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Case Mod - In Progress Macintosh Atom(?)

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by vils, 29 Nov 2009.

  1. vils

    vils What's a Dremel?

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    I built my wife a comp a year ago, based on a Intel atom board and some leftovers.
    The result is a well working but not so good looking object:
    [​IMG]

    But I've just got my hands on this one:
    [​IMG]

    A Macintosh IIcx, my plan is to fit all current internals of the ghetto mod into this lovely case.
    Apart from the PSU wich won't fit. It's almost a shame to go for a mini-ITX board since a mATX will fit, but finance limits me to what I already got.
    I will try to get a slot loading dvd though since I will try to make minimal work on the outside of the case. Just widening the floppy port would be the best way to go.
    Here's some pics of the new case:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Plans are brewing...
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 13 Jan 2013
  2. Ryan Cooper

    Ryan Cooper It's been a long time.

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    Liking the Idea. You've got a follower. One question though, are you gonna make that slot in the front (which I'm guessing was for a floppy drive) bigger, or are you going to seal that up and make a completely new one?
     
  3. Raiden

    Raiden Portuguese reviewer

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    Time for a modd in it !:thumb:
     
  4. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    Nice catch on the case, as it has basically all interiors allready done to simply mount the new hardware into it.

    I'll be watching this ;)
     
  5. vils

    vils What's a Dremel?

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    Just widening the original floppy slot. I only need to make it one inch wider. And that won't compromise the original looks.
    Thanks for the comments to you and Raiden.
     
  6. Jelle46

    Jelle46 Belgium

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    looks promising, nice ghetto-mod btw, was your wife happy with it :d
     
  7. Singularity

    Singularity ******* Operator from Hell

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    Oh, like it! Your "old" box looks quite like my skeleton case (the mod is still alive, I just can't find the time to finish it :D). Can't wait to see what you make of this :)
     
  8. jhanlon303

    jhanlon303 The Keeper of History

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    I love putting PCs into other people's products. I watch.

    john
     
  9. null_x86

    null_x86 Thread Closer

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    im watching this
     
  10. Matticus

    Matticus ...

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    I will be watching, from a tree outside your bedroom window!

    If you are planning to hackintosh on the software side, be warned that OSX was updated to not allow atom machines to boot. Not sure how easy this is to get around (probably just not updating :p)
     
  11. null_x86

    null_x86 Thread Closer

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    its already been fixed, that story was last weeks news. I have 10.6.2 on my mini and its working fine. [/hijack]
     
  12. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    Because we need pics of work in progress. And when you have, let me know and I'll move it back to Projeft Logs.
     
    Last edited: 2 May 2011
  13. Mosquito

    Mosquito Just 'Plane' Crazy

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    For obvious reasons, I like this (I'm doing something similar with an IBM case)
    Is the apple a working system? Would be a shame if it were to destroy it, but I like the idea none the less!
     
  14. vils

    vils What's a Dremel?

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    Ok, this have been on ice for too long. My Facit project exhausted resources and energy but now things are on the move.
    I don't know if it worked since I had no possibility to check it. Now it definitly don't work, but I still have working MacClassic in storage.

    Thanks, parallel with this I'll be working with a IBM 8570 case.

    Well, here are the progress so far.
    All hardware was ripped out of the case and all odd plastic stands were trimmed off.
    I have enlarged the floppy-slot so it can be used for a slot-in Blu-ray burner. The bottom of the case is now lined with an aluminium plate for mounting Mobo and all other devices.

    Basic planning:
    [​IMG]

    I don't want to change the exterior of the case to much so all i/o ports will be housed in the original holes with cables attatched to the mobo.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The original 0n/off and reset buttons were mounted directly to the mobo pcb (activated with plastic pins from the front of the case). I salvaged some nice clicky switches from an old VCR that I will mount in some way.

    [​IMG]

    The computer will be used as a media server so I'm looking for a itx-board with hdmi and that are not too heat producing.
     
  15. vils

    vils What's a Dremel?

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    The last days I've been playing around with card-board mock ups in the case and tried different positions of the hardware.
    There are plenty of room but not in the right places, this will be tricky to get right. But challanges like this is one of the reasons for that I like cramming new stuff in odd old cases.
    Nostalgia might be another one.
    I'm now contemplating to use a PicoPSU with a 12v AC-DC converter housed inside the case to get some more flexibility with the inside logistics.
    Both SFX and Flex PSUs poses tremendous placement problems.
    Any good ideas a welcome.
     
  16. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    The SFX-PSU should fit nicely, if you turn it by 90°. It has only 125mm width, but yeah, a picoPSU would make it even easier to place the components, and it wouldn't be much more expensive either.
     
  17. lew0808

    lew0808 What's a Dremel?

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    love the idea, I'm watching this.
     
  18. Furball Zen

    Furball Zen Shut up and Mod

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    Look at all that EDO RAM lmao. :)
     
  19. vils

    vils What's a Dremel?

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    Now it does. I have chiseled away the plastic 'grid' from parts of the case's bottom and now have exactly 125mm.
    I did intend to show you some pics of this painstaking chore but for some reason I no longer can transfer pics from the phone to the computer. I can hopefully solve this until tomorrow.

    Apart from blisters in my palm I have also produced a stand for the internal on/off and reset buttons.
    But more about this later when I can post pics again.
     
  20. barry99705

    barry99705 sudo rm -Rf /

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    That puppy maxed out at 20Mb of ram!!
     

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