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Antec Releases "Skeleton" PC Case

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the case-but-not-a-case dept.

ThinSkin writes "It is appropriate to say that Antec was 'thinking outside the box' when the idea of the 'Skeleton' PC Case sprung to mind. The Antec Skeleton is an open-air PC case with a pair of shelves for the motherboard and other components — held up by arching arms. There are no side panels. This is ideal for the computer user who is constantly fidgeting with his PC parts, or someone who wants to show off his fancy components. Just have a compressed air can nearby. There is also a slideshow of Antec Skeleton images available."

14 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Good for a lab. by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But man i would fear every open can of soda, and heaven forbid you have kids or pets.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:Good for a lab. by internerdj · · Score: 4, Funny

      What do you mean? My 11 month old would love it.

    2. Re:Good for a lab. by aliquis · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sooner or later you'll notice that your FSB has had an upgrade.

      After that you'll just have to find a female connector if you got the male one, or a male one if you got the female one, and the rest is basic IO.

      There seem to be some sort of protocol using a closed handshaking routine to initiate the data transfer though and I haven't got that one figured out. There have been quite a few attempts to reverse engineer and document the procedure for the whole handshaking process, part of the progress can be found in TFM by Neil Strauss, but there are no complete documentation yet.

      Common practise for finalising the handshake routine includes brute-forcing. But that method requires a wide array of targets since the target host most often will notice the probe and close all ports well before the initializing handshake routine and following data transfer is over. Alternative practise includes paying for a one-time key usable against a single target. This method got its flaws though since the target are usually well protected against intruding code which won't execute whereby not finalizing the final stages of the procedure. You will still get all the benefits of making the connection and following thru the whole data transfer process, but the application will never fork into a new process.

      But believe it or not, some people even see benefits of the lack of a child process. For instance you don't have to fight over resources, share memory or try to fight for priority.

  2. But... by clang_jangle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What about shielding, dust, noise, safety from beverages, pets, flying insects? I predict the aesthetic charm will wear thin quickly for those who purchase this -- if anyone does.

    --
    Caveat Utilitor
    1. Re:But... by Nightspirit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Like the article says, this is for people who probably already have their case open anyways.

    2. Re:But... by ducomputergeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Already ordered one for our development lap where we're testing under lots of hardware configurations. We've been using old PC server towers, the kind that stand like 4ft tall, so we can easily access all the components when we need to swap out this or that. But they do take up quite bit of space. As the article said, it's a niche product. So i guess next week we'll see.

      --
      "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
    3. Re:But... by plover · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I already have dust buildup in my closed case. It has an acrylic side panel, so it does not offer RF shielding. It has a top fan, so it doesn't offer much safety from a beverage set carelessly on top. As a matter of fact, no matter how much I wanted to I couldn't set a beverage on top of this Skeleton, so I would set it elsewhere -- this case is possibly safer as a result.

      Perhaps closed cases are overrated in terms of the amount of "actual" protection they provide.

      --
      John
    4. Re:But... by Ironsides · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Here's a question for you. Do you even need to use a case to test the various configurations? Couldn't you just leave the motherboard on the desk with the cards sitting in it and everything laying out?

      --
      Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
    5. Re:But... by Wilden2003 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd never put one in my house, though. One of the cats would probably pee on it.

      Only the one time. And if they did survive, you could be sure they would learn the lesson.

      Had a Irish Setter once. And an electric fence. He wizzed; I winced. But I must say, I never saw him repeat the experience.

  3. What TFA fails to report is... by Verdatum · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does the case come with a big scary sign that says, "DO NOT TOUCH!", or do I have to fashion my own?

  4. Unpractical, really by Enleth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if we assume that there are no problems with air circulation and proper cooling (it's Antec, after all), this things takes up much more desk space than a normal tower case, cannot be used like a destop type case (however awkward they are) because of its shape and cannot really be placed under the desk (it negates the whole puprpose of such a design and most computer desks have no place suitable for something like that anyway, except maybe the printer shelf). So it's half a desk for a weird novelty. Not worth the hassle, IMO. Even for someone who likes fiddling with the parts a big tower without the left side panel and placed on the right hand side of the desk would be probably a lot more practical.

    --
    This is Slashdot. Common sense is futile. You will be modded down.
  5. Tesla Coil! by corsec67 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just put a Tesla coil on top.

    No, I haven't thought mu cunning plan through.

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
  6. Awesome. by dangitman · · Score: 4, Funny

    This will go great with my skull-shaped bong.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  7. Re:EMI by Yvan256 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Screw EMI. After all, they're part of the RIAA.