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Laser Etching a Laptop
ptorrone writes "I didn't really plan using a $20,000 laser cutter on my 17" PowerBook to etch a 19th-century engraving of a tarsier, a nocturnal mammal related to the lemur (also the vi book cover), but it seemed like it had to done. The results are stunning..."
The CEO was using it to clean under his fingernails of course.
Someone save me from this sanity.
Why not choose the tiger from this O'reailly book??t ml
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mactigerpg/index.h
Would have made more sense to me anyway.
if your pants fit well, it's not only because of the pants
It's a good thing that those Tarsiers are mainly insectivorous and do not eat Apples! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsier
Firehed - Unfortunately, thanks to medical breakthroughs, common sense is not as common as it once was.
How much effort would it take to convert an epilog laser printer into a high-powered moonraker? :P
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
Why didn't he use a sheep?
...Is it just me or is O'Reilly trying to show us what geeks are going to evolve into?
You see, that's nothing. In my days, we used the bottom of tea mugs to etch random abstract art! Usually, the result was a series of displaced rings.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
If only one of his coworkers would of switched the image with "hello.jpg"
Why didn't you etch his Noodliness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Fitzhon
No need. If the image was originally published before 1923 then it's public domain, and can be used for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without having to pay anything or credit anyone.
-- Help Digitise the Public Domain at DP.
A laptop with large identifying markings is less likely to be stolen.
...voided?
Just think: you won't have to invite girls back to your place to view your etchings.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Just imagine it, etching a goatse, with the apple in the middle.
O'Reilly has more of a clue than most companies. I suspect that they are sitting back and thinking that they just got free advertisement and will have more as the laptop gets exposed.
Kind of like all the penguins that everybody is selling for Xmas. That will help Linux as most will think that Tux looks similar.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
A tiny Tux? Or even better, some weird flying windows? Or an "Intel Inside" logo. You'd get some funny looks for that.
She: Hey, are you a traitor? Me: No, I'm atheist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger
-everphilski-
liger. It's pretty much my favorite animal.
For one, a laser capable of cutting metal generaly won't be used for etching, and a laser designed for etching won't be able to cut easily.
I know $20k seems like a lot of money for a machine to slashdotters, a $20k laser system won't be cutting, IIRC, laser cutters go around $200k and up. $20k is mid-to low end for laser etchers though. I considered financing a $10k etcher, but I didn't know how I could make it pay for itself, unlike the techies and investors in the '90s bubble, I wanted a good business model to justify spending money.
Love this line from TFA: The laser cutter uses Corel Draw, which is kinda cute.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
I'm somehow reminded of Napoleon Dynamite.
Dear Sirs,
I'm most interested in having my laptop etched. Where do I order from, how much is it, and what are the terms/conditions for getting my machine to you and back again.
Most Sincerely,
James D. Geek aka eyepeepackets aka Marspoet
Seriously though, I will buy this service for my Sager laptop in a fraction of a mouse's heartbeat, so bring it on!
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
Yeah, so do I. Oh wait: MAKE comes from O'Reilly, the Publisher of Record for geeks and tech enthusiasts everywhere.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
If you're going to all that trouble you might as well make it worthwhile!
The revolution will NOT be televised.
its been done before http://www.etchamac.com/powerbook.php/ i saw these guys at the mac expo in boston in the summer, the finished product is amazing
Obviously, the animal to engrave using a laser would be a friggin shark.
What is better for identifying an item as yours? A tiny serial number laser-etched somewhere inconspicuous, or a huge lemur on the case that is not easily scratched out? It'd be cool if Apple were to see this and offer custom laser etchings on all of their notebooks.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
I have a feeling they are okay with it, plus the burned image is derived from the original, not from O'Reilly. I'm not sure that you read the article at all.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
1) Guy wants picture from vi book on notebook
2) goes to some lab where they have a machine to do it
3) copyrights free image is imported into Coreldraw
4) Laptop is etched
5) picture is on laptop
PS: what is wrong with slashdot? I have to sign in constantly...
PS2:
6) ???
7) profit!!!!
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
is it just me or does it look like the tarsier is looking away in the last (different lighting) photo of TFA?!
My sig has been answered.
I think it's actually a pretty cool idea. Even if a person had a $20k machine, if they charged someone $100 just to tatoo their laptop with their favorite image, they would have it paid for only after 200 customers, which I'm sure there are at least 200 geeks out there willing to shell out a hundred bucks to have their favorite image etched on their little portable. Kudos for that idea.
Laser etching for your mac. I saw this linked in another post and am now considering it.
What would make more sense, from a business standpoint, is to provide the service to large corporations that supply laptops to their employees. Etch the company's corporate logo onto the laptop, along with a phone number to call for a reward. Unlike an adhesive sticker, this can't be removed and would make a stolen computer a hell of a more difficult sell, assuming a thief would even bother with it in the first place.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
One more piece of trivia: the cover page woodcut animals featuring in front of the OReilly books are from the Dover Pictorial Archives. It is a collection of 18th to 19th century wood and copperplate engravings of animals, ie no copyright issue to care about... In fact, the students in my former research group get used to choose one from the archive as well as a decoration for their own thesis. Many university/art school libraries have that collection. Feel free to use them when need a drawing of some cute animal.
http://www.oreilly.com/news/lejeune_0400.html
If he's done, can we now mount it on a dolphin, please?
Slashdot = Digg + 2 days + People over 14
Slashdot != Digg and Digg != Slashdot.
If Digg is so much better for you, then go there and stop acting like a child here.
The artwork was originally from a Dover book. Dover publishes books full of public domain art, along with their reprints of classic and out-of-print textbooks.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Well, the story is on MakeZine.com which is owned by O'Reilly, so I think they're safe on that front. Kinda also explains the choice of an O'Reilly cover image too.
Yes, that's 100% correct. Of course the magazines use lithography, where a rubber-faced sheet of about 44" x 60" is fastened over a rotating drum (this is called a press blanket). The metal plate is inked and the blanketed drum rolls over it, transferring an inked negative of the plate to the blanket. The blanket then rolls against the paper that is being fed through the press so that negative on the blanket gets transferred to the paper as a positive.
Each color of ink is applied separately with a separate plate- cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and then usually a glossy coating. Sometimes special metallic colors are applied in subsequent press units. So, you would never put the whole lemur like they did on one plate unless it was a black-and-white printing. This was a very SMALL plate laser etcher as magazines are pretty small and do not run on standard presses, which are about 40-48" wide and print things such as cereal boxes, beer cases, and the like.
Just "gittin-r-done," day after day.
I have to give them props on the concept, but couldn't they have chosen a more appropriate design? The problem with the powerbook lid is that the Apple logo in the middle is the most prominent thing and is right in the middle, so you need a design that will compliment it, and will maintain some sort of symetry. The lemur, or whatever it is, makes the thing look "right heavy" and is a complete non-sequitor to the apple.
It is on the http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/unixnut4/index.html book cover as well.
Ryan - http://www.thecosmotron.com/
I hope they got permission from O'Reilly to do this?!
You know things have gone down the crapper when people wonder about the legality of engraving a nifty picture on their own laptop. I mean, it's not like he's selling them.
So what were you planning when you placed your 17" Powerbook in the $20,000 laser cutter?
If he really wanted a security etching, he would have used the goatse guy. Who would want to steal a laptop with THAT on the case?!
they do (did?) for ipods. you could get an ipod customized with a engraving on the back. but i guess that's kind of dumb really as most ipods sit in a case or something. but they did at one time. it was like a $20 add on feature. I guess you have to have a metal case for a laptop which is seldom the case except for the PB's. every other laptop, dell, gateway, et al., all have plastic.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
I'd be worried about putting my laptop in there. For one thing, CNC machines are made to handle solid chunks of metal, not delicate electronics, so they tend to jerk things around a lot. I would be affraid of my HD crashing. Also, CNC machines tend to be filled with, and generate, lots of metal dust, which does not make electronics happy.
Not all CNC machines cut metal, or make chips and dust. Yes, CNC mills do, but this is actually a CNC Laser Engraver. They make no dust, and the laptop sits still. The Laser is mounted on a moving rail above the platform. If you've seen a flatbed pen plotter, this works in the same fashion. As the head moves across the rail, the laser zaps small dots (burn marks) onto the surface. After it has completed each pass, the rail moves down to the next row and the process is repeated.
It is cool and you'll likely find one in a local trophy shop. Bring your art along in a common format (usually TIF, EPS, DXF, AI... NOT JPG) and they'll import it and burn. I'm sure they will look at you funny and give you the old "we ain't never done no computer before" line.
Place nail here >+
The machine he used to do this is actually really cool. Basically an old-fashioned plotter with a medium power laser attached to it. Actually the first laser engravers were modified Roland plotters that someone decided to bolt a laser onto. Cool hack if there ever was one.
:) I'm thinking maybe engraving an image of a Commodore 64 or maybe a VAX logo into it would be good..... or possibly just "DON'T TOUCH!" in 4 inch high letters. :)
I've been a programmer for ten years, but recently invested in one of these machines as a bit of a sideline. I couldn't resist having my own laser.. now if only I could get shark-mounted ones then I would be really happy!!
I haven't been brave enough to put my laptop into the machine, but maybe now I'll try.
Another thing that looks great to run through a laser engraver are regular computer cases. The laser basically vaporizes the powder coat on the case, leaving bare metal for a really high-contrast effect. Our company, INSIGNO http://www.insigno.ca/ (shameless plug) has done a couple of these for casemodders and they looked really great when they were done.
Not very creative. I would have done an image of Eve holding the apple (logo).