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Tool Box PC
Mr. Red Baron writes "A resident geek at Ars Technica has turned his toolbox into a nice little computer. Looks more portable than most LAN party designs I've seen." His webpage has a few more pictures.
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"Resident Geeks" didn't have web pages on AOL!
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The yearly nude pinup calender for that complete workshop feel :D
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I must say that this is the best LAN party mod I have seen in a long long time.
Well done.
-- now, if I could only do that with a Sun E10K
comment directly in my journal
My only question is, he does point out (as the pictures show), that it's rather unbalanced (crowded)... I wonder how heavy the whole unit is... is it a pain to carry, or is it easy?
-- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
How about a beowulf cluster of these?
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
I've seen a lot of "case mods", but this has to be by-far the most practical of them all. It's portable, it has a handle, and the insides are very easily accessible. Find a toolbox that has a bit more protection for ruggedness (rubber corners maybe?) and maybe a little deeper to provide room for cables, mouse, and a small keyboard and you have the perfect LAN party box :)
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Looks like a quality mod, I'm wondering how the heat buildup in that works ... its not nearly as cool if you have to keep the lid open all the time ...
I have a Tachometer mounted in my PC.
Here is a Picture.
Looks like a very clean, well thought out mod. It looks like it would work as your normal computer, instead of just a toy box.
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
From the first page referenced:
The machine has a Biostar M7VKQ motherboard with integrated sound, video and LAN, and a Duron 750 is the CPU
Date posted?
posted December 31, 1969 06:00 PM
Damn, there goes that 640k is enough thing if they had Durons back then...
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
Those toolboxes are rather cheap to buy. Pity they don't offer too much EMI protection as metal cases do. Those computers are rather noisy thingies what comes to radio frequencies..
Anyway, that case seems rather well built and easy to carry around. Optimum would be that everything including game controllers and flat screen display would fit into box.
This is much nicer solution than the urethane foam mess which was admired here a little time ago. (Hey, you can cast your computer in concrete and it still might work - it is not too smart though.)
That is the mark of a cool local computer store, just the type I like. :) I don't use CEX or Maplin unless I've got no choice.
And one other thing... Is that a bottle of hand cream by his monitor? Heh.
Ali
"Windows and Linux can co-exist on the same machine." - Microsoft Corporation.
This would make a pretty nice addition to my collection of toolboxen. I have a couple different tool sets configured for working on a different variety of things (boxes I take to my friends' houses when they have this kind of trouble or that...). Sometimes I end up taking along multiple boxes because I just don't feel like switching things around (and it's good to have more tools at your disposal anyway - you never know!) But someone with a computer problem - just throw this baby in the trunk and go!
Ok, well don't 'throw' it. If (not 'if' but 'when') I build one of these, I'll be sure to add some shock protection to the mobo and CD drive. A keyboard holder inside the unit would be pretty nice too. Carry it all in one go. Fit an inexpensive flatscreen inside the cover case you've no CRT to hook up to and you're good to go.
Dual 12V battery pack with inverter could go in there too...
its cool but i dont like tool boxes as much.
so i put mine in a brief case.
its for lan parties yes but as a dedicated cs-server and stats box.
I've done it with a briefcase....pictures to come as soon as I find my digital camera.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
Every time I go to a site like this, I am bombarded with hundreds of giant images taking up all my bandwidth and RAM.
Have they never heard of thumbnails?
I believe I've seen this before...
Next thing you know, we're gonna hear about Cobalt suing this guy...
Where could i get one of those cases? They look very handy!
My Osbourne One did this a long time ago.
Unlike that dumb foam pc this is actually cool. I would want one of these. /. is finnally posting cool stuff again!
yeh I was wondering about that. And he claims it's for his 19 months old daughter. yeah right. :)
karma capped
He should find (or build) some adequately sized speakers and attach them to the box. That would be really something :) ...
Anyway, nice idea. Might try to build one myself
Anyone else notice the bottle of lotion next to the monitor in the 5th picture? Is it any wonder he had time to make this thing? :)
Very cool idea/design. Me thinks I want to make one myself just for fun.
Just one computer in a tool box? Check out this.
Never again will I need to hunt for tools to work on my computer, now I can store them with the computer itself (and yet not have them lying around in a big pile).
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
slashdot sinks to new low! now slashdotting personal websites!
Liberty.
Now get your dirty minds out of the gutter.
-
(Note that you can get something similar in the lunchbox format (e.g., here and many other places).
Many keep bottles of hand cream around in convienent places for dry skin. I know many who carry some around in their purse.
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I'm just going to glue boards to the wall and shove the powersupply halfway through the sheetrock. The hardrives will hang from the chandelier in the dining room. And I'll make the monitor watertight and mount it inside the fishtank.
Supposedly that's his wife's desk, and thus her lotion, which is a believable story. The daughter is clearly visible in the photo over the monitor, which corroborates the existence of the wife.
Yes it's a nice job, and I'd love to have one myself. But I came over all sad and reminiscing when I looked at the pics. It's just that I can remember the days when a cool hardware hack was to build a computer from scratch. Nowdays it seems that if you just repackage some commerical product people will gush all over you.
.. shiny computer .. wow!!"
Is this where it's headed - "ooh look
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You asked for it.
I only looked at the pictures, but did the author say how much the finished product weight? :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I've seen advertisements for that thing late at night. You know, the ones with that guy from "Home Improvement". You can use it to bring the power of the internet to your business. How cool is that?
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
- Young Guns II
, that other one!!Who mediates your information?
Thanks all; I'm glad so many of you like the box. And for those who think it's ugly: be glad I didn't use the yellow version of the toolbox. As I said on the page, it's meant for my daughter. If it was meant to be more high-performance I would have chosen a different mobo with more appropriate specs. Even now it would would do great for LAN parties if I dropped in a decent vid card.
;)
/. AOL for a little while!
About balance: yes, it is a little heavier on one side than the other, but not overly so. It's easy to carry from either direction, because the PSU is still fairly central.
About the size of the box: I would have loved to get a toolbox big enough for peripherals, but I just couldn't find one. I looked all over town and this was the best I could do. Virtually every toolbox I found was too narrow to hold a motherboard. There were plenty wider and taller, but most toolboxes were less than 8" deep, front to back.
As for why the page is hosted on AOL; I've explained it before when I catch flak at Ars about my AOL-ness, but I won't go into it all. Suffice it to say that my main connection is cable. I pay $0 for the AOL, so why not use it?
Yes, I am a lowly user of Win98. It does what I want it to do. My wife is OK with it, too. Sorry if it bugs you.
As for the Jergens... take a look at the pic. Wolf mousepad, turtles and wolves on top of the monitor. What does it add up to? I'll tell you: it's my wife's desk in the living room. It was much easier to plug it all in there since her machine was already down with a bad mobo.
Frankly, anyone who could recognize that bottle as Jergens specifically, must have some of their own...
Congrats to you all: you even managed to
There's just one problem here...
what's he gonna put all his tools??
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
pump up the volume... i really liked that one.
-- john
Here it is:
http://www.longneckwrench.com/
from the creator's webpage:
A local computer shop gave me a spare backplane for all the ports when I came in looking for one.
The creator could at least have mentioned the name (or a link?) of the generous store... That's the problem with kids nowadays; damn ungrateful rats!
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
... that 'visible butt crack' will become a stereotype for lan-geeks?
Heh I can't wait to start trying on overalls to compliment my new toolbox PC!
"Derp de derp."
Carry it on a plane past security.
Nice job.
I really like it, it just doesn't seem all that practical.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
I guess without playing around with it, I can't be sure, but I have to wonder if the hard drives are going to overheat. From what I can see, he's got the bottom of the power supply (HOT!) right next to the hard drives (HOT!). Not a good combination.
Perhaps the hard drives could have gone under the CDROM -- or does that throw the weight off too much? Maybe the hard drives above the power supply instead of below.
Just a thought...
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Yup. Pretty cool. Nicely done. And a lot cheaper than thesecomputers with handles. Though I still lust for one of their ruggedized laptops. Can't justify the price.
The last time I checked you can't marry a blow up doll.
I'll take your word for it. Maybe you have need to look into that sort of thing, but *I've* never had occassion to check.
Are you kidding? It's a beautiful machine.
how do you know that's not just a really good windows-looking ui theme?
... I'd just like to virtually shake your hand, and say, what you did not only shows that you're a real geek (and I mean that in the best possible way), but also that it's really fucking cool!
:)
Cheers,
Akky
Radiation would NOT be a problem. I've run plenty of computers with plastic cases and cases with giant open areas. It all boils down to how the system is grounded. If there is a return path for the current, it probably will have low radiated emissions.
For a better description look for online notes for a college EE class on Electromagnetic Compadibility or Signal Integrity.
Wow! You are so correct! One could construct this such that either a normal powersupply (one you connect to the wall) OR a battery based power source (wired into the original supply as you state) could power the thing. You could also quite easily build a regulator circut and employ the use of some switchers and or linear devices (free samples at National Semiconductor) to provide all your voltages from 12 or 24V. Not bad.... Just put as many battery packs in there as you can fit/cary and wire them in parallel! Construct a charger circuit that tops off the batteries whenever you're plugged into the wall! ... bingo!
Yes you are very correct. 12vDC->120vAC then back again, all within the same box - bad. 12vDC -> directly to the board, with some regulators to produce your +-5v, etc. - good.
Maybe this is the prototype for XBox 2? =)
If you're on the subject of weird pc cases, then check out the toilet pc, its got to be seen to be believed.
This guy bought a childs 'training toilet and turned it into one weird looking Pc.
Personally, I think it would be inconvenient to make one yourself.
After all that trouble to make a customised case, it would only take one drunken guy to 'christen' the pc case....
http://www.acl.lanl.gov/linuxbios/clusters/bento/i ndex.html
Check out the other LinuxBIOS stuff while you're there.
I have been building shoebox computers for years for our machine tools. They are small, compact, rugged, although a bit more expensive than a standard computer (case+motherboard ~ $500 - $550).
Something like this at Axiom or Lanner
Add a little handle and they would be just great as a luggable computer for LAN parties
I have had a toolbox pc cince the 386 days (In fact I just recently shoehorned in a socket 7 board with a P233mmx) that has an orange plasma screen built onto it and the keyboard snaps over the display to protect it during travel.
you can buy these all over the net... although they are nastily priced as they now have TFT lcd screens.
do a search for toolbox pc or lunchbox pc. and you'll get a self contained pc that will whoop-ass at the next lan-party (I saw one that had a geforce3 in it about 3 months ago.. now if the LCD would keep up it woulr rock.)
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
For those who think metric.
Or weighs as much as:
almost eight litre cartons of orange juice
or 13 pints of beer
. . .but how well would it survive being whacked with a sledgehammer?
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
Me and my friend were going to make a PC out of a toolbox. We first thought of buying a case that held thirteen fans in it off of Ebay for 18 bucks, that includes shipping, then we decided to make our own case. The toolbox actually would cost more than the case, but we figured that it would be MUCH cooler than using a regular case. I guess I'm not original anymore...nuts.
Although his workmanship may have been a little better in creating the box, mine is much cooler looking! And it is running Linux. Heh.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
(BTW, mine is pretty cool too.)
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
don't try to get on a plane with one of these! ;)
... here.
The idea of the Toolbox is nice but the not the best case i have seen. The Craftmanship doesn't satisfy me. At least he could have cleaned up the mess inside the case (cables etc.).
keep it simple.