Ok well I was waiting on some parts for my proper mod, and I happened to trip over my doorstop (2.4ghz Celery Off-Shelf PC) and bumped my head... Which gave me an idea..I want a media pc in the living room, hardly any software, just music/media players, Internet access and a few others. I was going to sell the Celery and get some kind of small pc to hide in the living room, possibly a Mini Mac... But figured since I had a few hours to killl why not just put the Celery's guts in the TV Unit's drawers. I should say that this is not meant to be a perfect mod, just a way to get a baby proof and invisible media pc into my lounge. I also wanted to make sure it took less than a day so I can get back to the real one tomoro. Cuts are rough, positioning is rough, looks are...well, hidden, but rough.... so here we go.... These are the bits I will be using. Nothing special but more than enough for a base unit pc. A few specs, they aren't really worth mentioning. 2.4 Celeron, 512ddr Ram, 80gb Hdd, ATI 9200, erm....thats about it... And here is the Target.... Normally it has a big ol widescreen TV on it but its being mended at the moment so I'm stuck on a crappy old one. The PC will go in here 1st step is the test fit to see where everything will go. .
So with everything in place and ready to roll. Out come the power tools. Stage one was mounting the mobo. Simple really, mark the holes, drill a small pilot then screw in some leftover mounts. The old case has a very handy removable drive cage. which will work a treat for my idea. I want the floppy inside, in over a year of owning this pc I have never once used the floppy drive. So as long as its accesible should I need it, its going inside and out the way. For this setup the floppy and hdd will both be mounted in the cage. And as they are the cooler parts they will be staying in the bottom drawer with the mobo. That finishes the bottom brawer. Now to put the PSU and drives in the top one. PSU 1st..fairly simple, cut out a hole for the fan and button/socket leaving room for screw mounting, then screw. Now the trickiest part I guess...though none of this was particularly hard. I want the dvd and cd drives to open out into the interior of the TV unit without any need to open the drawers, just the door. Externally I want it to look no different, and none of the controls will be external. I have 18mth old twins and the living room is their turf so its all going to be baby proof. This cut lost me one of the bolts that hold the drawer together so I got the glue gun out and sealed it up on the bottom. It now feels more solid than before...isnt flat pack furniture just soooo high quality. I wanted not to cut the case, or modify any of the parts so they wont fit back in. I may still need to sell this hunkajunk to fund my real mod. Until then....its all temporary but still solid. This pc used to get a bit hot, all it ever had was the psu and cpu fans. So I thought I would give it a treat. This beast of a fan came with my blackice rad for my other pc but was too think to fit in my case. Its specs are pretty good, spins to 3000+ rpm and pumps a massive amount of air. The way the drawers are setup if I put it here it will be blowing air down onto the graphics card (only has a heatsink!) and mobo so will make their lives a bit easier I hope. And thats about it for the drawers. This pic is wrong...they actually go the other way around, small on top. But it gives an idea. And of course, the pimp shots. The way the cabinet bows in the middle isnt because of the pc, it has always done that, well as soon as we put a TV on it id did anyway Actually, its not all that pimp I guess. But its hidden, baby proof, and works. When I get my real TV fixed it has svideo in so the PC will only output to that and the monitor will return to my room as a 2nd one for this pc. The way the cabinet bows in the middle isnt because of the pc, it has always done that, well as soon as we put a TV on it id did anyway Until then it fits pretty neatly behind the door and looks ok. Its only for a week or two. (big fonts and icons mean you can see the font from the sofa) BUT.....how sweet would a widescreen look mounted to the inside of that door to fill the glass.....when I have the money it WILL happen....When I have the money this will use the parts from my current pc (see sig) The wireless kb and mouse are Gyration ones. The mouse can be used in mid air like a pointer and they use RF not IR so there needs to be no line of sight. If I take the keyboard into the kitchen while I have some tunes on, I can use the hotkeys from in there and the pc will obey...up to 25metres....so anywhere in my house or garden Anyway, not bad for 4 hours work. My bits arrive tomoro so back to proper modding. Just thought you guys might like this one for a giggle.
What's that magazine I see there? The project looks nice, but I honestly think it would look better if you had it hooked up to the TV...isn't this supposed to be a media pc?
I'm a married man with kids, I dont keep my porn under the TV!!!! Although I have to admit I did think that pic may raise a few eyebrows ahem....If it was porn I would say it was mine....ITS NOT! Its a gossip mag, and it belongs to my missus I have a Philips Blackline S widescreen TV that it will be hooked up to. But the power supply in it has gone and its in the shop waiting for parts The sub is going behind the tv too cos the kids keep cranking it up! And once the monitor goes they cable box will go back inside the door so it will look like before basically, but with speakers. I want to just have it output to the tv with no monitor so I can have my 2nd screen back The one there now ONLY has coax input Is there a way to convert Vid out on a gfx card to Coax cable?
Ah, okay, when you said you were going to replace it with a widescreen, I thought permanently or something. And I'm sure there is some way to output to coax with a convertor, but I'm too lazy to look it up.
hehe same here, going to head to Maplins and see if they have anything like that or can splice me up a cable. I do like the widescreen monitor idea...but as a flush mounted one to take up that whole window....but....I dunno... oh btw ty, forgot to say that b4
ahem....I never said it was a good pc An Emachines 410 [noob]I went store bought 16 months ago as my 1st pc. A month ago I built the pc in my sig from scratch. I am now modding it. Steep learning curve?![/noob]
unless I am also wrong.. he has a widescreen tv... and it will replace the shi**y tv thats on top... the media pc will only output to the main screen.... the widescreen tv is usually on top of the cabanite ... not in the window... The monitor in the window is really the 2nd screen for his main pc... If that made sense and if I'm wrong... I'm sorry
nope, you're both kind of right. I'll go from the top. The monitor you see is a 15" tft that I use as a 2nd monitor on MY pc (not the TV PC). The TV you see is the one from my study while my big one gets mended. When the big one gets fixed the TV pc will only output to the TV and there will be no monitor down there. BUT..... Anyone who has used a tv to watch movies from a pc will know results are good. However, when you try to read any small font or text it can get a bit much at the poor resolution tv's get. So it might be worth mounting a full res monitor in the window too, for those times when u need to get up close. I may mount a 7" one, been thinking about it and I want the window to be usable so I can put the surround processor and cable box back in there. If I mount a 7" onto the front of the drawer....a touch screen one from an in car pc.....that could work.... edit> hmm, touch screen + babies......
thanks for clarifying... and if you go for the touchscreen... either have a good child proof cover for it... or have a password to access control from the touchscreen... you don't want the twins mussing' everythign up
hehe check my edit^ password is a good idea but time intensive (I am THAT lazy) ...hmm...will have to think on this one... maybe mount it in the top of the unit...where it wont get their attention... It will have to wait tho, my next batch of bits for the real pc arrive tomoro. A Musketeer and A Coolermate 4 The cuts are already planned Warranty? whats one of them then?
A keyswtich maybe.. not sure how you could work it (maybe just disconnect the power from the touch part). Looks very nice... these "drawer PCs" are a really good idea.
a switch would work well, maybe even have an a/v switcher so it will either output to the TV or the monitor or both.. I got the drawer idea from some on here, have seen a few and it seemed the best way to keep the room tidy while getting a pc in there. They do still open but the idea is that I wont need to, and because its all hidden I didnt have to worry about making it all perfect and tidy, just kinda hacked at the box til it fit. Was a good way to learn a few modding tricks too I guess. It's my 1st 'finished' mod.
