Yet Another PC-Mac Case Mod

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Posted by pudge on Thursday March 11, 2004 @12:01AM from the but-this-one-is-cool dept.

JayPee writes "Fortunately, this mod doesn't involve destroying a brand new G5 for its shell. (And yes, I know the G5 was a "hoax"). Instead, the modder used an old Macintosh SE case for his gaming computer. While I'm sad that he wasn't able to use the old black and white display in conjunction with the LCD, I'm still amazed that he was able to deal with the heat issues that I'm assuming would pop up by stuffing a higher end PC and video card in a Mac SE case." This mod is technically impressive, and looks great.

48 of 91 comments (clear)

First Mod by X-wes · 2004-03-11 00:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

This article says that the designer of this case mod is actually doing his first ever mod. Considering how unique this idea is, it's amazing it went so well. It really looks quite amazing.
1. Re:First Mod by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-11 00:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I really like the retro look. Except the blue light, which is ugly retro. So two years ago.
2. Re:First Mod by SphericalCrusher · 2004-03-12 15:27 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  There is nothing wrong with taking the system, making the performance specs better, and changing the way it looks. Maybe YOU don't like the idea, but that doesn't make it a STUPID idea.
  
  --
  "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
risky HD placement? by inio · 2004-03-11 00:10 · Score: 5, Informative

I would have second thoughts before strapping the HDD to the side of the PSU...
1. Re:risky HD placement? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-11 01:25 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yup. Attaching magnetic field sensitive device to magnetic field generating gizmo is never good idea. He will figure it out the hard way.
2. Re:risky HD placement? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-11 04:48 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Why? Your psu isn't going to bother it, honestly nobody seems to know anything about magnetic fields OR their computer components anymore. Have you ever taken apart a hard drive? There are EXTREMELY powerful magnets in there. It's true that you can't leave a floppy next to a magnet, it's not true for hard drives.
3. Re:risky HD placement? by Greedo · 2004-03-11 04:53 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I also got the shivers from this part:
  
  I got a 400W power supply that I spray-painted black ...
  
  That's just asking for trouble, I think. Unless he used some heat-resistant paint, this machine is going to make some nasty fumes.
  
  --
  Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
4. Re:risky HD placement? by irokitt · 2004-03-11 10:11 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Back in 1997 Hewlett Packard actually sold units where the hard drive was nested right on top of the PSU. I'm still having nightmares involving hard drives on their death throes.
  
  --
  If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
Akihabara by jetfuel · 2004-03-11 00:14 · Score: 5, Interesting

I came across something similar in Akihabara a couple of years ago: http://context.metalbat.com/index.pl?671 The i/30 is an SE/30 fitted with a G3 mobo and with the B&W CRT replaced by a TFT. Excellent.
1. Re:Akihabara by Mad_Fred · 2004-03-11 00:40 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  That's the real deal! I don't get all that impressed when people don't integrate the screen into a machine like this. Sure, it's good work getting everything into an enclosure of specific dimensions, but if you don't get a screen in it's still just that: an odd box.
2. Re:Akihabara by colinleroy · 2004-03-11 00:48 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The screen looks photoshopped in the upper edges, and just putting some USB keyboard in front of it isn't enough. I'd had been impressed if the mod was detailed, but I, too, can claim to put a bi-g5 in my powerbook 100, with just a photo starring said powerbook powered off...
  
  --
  blah
3. Re:Akihabara by jetfuel · 2004-03-11 01:06 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  The screen looks photoshopped in the upper edges, and just putting some USB keyboard in front of it isn't enough. I'd had been impressed if the mod was detailed, but I, too, can claim to put a bi-g5 in my powerbook 100, with just a photo starring said powerbook powered off...
  Why would I fake this? 1. Photochop a G3 + SE/30 mod and post on my photoblog claiming that some random store made it. 2. Wait 2 years, then link to it on Slashdot. 3. ???
4. Re:Akihabara by baryon351 · 2004-03-11 01:10 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I came across this picture of a Mac Classic running OSX in Color linked on /. months ago. It however is a certain fake, as are most (all?) of the ones on that site.
5. Re:Akihabara by ChuyMatt · 2004-03-11 03:38 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  seeing as the site is called vHacks (Virtual hacks) i would think it would be obvious...
6. Re:Akihabara by Rand+Race · 2004-03-11 03:39 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Any idea what screen it is using? I've been looking for a LCD or even a color CRT that would fit the SE/30's opening without major modification to the case or fitting a smaller LCD (like this) for a while now.
  
  --
  Insanity is the last line of defence for the master diplomat. But you have to lay the groundwork early.
7. Re:Akihabara by owlicks58 · 2004-03-11 11:10 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  I'm not saying you faked this, but as someone who uses photoshop every single day and my job is retouching pictures I can tell you that screen is fake. It's a bad fake at that. The color is far too uniform, a real screen would have much more light reflected. Not to mention it's wider at the top than it is at the bottom, look at the width of the monitor compared to the side of the case. And yes, the most obvious is the top corners from the old monitor showing through, even the bottom corners had a poor job done on them. I'm sure it was faked by someone else.
  
  --
  -Alex
8. Re:Akihabara by Golias · 2004-03-15 17:19 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I could not agree more.
  Whether you are talking about an old Macintosh, a jewelry box, a tool case, whatever... If you are just going to use it as the plastic walls around your garden-variety PC, your project is slightly less interesting than making a bong out of it.
  
  --
  Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
hmmm by Apreche · 2004-03-11 00:15 · Score: 2, Funny

I just brought me home my apple //gs and my mac plus. I'm a gettin' some unhealthy ideas maybe...

--
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
From the looks of it by freaksta · 2004-03-11 00:27 · Score: 4, Informative

It would appear he is running WindowsXP.

--

Hrrm... I usually just sign my name.
Nice job, except for ESD controls by Halvard · 2004-03-11 01:11 · Score: 3, Funny

Appearance: wow, great job! But it looks like you want a static display piece! Nice job laying out all your hard work on the carpet. Next time, uh, lay it out on a work bench, ESD matt, etc. It'll last longer, you'll hopefully have fewer problems, etc.
What is this, by Stigmata669 · 2004-03-11 01:21 · Score: 5, Funny

a reverse rice rocket?
I guess the owner wants to shock you with his very slow looking Yugo that can do a 10 second quarter mile.
369 fps on Quake3 may not be enough to brag to your buddies, but maybe it just looks that much better when it comes from a case that held a 30mhz mac.

--
Yawn.
1. Re:What is this, by tiktokfx · 2004-03-11 03:36 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Actually, the SE was only 8 MHz.
2. Re:What is this, by redJag · 2004-03-11 07:39 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  by the way, the term for "reverse rice rocket" is sleeper. Lot's of people do it (cars that are wicked fast but don't look it).
3. Re:What is this, by CuriHP · 2004-03-11 08:48 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  This is an SE/30, the successor to the original SE. It had completely different innards.
  
  --
  If it's not on fire, it's a software problem.
4. Re:What is this, by tiktokfx · 2004-03-11 09:02 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  No, it isn't. The mod is clearly of an SE. There are two floppy slots. The SE/3000 refers to the fact that it has a 3GHz processor in it. Also, even if it were an SE/30, it's still not an original 30MHz computer. SE/30's were 16 MHz 680THIRTIES.
5. Re:What is this, by insmod_ex · 2004-03-11 12:37 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The SE/30 ran at only 16Mhz.
Interesting by Cthefuture · 2004-03-11 01:26 · Score: 2, Interesting

A pretty nicely done mod. Of course no matter how good it is there will be something to criticize.

My problem is with the CDROM. Ugh, it looks horrible in there. He should've either decased the CDROM (so all you see is the door), used a laptop style thin drive, or best would have been to use an old iMac drive.

Right now it looks out of place on an otherwise decent design. I've never seen an Apple with a big 'ol dorky CDROM drive shoved in like that.

--
The ratio of people to cake is too big
Interesting, but... by quecojones · 2004-03-11 03:34 · Score: 3, Funny

I would've been more impressed if he'd managed to put a dual G5 in there (to keep the whole Mac thing going). :)

--
"PROFANITY is the inevitable literary crutch of the inarticulate MOTHER FUCKER." -- some PC user
1. Re:Interesting, but... by mgs1000 · 2004-03-11 03:45 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  This was pretty cool
  Some guy took the guts of a G4 cube and put it in a Color Classic
Nice peripherals, sort of by Stargoose · 2004-03-11 04:18 · Score: 3, Informative

The Apple monitor and keyboard sort of make sense, if you reason that he wants to make a Windows box look like a Mac, but I kind of think the theme gets muddled: PC in old Mac case, with new Apple monitor and two-year-old Apple keyboard.

On the other hand, using a PC monitor and keyboard probably wouldn't have looked any nicer. Anyone know how PC hardware handles the special keys (command, option) on Apple keyboards?
1. Re:Nice peripherals, sort of by prockcore · 2004-03-11 04:37 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Anyone know how PC hardware handles the special keys (command, option) on Apple keyboards?
  
  I have an Apple Pro Keyboard hooked up to my PC. Option is Alt, Command is the Windows Key.
2. Re:Nice peripherals, sort of by dbirchall · 2004-03-11 07:19 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  My wife took her Pro Keyboard to work, since she couldn't stand the craptastic one on the PC there. Works fine. I suspect the volume up, down, and off keys, eject key and F13-F16 on my G5's keyboard would be confusing to a PC, though.
  Oh, and since prockcore didn't spell it out, the "Command" key is the one with the apple and the cloverleaf on it, if anyone's confused.
3. Re:Nice peripherals, sort of by prockcore · 2004-03-11 07:42 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I suspect the volume up, down, and off keys, eject key and F13-F16 on my G5's keyboard would be confusing to a PC, though.
  
  Actually, volume up,down,off and eject all work under Linux. I think volume up and down work in Windows, but eject doesn't.
  
  And F13-F15 map directly to Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause.
  
  It does take some getting used to though, because the "windows" key and alt are swapped.
Re:G5 was a "hoax"? by Nick+of+NSTime · 2004-03-11 04:23 · Score: 4, Informative

The G5 wasn't a hoax. The submitter was referring to the recent brouhaha about a guy who stripped the internals out of his G5 and replaced them with not-so-great PC components. It turned out to be a hoax.
Re:G5 was a "hoax"? by b-baggins · 2004-03-11 05:13 · Score: 3, Funny

Yeah, right. Snotty kid brags about turning a G5 into a PC, gets about 30,000 emails, many of them variations on the theme of: You are a total idiot, and a few days later, said kid comes out and says: Uh, it was just a hoax, guys, I didn't really do it.

Uh-huh. Sure.

--
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
Re:Should use Objectdock by Brandybuck · 2004-03-11 08:16 · Score: 2, Interesting

Or KDE with Baghira and KSmoothdock...

--
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
Speaking of mods by Pope · 2004-03-11 09:14 · Score: 4, Interesting

Not so much a casemod, but a guy over on MacNN put a neon kit in his G5 and runs with the panel off. Linky
Can't say I'm a fan of people who make their cases light up ( I think it's a waste of time and money, frankly), but why not try something no one else has?

--
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
nice rendering by tholomyes · 2004-03-11 13:38 · Score: 4, Interesting

either they took a lot of time and care with the photos, or they're very nice renderings. either way, it looks nifty. but, somehow, unreal.

it'd be nice if it didn't light up, too, and you could just tuck its nice small case away to do be a file/print server. good size for that sort of thing.

--
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
Puts my computers to shame! by kingLatency · 2004-03-11 16:22 · Score: 5, Funny

Not only was this a very impressive casemod (and not super-tacky like many are), the computer inside puts all of mine to shame, especially my still-functioning Macintosh SE. ;)

--
"I've got to stop masturbating! It makes me too lazy! Stop it, Albert. Stop it." -- Albert Einstein
Re:How sad... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-11 17:16 · Score: 5, Funny

If a mac SE is a piece of history, I got a museum in my basement.
Re:How sad... by oldosadmin · 2004-03-12 00:52 · Score: 4, Funny

I know at least three people who would kill to have a Mac Classic...

Now just give me your name and address, and I'll send them after you with axes!

--
Jay | http://oldos.org
Re:How sad... by TheDredd · 2004-03-12 01:19 · Score: 2, Funny

quite right.

The Mac Plus is however a different story, and I have my Mac Plus (fully functional, and still capable of playing Dark Castle), stashed somewhere safe! Those babies are going to be worth something someday, and if I'm lucky it's going to be worth the same amount of $$ I payed for the bastard
Re:How sad... by capmilk · 2004-03-12 04:54 · Score: 3, Informative

Remember "Back to the Future" part 2? There was a Mac Plus in the antiques shop, right next to Gray's Sports Almanac. I can't remember the price tag, but it did not seem to be awfully valuable. But hey, that was only 2015. :)
Re:Should use Objectdock by System.out.println() · 2004-03-12 05:04 · Score: 2, Informative

Objectdock = Windows XP
Baghira = I don't have a fucking clue
KSmoothDock = Linux

As one of the other posters noted, it appears he would like to play some games on it.

--
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
Revival by phorm · 2004-03-12 05:36 · Score: 2, Interesting

You're not killing it, you're reviving it in a new form. Now, instead of sitting in a closet picking up dust, the user has a Mac case which, while looking much like the original, is a bit fancy and a whole lot more functional.
Re:How sad... by crackshoe · 2004-03-12 13:17 · Score: 2, Interesting

My home school district has been thowing out classics and SE's for a few years now. I take em home (from our dump), figure out which ones work, and which ones don't. the good ones find homes or sit around looking pretty, and the busted ones get modified. howver, there reaches a point where you have a bit too much nostalgia (this comes when you can't lie down on your bed becuase you didn't have anywhere else to cram that 6500)

--
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
Re:How sad... by Myopic · 2004-03-13 11:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

lighten up, man. one fewer SE in the world is not trashing history. there are millions of computers in dumps around the world. you may be a proud owner of a Classic which will not be destroyed, but instead it'll die a lonely death in the corner of a closet.
Re:Photoshopped by ALpaca2500 · 2004-03-15 03:52 · Score: 2, Funny

oh yeah? you look photoshopped to me...