is well worth it if you ever move it around. Another thing you get with better cases is a slide-out motherboard tray, which makes installations and upgrades a breeze.
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I agree.It makes for a nice hobby, and a nice conversation piece, but I personally don't see why this particular computer (PC or Mac, I'm not biased) would get its own Wired gallery, considering that there are many other machines out there with web-presences that are much niftier.
I'm no casemodder, but from an outsider's point of view, I just think I've seen neater things that haven't gotten as much attention from the likes of Wired. Sifting through old bookmarks, here are a few that I personally found to make me all geek-sweaty-tingly-sexy:
Project Frozen, which appeared on
/. a few years ago.The Invisible Case, a very classy custom acrylic case, constructed before clear cases were readily available.
Anemone... this one seems to be a
/. favorite. -
And it is brown!
HEXUS reckons a 200MHz front side bus can't hurt. here. There's a picture of a brown semiconductor, also known as the "brains of a computer".
TOM'S HARDWARE has a controversial conclusion about the 3200+ and describes it as a "spineless paper tiger". It thinks the 3200+ is "much too aggressive" and it should be an XP2800+.
SUDHIAN Some crazy looking geek at Sudhian (hi Joel), reckons that AMD is being a little coy with clock speeds while its PR speeds have rocketed skywards.
FIRING SQUAD says AMD's odyssey for the performance crown has been a little more treacherous than Her Indoors, but welcomes the introduction of the 3200+ and the 400MHz bus.
TECH REPORT says there's not much new to report about the 2.2GHz chip apart from the fact that it runs on a 400MHz front side bus. But it reckons that the release is timely. There's a picture of a brown semiconductor which appears to resemble the brains of a computer.
LOST CIRCUITS contrasts the real brown brains of a computer with the hypothetical 3200+ brains of a computer it previewed a month or two ago.
BIT-TECH reckons that AMD's finally released the processor that the 3000+ should have been, denies the site's too pro-Intel, and puts it through its paces. There's a picture of a brown chip which appears to be the brains of a computer.
I stop whoring now, more to be found at amdzone -
More information from AMD insider
There is someone who apparently works at AMD over at the Bit-Tech forums who has been giving out unofficial information that seems to have quite a bit of merit to it. So make sure to check out what he is saying as he knows quite a bit about what he is talking about: Bit-Tech Forums (Remember, what he says isn't official, though)
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Lots of pics of this "concept"
This has been around for years. However some people have ome great ideas. Here are a few links:
A motorized 5" screen
Here is one that is used just for monitoring resources like proc and temp: -HERE-
Some of these are pretty cool. I am actualy considering trying a 5" screen to run a visual of MP3 player. -
Excellent review at...
Theres an excellent review at Bit-Tech.net. Its interesting how the P4 wins easily on the benchmarks, but in games things are much closer. The Athlon even wins several games tests.
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Depends on the system power....
if you have a dedicated powerhouse (~1.5 GHz+) then you might be able to do Realtime encoding under linux. But many ppl (including myself) have experienced A/V sync problems with FFMPEG...
If you have anything less than a dedicated 2GHz machine, you should seriously look into a hardware encoder.
Canopus makes some cheap mpeg encoder cards, but it looks like the Linux support is sparse...the WinTV PVR-250 is fairly cheap ($150) and supports both MPEG1 & MPEG2 encoding.
So...why bother with something that *MIGHT* work and go with something that is certain to work...
In all fairness, some of the AV sync problems with ffmpeg are most likely due to a difference between the buffer sizes of the video and audio... -
More InfoFor those of you seriously considering getting one, another review can be found:
http://www.bit-tech.net/review/77/
...and can be purchased here:http://www.matrixorbital.com/products/vk204-25.ht
m The Slashdot-linked review didn't seem to have the price, either, and that is listed as between $123.12 and $148.12, depending on what features you wanted.
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Price?Here's another review on the Matrix Orbital VK204-25.
I didn't see the price in the review, but after a little poking around, Matrix Orbital's website lists this VFD at $123.12.
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Re:Cool but....I think I'll wait for a more mature release before I go replacing my Award BIOS. As much as I love open source stuff, I don't want to deal with my BIOS being screwed up at the moment.
You could use a BIOS switcher tool like the Bios Savior. It sells for ~$20-30. With it, you can keep your known-working BIOS backed up, fool around with LinuxBIOS or other BIOS changes, and then if you can't boot or get locked out...switch back.
Cost: From ~$20 to ~$30 USD -- depending on the seller.
Disclaimer: I haven't used this...just passing it along. All BIOS upgrades I've done were for minor BIOS revisions or (if beta) after a few others had upgraded. Because of that, a BIOS backup tool like BIOS Savior is really overkill. For LinuxBIOS or other drastic changes, it sounds like an ideal tool.
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[S]lashdot_ORGI'm not into case modifications, but I can appreciate some of the more inventive work people have done in this area. I'm not certain that this belongs on Slashdot, per se, but it doesn't really do any harm to post something that might lead to discussion, and might lead me to finding out something neat, whether in the story or in the postings.
Just so long as I don't start seeing [S]lashdot, I'll be happy.
No offense meant to Kyle and [H]ard_OCP. =D
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Re:Wot about LED's?
That's the wrong way to look at comparing LEDs and typical bulbs. LEDs last *much* longer which means your lumens per dollar is not valid.
A better measure would be dollar per bulb * bulbs per year = dollars per year.
As well all know, LEDs last many, many times longer.
If you want to compare LEDs and light bulbs, the lux (lumens per watt) would be the better comparison.
A 100 watt GE soft white light bulb puts out 1690 lumens. An ultra high intensity LED puts out 44 lumens at 1.0325 watts. Granted you need ~97 of these guys to match 100 watts, but you get 4400 lumens...2.6 times that of a standard 100 watt bulb. The only problem right now is that you need 97 of them instead of 1. LEDs are superior, but not in all categories--yet. :)