Modding Gallery: Kittenmoi -A Hello Kitty themed PC for my wife -Warning: lots of pink

Before you burn me at the stake, this PC is built for my wife, I told here I would build Her a PC with what ever theme she wanted.
She of course choose Hello Kitty.
(I wanted to build a nice clean silver/white combo)
The PC has actualy been mostly complete for a year, with a few bugs that I hadn't had time to work out until now.
I decided to give the entire PC a refresh this month.

The goals:
-Hello Kitty Themed
-Easy to use computer
-Internet and e-mail mostly
-Wireless connectivity


First the specs:
-AMD Athlon XP 2800+
-Shuttle Barebone system
-512MB PC3200 DDR
-64MB Graphics Card
-Apple Airport express used as a wireless bridge and USB print server
-60 GB harddrive
-24X Slot Load 16X CD-ROM Drive
-17" Monitor
-USB keyboard
-Microsoft wireless mouse


Since my wife's PC is setup in the living room I lined the case bottom, and shell with akasa sound deadening material. Speedfan was also used to regulate the CPU fan inside the case.


For the front of the case I wanted a simple lit button.
With normal vandal resistant switches costing upwards of $20 I choose a simpler route.


I took a normal door-bell switch which uses an light bulb inside...


I then replaced the light bulb with a super bright white LED...


The new LED provides a soft blue/white glow.
The button remains lit when the system is on, and glows half-as bright when the system is off.
Diodes and resistors were used to isolate the LED from Switch function.


After a lot of krylon fusion paint, and clear coat the result is a whole lot of pink. More then my taste, but my wife likes it.


The faceplate is super simple, with only two switches: CD Eject (top) and Power (Bottom)
The faceplate is clear lexan, painted pink on one side, etched, and aluminum tape behind the etch.


The end result is a near totally silent PC that is perfect for internet and e-mail.

 

My God.... I dont know whether to cry or cheer.

Beautiful work, but I can hear your soul screamer because of the subject matter from here

 

As always, very nice ZAP.

You should make a Candy PC...

 

I think it is a great looking case and that it is well suited for it's use. I think that the etch and the slot load CD-ROM just make the entire case what is.

 

Very Nice, super clean. Really like your button solution. I can understand about the "pink", my current project is for my daughter and is very pink .
Yours is nicely understated and "soft", your wife must love it! And all the accesories match !

 

I need to get my camera next time I order pizza, as the PC is viewable from the front door, and you should see how many "Where do you get a pink computer?" looks I get.

 

/me smells a doorbell button CCTV mod next

 

Good idea, although I am in an apartment with no doorbell.
I am thinking of trying a peep-hole camera, or just mounting it outside.

Ironicly my neighbor that I never see, already has a camera on his door, and I know he has PC setup as he leaves is 802.11g linksys router open.

 

nice job, i dunno if this belongs in the modding section or project logs, but it's nice. good job with the doorbell buttons, how do you get it to stay lit even when the pc is off? do you suck power from the CMOS battery?

 

It's just modding, as it is complete.
The LED pulls a little power from the motherboard switch monitoring circuit. (+5volts standby)
Just a side effect of having the LED wired with the switch.

Here is my ASCII schematic:

Code:

+5volts-----Diode----Resistor---Switch(pin1)---LED---Switch(Pin2)---GND
Motherboard Switch header---Diode--Switch(pin1)--LED--Switch(Pin2)----GND

 

Very, very nice modding job

As always well themed, with just the right balance to simply looking super great.

I bet she loves you for giving her what she wanted It so warms the soft part of my heart to see when this happens.

I must however admit, that it does hurt my eyes to look at it for too long at a time.
It may have something to do with one of my fathers favorite statements: "I love every color ..... so long as it is green"

 

LOL you even painted the remote wonder...

i would be interested in knowing exactly how you did that...youd have to keep it fairily simple though, im not any kind of electronical guru.

 

id kick you squy in the nuts if it wasnt for your craftmanship

but the moment I see a lackluster hello kitty case,

BAM , im bringing hell

 

How bout bringing that to the next big LAN with your other projects?

 

Excellent work, pal !

Just out of curiosity - no need to read between lines or look for hidden meanings - is you wife chinese or taiwanese ?

I'm just trying to verify a point, which is : "Hello Kitty is only popular with little (asian?) kids or chinese/taiwanese women"

I already know like a dozen hello kitty addicted chinese women actually

 

Great work!! Next time, maybe a Doom 3, hello kitty flashlight mod hehehe

Light buttons mod is very useful.

 

You and me both.

Actualy I painted that a while ago, but she never use's it, so I am going to re-paint it silver for use with my HTPC.

I plan to be at TXGF, maybe I will just try and bring all my current mods.

Half-filipino

I have no idea why she loves hello kitty so much besides "It's cute" Along with stuffed animals, and Precious Moments. (The entire Christmas tree is that stuff)

 

one of my friends filipino girl friends is also into hello kitty, i think the epidemic has spread futher than taiwon and china.

 

rafve hello Kitty is was created and originally sold in Japan. In an interview even the company president admitted he had no clue why it was so popular. It's just a Brand, There's no meaning behind it. Anyways nice work zap, you seem to have a love affair with those shuttle cases that's what 2 or 3 shuttle mods now?

 

Actualy the Hello Kitty PC was the first shuttle I owned (Won it at QuakeCon '03)

The other two PC's were demos PCs for companies, I choose shuttle as they provided the parts, and they are small and easy to ship.

Personaly I use a Coolermaster tower for my main PC, and a AMD G-Mono tower for my HTPC.