Wooden Computer Accessories

polyp2000 writes "It's always interesting to read about case-mods, but this company has a novel twist, for nature loving geeks. Maybe even the perfect accessory for a wooden case mod. Swedx do a nice line in wooden monitors, keyboards, and some sweet looking wooden mice in a selection of different woods."

Comments

Still...

[detritus`]

Definitely not the case and/or setup for those overclockers out there :) especially with heat output getting real close to 100W...

Re:Still...

[mabinogi]

no, Joules are a measure of energy, watts are a measure of power, which is energy over time. Specifically, joules per second.

But regardless, the 100 joules per second of energy being produced are not necesarily 100% heat.

lemons are yellow, but that doesn't mean all yellow things are lemons.

Re:Still...

[Rob Simpson]

It all ends up as heat eventually - unless you use it to drive an endothermic process or store some of the energy. Most of the joules used by a computer would probably be heat from resistance, etc. and any light, sound, and whatnot produced should wind up as heat pretty quickly, too.

Re:Still...

[LarsWestergren]

Definitely not the case and/or setup for those overclockers out there :) especially with heat output getting real close to 100W...

That does not really matter. As others have pointed out, the heat disappation of your metal case is close to zero compared to how much is dissappated by the air circulated by your case fans, so switching to wood won't make any difference.

There are lots of predicatble jokes here about it catching fire, but most traditional Finnish saunas are made from wood. You can actually have wood panelling right next to metal that is so hot it's glowing red without the wood smoldering. Though just like with saunas, it would probably be best not to use wood that is impregnated or treated with anything for the cases, as that might give off not very healthy gasses if warmed up.

With regards to being heavy - it might be a bit bulky, but I think I read wood is actually one of the strongest materials compared to its weight in the world. Hey, here is an idea, how about spider silk cases?

Finally, the environmental question: wood is about as renewable resource as there is, and we have lots of it in Sweden. As long as the wood doesn't come from protected forests ("ur-skog") or rainforests, you can't really get more environmentally friendly.

You love nature so much that you

[pair-a-noyd]

cut down a tree in honor of it?

Hmmmmm..... Anyone else see somehting wrong with this picture??

Re:You love nature so much that you

[Brandybuck]

Cut down a tree (renewable resource) versus mining bauxite (nonrenewable resource). The answer is trivial when you think about it. While it's a bad thing to cut down entire rainforests of hardwood just to make mice, it's even worse to mine entire mountains level just so you get a 1337 aluminum case.

Re:You love nature so much that you

[Brandybuck]

Pine, oak, ash, beech, maple, etc., are all "farmed" woods suitable for mice that don't require any rainforests to be stripped. Even apple and cherry wood from old orchards is suitable for small items like these, and would be very cool.

If you want some exotic rainforest hardwoods instead, there's no need to "strip log" them. Selective cutting preserves the ecostructure quite nicely. Clearcutting is a sign of bad government management of resources. It's easy enough to brand "eco-friendly" lumber to make sure you aren't buying mouse made from clearcut timber.

Re:You love nature so much that you

[Penguinshit]

actually, if you cut the tree correctly, the stump will live and produce yet another tree. Only the part you cut away dies (and even that could be coaxed into becoming its own tree).

I propagate roses all the time in this fashion. It's called "asexual reproduction" (something with which many slashdotters are invariably familiar...).

Re:You love nature so much that you

[bluGill]

I don't know much about washington state, but I do know that in MN where most of the logging is Aspen (for paper, a fast growing tree), the best way to harvest them is clear cutting a small area, and letting nature take over and re-seed. There is a lot of wildlife in MN that prefers this system. Some like the forest just after the cutting, while others like it just before, but if they would leave it, the forest would change again.

Note that I'm talking about one particular type of forest, and this practice is only done on land the lumber company owns. State and private land is managed differently, for different growth, even there though, clear cutting and then replanting gives all the new trees a better chance at survival.

Getting Slashdotted??

[aarku]

You'd think a company would make sure they have the bandwidth ready before they advertised err submitted the story.

Wouldn't sweat wreak havok on a wooden mouse, anyways? My lowly plastic one gets stained and dirty enough.

Re:Nature-loving geeks?

[fbjon]

Building something, anything, out of wood is a very natural way of doing it. There are a number of species on this planet that cut down trees to build structures, humans are not the only ones.

Wood feels nice, sounds nice, and looks nice. It is renewable. And you're forgetting WHERE this tree is cut down, is it in an ancient forest with 300-year old trees, or in a homegrown backyard lot?

"I'm nature-loving."

Then why not do it the natural way?

IT people and woodworking

[LuxFX]

I'm an amateur hobbyist woodworker -- it's nice to build things you can hold -- so I love seeing stuff like this, and hope one day I'll be good enough to make them, too.

The funny thing is how many people seem to be in my position. When reading newsgroups like rec.woodworking, I came across a lot of tech-types that have either turned to woodworking as a hobby in their spare time, or in their laid-off time.

Anybody else on this board that have moved toward woodworking?

Re:Plenty of wood already ....

[Cali Thalen]

Gods...I hate to post this in reply about wood, but....

Did anyone else see the URL for that site and immediately try to figure out if it was something akin to goatse.cx?

See... ./ does rot the brain...

Re:(OT) Re:an actual link

[Patik]

If you have not clicked on a slashdot link and got an unexpected goatse link then maybe you have not slashdotted much.

First, by default Slashdot mentions the link target's server right after the link in brackets. Second, I when I hover over the link, the URL is displayed at the bottom of the browser (and yes I do look at this before clicking). Third, try quoting sometime, it's very useful, but oh, wait, you can't use HTML, never mind. Fourth, you've got legs, why bother with a car or bike? Just walk everywhere.

if you are an M$ (l)user

Wow, any credibility you had left was lost with those two lame, overused typos.

Re:I think...

[dabadab]

Well, wood will not resonate as badly as thin metal plates do and probably it very effectively dampens any noise, so yes, it is probably silent.
Nice, big, low RPM fans can take care of the heat.
And transparency... well, that's silly :)

Re:I think...

[Moraelin]

Well, here's what I don't understand. (And please don't take it as a flame or anything.) Why would anyone want an ugly transparent contraption?

The innards of my computer are a twisty maze of cables, all alike. Between the hard drives, two CD drives, Audigy 2 Platinum front tray, case fans, etc, it's one big mess of cables.

Not that it would be any better without the cables. It's a colour cacophony of red PCBs, blue PCBs, traditionalist green PCBs, aluminum heatsink on the CPU, copper heatsink on the graphics card, and whatever else.

Now if I were to also add some lit fans or neon lights, as seems to be the custom, then it would only get an even uglier colour cacophony.

What's that supposed to look like? A cheap circus tent? A bad acid trip? A sad clown on a really bad makup day? A terror attack on a paint warehouse?

And the real question: why on Earth would I want to look at that every day? Also: why would I want the others to see that?

Now I can see haow that would have a novelty factor in the beginning, and can appreciate at least the work of those who personally modded their own case. (Even if to a butt-ugly result.) But... you know... it's been some years already. The novelty ought to have worn off, and you can already buy that kind of cases mass-produced.

Re:oh please

[smittyoneeach]

Or, the concern may be lack of RFI shielding, where the wood looks about like plastic wrap. YMMV with a Telefunken U47 nearby.

Re:I think...

[rpillala]

I think the grandparent post meant the computer itself should be transparent as in not drawing attention to itself. Not a physically transparent case for the computer. Maybe a better word would have been "unobtrusive."

Correct me if I'm wrong though, grandparent.

Ravi