What's the worst computer chassis hack you've done?
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Sadly, no. The VT220 went "pop" a few years ago. :sigh: I still have the keyboard and hopes of getting another VT of some sort. These days I use Putty to access these systems when I use them (which is rare).
I still have a microvax II chassis and a VT terminal in my basement. Haven't been powered up for over ten years.
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I still have a microvax II chassis and a VT terminal in my basement. Haven't been powered up for over ten years.
I rarely power any of these up. But I do have to at least once a year to apply new licenses.
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I've seen a computer run out of a pizza box (on the Internet anyway) - just the mobo and drive and stuff sitting in a greasy box. When I was young I put a 286 mobo and MFM HDD (remember those?) inside a cabinet with wood screws. Soon I will be propping my PC up on 4 soup cans to give my 1000 watt PSU's fan some clearance to see if that solves my overheat problem when I use 4k rendering. Gotta wait for some adapters for my 2 remaining fans though before I try that. Life goals are the setup from the movie Pi.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
Stick a box fan under it meanwhile. Where I worked for a while a couple decades ago, we always built our own computers for client jobs, and it was normal for us to always have computers sitting around that consisted of everything screwed to a piece of plywood or foam core board or stiff cardboard or whatever was around for testing before we committed to the components we were going to put together in the boxes, in addition to having some that we already assembled to test them already built. Not quite pizza boxes, though. That's a good one! Personally, though, I just use some old towers that I keep around and just put together new stuff in them.
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I've seen a computer run out of a pizza box (on the Internet anyway) - just the mobo and drive and stuff sitting in a greasy box. When I was young I put a 286 mobo and MFM HDD (remember those?) inside a cabinet with wood screws. Soon I will be propping my PC up on 4 soup cans to give my 1000 watt PSU's fan some clearance to see if that solves my overheat problem when I use 4k rendering. Gotta wait for some adapters for my 2 remaining fans though before I try that. Life goals are the setup from the movie Pi.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
Just counter top, but they make these nice crypto currency sluices that are pretty low cost. [12GPU Open Mining Rig Frame Chassis For Crypto Coin Currency Mining ETH Zcash US | eBay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/393947219378?\_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200818143132%26meid%3Da0eb2e269009497692be7f959a254986%26pid%3D101198%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D334297049522%26itm%3D393947219378%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLCvipPairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotion&\_trksid=p2047675.c101198.m1985&amdata=cksum%3A393947219378a0eb2e269009497692be7f959a254986|enc%3AAQAGAAACAJ7nQXRq%252FwKina%252BroYAc%252BRp%252FfPm44H3RjIig6uS1KwJ5PpWHFugpCY0HD6jHsjIVbKtBNlApzIHZX06tRjiskn28M0cF%252FXAjOojwIuYlG3LQneT0VJHZQQ69TyQ5%252B%252Bp8mKcFQfJa3S0YlG7fjzMedzf6xWR0HTgIS7FF%252FZV21pD8%252Fxp0RPJNaplQ8PBwRIWhkplGnxYEWDSMB8YXNGYj5z%252FzQGpedTukSc2OD2Sox8%252BT4ktK99Afkq2lgQWyNPa1x9iQg8QyX42GizlUF1YRlFKJNesv01tnZ9uIJCaipyIhra8PTCiF9DS1dme%252FCYfV%252F15v62uyYSw%252FMDrAdMcCKXsUyVckGQZQLs7Ea6vCIXPOLoQ5sqGv82HOhokEWF%252FJYjJJTrxFlVxADjubMjvkU10QsqEw5YHBI4TjMmnxJkqQppKFIHK8knUXdv3OUrosRk9hYOc8S%252BDY7IqAxkxP4fAfox76TKx6dzIuhVTBIpxMlg4L3%252FtWR61YvIRS7hr%252FOJWnpu0JA3yvfNw2Wu2yomPIe6STVYB%252FUd87e0dWhOLzrLlyWHbGVrlLsgGPH1vD5Qf%252BMrigAFrYxDbuvmfF%252F8FLPOhk%252FLaeW1twdDoCfU6yoCKNybI6ijlXwYLbfauIq2LwHFDFo7Xm6MbzmTp2Asv8CKTj5MY1QzV%252BSD43ZGhc|ampid%3APL\_CLK|clp%3A2047675)
If it ain't broke don't fix it Discover my world at jkirkerx.com
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I've seen a computer run out of a pizza box (on the Internet anyway) - just the mobo and drive and stuff sitting in a greasy box. When I was young I put a 286 mobo and MFM HDD (remember those?) inside a cabinet with wood screws. Soon I will be propping my PC up on 4 soup cans to give my 1000 watt PSU's fan some clearance to see if that solves my overheat problem when I use 4k rendering. Gotta wait for some adapters for my 2 remaining fans though before I try that. Life goals are the setup from the movie Pi.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
Giving new meaning to the expression "Soup up your PC"
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Just counter top, but they make these nice crypto currency sluices that are pretty low cost. [12GPU Open Mining Rig Frame Chassis For Crypto Coin Currency Mining ETH Zcash US | eBay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/393947219378?\_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200818143132%26meid%3Da0eb2e269009497692be7f959a254986%26pid%3D101198%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D334297049522%26itm%3D393947219378%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLCvipPairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotion&\_trksid=p2047675.c101198.m1985&amdata=cksum%3A393947219378a0eb2e269009497692be7f959a254986|enc%3AAQAGAAACAJ7nQXRq%252FwKina%252BroYAc%252BRp%252FfPm44H3RjIig6uS1KwJ5PpWHFugpCY0HD6jHsjIVbKtBNlApzIHZX06tRjiskn28M0cF%252FXAjOojwIuYlG3LQneT0VJHZQQ69TyQ5%252B%252Bp8mKcFQfJa3S0YlG7fjzMedzf6xWR0HTgIS7FF%252FZV21pD8%252Fxp0RPJNaplQ8PBwRIWhkplGnxYEWDSMB8YXNGYj5z%252FzQGpedTukSc2OD2Sox8%252BT4ktK99Afkq2lgQWyNPa1x9iQg8QyX42GizlUF1YRlFKJNesv01tnZ9uIJCaipyIhra8PTCiF9DS1dme%252FCYfV%252F15v62uyYSw%252FMDrAdMcCKXsUyVckGQZQLs7Ea6vCIXPOLoQ5sqGv82HOhokEWF%252FJYjJJTrxFlVxADjubMjvkU10QsqEw5YHBI4TjMmnxJkqQppKFIHK8knUXdv3OUrosRk9hYOc8S%252BDY7IqAxkxP4fAfox76TKx6dzIuhVTBIpxMlg4L3%252FtWR61YvIRS7hr%252FOJWnpu0JA3yvfNw2Wu2yomPIe6STVYB%252FUd87e0dWhOLzrLlyWHbGVrlLsgGPH1vD5Qf%252BMrigAFrYxDbuvmfF%252F8FLPOhk%252FLaeW1twdDoCfU6yoCKNybI6ijlXwYLbfauIq2LwHFDFo7Xm6MbzmTp2Asv8CKTj5MY1QzV%252BSD43ZGhc|ampid%3APL\_CLK|clp%3A2047675)
If it ain't broke don't fix it Discover my world at jkirkerx.com
I don't know if a mining cart counts as a hack.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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I don't know if a mining cart counts as a hack.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
I own a MIG welder and chop saw, so I can weld one up and powder coat it from stock steel. But I think it's a pretty neat product and worth a look.
If it ain't broke don't fix it Discover my world at jkirkerx.com
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I've seen a computer run out of a pizza box (on the Internet anyway) - just the mobo and drive and stuff sitting in a greasy box. When I was young I put a 286 mobo and MFM HDD (remember those?) inside a cabinet with wood screws. Soon I will be propping my PC up on 4 soup cans to give my 1000 watt PSU's fan some clearance to see if that solves my overheat problem when I use 4k rendering. Gotta wait for some adapters for my 2 remaining fans though before I try that. Life goals are the setup from the movie Pi.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
My first hack was in my college years, back when a "laptop computer" was the size and weight of a typewriter (and kept your lap PLENTY warm), I bolted a steamer chest handle to the top of my mini-tower, and an eye-bolt to the back. I then fashioned an old strap with clip-hooks (think old-style carabiner clips before carabiners were known to anyone but climbers) on the ends. This was my daily setup for going from home to school to the office and back again. I got lots of interested looks on the bus. My second hack was back when my kids were starting grade school and learning more about the internet than Dad was showing them, I gathered scrap components from various dead machines, and built my first home firewall on a piece of cardboard that I mounted on the wall behind my desk. Never worried about overheating. My wife even thought it was a fun conversation piece when friends would come over, even though she knew nothing about computers, and could barely use the one I gave her. I have done several hacks since then, but they have been less and less original. I did once mod a 5 1/4" floppy case to fit into a drive bay, and used it as a drawer to keep all my license fobs in. Remember those horrific parallel port devices you had to plug in to make commercial software work? ---------- Money makes the world go round ... but documentation moves the money.
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My first hack was in my college years, back when a "laptop computer" was the size and weight of a typewriter (and kept your lap PLENTY warm), I bolted a steamer chest handle to the top of my mini-tower, and an eye-bolt to the back. I then fashioned an old strap with clip-hooks (think old-style carabiner clips before carabiners were known to anyone but climbers) on the ends. This was my daily setup for going from home to school to the office and back again. I got lots of interested looks on the bus. My second hack was back when my kids were starting grade school and learning more about the internet than Dad was showing them, I gathered scrap components from various dead machines, and built my first home firewall on a piece of cardboard that I mounted on the wall behind my desk. Never worried about overheating. My wife even thought it was a fun conversation piece when friends would come over, even though she knew nothing about computers, and could barely use the one I gave her. I have done several hacks since then, but they have been less and less original. I did once mod a 5 1/4" floppy case to fit into a drive bay, and used it as a drawer to keep all my license fobs in. Remember those horrific parallel port devices you had to plug in to make commercial software work? ---------- Money makes the world go round ... but documentation moves the money.
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A and B drive cables, getcha some. WD st-225 perhaps?
I dropped ST-225 and head 0 got damaged. I had to install inverters in both head select signals on the drive so the unusable head was now #3. BIOS didn't like the idea of head #0 being bad. I also wrote a driver for modified drive parameter block telling the DOS that the disk only had 3 heads. 15MB total instead of 20MB but it worked. Later I 'upgraded' my XT to 486. The PC did not have regular chassis, it was a frame built from random aluminum rails. Mounting holes for new motherboard lined up with holes on XT motherboard so I installed 486 straight on top of XT on standoffs.
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I dropped ST-225 and head 0 got damaged. I had to install inverters in both head select signals on the drive so the unusable head was now #3. BIOS didn't like the idea of head #0 being bad. I also wrote a driver for modified drive parameter block telling the DOS that the disk only had 3 heads. 15MB total instead of 20MB but it worked. Later I 'upgraded' my XT to 486. The PC did not have regular chassis, it was a frame built from random aluminum rails. Mounting holes for new motherboard lined up with holes on XT motherboard so I installed 486 straight on top of XT on standoffs.
That's is hard core. :thumbsup: