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Case Modders - Think Small
sysadmn writes "Mini-ITX is a relatively new form factor for PC motherboards measuring only 170 mm x 170 mm. The folks at Mini-ITX.com have this page of interesting projects, including full systems built into 1/10 scale models of a Ford Focus Rally car and a VW Beetle. Another project recycles a SparcStation IPX from 40 Mhz Sparc to 800 Mhz Via C3. Not to be outdone, motherboard maker Via has its own Mini-ITX project page, with several cool automobile systems."
they are great for settings where you dont need much. My school library has some small cases for the computers running the card catalog, unfortinately the card catalog computers are running fullpower P4's with tons of ram and all the goodies, while the computers used to do internet research etc. (and not nice small cases) are 1st generation p3s
in my head I dont see why you need more power to look at card catalog text (thin clients would be the ultimate space saver, stick a server somewhere that has room but no easy access to actually have a monitor and stuff) but I have to admit, the cases were very pretty
the suggestions I see for these as a LANparty case just dont make sense, usually I like to have my full graphics and sound etc along with me
Bottles.
I'll refrain from the obvious comment about /. editors.
A Beowulf cluster of these...
Inside a toaster.
That was actually my submission to The Register when they held a contest for Eden applications. VIA was giving away a bunch of these Eden mini-ITX systems to the winners. That is where VIA's applications page came from.
Imagine a cluster sitting on top of every desktop in a classroom. Instead of just being able to use time on a cluster to explore it's architecture or a class building one cluster as a project, each student would have their own cluster.
Problem is, even the 800mhz C3 performs no petter than a 450 PII. Additionally, the processor has absolutely no parallelism. Only one path with no out of order instructions.
That lack of balls does give them an advantage: they draw only 60 watts for the entire system. That includes memory processor and all.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
Although Apple does have a foothold in some niche business markets, they tend to be 'CREATIVE' businesses like graphic design houses...These businesses are more likely to buy such things and appreciate the industrial design.
Case modding is fun. I stuffed my last PC into an old SGI Iris Indigo that I was getting pissed at (blew up my KVM switch before I realized that the keyboard port is a few pins away from standard PS/2...). However, watch what you're stuffing that motherboard-of-the-week into. I don't care if you rip up a Sega Saturn, a Sony PlayStation, an old SPARC, or an Iris Indigo - those were all mass-produced systems. (With the exception of the Indigo, these were all on the mini-itx.com site.) No one is going to miss that old tape deck, and making your own case out of plexiglass is just cool.
What I don't want to see is someone ripping up a piece of history for 15 minutes of fame. I'm donning my flame suit already, but just give me a chance here. Stuffing an Eden mini-itx into a 1/10 size Beetle is just cool. However, if you rip up an old NeXT Cube, or an Apple III, I'll be forced to kill you. Old hardware is cool and useless; old, rare hardware is to be kept around by any means. Go ahead and rip apart that old boat-anchor XT you have lying around for a new bullet-proof (literally) box, but if you put a cutting wheel through a rare piece of hardware, you deserve to have your guts ripped out and a new motherboard sewn into place, just like the antique that you destroyed.
So go ahead and stuff a micro-pc in that old 80's toploader VCR, or a PS1. Just stay away from the truly rare, cool stuff - it needs no modifications to be neat and interesting.
Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90)
A couple of years ago at the height of the .com economy I was working as a "Sales Support Technician."
...Sadly, all the money for cool toys went into paying the salary for a certain pair of other IT workers who's sole purpose seemed to be making everyone else's life hell. Ah ve.
Our sales force had been touring the country with a windows based pre-alpha product that had a footprint too large to effectivly work on any of the laptops at the time... Our sales force started carting around a normal desktop. Imagine their chagrin when they realised that desktops weren't meant to travel regularly and they had to talk their way out of demoing the product...
Well, that's the reason for that neat-o title. Part of my job included carting around the two 19" monitor boxes containing a mid tower case, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, etc... I would have *loved* a design like this (and a flat panel display) doing all that traveling.
Regardless, these days laptops like the Dell Insperion's negate the need for complete desktop systems, but I can see cases where a proper desktop would be useful (Demoing a PCI/AGP device anyone? How about a particularly nasty piece of bloatware.)
It's a nice tradeoff between flexibility and size.