Slashdot Mirror
The Incredible Invisible Case
Brett Profitt writes "No, it's not entirely like the clear pc case, and it's much, much cooler than a simple windowed case, but it would still look great with a hard drive window. This, my friends, is The Invisible Case ! " Truly a labor of love. This may be the
nicest case I've ever seen. To bad you can't buy them like this! Check out
the details (Transparent rubber feet, fans, and hard drive window). It absorbs
envy beams from miles around.
and promptly converts them to EMF emissions. :)
Wrap that rascal! Where's the shielding?
There's always some crazy geek or other inventing an new computer case.
... wait
What will they come next with, an Ethernet switch on a teddy bear???
Oh
How is this not like the "clear PC" case?
If you want a really invisible case, just lay your mobo and parts out on a table. Then, your PC will be +5 cool.
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
The Emperor's New Clothes...Just tell everyone that you have a new machine that you modded with a clear case, clear components, and clear peripherals, and only smart people can see them :)
How Jaded Are You?
for those trying to get to it (its a bit /.ed atm), the article is split up in 16 pages. The good pictures are on page 14 and 16. So try to get through to those, rather than taking a guess:
http://www.bit-tech.net/article/72/14
http://www.bit-tech.net/article/72/16
So what? I just leave the case off my PC most of the time, and it has the same general effect.
I wonder if it's possible to make translucent-clear printed circuit boards? I guess green is okay, and the occasional red-lacquer board you come acros is neat-looking, but I'd like to be able to look through a motherboard like looking through a frosted window...
what would be awesome with this, is pouring some liquid CO2 smoke into the case and seeing exactly how the airflow inside the case is behaving! you could work out how to best position fans etc.
Liberty.
I do not think I would like the constant reminder of all the dust bunnies. I think blowing the machine out every couple of months is good.
Either give it away or get top dollar, but never sell yourself cheap.
There's a mirror at http://127.0.0.1/../../../../../dev/null. Unfortunately the silver plating has worn off so the mirror is invisible..
--
The Cap is nigh. Time to get a fresh new account.
The craftsmanship is incredible.
He removed the metal case so the guts of the power supply are visible. He took the face off his DVD drive so you can see inside. Even his hard disk has been modded with a window showing the platter and the read/write head.
My favorite quotes:
"Needle files are a modder's secret weapon."
"Yes, I did polish the heads on the fasteners. Thanks for noticing."
Very impressive.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I like putting computers together. I always try to keep the RF shielding intact. This computer has no RF shielding at all.
How much of a problem is that, anyway? If his next-door-neighbor is an amateur radio enthusiast, will the clear computer mess up the airwaves? If he wants to watch TV, will the computer ruin the picture? Can he stop pacemakers at 50 yards or something?
I don't have any clear idea how serious the emissions from computer hardware really are.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
When a site is immediately slashdotted, I think the editors should pull the story off the front page. There aren't likely to be any ontopic comments if nobody can see the site. If anyone posts a working mirror maybe they can move the story back to the front page.
__
Choose mnemonic identifiers. If you can't remember what mnemonic means, you've got a problem. - Larry Wall
Prior art means nothing to Apple when they'll present their iCeBox(TM) within a few years. So be careful to log the photos' timestamps, in case that we read a story on /. about Apple threatening everyone who puts plexiglass around a x86 box.
It will look great for about 5 minutes. and DONT take it to a lan-party.
The type of plastic he chose is easy to polish and looks great, but scratches easier than any other plastic on the planet. Plexiglass is the worst in durability to scratches. yes you could buff out the scratches as you get them.
I like his idea, and I would love to see someone make one out of real glass with a metallic tint so that the RFI and EMI can't freely propagate out of the case. (You could get your case vaccuum-metalized... now that would be really cool.. not clear... CHROME!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Since /. is charging for subscriptions... how about /. stat mirroring the "cool" sites that get the /. effect and make the "cool" site useless..
/. doesn't use up too much hd space..
I hate it when there's something "cool" in a message, that 1 million other people see, and you try to go to the site and you get broken images everywhere..
Most of us use perl/perlmagick here and it wouldn't be to difficult to create a script that mirrors the site that we want, compress the hell out of the images, and have a new fangled mirror.
Remove the mirror after an hour or two, so
now THAT would be a service that would be worth the subscriptions...
"It's not like your minds are as open as the source you love..." - Me to the majority of Slashdot.
C'mon, where are the perfectly polished aluminum sphere PCs? When will someone put a PC inside a disco ball? How about just a pyramid? Anybody?
Oh, well, maybe I ought to try making one myself. What's the maximum distance across those micro ATX boards..hmm...and where would I get a big polished metal sphere anyway..
I glad if it can absorb envy beams, but I want something that can absorb the ./ effect!!
(actually while I was writting this comment the site started to slooowwwwy load in another window;)
I stole this Sig
The incredible dissapearing website!
I mean like whoah! the PC is ENTIRELY invisible!
Either that or the images aren't loading because of slashdotting.
:)
Backup on their site
3 66 .jpgs cf1367 .jpgs cf1368 .jpgs cf1369 .jpgs cf1370 .jpg
http://www.bit-tech.net/images/article/72/dscf1
http://www.bit-tech.net/images/article/72/d
http://www.bit-tech.net/images/article/72/d
http://www.bit-tech.net/images/article/72/d
http://www.bit-tech.net/images/article/72/d
I should sell a case mod kit that makes a computer invisible.
It will come with two big guys and a truck!
It sounds something like a Google cache. I definitely think that a short-term cache would be a good idea. It could all be done through redirects: if slashdot can't open the page in a reasonable time frame, then they should serve a cached copy. I'm aware that some sites rely on hit count for ad revenue, but once it's /.ed, that becomes irrelevant. Using a cached copy when the page is over-loaded should allow them to still get hits, and allow other people to see the site.
It is slashdotted... I can't see anything...
I hate to pick nits, but there's no such thing as liquid CO2 at 1 atm of pressure. Increase pressure and you can have liquid CO2.
--Be human.
OT, but this /. obsession with case modification -- a practice which i can't relate to -- makes me think of the classic story of Andy Ihnakto's 'anti-case-mod':
He did the reverse -- he kept the case intact, but substituted something else more interesting for the innards. Specifically, he made an aquarium out of his old Mac 512. (no pics, but if you hunt around on google there's lots of 'em people have done)
Who needs a fish screensaver when you can have real ones swimming around...
Mirroring sites in stories would be a great idea. Just have a link beneath the story of all the pages that might get /.ed. It's probably nicer than killing the site and I'm sure /. wouldn't have a problem with the traffic since all of the traffic is origionating from the /. server anyways.
I stole this Sig
has been addressed in the past, there may be lagal issues with mirroring the content without prior written consent, not everone would care but someone would kill it for the rest. and some web sites make money from adds/banners and that also complicates the mirroring process.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
just go to Google and type
site:www.bit-tech.net case
To see the rest of the pages on the site. Most people don't know about Googles search site feature, it's cool.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
> I'm aware that some sites rely on hit count for ad revenue, but once it's /.ed, that becomes irrelevant.
/. has been the cause of huge bills for featuring sites of unsuspecting hobbyists.
OTOH, some small sites are charged by their web hoster based on the amount of traffic they get.. I wonder if
Where's the shielding?
Scary scenario:
1. Moron makes unshielded case because he thinks it looks cool.
2. Senator next door suddenly starts getting RF interference on his television.
3. FCC tracks it down to unshielded PC.
4. Senator introduces "Computer RF Protection Act" which bars the sale of computer components to the public.
5. Gateway, Dell, Compaq, HP, and Apple, seeing a way to kill off the screwdriver shops and hobbyist market, form "People Against Radio and Television Interference" (PARTI).
6. Microsoft, in its desire to sell a new Windows license each time someone wants a new PC, joins PARTI.
7. PARTI takes out millions of dollars worth of ads pretending to be a concerned citizens group who wants to "stop hackers from interfering with your television."
8. PARTI passes and the only ones who can get computer components are licensed manufacturers using them in FCC-approved computers.
Want to upgrade your RAM, hard drive, or CPU? Too bad. You will just have to buy a whole new computer, complete with Windows-du-jour, from one of the big manufacturers.
Think about that scenario next time you see a case built to show off about $500 worth of consumer-grade computer components.
Here is the google cached link: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:yFtkFzNXw54C: www.bit-tech.net/article/63/4+The+Invisible+Case+b it-tech.net&hl=en
I host this.
Firemen have been dispatched to Telehouse London to prevent this web server from burning down most of the UK internet as it's pair of P3's and pathetic little IDE disk UTTERLY FAIL to cope with the pure 30mbit/sec of joy that slashdotting creates.
Every time someone posts intelligently regarding Slashdot implementing some sort of mirror system, it always gets modded up. Look at the amount of posts here regarding slashdotting... more than half I would say [at this time]. We are speaking out, but no one ever seems to listen. What do we have to do to convince Slashdot that this _is_ a good idea and it is what the readers want?
Too bad you can't buy them like this!
You can purchase similar all plexi-glass cases from www.clear-viewtech.com
Toodles D. Clown
Wow, that really IS invisible.
Gee - my first post, and I risk damaging my karma. Alas... Am I the only geek who finds electronics inherently ugly? I don't even like my PC showing as-is because of the lack of style displayed by the designers. Why would anybody want to show the guts of their PC? I did not get a chance to see the pics, as the site was already pulled, but having seen the insides of hundreds of PC's, none of them make much of a positive fashion statement.
I hope the Canadian equivalent of the FCC will stop this company from selling the case. Selling unshielded computer cases just is pretty irresponsible.
I got email, saying that link to my site (http://site/) is going to be posted on Slashdot in half an hour. For the time of slashdotting I add this to my httpd.conf:
Redirect /img/ http://slashdot.org/cache.pl?url=http://site/img/
so when someone wants http://site/img/image10.jpeg, she/he would be 302 redirected to http://slashdot.org/cache.pl?url=http://site/img/i mage10.jpeg and would got this image from Slashdot cache.
I could even set it up so only queries
with http://slashdot.org/* Referrer header
would be redirected, or
alternatively, someone could just change
the URIs in <a href="...">
links in the HTML if the webmaster
don't have access to webserver config.
But the point is that this way the cache
would be served only for explicit wish
of the webmaster and also only for those
images which are not the ads, banners,
counters, etc. if the webmaster wants so.
It could be also used for HTML but the large images are probably the main reason of killing banwidth on sites, like in this story, with many high quality pictures of cool hardware (I suppose that there are many high quality pictures of cool hardware but I can't access it). The cache could work for, say, 6 hours and would serve only files in subdirectories of linked URIs to avoid any abuse.
What do you think?
~shiny
WILL HACK FOR $$$
It loads quite long, however, probably because of /. effect,
but it's very large and very invisible
indeed...
~shiny
WILL HACK FOR $$$
Isn't the shielding from a case due to the gaussian surface the case ( a conductor) provides?
E*flux = Qenc;
Farraday first expressed some fundamental concepts in words, such as electromagnetic field lines, and later capacitance (hence farads), but I believe Gauss discovered this one.
Cide1
-- the computer doesn't want any beer, no matter how much you think it does. NEVER, EVER feed your computer beer.
Umm, There is no such thing as *LIQUID* CO2. Gaseous CO2 freezes directly to dry ice and dry ice sublimates directly to its gaseous form.
My contribution to this OT thread:
CO2 is in liquid form when kept in metal cylinders, such as CO2 fire extinguishers. When you release liquid CO2 that is kept under pressure, it cools off even further due to expansion and freezes solid (the rapidly evaporating "snow" you see coming from CO2 fire extinguishers). At ice houses, liquid CO2 is sprayed into a chamber to make this "snow", which is then packed into a pancake, then more is sprayed in and packed again a few more times until it is compressed into blocks of dry ice. But it does evaporate from solid directly to vapor. Which you can then crumble and put in a beaker of water to make fog to blow around inside your extra cool clear case.
Take out the middle-man and point the story's links straight to the Slashdot mirror (with permission, of course).
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.
If you suffer through the interminable downloads (remind me not to let this guy show me pictures of his kids), you discover that he did this in order to house...a 1 GHz Celeron...
This reminds me of those kits you could buy that would turn the front and rear ends of your VW Beetle into a Rolls Royce.
--Blair
Except I think Roadie had all his stuff screwed to the wall. The whole computer took up about the space of a poster, with power and ethernet leaving the area.
They still haven't gotten to the fun part: Transparent circuit boards (copper-clad glass substrate, brittle but beautiful) and transparent chip packaging.
;) Oh wait, if the board's clear just watch all the action from underneath.
Think about it! Most QFP and PGA chips have boring black plastic bodies. How hard would it be to replace them with clear plastic? Ceramic packages could probably be made at least translucent.
Then you embed light-emitting junctions at important areas of the chip, so you can watch the whole thing brighten, dim, and change color as the computational load changes. NOPs would be faint blue, cache misses would make the prefetch unit flash red. Floating-point would cause the FPU to glow green. Imagine it! You could tell what was eating most of your timeslices just by looking at the chip. Nevermind how you'd see through the heatsink to perceive all this.
Seriously though, if the whole mobo chipset were clear-encased too, you could tell the difference between RAM accesses, drive activity, interrupts, DMA storms... Ooooh.
We already have SCSI terminators with activity indicators, am I really asking for too much?
(Now why didn't I patent this 5 years ago when I came up with it?)
It would be awesome if he could post some printable patterns with dimensions so that we can duplicate his work. It is great that he could share his work with us...but for those of us who are too lazy or not mechanically oriented, it would be nice to have some patterns.
Umm.. It's not that the open source community can't figure it out, it's that the SLASHDOT ADMINS can't figure it out. Or they don't want to, for whatever reason.
All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
+++ath0
Were there justice (and moderators who had heard the story of the emperor's new clothes), the above would have received upwards moderation.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.