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"Y2k Bug", and Others Proves PCs Can Be Art
the_raptor pointed us to a pretty impressive case mod called the y2k bug. In addition, the site features
several other cases
that will job your jaw. Besides inspiration, the site features practical advice, like why not to window mod hard drives.
This is the same level of advice as "how to use a toothpick", "How to eat a burger", etc.
Don't open up a clean-room piece of precision hardware. It's stupid.
Sheesh.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
I feel the same way. I hate the "cut a window in the side, stick in neons" case mods, especially since EVERYONE is doing it now. It was fine when it was the one kid at the lan party that had the window, now you go to a lan party and its like "Dude! Awesome computer! When are you putting in a window and neons?" "Im not." "Dude, you HAVE to! It would be SO AWESOME!" "uh..."
These mods are original. Not everyone might like some of them, but at least they are different. I especially like the 1940s radio HTPC case.
/usr/games/fortune
Oooh, look, i can put neon lights and a clear window in my case, im so l33t. Please. case modders are the computer equivalent of rice boys.
Yes and No.
if you slap a cheap ass wing on your car, neon, rollerskate wheels and a 3 inch exaust tip on your car is called customized then yes, it's the same as a poser-riceboy.
Now if you are the kind that make your own custom case or mod he hell out of one by creating your own front plate, building a vacu-forming jig to make a part or bowed out window, and or building the whole damned case from scratch....
Those people I am impressed with. they are engineers.
any moron can go buy things, a real engineer makes things completely on their own, things you CANT buy.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
A case is more than just a box holding your computer components in. Apple has known this for years. The compact G4 Cube was designed in such a way as to allow natural air convection to eliminate the need for a fan. The G5 is designed literally inside and out to maximize cooling through individual parts of the interior. Some components must be close together, others far apart, and at all times cooling must be kept in mind if you want it to run more than three days.
Cool cases look like regular cases with windows and neon. Cooler ones look like insects with glowing eyes. Really cool cases combine form and function, in the same way the best architecture does. Why not integrate a water-cooled case with a small Zen water bubbler outside? Or a super-slim case that can be mounted on the wall with an LCD monitor attached? Or a true "media PC" that looks, acts and works like just another stereo component? Or a kids' PC with rounded and rubberized edges and a color-changing chameleon skin?
These are the sort of mods that really show a person's skill -- both technically and artistically imaginative. You don't have to be as radical as the above suggestions to be a great case modder, but you should know that it takes more than neon and windows to make a case mod into art.
Well, it really isn't art, in the "fine art" sense, as it's really design. While design is often taught in the art department, art to design is a lot like math to engineering, IMO.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Basically, a hard drive has built in error correction, so small bits of the disk surface can "fail" and the drive can continue operating.
What probably happened here is that the dust that got into the drives slowly started damaging the platters until enough bits were "damaged" such that the errors were uncorrectable. At that point the drives become doorstops.
It would be neat if drive manufacturers started selling drives with clear covers; I have actually SEEN such drives used for promotional purposes... I bet case mod geeks would pay a good percentage more for such a drive!