Creative use for empty whiskey bottles

Japala writes "You might have seen computers built inside of toasters, radios, garden lamps etc. As motherboards keep getting smaller and smaller the possibilites on where you can embed then increases. As it turns out, you can get them to fit inside an empty glass bottle. Whisky PC for a whiskey lover that needs a small and silent server."

Comments

Good TImes

[SteelFist]

So basically you get to drink a bottle of whiskey before building your computer. Does that sound like a good idea to anyone else?

Re:Good TImes

[FinestLittleSpace]

wwWWWoeorkss ffdffoooor meeEEEEEEeeeeeeee

Re:Good TImes

[SillySnake]

Can't forget that he had to do most of the work at night while his newborn son was sleeping. Perhaps if he hadn't drank enough of those bottles to come up with the idea of putting a computer in one, he might not have the son and could have built the computer during the day. :)

Re:Good TImes

[FidelCatsro]

A tower case filled with 24 year old single Isla Malt sounds like a nice companion project

Re:Good TImes

[mrjb]

> For the project I selected a 1.5 litre Ballantine's bottle for case.
> That was the proper size and shape for the task at hand.

As the project was a success, I'm guessing his next project will be the 3 liter bottle.

Re:Good TImes

[Gil-galad55]

Did you see the Tokaji in the last picture? A modder with exquisite taste in beverages... who knew!

Re:Good TImes

[iezhy]

if I would have made home server for every bottle of wiskey i drank... i would be running pretty powerfull boewulf cluster by now :)

Re:Good TImes

[darkeye]

well, the guy is hungarian, so it's quite natural he has a tokaji around. if you take a closer look, you'll see some other hungarian wines as well (kadarka, villanyi, etc.)

Re:Good TImes

[scapaman]

check my ID, it's nice to work for a company named after a distillery.

Re:Good TImes

[Gil-galad55]

Ah, I hadn't noticed. Lucky bastard.

Re:Good TImes

[Nuroman]

Sounds like a solid 2 hour investment, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Re:Good TImes

[unixbugs]

Does that sound like a good idea to anyone else?

No. The fact that he put Windows on it indicates a certain level of impairment. There should be a law against this kind of thing! The humanity!

Re:Good TImes

[mrm677]

So basically you get to drink a bottle of whiskey before building your computer. Does that sound like a good idea to anyone else?

My last computer build started at 3am after coming back from the bars completely hammered. I was completely wasted. In the morning, everything still worked except one case fan was backwards.

Re:Good TImes

[Basje]

Actually, the guy is Finnish

Re:Good TImes

[iamlucky13]

Actually my first thought was that he was going to use the whiskey in a liquid cooling system

He seems to be reasonably sharp, despite the minor intoxication. I noticed in his closeups that he cut rounded edges into the glass where the main panel is set into the bottle, to reduce the stress concentration versus matching the square shape of the panel.

Re:Good TImes

[trollable]

His first name is Janos, definitively hungarian.

Re:Good TImes

[iphayd]

So, you work for Gateway, eh?

Re:Good TImes

[MartinB]

Isla y , dammit.

It's be interesting fitting this into a 70cl bottle, not a double bottle...

Re:Good TImes

[FidelCatsro]

;) that's called a typo .
I was thinking of a laphroaig , it can stand a nice metallic tinge to it .. like some beers that taste better out of a can, like Von Raven.
Personally I would rather be drinking a Speyside single malt like Tomintoul, but it would really need a nice aluminium case which would double the price of the project..

Re:Good TImes

[chicagotypewriter]

Actually my first thought was that he was going to use the whiskey in a liquid cooling system

Windows doesn't need anymore help in that department, it already runs drunk, don't want to add more whiskey. You would think after all of those blue-outs it might try to change it's ways.

Re:Good TImes

[bev_tech_rob]

I would have rather used a Jack Daniels bottle :)

Re:Good TImes

[ZiakII]

Windows doesn't need anymore help in that department, it already runs drunk, don't want to add more whiskey. You would think after all of those blue-outs it might try to change it's ways.

Not to bad mouth tux.... he drinks alot of wine *ducks*

Re:Good TImes

[Hogwash McFly]

Yeah, I too once got really drunk at a bar and got the exhaust mixed up with the intake. I think she enjoyed it more.

Re:Good TImes

[cheese-cube]

You had me at whiskey.

Re:Good TImes

[kabz]

At St Andrews University Comp. Sci. department in the late 80's, all our SUN machines were named after distilleries. I can remember grant, islay, taliska. That was pretty cool. I wonder if they are still there.

Re:Good TImes

[Scarletdown]

Actually my first thought was that he was going to use the whiskey in a liquid cooling system

Wouldn't that be a serious case of alcohol abuse to use the whiskey for something other than its intended purpose?

Re:Good TImes

[davedx]

It's Islay! And personally I'd go for the Glenlivet. But I do approve of the sentiment!

Re:Good TImes

[pedrop357]

Sounds a little more fun than naming them all after volcanos...

Re:Good TImes

[UncleFluffy]

It's Islay! And personally I'd go for the Glenlivet. But I do approve of the sentiment!

Glenlivet? Look ... if you want to drink something that tastes like vodka, drink vodka. Me, I'll stick with my Lagavulin or the non-chill-filtered Caol Isla that I just picked up... yummy.

Re:Good TImes

[6th time lucky]

You missed the bit how he tried to cut a couple of bottles first before giving up and getting a professional glass cutter to do the job. I wonder if his second (or third) attempt was getting better or worse than the first.

Re:Good TImes

[kesuki]

But he works in finland for a finnish tech site. Secondly, janos is the Czechoslovakian variant of 'john' and is used in many places in europe, not just hungary.

so you don't know any more 'for certain' that he's hungarian (or has a mother father etc from hungary) than the original poster who asserted he was finnish (based on the fact he works for a finnish publication)

Re:Good TImes

[trollable]

You missed the fact that there is two bottles of good hungarian wine on the last picture. Additionaly Janos is not czech or slovak (AFAIK, this is Jan) but is common in the magyar part of Slovakia.

Re:Good TImes

[trollable]

That is just a matter probability. Hungarian first name, hungarian last name, three bottle of hungarian wine for sure. And the keyboard looks like an hungarian one and not as a finish one (difficult to be sure).

I have a better use for empty whiskey bottles

[Anonymous Coward]

I fill them up with more whiskey (and then empty them again).

Re:I have a better use for empty whiskey bottles

[macdaddy357]

An empty whiskey bottle is good for hittin' arseholes over the head when they call us Irishmen a bunch of violent drunks!

Cheat!

[LiquidCoooled]

I thought they were going to try and rollup the motherboard and unfurl the memorysticks and processor once inside.

Instead they just cut a hole in it.

Re:Cheat!

[gronofer]

True, the final product with a screw panel in the side is a bit disappointing. The whole point of putting the thing in a bottle is to keep people guessing how you got it in there.

Explaining the entire process on a website doesn't help either.

portable, and tastes nice too...

[joe 155]

well, it is certainly more portable and better looking than your average tower. I think that there could well be a market for these things, in all different types of bottles or shaped glass cases... If you wanted to go all out you could put a plasma screan on the side... set it to show the original label as a screan saver if you want to go all out...

I wonder if it's kept its nice wiskey smell...

Re:portable, and tastes nice too...

[Anonymous Coward]

well, it is certainly more portable

Make sure you keep it in a paper bag, though.

Re:portable, and tastes nice too...

[Scarletdown]

well, it is certainly more portable and better looking than your average tower. I think that there could well be a market for these things, in all different types of bottles or shaped glass cases... If you wanted to go all out you could put a plasma screan on the side... set it to show the original label as a screan saver if you want to go all out

He should probably patent or trademark the design, or whatever. Otherwise, I could see someone at Apple snapping it up for the next iMac.

Re:portable, and tastes nice too...

[rts008]

Careful getting to and from LAN parties....
No, ociffer (hic!), that's no open container- it's my 'puter!

Re:portable, and tastes nice too...

[object88]

Otherwise, I could see someone at Apple snapping it up for the next iMac.

iDrink?

for what?

[Quixote]

for a whiskey lover that needs a small and silent server.

Because, as we all know, a noisy server can exacerbate a throbbing hangover ...

Re:for what?

[ToasterofDOOM]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of those!!! Hangover + droning buzz == OMFGLOLWTFBBQ pain!

Re:for what?

[HTL2001]

as can using words such as "exacerbate"

Re:for what?

[BaconRacing]

Oh I can testify to that today...

Re:for what?

[iamlucky13]

Why do you say that? Exacerbate is a perfectly cromulent word.

Any more info on the motherboard?

[jerkychew]

The article just says that the board is an "industrial 3.5" SBC board". Does anybody know the model number, and where one could buy this board?

Re:Any more info on the motherboard?

[TubeSteak]

SBC stands for: Single Board Computer

3.5" and 5.25" seem to be standard sizes.
Of course, 3.5" doesn't really mean 3.5"

The specs I looked at (first google result)say that the
3.5" SBCs are actually 5.75" Length x 4" Width (146mm x 101.6mm)

Re:Any more info on the motherboard?

[johnty]

search on ebay for 'ITX motherboard'. I found a couple listed.

Re:Any more info on the motherboard?

[Fishead]

Not sure if this one would fit, Protech-ipc.com but it works good for me. We boot DSLinux off a CF card. Great thing about Via though, is that just as we hammered down the details of the system, they announced that it will be discontinued and we get till June to put in our last order.

Re:Any more info on the motherboard?

[rts008]

Here' the link to the mobo in the article(http://www.kontron.com/products/pdproductd etail.cfm?keyProduct=32501)

The perfect PC for a slashdotting!

[rob_squared]

It'll stay cool, if it gets too many requests it'll just tell you to piss off.

And if it does go down, hey, its only passed out, and not burning in flame.

Re:The perfect PC for a slashdotting!

[tourvil]

And if it does go down, hey, its only passed out, and not burning in flame.

Unless you forget to clean out all the remaining alcohol...

There's always a good use for empty bottles

[TubeSteak]

Put a fish in it :O)

I've got an empty 1.75 liter bottle of Jack Daniels that one of my alky loving friends gave to me. I've been meaning to put a fish in there for a while now.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[mrjb]

Makes me wonder if a fish would survive in whiskey-colored cold tea, to add to the effect :)

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

I've been meaning to put a fish in there for a while now.

I'm assuming this is a joke, but juuuuussssssstttttt in case it would be a bit cruel to stuff even a Betta into anything less than 4 gallons. And a goldfish should not be put into any tank smaller than 10 gallons with an extra gallon for each additional fish. I can't stand the attitude of fish being disposable pets.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[LootenPlunder]

or maybe just water with caramel color in it. hmmmm this is off subject, but has anyone bred blacklight responsive goldfish yet?

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[TheRaven64]

A fish in a bottle would likely suffocate in a short time. Bottles taper towards the top, and so there is almost certainly not enough surface area to get enough oxygen into the water from the air.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[LouisZepher]

I think I remember a /. article over a year ago on the subject...

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[ACME Septic]

I am just wondering why you wouldn't give the fish a fighting chance and use whiskey colored WATER?

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[Bing Tsher E]

If you don't put enough water in the bottle to go up into the neck there might be plenty of surface area.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[jacksonj04]

Whiskey looks just like cold tea, hence the grandparent becomes "whiskey coloured whiskey", or just whiskey.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[LurkerXXX]

I haven't seen goldfish, but you can get zebra fish. http://www.glofish.com/default.asp

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[mrchaotica]

You could always build a cork-shaped aerator with a little hose sticking down into the water...

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[m50d]

You'd need to fill it less than half and keep the bottle on its side. But I feel it could work.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[tsa]

But then you need a really small fish!

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[Fishead]

Makes me wonder if a fish would survive in whiskey-colored cold tea, to add to the effect :)

Check out http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_discus.php

From the link: "The water the discus comes from looks like a well brewed cup of tea from the large amount of wood and leaves releasing tanins into the water."

Throw in a discus while it is small, then take good care of it until it is large. You then can do what Bob and Doug did with their mouse in the beer bottle and see if you can get a case of wiskey because you found a fish in the bottle.

Your main problem would be figuring out how to filter the water to maintain quality. Assuming you had a big enough bottle, your discus might be quite happy in there.

*goes to tell wife he needs a big bottle of wiskey and $30 for a discus*

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Betta's are extremely hardy fish. I've seen some live for years in less than a quart of water, so your 4 gallons is a bit high.

... I didn't say anything about their survival, they're sold in tiny cups afterall. What I said is it would be cruel to keep a Betta in such a small space.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[StikyPad]

Just give it a couple of weeks and the goldfish will turn the water tea-colored on its own.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[Stinking Pig]

I kept a Betta in a coffee pot for a couple of years, it was fine. However, as mentioned elsewhere, a bottle would not be okay for surface area oxygen transfer reasons.

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[MightyYar]

Plus, they would never get big enough to eat...

Cruelty? To a fish? Aren't we stretching a bit? How about when you are first cruel to a worm by throwing a hook through it, then tricking a fish into putting said hook through its own jaw? Then reeling up said fish and filleting it? What about when my science teacher had us freeze a goldfish to see what would happen when it thawed out? Or when we put one in salt water to see what would happen? Exactly how far down the evolutionary chain do we have to not be "cruel"?

Re:There's always a good use for empty bottles

[Hieremias]

Ten gallons for a bloody goldfish? Geez, the thing's little more than a vegetable with fins. He can't even remember long enough to swim the length of the tank.

Where do you get that stuff?

[autopr0n]

Is there any site that lists all the motherboards and components you can use to build these tiny machines? I've seen mini-itx.com, but it's very hard to navigate to specific boards, cases, psu's etc. It's mostly a news site, and it seems like if you don't keep up with it every day you'll have no idea what's up. So, where do you go to find these little things? I'd love to build a PC based alarm clock.

Re:Where do you get that stuff?

[kosmicki]

Keep up with it every day? I see an update maybe once a month there. As far as Mini-ITX boards go, VIA makes most of them. They are all the same size so the model is not that big of a deal. As far as PSUs go, you can use a normal PC one. Or go fancy (I did) and get one from mini-box.com. Cases are very pricy. But unless you want one for your entertainment center, the best fun is building your own.

As far as components go, Mini-ITX are just small motherboards, same stuff as a normal PC.

What's with the hole?

[Phat_Tony]

They cheated! They cut a hole in the side of the bottle.

They should have done it ship-in-a-bottle style.

Re:What's with the hole?

[Bing Tsher E]

Indeed. I haven't heard of anybody doing that level of surface mount construction, but it should be possible. The constraint would be that you'd have to build the computer with only small enough chips to fit through the neck. That would eliminate many LSI and larger chips. The whole thing could be built with SO-14, SO-16, SO-20, and SO-24 pin packages, though, using conventional 'logic gate' design. Lots and lots of soldering, though.

Re:What's with the hole?

[d99-sbr]

They should have done it ship-in-a-bottle style.

A so-called "Chip-in-a-bottle".

Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

A chip in a bottle!

Nice work!

[eyepeepackets]

Excellent mod work. I really like the mods which make PCs look like something other than PCs but then that's one of those personal preference things.

Again, very nice work.

Re:Nice work!

[LootenPlunder]

the most impressive thing to me is the side panel with all the connectors. that is really amazing. he could sell those things at specialty shops or the sharper image or harrods or something for a fortune. as a side note, this is the only modding project i've seen that i'd ever bring up at a party.

Hey?

[alx5000]

And what does he actually do with the Whiskey???

Re:Hey?

[windex]

How do you think he keeps his son quiet at night?

Re:Hey?

[dadragon]

Well, it's pretty crappy whiskey, so he obviously didn't drink it.

Re:Hey?

[tsa]

He flushed it of course! Why fill a bottle with whiskey if you can put a computer in it?

A whisky server...

[ToteAdler]

Would that make it a bar tender?

Ballentines?

[Anonymous Coward]

No...! Nothing less than Single Malt is good enough for my computer. Make that a cask.

Re:Ballentines?

[hunterx11]

The first attempt was done with a Laphroaig bottle. Although he managed to cool the computer adequately, the whisky set him on fire.

Re:Ballentines?

[errxn]

He should have use Jack Daniel's or Jim Beam. That way, when the computer dies, he can just put it up on cinder blocks in the front yard.

Re:Ballentines?

[GKThursday]

No, the Problem with Laphroaig was that the cpu started smoking before he even turned it on.

Cooling

[smilingman]

I like the concept, but cutting holes for fans was cheap. Everyone knows that whiskey bottles belong in the fridge.

Re:Cooling

[Uber Banker]

I like the concept, but cutting holes for fans was cheap.

Putting sufficient airpressure in the top usually pops the bottom off a glass bottle, look at the mould marks in any spirit or beer bottle to see the join. To apply such pressure, decend the palm of your hand onto a bottle mostly filled with water, should make a clean break.

Re:Cooling

[88NoSoup4U88]

Everyone knows that whiskey bottles belong in the fridge.

I know it was a joke and all... But whiskey is to be kept at room temperature, not?

Re:Cooling

[pyrrhonist]

To apply such pressure, decend the palm of your hand onto a bottle mostly filled with water, should make a clean break.

Oh Uber, you really know how to make a girl wet.

Re:Cooling

[Landshark17]

So, make it a scotch on the rocks!

Re:Cooling

[GKThursday]

If you drink your scotch with ice, God will smite you. (Failing that, a scotsman will use you as a caber.)

Re:Nice

[Deitheres]

For a small fee, I will drink the whiskey for you... giving you a perfectly usable emptpy bottle! You may then mod to your hearts content!

This explains...

[DirtBag99]

the high level of quality of many commercial software products...

PC in a bottle

[ikejam]

aah, now i know why windows is acting drunk..

Re:PC in a bottle

[Anonymous Coward]

aah, now i know why windows is acting drunk..

Damn. Got the Johnie Walker Blue Label of the Death once again! I hope my virus protection was working last night.

Glass Grinding and Mobo

[writermike]

From TFA:

professional glass grinder man

Gotta admit, I've never heard of that profession before.

Anywho, what mobo is his using? I just couldn't seem to locate it in his notes...

Re:Glass Grinding and Mobo

[rts008]

(http://www.kontron.com/products/pdproductdetail.c fm?keyProduct=32501)

Here it is...was linked ta very end of the article.

On behalf of every one that read that comment

[Aqws]

ow!

Another use

[ThurstonMoore]

Whisky bottles also make good bongs.

Re:Another use

[ThurstonMoore]

How is this off topic? The title is "Creative uses for whisky bottles", not "What stupid object can I stick a computer in?".

Try one of these

[nurb432]

http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.83/it.A /id.369/.f

I bet it would fit just fine.

But a breakable glass case? While it looks cool, no thanks...

Re:Try one of these

[oculuses]

If you're that worried about dropping your computer hard enough to break the glass, then perhaps you should lay off the wiskey. :)

Re:Try one of these

[drew]

Well, you could always go for the plastic bottle variety...
Then you wouldn't need special tools to cut it open either.

Form A Band

[slashbob22]

Fill the bottles to different levels, form a band, and recreate Windows theme sounds.
While your at it, rebrand Windows Vista:
"Windows Redneck" with the slogan "You ain't ever seed Windows this clean(tm)"
"Windows Whiskey" with the slogan "Computing, soo you cann drinnk at the sssspeed of your buss, busi, work.(tm)"

Re:FP

[ToasterofDOOM]

Obviously you helped him empty that whiskey bottle.

What to do with the whiskey?

[bk4u]

It's not a true whiskey-computer till that sucker's whiskey-cooled!

Re:What to do with the whiskey?

[hunterx11]

Just make sure it's not from Islay, lest the whisky should make the computer hotter.

Re:What to do with the whiskey?

[level_headed_midwest]

Alcohol is a pretty volatile liquid with a low specific heat and would not be a very good coolant, unless you used it evaporatively. But then it evaporates at 78C, which is a tad too hot, and your whiskey would all go up in steam :(

Re:What to do with the whiskey?

[periol]

so it would need to have more whiskey everyday? whoa, just what my shrink calls me, a functional alcoholic...

Do it without cutting the bottle?

[stickyc]

You should be able to drop one of those SIMM sized linux modules in the mouth of a Mickey's Big Mouth. If only they had an equally small wireless module, you might fit the whole thing including enough AA batteries to run for a few days and have a working linux bottle with the cap on.

Re:Do it without cutting the bottle?

[mrchaotica]

If only they had an equally small wireless module...

Sounds like you're looking for Gumstix.

Re:Do it without cutting the bottle?

[chris_eineke]

Does vodka conduct electricity? I think this would fit nicely into a mickey of vodka. Et voila, instant-cooling.

Re:Whiskey? Why not wine?

[MustardMan]

I'd prefer to use one of those foil-bag white zinfandel boxed wines. Much easier to cut and a larger space to work with.

Should have used *full* bottle of cooking oil

[ewg]

Should have used a full bottle of cooking oil, in order to build on this article:

Want a Cool and Quiet PC? Dunk it in Oil

Electromagnetic tolerance

[ettlz]

The metal case of a desktop computer and the internal metal panels of notebooks are designed to protect the internal components from RF interference and keep electrostatic charges on the outside, where they can be safely dissipated. I see no such protection for this mod — does anyone have any idea (I mean a proper one) just how vulnerable this machine is in a glass case?

Re:Electromagnetic tolerance

[EmagGeek]

Yes, I have an idea. A long time ago, the FCC cared a great deal about electromagnetic compliance of digital devices. It used to require that any PC sold be compliance tested for both radiation and succeptibility to RF interference. It used to be that a machine had to be tested complete, with all components installed. Well, that became impractical with the advent of do-it-yourself computers. There was no law preventing people from building their own computers. So, then the FCC backed off to simply requiring the "barebone" to be compliance tested in order to be sold. This would be a case/motherboard combination. Again, this hurt small businesses as it cost an arm and a leg to do anything dealing with the government. I can speak from first-hand experience that it could cost up to $100K to have a PC type-accepted in the early 90's. The process involved a consulting firm, lawyers, lobbyists, and all kinds of government corruption. Your consulting firm would do the tests, and hire their lawyers to petition the FCC. It would take some discrete intervention on the part of the lobbyist to "encourage" the officer at the FCC to approve the application.

Finally, they did away with government-regulated type acceptance all together and switched to the honor system. Now, it's a free for all with a catch. PCs still have to be tested to comply with FCC standards, but there is no direct oversight. However, if you build and sell a PC and it ends up interfering, and you cannot demonstrate that you had that configuration tested, you are quite literally up the creek as the FCC will descend upon you like locusts and take every penny you have and will ever make.

In any case, this thing is probably an RF nightmare. Glass is nearly transparent to RF, so the bottle will let anything in or out. There is a switching power supply used in this thing, several actually, and they tend to be the "gatling gun" of radiated interference.

Not surprised to see this coming from a Finn

[Unski]

..Finland is a nation which likes a drink (& I hold in high esteem)..just surprised that he didn't use a bottle of Finlandia...mmm, Finlandia...clean distilled taste..

Hesburger PC! That's what I'll do...if only they had Hesburger in the UK!!

Not to worry, I shall just have to go there again on a _cough_ research trip..

Re:Not surprised to see this coming from a Finn

[Helios1182]

Finlandia comes in a circular bottle. This one was square which made the board fit better I assume.

Cool

[koan]

No really...cool...now fill it with a non conducting cooled liquid.

Companion mod

[bill^2]

Next step: Wrapping a flask around a mouse.

whiskey cooling

[gandalphthegreen]

Instead of watercooling your next build, why not use whisky?

Right...

[no_barcode]

"I tried to cut and drill couple of similar bottles at home but I realized that my tools are not good enough for it, then finaly a professional glass grinder man prepared the whisky bottle for me."

Right. Your inability to cut holes in the bottle couldn't possibly have had anything to do with your method of emptying the bottle, could it?

And when the Whiskey Server* gets Slashdotted...

[bobdotorg]

Flambe!!!

*Bananas Foster not included.

And in other news...

[therage96]

AP News (12:44pm - EST) - Tragic Death of Geek

Tragically a young geek lost his (albeit lonely) life last night after starting a fire in his room of his parent's house. It would seem that the young and impetuous geek decided after reading an article on the technology news website "Slashdot," that building a computer out of a used whiskey bottle would be a good idea. However, upon emptying the bottle (and his bladder several times), the poor geek forgot to wash the bottle out and promptly started a fire the moment he turned his new "Whiskey PC" on and sadly, perished in the blaze.

Memorial services will be held in your MMORPG of choice in that "one zone."

I tried that once with tequila...

[coastin]

I tried that once with a tequila bottle, but never made it all the way to the finished product. Did mention the bottle was full of tequila when I started?

Just thinking out loud...

[SleepyHappyDoc]

This mod, while very cool, would make an excellent semi-portable monitoring device, say, to keep an eye on the stockroom at your restaurant or whatever. Stuff some kind of thin webcam in the bottle neck, lay it on it's side, headless (cords to the wall, somehow) and you'd have an inconspicuous camera that can store images/video locally or ftp them somewhere remote (then you could skip the laptop drive altogether and run the whole thing off the CF card, perhaps allowing a smaller bottle), and looks like an empty bottle on a shelf. Extra points if you mount it in a wine rack with a few real bottles.

Of course, you could also probably break an empty bottle, drop in one of those wireless network cameras, and glue it back together, but that wouldn't be half as cool. ;)

Re:Just thinking out loud...

[Shazow]

Better yet, stand it upright, embed the camera into the bottle cap and allow 360 degree rotation. :D

- shazow

Ballantines? Ewww!

[swordgeek]

OK, it's not THAT bad, but it's a long long long ways from what I'd call a "whisky lover's whisky."

Then again, at least you're not going to regret cutting into such a bottle.

Re:Ballantines? Ewww!

[fatphil]

Well said - possibly only beaten in the overhyped/overpriced category by Chivas.

Whisky-du-jour chez FatPhil is definitely this: http://www.aberlour.com/abunadh/
(and that comes from a died-in-the-wool Islay lover!)

Re:Ballantines? Ewww!

[swordgeek]

For whatever reason, Abunadh hasn't grabbed me much as many others. Springbank and (pre-Glenmorangie buy-out) Ardbeg are my current favorites. I'd cheerfully auction off my coworkers for a bottle of Mortlach though. :-)

Re:Ballantines? Ewww!

[fatphil]

Pah! Springbank? I'd not give those more than about 9 1/2 out of 10.

Ardbeg? That's the one that has just been so shamefully dismissed from my number 1 slot by a'bunadh. Give it to the peasants!

Mortlach!?!? Nonsense. It's so awful that about a year after finishing my bottle of it, I thought /at least twice/ about trying a half-shot (2cl) of a very limited edition version of it for 16 Euros.

Oh shit... I have to walk past a pub called "The Whisky Bar" on my way home from work, and my own whisky collection is 160km away presently... This doesn't bode well...

FP.

no sound

[ShaneThePain]

It doesnt look like you can plug in speakers. Cool mod but no fun without sound and 3d graphics.

It's not creative anymore

[moonbender]

Listen, I'm not opposed to people sticking computers in every conceivable container - but that's not creative anymore. In fact, whenever a geek is faced with a generic item he (or she, hah!) doesn't have any immediate use for, the first thought is now always "Hey, I could stick a computer in there".

Re:And the reverse?

[jftitan]

I've done it before... I would hide a bottle of Southern Confirt, or Jack inside my case. Thumb screws are awesome, two screws and you have access to your warm delight. Many times its safe to place a bottle in, but you either need a completely unmodded case, or lay the bottle down on its side, so that is under the video card.

But then again, I knew one guy at the computer shop, he didn't think about the window on the side of his case, being a dead giveaway. I had to stop hiding my stashes once he got caught.

Computers/customers tend to drive you to drink. From now on I hide my bottle of jack behind the dictionary! (No one ever looks behind the dictionary!)

Attn: Anyone wanting to make this

[colinbrash]

Feel free to send your single malts my way. I am happy to empty the bottle for you...

Another way?

[Otto]

So basically you get to drink a bottle of whiskey before building your computer. Does that sound like a good idea to anyone else?

Are you suggesting that there's another way to build a computer?

PSU

[TubeSteak]

On Page 3 he tells you he used a 60W mini-tix PSU.

Since you can see (Pg. 4) that he's using a powerbrick, he coulda gone with the PicoPSU

Wouldn't have been as cramped in that bottle.

What about when you get pulled over?

[Otto]

"No officer, I'm not drinking, I'm analysing radio signals to help in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence."

Water Cooling

[nurb432]

Nope, not me.

imagine..

[wolvie_cobain]

oh man.. imagine a beowulf cluster of thi*BURP*

Why is this impressive?

[mabu]

It would be more impressive if, in the process of modding the whiskey bottle, it still could be used for its original purpose.

Next Project...

[Anonymous Coward]

...PDA in a hip flask.

Re:Next Project...

[AchilleTalon]

I'd rather than like a Beowolf Guiness cooled cluster in a keg.

If anyone cares...

[Anonymous Coward]

In places where a formal title is needed, it's usually "Master Glassblower", although there may be the occasional Journeyman working along side where there's enough demand for more than one. If you poke around larger research institutions, there's usually one hiding out somewhere, who handles all of the custom glass blowing, cutting, polishing, optical gluing (EG, for custom laser prisms), and shaping needs. In larger cities, check under "glassblowers" in the Yellow Pages.

In practice, "great wizard" is far more commonly used than any formal title, because if you can't buy the right shape piece of glass off-the-shelf, then you need to find someone to grovel before. I know of at least one research project that was derailed for almost three years when the previous master retired "unexpectedly" at the ripe age of 80, and his 35-year old Journeyman assistant who got promoted didn't have half a century of expertise under his belt. Requests that the old guy used to craft flawlessly in one day, the new guy sometimes needed four to get what they wanted exactly right... or worse, almost but not quite exactly right.

Which just goes to show, loss of critical personnel isn't only a problem in IT.

I think SBC within intact bottle can be done

[xdmp]

Take a glass cilinder, then take SBC with memory, cables and all stuff mounted, and place it inside small asbestos bag. Then push that bag into bottle, bag mouth hole to cylinder bottom. Then heat up cylinder mouth, and fuse it into bottle neck. Asbestos bag will protect board from the heat. Now you just pull asbestos bag through bottle neck, pull the wires attached to it through bottle neck, and voila - you have intact bottle with SBC inside, and cables to connect outside.

No air flow inside a bottle though, so you need to choose fairly cool CPU for this.

To bad i don't have any friends with glass blower skills and facility to try it ;-)

Re:I think SBC within intact bottle can be done

[Solder Fumes]

Easier method: Place all components inside bottle-shaped mold. Fill mold with acrylic. If you really wanted a hollow cavity for true bottle-ness, first mold around the components a wax that will melt at low temperature.

Re:And when the Whiskey Server* gets Slashdotted..

[Landshark17]

Bananas Foster not included.

That requires rum, not scotch.

Re:And The He Goes And Runs M$-Ware On It!

[panda]

Actually, your problem can easily be solved with a fifth of Bourbon.

Whisky. Not Whiskey.

[macpeep]

A Scotsman who spells
Whisky with a n 'e',
should be hand cuffed
and thrown head first in the Dee.

In the USA and Ireland,
it's spelt with an 'e'
but in Scotland
it's real 'Whisky'.

So if you see Whisky
and it has an 'e',
only take it,
if you get it for free!

For the name is not the same
and it never will be,
a dram is only a real dram,
from a bottle of 'Scotch Whisky'.

Stanley Bruce.
20th April 2004

But if You are Not the Conspicuous Type

[BoRegardless]

MI6 has a nondescript rock for you.

Nice Mod!

[chckerx]

Compact, organized, simple, and clean cut! I want one of these!

Still, it looked tricky getting that second part to fit in the bottle. Just make sure you don't drink your PC.

Even better

[fastgood]

The best thing to drink at work:
I'm not quite finished with my latest McAfee's Benchmark

Next Christmas

[Belseth]

For the drinker that has everything.

Why a whiskey bottle?

[Anonymous Meoward]

Over Jesus? Maybe not forever, just for now?

pairing the proper to CPU to the whine [sic]

[xkr]

If its a single-malt whiskey, do you have to put a single-core CPU?

Pfft, I wouldn't drink that crap.

[Vorondil28]

As a Kentuckian, I have to say using anything other than Maker's Mark or Wild Turkey would just be sacrilage. Nonetheless, a cool mod. =)

Cooling

[Flying pig]

Perhaps worth pointing out that the cooling problem looks entirely due to having too small a hole for the fan inlet. The hub of the fan obstructs a lot of the hole. The rule is either to ensure the hole is the same diameter as the impeller, or have a duct to the hole which is the same size as the impeller where it meets the fan, and the same cross-sectional area as the working impeller blades at the outlet. The total area of the inlet to the case should be roughly the same as the area of the fan outlet. (i.e. you do not want to need any pressure differential across the inlet.)

Unfortunately small fast fans are noisy. Perhaps the answer would be to cheat: remove the base, create a false base with ducting around the circumference, and allow the air to flow in at the bottom and out at the back.

Whisk(e)y spelling...

[ari_j]

Just in case anyone is interested...

The article blurb gets it right once and wrong once. I checked TFA and he used a Ballantine's bottle. Ballantine's is a Scotch, which is a type of whisky (without the E). Other whiskies/whiskeys use different spellings:

Scotch whisky
Irish whiskey
Rye whiskey
Tennessee whiskey
Canadian whisky
Bourbon

And now you know the rest of the story. ;)

Re:Whisk(e)y spelling...

[trollable]

Not only that but the guy is certainly not a "whisky lover". Look at the last picture: you will see a bottle of Tokaj and one from Villany. These are excellent wines, much better than any whiskey.

Re:Whisk(e)y spelling...

[Bruce Losis]

So is Bourbon spelt with an 'e' or without?

Re:Whisk(e)y spelling...

[ari_j]

I play it safe with "Bourbon." Wikipedia claims "whiskey" under the Bourbon article, but the Whiskey article claims that "Kentucky [where all Bourbon is made] ... usually spells its product 'whisky'."

If you want to guess, guess "whiskey." All other American whiskeys are spelled that way.

needs a cap power switch

[binarybum]

A nice touch on this would have been to route the power to the cap, maybe with just a small spring switch that barely protruded above the rim such that taking the cap off would release the spring and start the computer up.

I approve of this mod.

[DrunkenTerror]

n/t

Bootlegging in the 21st Century

[FerretFrottage]

Give that bottle 3-5 years and it will be illegal at the current rate of DRM/"trusted computing". It may just be the start of the new era of bootlegging so that we can enjoy computers the way we use to. I'm thinking speakeasy.net would be a great sponsor here.

Carry Case

[LordLucless]

Perfect carry-case for this mod

I guess you could say

[MtlDty]

This is the 21st century MSN Messenger in a Bottle.

Takes just two plastic whiskey bottles to make...

[buck-yar]

A free AirSeat. Anyone out there like me and install aftermarket struts you felt were too stiff? I did when I put my KYB GR-2's in my Subaru Legacy. Gave me headaches I suspect were micro concussions.

So I built this. It takes the following (free) things to build:
- Air envelope (from mail order packaging)
- two plastic liquor bottles
- Duct tape
- Yellow Pages

Procedure:
1) Duct tape the bottles together
2) Duct tape the air envelope to the top of the bottles
3) shove the thing under your seat
4 - optional if needed) slide yellow pages underneath for correct height.

I think I had finished off the liquor bottles when I got the idea. Works perfectly, no headaches anymore (cept hangover).

I tried this once...

[Paul Bristow]

Plugged in the PSU connector plug one row out. Most of the capacitors on the board exploded when I switched it on. Resolved never to drink and assemble PCs again. :-)

Creative to sue for whiskey bottles?

[FFFish]

My god, this patent madness just never stops. What does Creative Labs have against my whiskey bottles? I was gonna use them for candle holders, but now I gotta give 'em up? Arrrgh.

That's it, I'm joining the EFF.

Target

[oDDmON oUT]

The choice of weapon caliber that you use on it is optional.

Best of all it's totally "old skool".

HEAT !

[redelm]

It's easy enough to build an ITX inside some bottles. Just cut the bottom off & reglue. A bigger problem is funnelling all the cabling through the neck. Worst of all is the heat. How do you get rid of all the CPU heat. You probably need a headpipe and underpowered CPU.

it just doesn't sound as nice....

[m4c north]

For relaxing times, make GNU/Linux times.

versus the Bob Harris For relaxing times, make it Suntory times.

Performance?

[OK PC]

Puts a whole new meaning to bottleneck!

That's a pretty good idea...

[natedog44]

... considering I used to just piss in the empty bottle and give it to my friends =P

Some other mods

[houghi]

There are more and better mods out there: http://gadgets.fosfor.se/the-top-10-weirdest-case- mods/ Just a few.

DMCA?

[kilox]

Wow..I can't wait for the whisky company to step in and try to administer the DMCA against this endeavour. Remember FedEx with their boxes?

Surely they want you to get drunk off your ass and end up on America's Craziest Videos, not use it for gadgetry and have a post on Slashdot about it.

Next on slashdot...

[game kid]

"How to fit a mainframe (pimped with blue lasers on the bottom!) into one of Snoop's 40s." ;)

(Fo'shizzle, Seymour Crazizzle.)

Possible case mods

[hardburlyboogerman]

Try this.Use a quart mason jar that the last batch of moonshine came in.Or a brown Coca-Cola bottle.;)

Re:Nice

[yourdeadin]

Give a whole new meaning to "overclocking" and "high speed" :D

OBJoke

[LittleBigLui]

In Soviet Russia, Vodka casemods YOU!

Re:Drunken Computing!

[daverabbitz]

>I however would LOVE to see a PC built into an old UNIX manual has anyone seen such a case mod?
Desecrate a UNIX manual, HERETIC! Let the great gods of computing rain fiery hell down on you.

it IS that bad

[jesterpilot]

B***********'s is hardly whisky, it's like chewing on raw grain drenched in alcohol. And it's surely not whiskEy, since that's Irish. But it can be used to clean your monitor, keyboard, or the oil lamps of a classic sailing ship. Only, you'll have to do a lot of cleaning until the bottle is empty.

For drinking, i would recommand a fine Lowlands, like Rosebank or Bladnoch. You can also try a St. Magdalene, to make sure you won't have to bother getting a motherboard inside the bottle, since your budget will be totally spent on the booze.

Re:Creative uses for a bottle?

[anubi]

I recycle my old plastic vodka bottles to keep unused paint in.

They seal nicely, and the transparent bottle lets me easily verify how much of what colors of paint I have.

The plastic they use has so far been resistant to even oil based paints.

The handy pourer even helps me transfer just the right amount to the cup I use for holding a little for touchups, and the bottle itself is designed with a neat place for holding onto it securely.

If they get knocked around, they ususally survive intact, without losing their contents.

Soda pop bottles work too, but they tip over much easier and are quite a bit more apt to spill.

And milk jugs, forget it. That's a major mess just waiting to happen.

...therefore I am...

[leonbrooks]

...walking into things. (-:

Easier to fit one...

[leonbrooks]

...into this.