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Orac^3 -- Not Your Everyday Casemod
jmke writes "G-nome has finished his amazing Orac case mod, which looks absolutely stunning." An excerpt from the site: "Ever since I saw the first series of Blakes 7 I have wanted my own Orac. For those that don't know, Blakes 7 was a late 70s/early 80s British Science Fiction series and Orac was this intellectually snobbish, difficult and incredibly brilliant computer, hand built by an eccentric scientist. The special effects were straight out of 60's Star Trek and a lot of the props were converted from (or later converted to) props from other classic BBC series such as Doctor Who and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (where the Bambleweeny 57 sub-meson brain looks like it was made by the same bloke!)."
Go look!!!!
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
That thing doesn't look like it has ANY RF shielding. Bet the FCC and the people who live around him love it. :->
I could.
I am happy someone is doing more than just adding neon or chrome to an otherwise-boring beige box. Many of you may think this is wierd, but I am happy to see people express themselves inside or outside of the PC.
OK, this is a killer mod. But it just makes me wonder why so many people who do a total mod make it look just like a regualar tower PC case? With all that freedom... why is this still just a rectangular box?
Just don't let Servalan get her hands on the key : )
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
Damnit, only 8 replies and it's /.ed.
That is a tight fit, is there any space for the computer components
I was lucky to see it early, now it's slowing down to a crawl
Too many zeros, not enough ones
This is one of the best system mods that I have ever seen. Congradulations! This was obviously a lot of work and an incredible attention. Absolutely amazing.
"The quality of life is determined by its activites."--Aristotle
I'll first congratulate whoever built this maagnificent piece of art. Very cool. You have way too much free time :) (He's also an excellent photographer. Not something you see very often in case modders :) )
But it's just not functional!!!!
All that metal tubing for the cables and stuff and the water cooling tubing must make it a nightmare to work in. Do all those tubes even go anywhere?? It seems awfuly crowded to work in there
How would you change a hard drive?
I'm also not a huge fan of watercooling. If there is a leak, two things happen.
1) Your computer gets wet
2) The chernobyl effect. Assuming it's survived this long, the coolant's now gone, and the computer keeps getting hotter. Uh oh.
That being said, it's still beautifully crafted with incredible attention paid to detail.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Try the FreeCache link, you can at a min. view the first page
-------------------------------------------------
What are you doing spending money to have a computer, or be online? If it's not your computer, why are you paying taxes instead of moving to africa and sharing your money with the poor?
Why, why!? Ohhh the humanity!
Presently here, but not there.
The effects on Blakes7 were not borrowed from Classic Trek. They were lifted straight out of Dr. Who, another landmark BBC SF show famous for its cheesy effects.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
The site is chugging along slowly, but here's a mirror of the two shots on the front page so people can get the gist of the mod.
Front
Back
Apple should hire this guy. In the world of cheesy 'look-through-the-window-at-my-neon-tubes' case-modding, this fellow has certainly showed us all something truly unique.
-- n
Fools! Not even that progressive *.jpg's will help your server from getting destroyed. Slashdot should really consider mirroring [I know others do it, but come on slash] the sites it explodes, out of consideration. Oh well..
Use Minidisc? Join the Minidisc.org forums.
IMO article submitters should be reponsible about their submitted articles, knowing full well what the /. effect is, and make some mirrors or at least try to. This is pathetic only a handfull of replies and its already /.ed
I mean I love the thought of someone's server melting down to a gooey glob of plastich and maybe taking their house down with them, but i want to read the story dammit.
The slashdotting of this server can be raised to the 3 as well.
Exp[Server]=slashdotting
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
I was able to grab the first two images before server died.
Thanks to my /. subscription, i was able to secure some images!
orac3 images
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
>1) Your computer gets wet
= articles/s ubmersion/submersion.html
They could submerge it (and still make it look nice) instead:
http://www.octools.com/index.cgi?caller
>2) The chernobyl effect. Assuming it's survived this long, the coolant's now gone, and the computer keeps getting hotter. Uh oh.
It should be a closed system; I presume there isn't a water hose leading to the guy's kitchen?
from the story posting:
"G-nome has finished his amazing Orac case mod, which looks absolutely stunning."
from the linked web site:
by G-gnome on 9th June 2004
that's G-gnome, not G-nome. Note the extra "G".
Proofreading, anyone?
Been a while, but IIRC...
Orac was special because it had access to subspace, and could communicate with any computer anywhere.
Orac met his demise when the occupants of subspace got annoyed at the signals he was transmitting though their realm. (Sort of reminds me of a STTNG episode too... perhaps I'm confused).
Last I heard, the actor that played the character "Avon", had bought the rights to the series, and was working on continuing it.
Any torrents of the series?
Back on topic: why would anone want to see the dust in their computer? Or end up a slave to constantly cleaning it, and carefully?
I'm also not a huge fan of watercooling. If there is a leak, two things happen.
1) Your computer gets wet
2) The chernobyl effect. Assuming it's survived this long, the coolant's now gone, and the computer keeps getting hotter. Uh oh.
I did a lot of experimenting with watercooling for about two years, short answer is it isn't going to leak unless you do something stupid or are very unlucky. If you have a GFCI on the outlet, you don't actually have too much to worry about. Just use proper clamps, or even zip ties will work ok.
So basically, I'd say this one is not worth worrying about. There have been very few meltdowns for all of the water cooling kits sold, and it HAS come a long way. Resevoirs aren't really needed with some of the new and adapted pumps that are out there. Fish tank 120V submersibles are obsoleted for 12V pumps. Good purpose built radiators are out there. Add silicone tubes and good hose clamps, and you shouldn't see a leak. Think of all the high pressure systems in your average car - rarely do those fail if maintained in far worse conditions.
..don't panic
That's really impressive, a ton of work went into this mod. I can't imagine having this amount of time to devote. Nice photos too for the most part, and very descriptive captions.
I'll post a mirror as PDFs if needed.
don't put this machine near your kids or anything - they might get assimilated...
But it's just not functional!!!!
./ ing) you will see that this is exactly the look he was going for. I agree that if you have problems though its going to be a bitch to fix it.
All that metal tubing for the cables and stuff and the water cooling tubing must make it a nightmare to work in. Do all those tubes even go anywhere?? It seems awfuly crowded to work in there
The crowded nature of the case with all the cables and tubes was what he wanted to produce. There are people that are not going to like that but to each his own. If you do get a chance to read his comments (after the harsh
Having done some modding myself, I can't imagine the work that went into this thing. Its really amazing even if its not everyone's 'cup of tea'.
Really,
it's a very nice case mod, but has no link to Blakes7 other than the name.
Watercooling will be stock inside of a year or two. No matter how hard and elite the modders try to make it sound, you really have to do something stupid to fuck it up.
And all those cables are power/usb/drive/etc cables inside any computer.
You could still dismantle it if you had to do some work, it's not really that much more crowded than any other case.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Or to put it differently, I like it but would not want it to be my own. I'd want something that looks awsome but also extremely functional. This looks like a maitnance/upgrade nightmare. Don't mean to be trollish, just my honest opinion. If it is easy to work with, then it has my vote.
Like millions of others, I'm always mucking around in my PC. For the past 15 years, all of the various incarnations of my main desktop have spent most of their time with the cover off. And I've yet to have a single cell phone problem, cordless phone problem, pager problem, AM radio problem, FM radio problem, shortwave radio problem, CB radio problem, 802.11b, g or a problem, TV reception problem, or flux capacitor problem. Best of all, chicks dig it! And who can blame them? I'm clearly the kind of guy who likes to live life on the edge.
3000+ comments meta-modded. 0 mod points awarded.
Lesson for other meta-suckers: Don't believe the hype!
http://robotiq.com/index.asp?category=orac
For those who just want to see the final picture of the case quickly go here.
two words : water cooling
I'm glad I'm not the only one that's thought of building a ORAC computer mod. My Amiga on my LAN has been called Orac for years. I also named my wintel box Gambit, my gf's box Zen and our extra computer Slave. :)
*It's not what you can do for the Dark Side but what the Dark Side can do for you!*
this really is beautiful.
now if only powermac g5's were cheap enough for me to buy one, and completely ignore the warranty to build a piece of art like this. Of course, I'd use those chrome tubes and attach Doctor Octopus claws on the end of mine.
The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
Believe it or not I became interested in computing from that TV show and that same orac computer.
... and luck would have it they were both computer engineers. So they told me a all about how a computer is an intelligent machine, and from then on i decided that i would create computers like ORAC and was pretty much obssessed with them. Shortly thereafter i got my parents to buy my a BASIC book and was deeply mired in goto statements.
No, I am not British. I am actually from one of the soviet block countries and believe it or not our national TV bought and broadcast that show. I can see now why they prefer it to Star Trek. I don't remember the storylines exactly, but Blake's 7 had a revolutionary overall story line -- it was a bit like Star Wars with a small revolutionary group fighting an evil empire. Also I am willing to bet Blake's was much much cheaper than startrek.
Well I was a little kid and I asked my parents what a computer was
Anyways, thank you Blake's 7!!! You made me a nerd!
P.S. Am I glad my country did not buy Startrek instead! I would be a startrek nerd on top everything else!
dude, wear do you live??
:)
My 386 had a PS2 ports, mind you it was an IBM
But my 2 486's one a random brand name one a no name had them..
Next you'll be wanting a mod to put USB 1.1 on your Athlon XP case..
You have 5 Moderator Points!
Which Helpless Linux zealot/MS basher do you want to mod down today?
I'm talking about generic cases from before 1995, when the AT standard didn't even have the PS/2 mouse port next to the keyboard port, like there were on many late model 486s, and Pentium boards. Had to saw away a chunk of the case on some of those babies to get the mouse to the motherboard.
Not sure why I was modded flamebait, I guess case-modders of the namby pamby pretty case sort, are easily offended by critism of their speed holes, and fins.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
This idiot should take his next pay packet and sponsor a child in Africa or something.
Let me see if I understand what you're saying:
1) Study hard.
2) Work hard.
3) Don't Profit!
I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
hands down, that's art
it reminds of paintings by hr giger, the guy who created the monster from the movie alien:
google image search for hr giger
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I must admit that after reading the first few comments I was rather disappointed when I actually got to see the thing. Not my taste. I'm more of a mahogany and brass sort of guy. A Chinese tea chest case might be rather nice, or something in the style of a Japanese kitchen chest.
Still, there's no denying the work that went into this thing, so I'll give him brownie points for that.
KFG
Note, both times it took over a year for the system to fail. It is my belief that on a long enough time line, all water cooling systems will fail. How long have you been using yours for?
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
I have been following his friendly rivalry with Zap wizard for awhile now. It has taken him a good bit of time. Very impressive. I know its not a valuable post but I felt I just had to say something about this, since I was so surprised that other people were actually following this build (which seemed to take forever dammit!)
Panel F, Relay #70
Proofreading, anyone? 42 [1]
[1]: You're new here, aren't you? [2]
[2]: Much like the joke about the prisoners who've been locked up so long they call out jokes by number.
Complexity is Easy. Simplicity is Hard.
To each theor own, personally I'd like to find a really old radion, you know what I mean, the wooden ones from the 20's or 30's and put a little ITX board in it and use it to stream MP3's to the stereo system, but in the end, its about how you like the way it looks, and how much pride you can take in it. I'd say hes got both the looks and pride hands down.
Currently I've just painted all of mine, but it adds colour to the room so its nicer to work in here, and yes I have a neon tube, but I like blue.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
I've seen this case before, but truely a amazing piece of work... just plain amazing. nice work to the constructor of this case simply awsome.
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
put one drop of bleach in there (on a side note, if you ever have to sanitize water, one drop of bleach per gallon should kill most harmful bacteria and other living organisms)
You're right, I spoke before a saw more than just the first two pictures. This is quite real.
Well firstly, everytime someone does something interesting, theres an army of people deriding it because it doesn't add any functionality.
Secondly, everyone does stuff that is not of a functional nature, so saying anything bad or deogatory about someone elses hard work when obviouly they are quite proud of it simply because it didn't make it any faster is a little hypocritical. For instance ever painted a room or bought a plant? Did painting the room add any space or help you organize the room better? Did the plant clean up after you or remind you that you had things to do? They wern't very functional endevors now were they, but you did them anyways.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
This mod reminds me a lot of my PC mod. I'm not trying to tute my own wistle here, just offer some insight into the wonderful things one can do with something as simple as silver loom and offer some advice
My friends and I got into the case mod thing a while back. I ended up getting a nice case with a window, threw in a few blue cold cathodes, and watched in glee as all of my friends and I had the same exact thing albeit different colored LEDs and Neons. Wippdie-do. I needed something to make mine look a little different than my friends so aside from doing the invisible CD drive mod (case simplicity is bliss), I loomed all of my power and IDE cords with chrome loom you can pick up from automotive shops like Advance or Auto Zone.
I also found the chrome loom at a few online retailers but the price was ridicilious. I think I ended up getting a few feet of the stuff from a local auto shop from the StreetGlow brand. This stuff can really make what used to be a boring case something plesant on the eyes. It really accents the colored LEDs or Neons in your case.
The tricky part is figuring out how much to cut for each strip of wite. I suggest laying out all of your drives in your case and connecting the molexes. Make sure to leave an extra molex near the bottom for future upgrade as I'm sure most new graphics cards will require them. Cut the loom to size of the wire with a litte bit extra which can nicely cover that ugly molex. I went with 1/4" loom which worked perfectly for that huge motherboard connector, and works great with room to spare on the rounded IDE cables. If you want to give it something a little extra get some 1/8" also and use it for the smaller cables. I was going to cover my water cooling tubes with the stuff but that was a bit over kill. Still, the case looks more like something out of a badass anime while all of my friends cases look just about the same.
You can also try colored chrome loom instead of traditional silver but since I've got blue lights I wanted as much reflection as possible.
Has anyone else had experience with this, what problems did you run across? Can you share some advice?
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
Due to popular request, I went digging and found the site in my cache! Unfotunatly, I only got 3 pages before the server was /.'d. Still worth it.
http://members.shaw.ca/infonic/orac/
enjoy!
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
Indeed. And why is it called Orac when it doesn't actually look anything like Orac?
It isn't a Dr. Who homage. The problem is that he only used a half-size tower case. If he had gone with a full-tower, he would not have had to leave off the "le" on the end. At least he used something approximating the corporate font on the resevoir so you still kind of get an impression of what he was aiming for.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
i wonder how huch that effing thing cost him to build, aside from the acutal components.
"One man's "magic" is another man's engineering."-- Robert A. Heinlein
It's available on DVD now, finally.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
Um ... it's cute and all... but it's absolutely nothing like Orac.
And I bet it's not got the original annoyingly condescending voice, either. Can't have Orac without that!
most processors will slow themselves down if they get too hot.
Since the site went down, I feel bad for people, so here's another casemod that really shows how much work that goes into it... Here ya are, the Blackmesa Case Mod
Most of the cheap-ass fans they put in computers these days also fail after about a year.
I once took apart a "ball-bearing" fan. It had a single metal ball inside, placed at the end of the shaft (the real bearing was just a metal sleeve). I had to laugh! At least they weren't totally dishonest.
for K-kde to finish his mod ;-)
Looks nice, but its not Orac. Wheres the circular ring with the sequential flashing lights? And when you turn it on, does it sound like an angry bee trapped inside a coke can?
My web domain.
To each theor own
:) Most of the space is empty, open backed speaker enclosure.
Absolutely.
I'd like to find a really old radion, you know what I mean, the wooden ones from the 20's or 30's and put a little ITX
I like your radio idea. Never occured to me. I've got a 1920s floor model. I could put a 20 inch TV in it with room to spare. In fact, I could probably put an ATX board in it without disturbing the radio itself. Maybe two.
I think I'll leave well enough alone for now though.
KFG
Do not, however, believe the idiots who tell you this is a fine way to make river water potable when camping.
It had rained during the night, so we were having trouble getting the campfire started to boil a pot of water. My buddy, who was an Army Ranger for chrissakes, says, "No problem!" He pulls out this tiny bottle with an eyedropper, and plops one drop of bleach into the pot. No more buggies. Nice and clean. Tasted nasty, but it was safe.
Holy christ. Somebody needed to tell that to our digestive systems. About fifteen minutes later, somebody down there pulled the Big Red Switch and WHOOOM. More came out than ever went in, and it emerged with a force sufficient to lift me about a foot right up into the air. I expected to look down and see a pile of clean, white bones lying there. A couple of ribs, my left ulna, two vertibrae, and, right in the middle, my pelvis.
I was expelling so fast my butt actually got hot from the friction.
I've had dissentary and I've drunk bleach-water. I'll take the amoebas any day.
I write in my journal
PC components are individually certified by the FCC.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I saw this a couple weeks ago, because its slashdotted pretty well now. Truly remarkable, above and beyond most case modding.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Only the pentium 4, as far as desktops go, and in certain laptops as well, but aside from that, no. It's far from "most".
01101001 01100001 01101101 01101110 01101111 01110100 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110111 01111001 01100101 01110010
The Athlon XP (at least with some motherboards) will shut off if it gets to hot. I don't think it degrades gracefully, and I don't think I want to find out given the Toms Hardware video of them testing the original Athlon (supposedly part of what scared AMD into putting a thermal diode into their chips), but at least it shouldn't die.
The thing is he didn't use silver loom, it's actually shower hoses.
Actually, if you take a look a the new Apple G5s they are already liquid cooled. http://www.apple.com/powermac/design.html
...or so they say.
Opinions stated are mine and do not reflect those of the Illuminati
i saw this thing almost a year ago
Whatever, buddy. Seriously. Come to think of it, I'd expect to hear a mac fanboy say that :)
Not really, but I was lucky enough to see the front page so I'll post a sample picture.
Here's the better of the two pictures on the front page:
orac3.jpg
(This ain't blazingly fast server either, so my apologizies if it's dead already)
Bot Assisted Blogging
First thing it did when I turned it on was predict the destruction of the liberator.
I don't own a Mac, but I really like the styling of Macintosh computers. They have a cool, clean, modern, almost organic look to them. It's clear they have been professionally designed to have an appealing aesthetic. Case-mods, for the most part, are done by hobbyists/amateurs, and they look like it, too.
Not to take anything away from this guy. He's obviously skilled. To me, though, it's just kind of ugly. :\
The msi-boards even cut the power to the processor if it gets too hot.
Wanted to see the pics, so I took the time to set up a complete mirror, content and all. The server seems to be quite a bit better now, but it's still buckling under the load.
Full mirror
Just used wget so the javascript won't work, but all the content is there.
I saw this thing when he 1st started... it turned out nice... but did he actually do any system/harware tweaking? I'd like to see the specs on this thing for quake...etc...
||| I still can't believe Parkay's not butter.
an intellectually snobbish computer runs linux? Certainly most of the intellectually snobbish computer users do.
Chances are you didn't use enough bleach. The water in your tap, has been dosed with chlorine at much higher concentrations than what you would have drunk. Haven't you ever been swimming in a pool? Didn't you swallow any? That didn't give you the runs did it? I agree with the other poster who said you should have used more bleach and left it for an hour or two. I think the water purifying tablets you can buy say much the same thing in the instructions.
If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?
QUOTE "the second time it didn't spill but nearly fried the computer because even with antifeeze the pumps seized with some kind of growth..."
This is probably because of mineral deposits that built up and not biological "growths".
tap-water contains minerals and other crap and is very unclean to leave in a system like that, eventually minerals collect in a place and the pump seizes.
I'd suggest you used Distilled water...
That brings another question:
Can water be too pure for use in PC water-coolant systems? It may sound counter-intuitive, but yes, water can be too pure. Both distilled and de-ionized water have a very low dissolved solids content. This means there is a very low concentration of ions in solution, as indicated by high conductivity. It takes a lot of effort and energy (various purification processes) to remove the majority of ions from water. Water desires these ions back to maintain equilibrium and will aggressively take them from any available source.
Using 100% distilled water or DI water in a PC water-cooling system is not recommended, as it may slowly attack metallic surfaces, especially aluminum!
Several of the coolant additives specifically designed for race cars and water-cooled motorcycles have warnings stating not to use distilled or DI water with their products unless automotive antifreeze is also used in the mix. The reason for this is that the thin walls of lightweight aluminum radiators used on racing cars and motorcycles may form pinhole leaks as the aluminum is attacked by the hot, pure water. Adding a little antifreeze (or other additives) to the mix puts enough ions back into the water to re-establish equilibrium and help neutralize pure water's corrosive properties. It is worth noting that this affect is greatly accelerated by the higher temperatures found in racing coolant systems.
So why use distilled water at all? Another good question! The two main reasons I recommend using distilled water as the primary component of the coolant are:
* Distilled water is naturally low in dissolved minerals and other contaminants
* Steam distilled water (especially if it has been treated with ozone or uV light prior to bottling) will be virtually free of microorganisms
* And, because the corrosive nature of distilled (or DI) water can be effectively neutralized by adding small amounts of various additives
Using water that is low in mineral and other contaminants is important for two reasons: First, having a low mineral content will help prevent any mineral deposits from forming on heat transfer surfaces. This is the same scaly buildup commonly associated with hard water. The second reason for using water with minimal contaminants is that this removes one of the main food sources that microorganisms need to live on. Without a food source they can not grow and multiply.
I still recommend using distilled water as the primary coolant. The key is to use a proper mix of additives to minimize corrosion, keep microorganisms from growing and decrease surface tension.
I wrote a huge article all about this and tips and etc etc... all about the water in watercooling at http://www.overclockers.com/tips1153/index.asp
I think G-nome forgot to leave room inside his case for the keyboard.
http://www.waveney.demon.co.uk/whoswho/Orac.jpeg
I can't find any good pics of the original orac, but here's a sample.
Is there any way we can mod this up to +6 funny?
I'm still shaking from laughter. Great story.
Please login to access my lawn
Excuse me, but BULLSHIT
I design radio test equipment for a living, and you DAMN SURE do keep the RF from a device from radiating by putting a shield around it - you just TRY to get a reciever working if don't have the local oscillators in cans!
The problem with most computer cases nowadays is they are CHEEP (spelling deliberate) and poorly made. Most panel to panel connections are simply 2 pieces of aluminum resting against each other (in other words, two pieces of aluminum seperated by a sapphire insulator, as aluminum quickly develops an oxide coating) - no beryllium-copper fingerstock, no compression gaskets, no star washers, nothing. When you have a chunk of metal not bonded to the chassis, you have a passive radiator, not a shield.
If you wish to evaluate a case for RF shielding, put a light inside it, turn out the room lights, and look for leaks. Any gap longer than about 20 centimeters will act as a slot antenna for 1.5GHz(ish). Most modern cases leak like sieves.
If you ever have the chance, look at an old Atari 800 (NOT 800XL) - those things were TANKS and didn't leak any RF to speak of - potmetal case around all active components, proper gaskets - truely a joy to behold. Of course that adds cost to the system, and in this day that won't fly.
I constantly have birdies on my 2 meter rig from my computer - I have to unload the Firewire drivers any time I am not using them or I get a signal that is half-full scale 100 meters from my house. I'm seriously thinking of making a full Faraday cage for all my computer gear (save user interface elements) just to avoid the problems.
www.eFax.com are spammers
One of the British TVs most beautiful and schoolboy, errr, fantasy-inspiring women.
-- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
This idiot should take his next pay packet and sponsor a child in Africa or something.
--
[ Franklin/Jeffersonian quote of "let people be free" here. ]
They that can give up someone else's essential liberty to grant some child in Africa a little temporary food deserve neither liberty nor food.
[
I thought it was the default Oracle dierctory on Windows as seen in the 8+3-limited command line "shell." Was the pun intended?
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
Looks like this guy has a shower hose running through his computer case.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
I have not seen a Mac, which needed any case moding.
Fear not, little chickens - we've spoken to our hosts, and a line upgrade is imminent! You guys have been maxxing out our line to 100% for 7 hours, so do your worst to the new one, eh? :)
Its very pretty but it looks more Borg and Orac.
If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?
What about the Epia Sphere? :)
Yes, but your 2 meter rig no doubt has a receiver that is broad as all outdoors, they just don't design them very tight for the same reason that they don't design cases very tight, MONEY. It sure would be great to have a handheld (or mobile), with a tracking front end, then you would have very few if any birdies.
"...And why is it called Orac when it doesn't actually look anything like Orac?"
Probably because it was inspired by Orac. And in my opinion, it looks way better than the Blakes 7 prop.
Are you suggesting that doing anything artistic is waste of time? Millions of people waste their money on pointless things that they consider to be important, such as buying the latest this or that or whatever. The consumerism in our society is a far greater "evil", as you put it, than artistic expression. It's true that there are other, perhaps more worthy causes, which could hardly be solved by a few hundred dollars. It's upto the government to address the issues of third world poverty. And it's really upto the people to put preassure on the government to do so. In any case, how do you know that the guy(?) who built the thing doesn't do his bit for charity?
I got about a years worth of running out of mine as well. No leaks. It was the DC pump that failed one day. Just stoped working overnight.
Someone captured a sentinel right off the screen of The Matrix and just slam dunked into a plexiglas case. Sweet!
On behalf of the creator, I can say: 1) The "busy" effect is intentional 2) Pretty much every component has been modded in some way. As a result, there won't be any future upgrades for this box.
I'm sorry, but case modding is far from Consumerican (unless you count those pre-modded cases, which should hardly be counted as "modded"). Normally case mods come with a lot of hard work. Have you ever spent 3 hours with a dremel cutting a window in the side of your case so that it looks perfect. Or how about sanding a coat of paint for 9 hours total so that you can fix your hair in it. There's far more involved in case modding than "oooooh...shinies." It's something you make with your own hard labor. Most American consumers wouldn't touch something that would involve so much work unless it paid well, and definatelly NOT for the "enjoyment" of it.
Bleach will work if...
1. You use the right amount (don't know the proportions off the top of my head)
2. You leave it to sit and work based on the temperature of the water. Cold water requires you let it sit longer.
3. Lots of particulate matter (protein!) can protect nasty buggies from the chemicals. Physically filtering the water through something to get the big bits out first is a good idea.
I've had a 100% success rate by using a ceramic filter and my judgment. If the water looks really iffy (i.e. hepatitis) I'll look elsewhere or use iodine after filtering it. Fortunatly really nasty stuff (like viruses) isn't a problem in wilderness areas where human waste isn't present.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
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Did you ever consider maybe there were more parasites in you already then in the water? Maybe the bleach killed them and your body was doing a good core dump...
PC mods remind me of souped up Honda Civics or as I call them "all show and no go." I am just curious why people waste so much money on something that can be quite expensive and so useless.
I haven't had a PC mod in my life. If I end up with extra money, I usually spend it on hardware or something that can increase my productivity, something that is useful. I do admire the fact that people are dedicated to making their boxes look good, but gee.... a computer is just a tool.
Hey,
The 3 out of my 4 2m Rigs have nice TIGHT front ends - not hard to buy either. Stop looking for out of band receive. I bought commercial gear, in my case (pun) GE, but Motorola is just as good. Yeah, the stuff is larger, if bought new, a LOT more expensive, doesn't have as many features, but when other folks are plagued with intermod, or birdies, my rig is quiet, you can HEAR the HT I carry, even in a noisy environment, and if I drop it on the floor, it bounces
Of couse, to by that HT NEW would run you about $1800 USD vs, what, $200 for a new 2mHT? Of course, by shopping around, I got a used rig for that same $200
You pay your money, you make your choices...
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
chl
One word comes to mind (well, compound one):
Clusterfuck
My thoughts exactly. It is a shame Apple added liquid cooling only to hide it away under the hood.
I used distilled water+the koolance brand anti-freeze, and I'm pretty sure I had biological growth still as opposed to mineral deposits because it was a pale white sludge that was slippery to the tough and vaguely resembeled phglem.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
The ONLY ONLY ONLY thing to put in a water cooling system is DI water. DI water is both distilled and deionized which means it is neither conductive nor corrosive.
Your local community college probably makes DI water and will likely fill up a couple of gallon jugs for you for free.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
take ~1 gallon of water and add enough blach dropwise until you get a little whiff of chlorine from the water (just a little stronger than city water). Let sit 2 hours, then aerate the water by pouring it back and forth between two pots a few times, and add anough bleach to get back to the tiny whiff of Cl. the water should have a pronounced bleach flavor - "it tastes like shit, but you can live off it!"
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
I'll take the amoebas any day.
You really don't want an amoebic infection of the bloodstream. My stepfather got one while clearing out the drains in our cottage (disused farmhouse cottage). We don't know how long it had been brewing, but for about three nights he would go to bed and then start having "the shakes". He was deathly white, and was shivering with an amplitude of an inch. I was just about expecting something to burst out at any minute.
Fortunately, we got him to the doctor for a checkup. As his white blood cell count was somewhere beyond the solar system, the doc immediately sent him to hospital. The medics managed to drain around 2 litres of gunk out of his liver, and then injected him full of antibiotics. After that, he had a full checkup to find out how the amoeba's got into his bloodstream. The doctors suspect the cause was a missing filling.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
that has to be the best case mod i have EVER seen. it even tops my prior favorite, the alien case mod.
Wow. Nice case. But what happens when he needs to add a new network card...?
The Neo-Bohemian Techno-Socialist
Actually, the receiver in question is 2 meters ONLY.
Also, I've looked at the signals with a spectrum analyzer (remember, I *design* spec-ans!).
And setting up a tracking front end is far easier said than done in a small package - you have to have some variable capacitance and inductance to make the filter.
Maybe someday somebody will make a MEMS tracking filter, but I've not seen any shipping yet.
www.eFax.com are spammers
You're right, it's only with some motherboards, and only if you set it to such. As far as THW goes, they're pretty much laughed at among most enthusiasts nowadays, usually for their obvious intel/nVidia bias.
01101001 01100001 01101101 01101110 01101111 01110100 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110111 01111001 01100101 01110010
"Good use" is subjective. If people did only what they thought was useful we would still be living in caves, hunting animals with wooden spears.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
Funny you should pick those two "customizations".
/., not a mother oohing and aweing over a kid's painting.
Plants add air recycling AKA Oxygen from CO2. And a psychological affect of having a connection to nature.
And paint adds longevity to the wall's materials by insulating it from air.
This is
Sure, a pretty case is impressive, but geeks of all people know that it is what is under the hood that counts.
"Secondly, everyone does stuff that is not of a functional nature, so saying anything bad or deogatory about someone elses hard work when obviouly they are quite proud of it simply because it didn't make it any faster is a little hypocritical. For instance ever painted a room or bought a plant? Did painting the room add any space or help you organize the room better? Did the plant clean up after you or remind you that you had things to do? They wern't very functional endevors now were they, but you did them anyways."
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
People always say this as though it's a bad thing... personally, I can see an upside to it...
qntm.org
Can you imagine somebody tricking out an ENIAC? You know, like putting phosphor coatings on choice vacuum tubes, so you can see them switching? Attaching neon tubes to the power rails? It would be a ridiculous looking thing.
Now, a little closer to the present day... Can you imagine a tricked out 486 desktop? Don't you think that would look a little... stupid? Now, remember that in 10 years time, your spiffy modded machine will be the equivalent of a 486. And at that time, it'll seem just as stupid as a tricked out 486 does today.
Not to mention that most of these case mods use huge tower cases with multiple fans, redundant power supply fans, passive heat pipes, etc. Don't you think there's something kind of pointless about calling attention to the power-inefficiency of the machine, as if it was something to be proud of? "Look, my machine burns 500 watts, BOOOYA!"
In the future, computers will hopefully be the size of shirt buttons, run on less than a watt of power, and run at terahertz-equivalent speeds. At that point, we'll look back on all these case mods, shake our heads in shame, and wonder, "What the hell was the point of that?"
Hmm... I'm just thinking if my landlord saw that in my apartment.
The Department of Homeland Security would have confiscated that wunderbox in their effort to quash the pursuit of "un-American activities" a-la the Patriot Act.
I picked those two because when I think of making a place nicer to live in, those are the first things that come to my mind.
A single plant would have little effect in a house or a small apartment since any window would let in far more crap then the plant cleaned up, and the 'psychological affect', is only there if you like plants, but then again, thats why you got it in the first place. Every house I've ever been in, new or old, has the walls painted with this butt ugly eggshell, therefore it does not need to be painted again for that reason, who still has that really off white. If you have kids, you have to be one cold hearted person not to put their school work or paintings on the refrigerator. Which of course leads to wall hangings, paintings, statuette and so on.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
American pigs will soon see the results of their attack on our lands and people! Ten thousand of our brothers died, and we will make ten million of theirs pay!
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
Death to the American swine! We will make their cities burn so that they forget 11 September! We remember al-Fallujah, and we will make sure the Americans never forget!
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!