Blogs What exactly is 'old-school modding'?

IFTFY.

 

Ah, I see what you did there.

 

Old-school modding was back when it was niche and there was no big money involved. If you said "I'm modding my PC case" all you got was a blank stare.

 

There are only two things imho that are the clear separation of old school and modern modding.

1) Vendor made parts
2) Sponsors

Everything else is just modding.

 

I'd agree with this tbh.. "Modern modding" is still just as impressive, although IMO it tends to be more a lot more based around making pre-made things fit together in a case, or making a case around the existing parts. And there's a heavy emphasis on making things "cleaner" from what i've seen in the last few years...

 

"Old-school modding" brings to mind LED fans, cold cathode tubes (hey, remember those?), and DIY window kits.

 

not forgetting see-thru everything... acrylic cases... windows in HDDs...

...and UV. Loooooooooooots of UV.

 

THAT was exciting.

 

It definitely was.

 

Not interested in the bizarre arguments over semantics here but just thought I would add to the list of people that are here because of Orac3

 

I am in the school of others who have said that it's having the idea, seeing what materials you have / need and then trying to make it work with traditional handworkers tools. If you needed something unusual you had to build it. I was rubbish at it but it didn't stop me, ah the days of dropping a highlighter pen into distilled water to give your loop some colour!

I have no issue with people using modern CNC's / 3D printers etc, some of the builds look awesome and I doubt some could be built without the aid of a computer controlling the tools. This is to me what separates modding and old school modding. I am of the belief where to class it as "old school" it should be done by your own fair hand and a mistake could cost you hours of work either starting over or finding a work around.

My current build is the nicest looking build I have ever had. The thing is, apart from heat bend some tubes I've basically had just fit it all together into an existing case. Yes it took a while and some effort and planning, but to me it's not really modding.

 

I don't care whether mods are old-school or new-school, cheap or expensive, hand-built or machined/printed. I care whether they are creative, clever, look amazing or are just plain cool. To that end, I take my hat off to all the modders on B-T.

 

Old skool modding? Let's start with my Commodore 64: a toggle switch for shallow and deep reset, a bi-colour LED CPU status indicator, five switches to toggle between different kernel chips, one of which had a compiler/debugger, and one which came with the floppy disk parallel interface circuit, one PCB of which went in the C64, one of which went in the floppy drive and with a flatcable to connect them (the original floppy drive interface was serial, and s l o w).

Other people also painted the case and added other bits and pieces:





Because that's how we rolled in the 8-bit days.

I concur with David and Crapman: old-skool modding is anything that involved the use of non-computer-specific parts repurposed for the functional or decorative enhancement of the computer. There were no off-the-shelf modding parts or components; we're talking aquarium pumps and hoses, worm clamps and plumbing barbs, heater cores from car scrap yards, rubber car window edging; cable ties and rubber gaskets and car spray paint.

 

Old school mods and old school work-logs. The funniest thing was to discover how to make parts, tools involved, solutions adopted and at the end.....looking at how all the parts fit togheter.

 

I still have my PimpRig sig file somewhere ...

Been ages since I modded, but I read the logs here often ... the modern works are far more beautiful than we were able to make back in the old days. They are much more like art, though I won't take anything away from the folks who innovate -- I think that has always been at the heart of modding. My first mod was based on necessity -- the existing case (an old Dell!) simply didn't have enough cooling for my deployment to the desert. So, cut, poke holes, and mount. Not pretty, but it worked. People started adding more fans, windows, cooling options ... and case makers started offering cases that were "pre-modded" so to speak. My not-so-burning question over the years has been, what's next? What else do we need? My personal purpose for modding is gone -- case builders generally provide everything I need, somewhere -- but for others, the art and skill of modding is purpose all its own. I take my hat off to anyone who takes the time and effort to mod, on the smallest and largest scales, because we're making our rigs a bit more unique in the process.

 

Orac3, Dark Blade, and that copper+carbon fibre mod that I'm forgetting the name of. IIRC the modder passed on (RIP) but the f***ing skill, balls, and commitment on display there was extraordinary. Oh, and Ang3l's artsy mods too -- not to my taste, but there was always something old skool about them. I love the aesthetic nowadays, but things just seem to move quicker, and feel easier and cleaner.

And everything Attila did was stupid good.

 

That was Langer with PrometheusCU for what it's worth.

 

f***ing THANK YOU. I used to have it bookmarked, but somewhere along the many migrations, it must've been wiped. One of the all time greats, and it wasn't even finished. Wonder if it ever got completed? I remember being so gutted when news of Jesse's passing was shared. Not because of the mod, because it felt like we'd all been on this amazing journey thru PrometheusCu and now we'd lost our comrade... leader, even? Hell of a gut punch.

 

For me old-school modding is a dremel (and jigsaw for bigger cuts), a set of tiny angled files, sandpaper and a big cardboard box re-purposed as a painting booth.

I don't take anything away from the guys with access to laser/water cutters, big powder-coating ovens or anodising baths and all the material, tool and hardware sponsors, but the projects done in the back garden or shed with a couple of bags of stuff from Wilko's are the real heroes.