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Casemodding Enterprise Hardware

Posted by timothy on from the next-is-a-star-trek-bridge dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "Think your tower case with led fans, a cold cathode and a window is cool? See what this guy did to two Sun Enterprise 15Ks -- a casemod on $1.3 million dollars of hardware! Will mainframes start shipping with light and window options now?"

5 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. Re:Somewhat off topic but.. by adolf · · Score: 5, Informative

    CRT monitors are affected more by low-frequency EMI than the RFI computers emit.

    A simple test: Take the lid off of your case, and place it beside the monitor. Nothing strange happens.

    Next, place an AC-operated fan, transformer-based soldering iron, or similar magnetic device next to the monitor, and watchen das blinkenrainbow.

    That said, flat peices of steel (such as that which comprises your case) do very little to counteract low-frequency magnetism, while aluminum does absolutely nothing. Common steel can have some low-freuquency shielding effect if it's curved just so, but that's usually impractical. (there's other stuff, such as Mu-Metal, which is formulated with the specific goal of blocking EMI, and does work quite well. But it's expensive, and hard to find.)

    I have to be careful where I put my Best FerrUPS because the large ferroresonant transformer in it will cause monitors to shake from several feet away.

    Problems with computer-generated RFI generally show up with radio and television. I can't listen to an AM radio anywhere near my apartment with the PCs on, and there's a few FM stations that I can only recieve outside or in the back bedroom, away from the machines.

    My neighbors must hate me for it, as I'm sure it's not much better anywhere in the building. But the 300-pound, heavy-footed woman upstairs has four kids who wake up at 5:30 AM daily, and the people directly beside me have a bad habit of listening to one-note bass lines with their lousy, one-note subwoofer, directly on the other side of the wall behind my desk.

    So, I guess I care a lot less about RFI than I do about proper cooling. Thus, the top of the case is completely absent, allowing all kinds of natural, quiet convection cooling to take place.

    --
    Kid-proof tablet..
  3. Sun Fire 15K Info by Mooset · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't know why the link for the Sun Fire 15K info goes to Nationwide Value Computer (whatever that is) instead of the official Sun site. NVC apparently has no bandwidth, but I'm sure Sun has plenty to spare.

    Here's a link to the official site: http://www.sun.com/servers/highend/sunfire15k/

  4. some answers by zeroday-bri · · Score: 5, Informative

    hey all

    seems i've been slashdotted.. (thanks)

    the problem with my site is the fact that i never increased the apache server count, so you guys pegged it and it's been refusing connections all day.. sorry about that.. if i had any idea it was going to be this popular i may have bumped it up :)

    anyhow, obviously the web site isn't running on those 15ks - if you look closely at the pictures, they're not even plugged in yet..

    some answers:

    1. we're not a dot-com..

    2. we just took delivery of the 15k's and the adic 10k and decided something needed to be done to spruce them up..

    3. it was my bosses idea, actually, he paid for it..

    4. we're pretty good friends with sun, i doubt they'll have a problem with it..

    5. calling this a 'casemod' is a bit of a joke, i know it's not modding anything in the true spirit of the "case modder", just velcroing lights to it.. like i'm going to take a dremel to something that costs this much - even we have limits.. so sorry for the bruised egos, folks..

    6. lots of people are taking this far too seriously..

    7. for the network guys - the cisco gear is maxed out, the other blades haven't arrived yet.. the one that's mostly populated will have fiber in the unused areas, the second will be a warm standby copy.. my comment of 'boring' is a dig at the network guy, as this whole thing was meant for my co-workers and close friends, not general consuption..

    8. we plan on putting a camera in the adic to watch the robot..

    9. these machines are incredibly dense, you can see from the picture, so really the only thing we have to work with are the doors.. even if you think it's lame, you have to admit it's pretty cool..

    10. we're still debating about the colors..

    thanks a lot to those of you who get it and think this is fun, since that's all it's intended to be.. it's not a folly of having too much money or a pinhead boss, it's just a bunch of unix dorks having fun before we plug the thing in..

    bri..

  5. Sun branded 2x4's by nbvb · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just FWIW, the official Sun-branded 2x4 is Part # 414-1100-01.

    Just check next time you get an Enterprise or Sun Fire server on a pallet ...

    --NBVB