Reklamer

The Goldbox (Part 1) (nkh)

Tuesday 08-07-2003

The system is based on the following hardware:

• Via
  M10000 Nehemiah (mini-itx motherboard)


• 
  
  Pioneer 120S (DVD)


• IBM 4GB 2.5" (HDD)


• 128MB Samsung PC2100 DDR (RAM)


• 
  
  Winstar 4x20 (LCD)


• 300W (PSU)


• Old Samsung VCR (case)

The first step was to strip the VCR so I could work with the
case and modify it for its new life.

I didn't have the patience to use a knife, so I brought out
the grinder and cut the standoffs off (watch out for flying melted plastic if
you want to try it at home).

The first test fitting worked well, so I decided to keep that layout (almost
anyway). The DVD drive is mounted with Velcro on two pieces of wood that are
glued to the case, the motherboard is mounted on standard motherboard standoffs
(also glued to the case). The power and reset buttons are from the VCR, with
wires soldered onto some jumpers. There wasn't room for the power supply inside
the case, so it had to go on top of the case for the time being. I installed WinXP
and the computer booted fine, except that it wouldn't let me install the drivers
included on the Via CD (I also tried to download them from www.viamainboards.com
with the same result). I assumed it was an error in WinXP, so I installed Win2K
instead and now everything works fine (but I have a feeling that I'll try
Freevix in the near future).

Anyway, back to the power supply problem..

The grinder came to good use once again. I cut the top/side plate in half,
and bend the cooling profiles so it could fit through a hole I cut in the case
behind the DVD drive. The power supply was then glued to the case and fastened
with a couple of strips.

The box nearly finished, only missing the front plate,
playing a DVD.

The rear side of the box with the connections on the
motherboard on the left and the power supply on the right. I exchanged the noisy
fan in the power supply for a quieter one from Papst running at 7V.

The front plate, made from clear plexiglas with a black background (printed
on some transparent film for overhead projectors). There's a slot for the DVD at the top left. It's currently mounted with some tape until I find something better (I don't think that'll be a problem :o). The power button is mounted behind the front plate, so you turn the computer on by pressing on the plexiglas. You can see the white HDD activity LED light up on the last picture.

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