Slashdot Mirror
Design-Your-Own Computer Case Kits
lord black writes "I was walking the aisles of the local Fry's and discovered a nifty computer-case-erector-set-thingy. Made by Aero Cool, the Lubic kit is basically a bunch of aluminum rails, acrylic panels (for mounting hardware to), and misc. screws to connect it all, for constructing a unique computer case. They have a gallery of example cases. BTW, Aero Cool also makes neat CPU coolers."
For some odd reason I read that as a Lubric Kit for mounting hardware and screws :-/
Took me a while to realize that they were talking of the other kind of hardware.
So where can I buy a kit?
I have had one of these similar kits for years now!
Some links that actually work:
The cases.
The coolers.
The company.
Don't thank me; thank Google.
Kid-proof tablet..
From my perspective, I don't know if there's really much difference between blow-blow and blow-suck. (Gawd I love out of context quotes!) ;P
Un-news
Oh, wait, this is Slashdot. Like those spermies are ever going to end up anywhere but a tissue anyway.....
When I tried to view the pics the site had already been ./'ed. Here's the google cache for the
Lubic Gallery of Case Mods
Both are just about equally worthless. Both cost ridiculous sums of money for products eventually become worthless. It looks good, but is mostly a makeup for the user's own inadequacies. These modders just love to tell you about their mods and show it off, as if everybody else should care.
Slashdot Moderation: From positive to terrible in 2 "insightful" posts.
Tweaknews.net did a review of the Lubic kit last month. Apparently it's not as easy to use as an erector set, but it's still a cool product for case modders.
eclecti.cc
People who are 'in the know' shunt around the whole Taiwan/China controversey by referring to that island as Formosa. Formosa is the Dutch colonial name for the island, so it pisses off all the different factions of Chinese equally to call it that.
A Good Intro to NetBS
I rrecently upgraded my case from the POS that I had before. While shopping for the new case, I ran across these kits. While they sound interesting, (and I'd give them props for the concept if it weren't for the legos and erector sets that had it long before them) The finished products from their gallery are rather dissapointing visually.
I am an art major, so that might have something to do with my bias, but as far as I can tell, you'd get much better results visually with a couple sheets of plexi, your saw of choice, a dremel and some acrylic joining compound, (I use IPS Weld-on 3... got it from http://www.tapplastics.com ) In my mind, the latter setup will give you alot more flexibility in your case than a pre-made kit.
of course, i could just have looked at the gallery and gotten dissapointed too quickly to really make a fair critique of the product. *shrug*
"Operating systems suck: you're better off using only the BIOS" --trainsaw.com
Wow, those chinese 404s (they are 404 errors, right?) look great with those multi-language fonts in OS X.
:)
Man, I've never been able not to understand something so clearly
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
People "in the know" should realize that Formosa was the Portuguese name for the island, not Dutch.
1.) AGP slot that has a special opening for giant sized fans
2.) allowing multiple power supply
3.) allowing as many as 8 fans on the side.
4.) enable water cooling to graphics card and cpu
5.) water tank that can be refilled externally
6.) convenient screwless case
7.) case that can slide the entire motherboard out easily without any recabling
8.) 10 external and 10 internal bays
9.) firewire, usb and headphone jack at front
10.) case opens up top conveniently for cooling
Damn I can go on forever.
Look here.
They call themselves World`s smallest PC`s and they damn sure got some small guys.
Using enough sterotypes?
Case modding isn't just taking a standard case then adding a window and lights. Rather case ricers are a vocal subset of case modding.
There are many other types of case modding:
1. HiFi - Modified to reduce noise.
2. Overclocker - modified to increase cooling.
3. Art - modified to be an expression of the owner, in much the same way as art cars. This is distinct from tarting up.
4. Disguise - many people shoehorn PCs in to cases that look nothing like a PC. eg: R/C car body
5. Geekiness - modifying case for additional capabilities, eg: tracked R/C case, with built in UPS.
Anyway I thought ricers were typically not liked because they tried to make a car look "fast", without any performance improvement. That is not the same as making a car look "pretty". I've not yet heard a case ricer claim that their cosmetic changes made their computer faster.
In other words, "You keep using that term, I don't think it means what you think it means."
At the end of WWII, there were about 6 millions Taiwanese. From 1945-1949, about 2 million Nationalist troops and civilian refugees arrived from China
While that had been a tragic event and impacted the Taiwanese who were already there. The Nationalist/KMT hardly founded Taiwan.
If you build your own case you had better be careful that the fans and other components are positioned so that you get good airflow around the stuff that gets hot. Case designers spend a lot of time verifying that their boxes won't overheat and it's sometimes not at all obvious how the air is going to move.
I saw a mod on TechTV where they put the comptuer in a machine gun cartridge box. OK, what is the point of this? It doesn't make you cool, it just makes you the idiot who wasted countless hours with a Dremmel Powertool modifying a tin can to house his computer.
I'm not criticizing someone who wants to create a new space-saving circuit board design or something. That makes sense and takes some engineering skill.
This particular product seems more than a little silly with the designes that are just rails, not becasue I am concerned about electromagnetic radiation, but because I am concerned with dropping stuff on my motherboard. I thought that was the point of the case, otherwise, just lay the crap out on your desk and use it. It's a hell of a lot easier to switch hardware with it not in a case.
Maybe the grammar nazi did get it, but chose to ignore it because it allowed him to bring in the word "plankeye". I have to admit, it's a pretty cool word. I can just see him champing at the bit (chomping? champing? what-the-fuck-ever) to use it.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
All these cases are neat. Though I hate to be a killjoy, it's what I do best.
How is RFI suppression handled in these clear plastic cases?
Keeping your computer case closed to RF is generally a good idea.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
If you wanted more flexibility than you get from a kit, you could try 80/20 aluminum extrusion. They have various hardware, plastic panels, etc.
Self-building a system, especially with a creative enclosure, is never a Bad Thing. However, there is one very important -- I would even say 'critical' -- aspect of doing so that no one seems to be paying attention to, and it applies to ANY computer case that is not a full wrap-around all-metal enclosure.
Specifically: Unless you take explicit steps to electrically shield the transparent parts, the enclosure will never meet FCC Part 15 requirements for not radiating RF energy, or being susceptible to outside RFI (Radio Frequency Interference).
Here's the filthy details, and some more info on why this is a Bad Thing. Early computer systems and peripherals were classed as "Unintentional Radiators" under part 15.3(z) of the FCC regs. Later, as processor speeds climbed, an additional category of 'Digital Device' was created under part 15.3(k).
It was under this part that two subclasses were created. You may have heard references to something being a "Class A Computing Device" in the commercial world, or a "Class B Computing Device" in the consumer world. Both of these subclasses have to do with how much RF the device radiates under normal use, and how much potential it has to interfere with other nearby devices, including TV's, stereos, etc. The ARRL's web site has a page that summarizes this, and provides a great explanation on the issue of what 'harmful interference' is, and what the rules say about responsibility for solving issues involving it.
The Reader's Disgust version is this: Sure, you can build your computer into the flashiest Lexan-and-Aluminum enclosure you can find. You can equip it with all kinds of see-through parts, flashing LEDs, and other useless fluff to your heart's content.
HOWEVER -- remember that any material other than metal, solid or mesh, is going to be pretty much transparent to whatever RF energy your system spews into the surrounding environment in the course of its normal operation. If your flashy see-through system causes interference to ANY other RF-using device that is NOT covered by Part 15, to the point where said device cannot operate properly, it is YOUR responsibility to clean it up, electrically speaking.
Transparency to RF is a two-edged sword. You might get incredibly lucky, in that your way-cool see-through system might not be causing any interference at all. But what happens when, just as one example, the ham radio operator next door to you starts transmitting with a 1,000-watt-plus signal? (Yes, we are allowed to use that kind of power, and more).
Another example: What happens if a cop, the paramedics, or anyone else with a portable transceiver happens to transmit with said portable and they happen to be close to your computer at the same time?
Either way, a good chunk of the RF energy from those transmissions are going to go straight into your computer, because all that Lexan is going to let it in like a firehose stream through tissue paper. At best, your system may lock up or reboot unexpectedly. At worst, you could be looking at hard drive corruption.
And guess who's responsible for clearing up the resultant mess? Not the ham radio op. What they're doing is covered very well indeed under FCC Part 97. (That's not to say they'd just tell you to fix it yourself -- most hams are pretty nice about helping you to fix such issues if their transmitters appear to be wreaking havoc, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the owner of the Part 15 device).
Not the cops, paramedics, or whoever else was using the portable radio either. They're operating perfectly within the limits of their FCC license as well. No, the onus for fixing the problem lands right back on your shoulders, as the computer owner, all because you wanted a
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
Heat, Dust -- how about Radio Frequency (RF) interferance? Both in and out of the computer.
As for problems with EMI reception...well, I suppose that if my next door neighbor had a kilowatt transmitter, the antenna in the backyard would be a dead giveaway and I might think twice before building one of these systems. But, apart from an extreme case like that, PCs are really quite immune from RF interference. A great deal of the design work that goes into the actual chips on the boards is devoted to EMI and ESD rejection. Critical signals are routed differentially. Signals on the PCB are (relatively) low frequency and routed with an eye toward reducing EMI transmission and susceptability.
My current work involves designing and simulating high speed digital systems. Part of that design work is to determine both how well the network rejects EMI and how little it radiates. And, as I mentioned before, short an extreme case (like the 1000 watt Ham transmitter), it is virtually impossible to couple enough energy onto the transmission lines to cause any trouble. And the amount of energy radiated beyond a foot or so is almost unmeasurable.
So, from a practical point (electrically speaking), these "cases", such as they are, are probably not the EMI terrors that one might thing. That being said, I sure wouldn't want one around my cat.
-h-