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Cool Cases: the Rust-Box
Obscura writes "Tired of reading about everyone else's cool case designs, I spent the weekend making the Rust-Box. I coated my case with a paint made of iron filings and then soaked it with a special solution that causes it to rust instantly. (yes, its sealed so your hands don't turn orange when you touch it)" Allright, thats pretty cool.
Hey! I like the beige box. Maybe once these fancy boxes become popular my plain box will make me stand out from the crowd :)
In the submissions section, include a checkbox that says, "This is my personal site. I give Slashdot permission to create a temporary mirror to handle the load should it be linked to in a featured article."
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Found an old version in my mailbox. Will replace it with the newer version if/when I find it:
http://www.litebase.com/witm.el
Comments/enhancements welcomed.
OK, this whole discussion is _very_ offtopic, but here's the line you need (in bash):
:-)
( while [ true ]; do snarf http://some.site.com/ && exit ; sleep 1h; done )
Note: The () is required, or it will log you out after getting the page! (snarf is of course required -- guess you could use wget or anything else instead.)
Another side of it all is the ethics of it, of course (I think it's a big egoistic -- by doing automated, periodic checks, you're actually _contributing_ to the Slashdot effect, thereby locking everybody out...).
And if you're actually using it, KEEP IT at 1 hour. At least nothing less. Thank you, you just made the Internet a slightly better place
/* Steinar */
(This comment is of course GPLed.)
Intel do a 2U rackmount with dual CPU board, network management, SCSI onboard, Ethernet onboard, optionally redhat pre-installed and *supported*. I was told 'about £1400' ($2000) configured, which seems reasonable for a built, pre-loaded, brandname machine.
"don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
true. Steve Case coming to my house for dinner still wouldnt have justified paying that much fora Mac about as powerful as a Brother word processor. BUT... Bruce Wayne had one!
"Eagles may soar, but weasels dont get sucked into jet engines."
The hobby store where I got the rust stuff had a Gold Leaf kit. Hmmmm....
You mention that you have painted a case before. I was just wondering, what kind of painting equipment and supplies would one need to give a case and other computer hardware a decent looking finish that won't flake or peel off?
It would be a nice feature to have a page where you typed in the site you wanted to look at and it would check it every 20-30 minutes until it got the page. If it got it, It would show it to you, if it didn't, it would try again in 20-30 minutes... use a meta-refresh that query's a cgi with the web address you want. The cgi will go get the page and forward it to your browser (If /. did it, put your ad or whatever on top) if it times out, put a message such as Sorry Page still unresponsive trying again in 10 minutes and the header has a meta-refresh to query itself in 10 minutes or whatever... just an idea.. I would love to see some of these /.ed sites sometime.
There is something almost morbid about the way that site owners go out of their way to do cool stuff so the sites can end up on Slashdot - and in effect be killed right away.
It's sort of like a sacrifice society really, the highest honor we can attain is to be stomped to death by the masses.
Come to think of it, that is what our whole fame thing is about, both on and offline I guess.
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- Does having the case off like that interfere with your monitor/radio/TV reception?
- How do you keep the cards from wobbling in their slots and/or snapping at the connectors?
- The drives seem far from your chair. Do you have to get up to change disks?
- Is the thing under the floppy drive a CD-ROM drive or what?
--
Seeing is believing; You wouldn't have seen it if you didn't believe it.
The paint I've been using for my Blackintosh is the Pacta Racing Finish by Testors. It's got an incredibly professional looking finish to it and it's rock solid once it dries. I painted my G3 from the inside of the translucent panels so that the outside would'nt have that icky painted feel, but I found that the paint was good enough to paint the apple logos on the outside. Their website seems to be having problems with ordering though. My last order hasn't come through, and it's been a couple weeks...
I have one of these cases, and they kick ass. I too have the black one, the thing is a dream to work with. Cards and mobo on one side, drives on the other. Thirteen drivebays, spots for 3 fans, cool cubelike shape.
Highly recommended.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I had no idea the effect would be so swift and devistating. (long lasting too) Where do I get the "I've been slashdotted" Tee-Shirt? -Obscura
It's Incredible aint it??? Just try to get on that site with the Star Trek News!
Yeah, I can see through this ploy. CmdrTaco bought some stock in a company that produces this "insta rust" stuff, then comes on /.and posts about how 'cool' it looks. After a good /. effect and a nice IPO, he's got millions in stock! mwa ha ha!
::chuckles:: Man, I guess you can buy just about anything if you look hard enough...
Serioulsy... what the heck else would you use "insta rust" for?
-Wiz
That'd be cool - use some of that neat-o fabric with the fiber optics that directs light from behind the object to the front, so it looks like it's not there? The invisible computer (except for a power LED and a mild distortion) would kick arse...
Is this a sign that the beige box is finally on its way out? I really hope so.
stty erase ^H
Though he didn't say exactly, I'm pretty sure he meant an empty toilet that wasn't currently in use. At least, that's what I had assumed...
Hey, have a nice one, guy.
This brings up an excellent point. Why can't I get a cool looking case for my Wintel machine? I bought a tower case, painted it black, and marblized it, and did the same for my monitor. (Now that's a little tricky..) But how come I can't buy a funky case? Unless I buy an Apple of course.
Anyway the mirror is at http://www.ziplink.net/~ars/slash/rust- box/
-Ariel
I wonder what will be next. I'm waiting for an R2-D2-like case, or at least something that looks like The Matrix.
I wonder if they sell mahogany cases? :)
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The best custom case I've been able to build for a computer out of wood was from a '50s RCA Victor Record / Radio case. $30 for the Case at an antiques dealership, $70 for the dremmel and several other attachments (ie., yer gonna need the router bit to make things look professional). Be prepared to take several days (weeks) to get this right...least thats how long it took me with no woodworking skills :(
The speaker still worked and was able to hook it up to the builtin sound board on my MB. The only problem I've had so far was having to drill the case of my powersupply (to hold the damn thing inplace) I got metal shards all over and wiped out the supply in bout half a minute (doh!) Make sure ya clean all surfaces well before hooking up any electricity.
Now if I could only get a laptop display to work with a standard VGA connection, I'd hook up my monochrome inside the case where the record player once opened up...
clif
I envision an oak or mahogany credenza stereo,
but keep the harmon-kardon tube amp and the phat
speakers (86 the rest of the system, as well as
cutting out the leg area where the radio was)
Maybe raise it up to desk height...
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
This sounds like a really great idea, but as the site seems to have been slashdotted into unavailability, I can't read about it.
:-)
I made some silly 'cases' some time ago when putting together some scrapped 486's for friends.
1. A lego box. Yup, I stole the idea from Slashdot, but I didn't have the patience, nor the skill to build it from scratch - I simply glued the pieces onto the existing case. Looks great though, especially the sides that come from the Space station lego (grey lego that looks like the surface of the moon).
2. A Wooden box. I rescued a scrapped, non working 70'iesTV set and took the sides from it and glued onto the case. The front of the case (a midi tower one) is covered by the black plastic panel from the TV. Looks great and the computer is so silent you can't tell it's on.
3. A case made of used plastic ice cream boxes and a plastic washing tub. Not a great idea. My friend's girlfriend didn't recognize it as a computer, so she almost threw it away - she thought it was trash ("An old washing tub filles with cables").
Anyway, customizing your computer is FUN.
Kids, do try this at home!
L-ViS
They found a way to bottle "essence of VW Beetle"? And someone is willing to spray it on their computer?? I've never had a car that could rust as fast as my Beetle. Stiil, I miss that car, *sniff*
:)
Hey, do you clean up excess with Bondo and primer??
Chris
Is the Yeoung Yang Cube Server in the balck color, just got mine and it is now known as the Borg. Big, beautiful, black, lots of room, and it makes an excellent foot rest. More pictures at www.caseoutlet.com
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
Of course, I seem to recall that iron filings or steel wool (not stainless) will generate lots of rust almost instantly when submerged in hydrogen peroxide. You probably don't want the foam to run all over your carpet because H2O2 might bleach the carpet, but the reaction products are water, rust, & oxygen.
Then just get some adhesive and clear-coat to finish the job.
In their day, they had plenty of kick and the built in Bose system justified at least $500 of the price. AND they can run Linux. Ooooh... Linux.
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Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
You're quite right, of course. OTOH Why not do it anyways and see what happens? :)
Yeah, I'm a Mac programmer. You got a problem with that?
-- thinkyhead software and media
Is it a copyright violation to put a SQUID server?
Effectively it's a mirror, but since it's all in some strange program's cache, who could say anything?
I'm waiting for a case covered with flatscreens. Change the look every day :-)
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This space unintentionally left unblank.
If you needed a web farm of ten quad Alphas, then you would definitely already have way more bandwidth than a 128K connection!
To answer your question "is it the server or the connection that gets overloaded during a Slashdotting?", I would suspect that it could be either one, depending on the site. If the pipe is smaller than the server, then you would see a lot of timeouts and super slow response (like this particular slashdotting). The pipe itself could overload and go down (the routers could bounce from the overload) or the ISP/Corporate/University admins could notice and block traffic to that server until the load goes down (sending nasty email along the way).
If the pipe is big enough, but the server itself cannot handle all of the connections, then everyone else would get server errors back from the server, or the server itself could buckle (and possibly bounce (reboot)).
If only "common" sense was actually that common...
I really dig that driftwood-effect aircraft panel...
Wish it wasn't so expensive tho.
Anyone know how to get a similiar effect, cheaply?
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
If you use VesaFB it will work fine with your TV out.
I shared your picture with a friend.
;-)
His responce:
"what a useless place for the cd-rom. it should clearly be taped to the monitor"
:-)
ROTFL, but then I have several "caseless" computers around
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
I bought two cases for the computers in my dorm from hardwarepro.com. One is translucent bright green. The other case is translucent purple. They have a milky-white area in the front so that the drives (sorta) match. Look at them at http://www.hardwarepro.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/So ftCart/store1/cas es.shtml?L+mystore1+aorg6180+936686872 or just go to hardwarepro.com and click on Cases.
Photos of bits of the past hiding in the present: afiler.com
I built a case out of legos too. But I built the whole case, so it's "custom-fit" to the size of the components. Actually, a friend and I built it for him to save money. We spent about $20 on legos, so we saved a couple of bucks and ended up with a far cooler case. Click on the link in my header or go to http://www.newfolden.k12.mn.us/legopc
Photos of bits of the past hiding in the present: afiler.com
If you want that effect, just use a toothbrush. Dip the bristles in gray, white, or black paint.
Hold the brush about 5" away from the surface, and flick the bristles at the surface.
One problem you will have is the fact that water conducts electicty. Your going to have to find some way to seal the componets that dosen't interfere with providing cooling, or your going to find yourself dealing with fried system at best, or a possibily leathal electrocution hazard at worst.
Another problem is water dissapation. There needs to be a certain amount of water in the tank for the toilet to flush properly, or you going to end up with a toilet that clogs frequently, and gives you all sorts of other problems. Older toilets may have enought room, but, unless your system is really small (think embedded system), the newer low-flow toilets do not.
If you're going to do this, please be careful. If you're going to power it from the AC (not recomended unless you really know what you're doing), make sure that the line is isolatted, and is protected by a GFCI. Don't count on the power supply to provide isolattion, a liner PS might if it uses a transformor (no ganunaties), but a switching PS won't, and most computer PS'es are switching PS'es. A better idea may be to power the system from batteries, instead.
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Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
lol. Reminds me of the last (good (there's still one running..)) multi-line BBS down here in Auckland, New Zealand. I went over to check it out (read: piss up), and the guy opens up his hot water cupboard...and there it is, in all it's glory 6 assorted motherboards (and associated peripherals), 4 modems, etc.... All caseless.. Ahh...memories.
Hey.. Just noticed this Post Anon check box...what's this all about...hmm.
--- "If a man speaks in a forest, and no woman hears him, is he still wrong?"
The books are primarily aimed at home decoration, but they touch on painting various surfaces: metal, plastic, etc. As such, the books should be applicable to computer case painting.
I have one here, Paint Recipes by Liz Wagstaff. ISBN 0-8118-1173-5. Listed at Amazon.
Several months ago someone posted an excellent way to paint a computer case. This post took on it's own life and someone turned it into a howto. It should be in the archives. Can't remember where, tho. Never needed it, my cases came out just fine, after painting them! (8
I'm sorry. What I meant to say was 'please excuse me.'
what came out of my mouth was 'Move or I'll kill you!'
Exactly... but the TAM was awfully expensive in its day, but a very sexy looking machine, nonetheless.
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Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
I did a rust case a while back, albeit accedentally. Phosphoric acid solution on the plate next to the computer case hyperboiled and sprayed the case.. Looked even cooler after a week, when the incorrectly neutralized acid ate holes in the case.. Another good one I've done is the wall-mounted Beowolf. Twelve wall-mounted P100s.. Used nylon bearings as spacers and screwed the bugger up with drywall screws.. I currently have one system that consists of a Baby-AT and a dinky power supply mounted inside a Mead Data Systems 300 baud modem.. People look at me queerly when they see it on the desk next to the Olivetti Xenix box I have.. However the best one I've ever seen was made out of a discarded 8-track player.. The fellow fit an ATX MB inside while managing to keep the 8-track functional..
.sig: Now legally binding!
Hehe, I suppose I could apply for a patent. But I'd have to make it an Open Patent(tm). Actually, it would be more fun to shoot down some company's patent for something like this with my prior art! :)
Photos of bits of the past hiding in the present: afiler.com
Supposedly a stain that'll stick to the exterior in addition to soaking in like most stains / varnishes.
Never used it, can't vouch for it. If you want the look of wood, use real wood. I know it's a lot more work, but the end result (done correctly) will be so much more attractive.
"...America's great minds of today, teaching America's great minds of tomorrow. Poor bastards." -- A Beautiful Min
Actually, I remember a story about New York having trouble with the bridge girders (and guard rails) rusting, so they covered said metal items with something that would rust quickly. Once it rusted, it created an air-and-water-proof shield for the metal underneath. Plus they didn't have to paint it.
Anyone else hear this, or did I have too much to drink that night?
Hey Macphisto, what's that red box? It looks like it has a combination lock (?) on it.
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Have a Sloppy day!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
A bridge near where I grew up had this, not a fancy brige, but all it's metal was always rusted. One day I asked some people about it and found out the rust was supposed to be there. Kind of odd, but it does seem like a sound idea.
Well, yaknow, I'd pretty much consider myself a "true geek", and honestly most of my cases don't have screws in them. Actually, half of them are partially disassembled.
But, you know what, last time i went to build a computer from scratch, I looked around the lab, and i realized i had 4 full tower cases that were uniformly big, uniformly unweildy when i needed to carry them around, and generally louder than i needed them to be.
More research needs to be done on what models of muffin fans make acceptable low-noise replacements for different heating loads. I'm not the least bit convinced that PC Power & Cooling deserves any of my hard earned money for putting what's probably a $10 fan in a $30 power supply and charging $90.
But looks i can do something about.
I wouldn't say the case i settled on would win any awards. it's merely short, chubby, and has pleasing curves. the first reaction i got was "That's not a computer, that's a pet"
That's more or less what I wanted. I embedded a temperature readout in the front, stuck one of those penguin stickers in the badge area, and was done with it. I really like it.
The case cost me all of $28. I'd provide a url but i can't find the thing online. The side panels slide off, the motherboard plate is removable, the drive cage and power supply snap in and out. the metal is pretty thin, but the edges are rolled so there's no cuts on my hands from messing with it.
There's a lot to be said for brute force technology. I'll leave that at work, in the rack, where it belongs. Some times you just want to have something that works and stays put.
I'm currently looking for what i might be able to put together to be good looking, durable, and portable. A computer that doesn't look like a computer, that i can carry under my arm comfortably.
For that matter, I'd also kill for a 2-unit-high rack mount case for under $300 that doesn't look like crap. NLX formfactor would be perfect. I've found a supplier, but the cases are one-offs and cost $700+ each. No way I'm going there. And don't send me links to penguin computing either, their markup on that 2ru system is amazing, and i think they get the cases from the same guy.
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
Huh. Isn't that actually what stainless steel is? Or maybe aluminum? Some rust-free metal.
Whatever metal I'm thinking of, it has a couple of molecules oxidized on the surface, which protects the ones underneath.
I thought that was pretty cool.
MSK
The power supply is on a shielded surface (well, kinda) and is behaving itself for the time being. My dad came over and *touched* the heatsinks to see if they were hot. This freaked me out until he explained that there was no current path, i.e. birds on a wire, but still, damn... anyway it's worth it. If it wasn't for that damn buzz it'd be completely quiet. If you really want a quiet system, go for an NCD X-term and sleep more easily too (oh did I mention, I'm not liable if your cat Fluffy likes to poke around power supplies and finds out just what curiousity did to the.. well, you know)
Thanks for the comments, it's good to know that not everyone thinks I'm a loony ;-) ("I want it quiet! REALLY quiet!" "oookay...")
They used it during construction of railroads way back when, to melt the iron and join it together.
It's basically aluminum and rust. When you ignite it (using something extremely hot, like burning magnesium), the oxygen seperates form the rust, and this allows the aluminum to burn. You're left with aluminum oxide and molten iron.
The problem is, where the heck do you get enough rust? This magical stuff that the guy used is the answer to your Thermite woes :)
Warning: do not try this at home.
IANAFM (i am not a fire marshal).
"The value of a man resides in what he gives,
and not in what he is capable of receiving."
"The value of a man resides in what he gives,
and not in what he is capable of receiving."
--Albert Einstein
Two sequels. I guarantee they'll both stomp the next two $tar Whore$ movies, if Lucas keeps it up. The sequels are in the works, Keanu is coming back for the second for sure and possibly the third. They may have to share studios in Australia where Lucas is going to film the next disastrous episode of SW. So they'll be filming around the same time. They plan on releasing the movies one-two style, like Matrix 2 in the spring and Matrix 3 in the fall/winter. Starting in 2002 possibly earlier. Now you can sleep a little better tonight. :)
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these aren't real wood cases, they're more like a veneer. Unusual looking though
http://wood.rwebsite.com/main.html
why use good looking cases when you can improvise any way you want? My linux server is an old Acer mb in a MacIIsi box, with the powersupply and hd sitting on top, totally screwless. works as good as my fancy b&w G3 :P).
(way slower though
Oh ya, make sure the front and back side has cutouts for drive bays/leds/ports/etc and that the side panels have cutouts where the airvents (if any) are.
_______________________________________________
There is no statute of limitation on stupidity.
This place is just sooo anti-Apple, it's amazing. He didn't ask what people's favorite computers were, he asked what people's favorite cases were. Price or power is irrelevant here.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Interesting layout of the components there... Is this used in any commercial cases? If not, have you applied for a patent? :-)
It appears this URL points to a server on some kind of dialup modem/isdn connection. no wonder it's /.'d
It's probably made of core-ten steel. The rust is a protective coating for the underlying metal. The stuff is popular with sculptors.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
In theory you should be able to paint your case with any paint, but you'll run into problems with the fact that the natural oils in your skin will soften some paints, mainly Enamel-based and Acrylic based paints. (some lacquers will work fine.)
Options, from the resident paint genius here at work, (proud owner of this years Golden Daemon award for Australia)
Automotive paint - designed for use on metal parts, and very strong (has a built in binder) and will provide the best grip. This is fine for use on both the metal and the plastic, but will only come out as a satin finish - you will need to polish it up to get a good gloss finish.
For flats, you're out of luck - normally only something like Grey, Black, White or Brown are available. These also help level out the surface on the pitted case, but won't fill it in completly.
If you want something weird, the next best thing to do is paint your case the way you like, and then get a Polyurethane-based clear paint, such as used in a cork tile finish, and apply a coat over the top when you are finished. Then, you can handle it without that "Icky" feeling, because the Polyurethane is more chemically resistant. Also, this will provide an extra protection against chipping, but this is only as strong as the original paint's grip, which means it comes in second to Automotive paint.
The clear part of the Flek-stone is more or less the same thing, but in a spray can.
I believe /. had a blurb on this earlier. I remember noting that it looked like an old Monorail system. :)
In paintball, there's a good deal of attention payed to splashy, fancy finnishes on customized paintguns. Usually it involves various forms of annodizing or powder coating. At the World Cup in Orlando one year, I saw an outfit that was using... stickers!
Actually, what they were using was tape used to decorate offroad vehicles. It came in a varried selection of splashy colors and the vendor warentied that the finnish would last until the user wanted it stripped and another pattern put in place (a selling feature).
I would imagine a simular thing could be done with your standard case. And it would make dealing with front panels on sensitive devices (CDROM drive) much easier.
Damnit! i am actually in the process of building one as i type, i also have another "custom" case in the works, but not nearly as nifty as the "throne". oh well, i think that everytime someone has a good idea, there are others having that same idea simultaneously, it just depends on who acts first... i am skipping out on having water in the tank :), but i don't plan on having to buy a chair... :) ~Roach~
Seems 198.64.66.211 belongs to Rice University-Sesquinet.. maybe they have a firewall up and Obscura does know about it?
then again..
PING 198.64.66.211 (198.64.66.211): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 198.64.66.211: icmp_seq=0 ttl=244 time=2299.5 ms
64 bytes from 198.64.66.211: icmp_seq=2 ttl=244 time=1850.0 ms
64 bytes from 198.64.66.211: icmp_seq=3 ttl=244 time=2020.0 ms
64 bytes from 198.64.66.211: icmp_seq=4 ttl=244 time=1369.9 ms
64 bytes from 198.64.66.211: icmp_seq=5 ttl=244 time=1390.0 ms
--- 198.64.66.211 ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 37% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 1369.9/1785.8/2299.5 ms
The problem is that this gets into all sorts of pesky copyright issues. Considering how heated up some people are getting over just the notion of "deep linking," actually copying someone else's site for public access opens up a whole 'nother can of legal worms.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
That is why you do not copy, but just merely cache, which has so far stood up legal muster, since most ISP's do it in one way or another, especially AOL, so there is a precedent for such....all you need is squid running on a box, and people just go throught that proxy, and it is all legal...or as legal as it needs to be in todays environment...since cache is non-permanent, and will be discarted once out of date, or when it is no longer desired by the clients connecting to the proxy server. :>>--
Check it out...
If you like tinkering, you can buy empty 2U rack-mount boxes for under $75 at an electronics store. Cut out a few holes in the front, (or not, if you want the Cisco look), install a PSU for NLX cases.
A slightly simpler idea would be to link to his site from SlashDot through a CGI script. It would only let through a certain number of SlashDotters and tell the rest to wait til the load on the victim's site has slowed. Or perhaps even better would be to put up a countdown timer, then let the SlashDotter wait until a full minute elapses before going through the "gateway interface."
Yeah, I'm a Mac programmer. You got a problem with that?
-- thinkyhead software and media
What's the big deal about these cool cases? None of my computers don't even have a case except for this one and it doesn't even have any screws in it cuz I take it apart so much. Any true geek would never think of purchasing or making any crazy case cause they know they'll be fiddling with things inside all the time. Not only that, but wouldn't you rather purchase some hardware upgrades or books instead? If you want a cool looking case, go for a much less ugly G3 type design. The side just pops open for easy access to any parts, but that damn thing is ugly as hell. Maybe a nice design with easy inside access would catch my attention.
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"I'm not gonna say anything inspirational, I'm just gonna fucking swear a lot"
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