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17" Monitor Case Modding -- The "iMike"
greyrax writes "So what does a Canadian cabinet maker who's a closet techie do during those long winter months? You modify a 17" monitor case to house your computer (think iMac).
The blow-by-blow descriptions and pictures outline this three-month project. The only question that I'm left with is 'What is that antenna for?'"
Completed pictures here.
Also, does anyone else think the green paint looks hideous? IMHO, he would've been much better keeping the factory grey.
Looks like an 802.11b/g/a wireless unit is in the box too.
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
I saw something like this a while ago on Apple Fritter where a guy built his classic iMac into a 21" monitor. He didn't go the easy way and use an LCD screen, though.
"Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Take over the world."
...of Macintosh envy.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Just what I wanted! The size of a CRT and the quality of a LCD!
What is that antenna for?
That's the gear shift, you insensitive clod!
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
Actually in North Van, where this guy lives, not single snowflake fell this winter ... well maybe one or too. But it can hardly be considered a long winter.
The conversion is very cool and its one of the most involved mod projects I've seen. Definitely going on the "to-do" list.
http://www.feep.org/mirrors/members.shaw.ca/northv anmike/page1.html
...from John Deere
...nice.
That has got to be the best monitor/case mod I have ever seen. Not my choice for colors, but I am really impressed with the quality that went into this. I'd like to see a company start making cases like this, with the LCD already mounted in the front. I do think there would be a market for it.
-- Liberalism is a mental disorder.
It may not look like an iMac, but it's just as ugly.
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
With all those ports above his screen, he's going to have a hell of a time looking through all the cords plugged into them.
This is the coolest, most complete mod i've ever seen. I'm very impressed. The skill required to put this together was really cool. I wish i had half this guys skills.
The antenna must be an 802.11 antenna or something, this person obviously likes doodads and gadgets all over his machine. I mean, damn, look at all the drives, bays, and other assorted crap on the front. Tacky. Look at all those fans! Egads! Blech.
I'm by no means a Mac fan, but one thing they are is quiet. Either no fans or very quiet fans. This machine is old-sk00l, large and loud. Again, blech.
The paint looks like an old boat or something. Hehe. The problem is that it's real hard to paint computer equipment and make it look good. It almost always looks amateurish. I think that's why a lot of people use aluminum, new or original plastic, and/or plexiglass instead of paint. Airbrushing might look OK if you're good.
With that said, this person seems like a good fabricator. I really like the workmanship. Quality work, but the overall design is too clunky and bloated for me.
But they certainly didn't ask for my opinion so I'll STFU now.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
I understand that he's got skills, but the difference between this and an Apple product is that Apple products reek of sex appeal. You know, they have gorgeous curves, feminine touches, and the colors work together really well. When a woman walks into your home office and sees a bunch of Apple gear, she says "Oooo, pretty. You've got great taste." When she sees this, she's speechless, and not in a good way.
This thing is a farm implement. It's a high-quality farm implement, and I admire his work ethic, but it's still a farm implement.
What's your damage, Heather?
Shiiiiit.
Lets see him do that with a regular CRT. This mod ranks up there with the guy that encased his mboard in foam insulation.
Seriously though, he may as well put it in a lunch box or something original. Maybe I'd be more impressed if he put a CRT in his old PC-AT case.
Go ahead. Mod me down. You know you want to.
Apple should take note of this. The use of lcd screens in their imac would resolve the following issues...
1. Extra heat your monitor. Let's face it CRTs and computers don't mix.
2. Degausing doesn't just demagnatize the screen but anything and everything. let's face it, CRTs and magnetic media don't mix
----
Now the obvious question... is there a market for this sorta design? Personaly i'd say yes. I wouldn't nessicarly go with a traditional monitor layout, but there is a sorta apeal with lugables. Anyold joe can hookup a keyboard and mouse and plug it in the wall.
Something like this could in theory house batteries, a fuck of alot more then your average laptop. Also I like the idea of a cable run for my keyboard and mouse from my monitor. If i'm not mistaken Xerox did this in their workstations way back when.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
I've had to explain to people more times than I would like to have had to that opening up a monitor without understanding which parts can hurt you has the potential to hurt you. I'd like to say this is common sense, but it really isn't.
So PLEASE warn visitors on any monitor modding site you build. Its an extra two seconds and might save someone a trip to the emergency room.
And manafacturers, how about a sticker warning "DEATH MAY BE IMMENENT IF OPENED," instead of "No user servicable parts?" :)
Bored with karma, be a fan/freak
The whole thing is really cool, but what about a keybaord? He shows two mice but no keyboard, I guess you can just paste stuff from the character map.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
Let me guess - LCD panels on the side for that funky virtual window thang :D
"Well yes actually, Ive got a Quad Athlon 128 in there with a GeForce 6 running at 18GHZ. Oh, and you can clearly see the 4TB of memory on the board"
liqbase
This thing is a farm implement. It's a high-quality farm implement, and I admire his work ethic, but it's still a farm implement.
;-)
I think that this compares to (in appearance anyways) to those silly rice boys who take a honda civic and lower it and put on a big wing and muffler and wacky paint job.
The term to describe this look is the "angry kitchen appliance" look.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
Now that we have the internet, we just find out what the hell we're doing. Even for those of us almost too eager to put on our goggles, finding a website doesn't strain patience. For example:
http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_captest.html
ok, so computers have been made smaller, and they have been made faster. But what mde this so cool was how it all came together in the end. The final product was quite well refined. I am impressed :D I like the choice of colours too.
I think it's sexy and new! Personally, i like the antenna, heck, i like it all! Add a few case lights and it would be the hit of any lan party. oh, and immagin : Dual-Monitors! >:)
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
A great place for that audio gear is, you know, right in the top middle of the display. That way, if I plug something into it, like headphones, the cable hangs right down the middle of the.. oh wait.. maybe this is not a good idea.
So THAT's why apple puts the audio connectors on the side/bottom of the machines! Ingenious!
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
"When a woman, walks into your home office"
See?...
And someone used modpoints to rate this offtopic...I am supremely impressed. I hope I'll be seeing you in metamoderation.
> It's a high-quality farm implement, and I admire his work ethic, but it's still a farm implement.
I wouldn't even go that far. At first I was impressed that he got everything stuffed in there and working, but then again he's using NINE (or more) fans. That's just cheating; in a way.
This is a nick hack, but that's it, a hack. Its a dirty "shove it all in a box" job. I would think a project like the PC in a picture frame would be more deserving of world-wide geek attention.
I used to be a TV Broadcast Engineer -- fancy words for "I fix everything in this station." I probably took a good shock from something, something like a cap, once a week. After a few years of that, I've got this to say: it's painful, but if it's not plugged in, you guys are largely making this out to be more dangerous than it really is. (Pacemaker-laiden folks aside. :-)
:-) They came equipped with a thing we called a "Jesus stick", a plexiglass rod with a copper thingy on the end and a big braided cable that ran to ground. You'd open up the rack, then go around and touch everything with this gizmo. When you hit something live, there was a big noise, a big spark, and you said ...
What put it in perspective for me was that I also worked on giant godzilla-sized tube-based 25kW RCA transmitters out of the 70's, and oh by the way those things DID carry enough charge to shock you into the next world.
Those were fun times!
Brian
Is that what happens when an iMac gets assimilated by the Borg? :::shudder:::
It may come as a shock, but XP has terminals too. You can also to such crazy things as run emacs and ssh. I know, it sounds crazy- and the first time I heard this, I didn't believe it either! All these years of people telling me that you could only run Solitaire and FPS on Windows... All these years were a lie. Well, at least people like you are lucky to have nice folks like me keep you out of the closet of ignorance! :)
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Mother.....I'm TRYING to build a computer....