Case Mod - In Progress Battlestar Galactica Mod: Complete!

damn moty '07, and unless someone makes a pc that has a flux capacitor, then moty '08 aswell.

this thing just gets better and better, unbelievable

I wouldn't be surprised if little spaceships actually take off from the pc, fly around, shoot up stuff, then return and touch down, back in the landing bay.

 

!!WOW!! Soooo much progress since I last checked up on this one. Man, it's starting to come together real nice.

DAMN!!! I agree with 'mvagusta'. I gonna have put in +1 vote for moty '07, and yeah, I think +1 for '08 also as I don't think this one's gonna be topped in a while.

 

Absolutely brilliant work Bod! I am thinking MoTY 08 for you, souly because I know how much you have got left to do and how little time there is between now and the end of the year.

Back to the mod, absolutely fantastic, on the subject of lighting, re-routing the activity light would be the easiest but I have a few idea's as to why it would be a bad idea:

1. The logo wouldn't be permenantly lit, which you would want it to be I'd imagine (or on a descrete switch)
2. When lit, it will flicker as the drive is accessed, this is annoying enough with the hdd activity light on top of the stacker as it is, the logo would drive you nuts!

 

Just had a read through the whole log, looks fantastic

Congrats

 

duuude, this is plain sick.. this is no more modding, this is the s**t dreams are made off

 

I really love this mod. I'm a real BSG fan I can't believe the detail your putting into this.

Brilliant I say!

 

Thanks everyone for your kind words! I'm hoping to pick up the pace on this project before I get bogged down again with more holiday honey-do's.

@ Mother-Goose: That is a good point about the activity light. For some reason I had thought it just stayed lit once the disc was inserted. But now that I paid attention, it does in fact blink during access. I will need to find a constant voltage source that is switched on when the disc is inserted, and stays on until the disc is removed. Either that, or wire it up externally and install a switch inside the drive that is triggered by the disc itself, or the actuating arms.

Thoughts?

 

To over complicate things you could have 3 led's around the edge that are permenantly on but at a lower voltage so they just glow (I think you can do that, can't remember back to my A-level electronics though lol) and then have three linked to the activity light so it pulses a bit when a disc is being accessed?

I don't know if I explained that very well but do you catch my drift?

 

To define simply in one word: "Excellent"

 

I saw a log on a cdrom mod once - it was probably in bit tech's forums
I think it was the guide/log where the guy wired his eject button & activity led to the rear analog audio connector (pcb traces were cut btw), so an external led & switch could be plugged in using an analog audio harness.
Anyway, the point is in the log, there was a mention of which points on the cdrom pcb were for connecting an led to indicate cd rom present/inserted or not. I forget if it was the labeling on the pcb or a datasheet that gave this information - either way, this guide/log would provide needed insight.
I'm happy to search the forums, even google, on one small condition: make me a bsg pc complete with a functioning fleet of fighter jets.

 

Yeah I was looking at that yesterday, the link is here

 

Cool, thanks guys! That is pretty much what I am looking for, I just hope this being a slot loading slim line drive, that it has a tray-in tray-out type of signal to tap off of. If not, maybe Zapwizard would have some insight as to how I could do it with this model drive.

lol sorry mvagusta, lworbey foiled your attempt at getting a bsg case!

 

Yeah, Zapwizard can be found over on the austin modding forums now, but doesn't come here anymore. I absolutely love the 3 lcds.

 

doh, it wasn't that log i can't remeber which log it was, but it mentioned which points on the cdrom pcb were for connecting an led to indicate if a cd rom is present/inserted or not.

I'm at work now and i've got some work to do, maybe when i get home i'll do a search, unless someone finds or provides this info. You can't just have a switch on the cd tray, cos then the drive will be lit up with or without a cd loaded.

Here's another idea before i go: Have a couple of tiny pinhole ccd's as security cameras in the landing bay, which each display on two of the front lcds, or on two lcd's elsewhere on the case, in a control room or something like that.

 

This drive is a slot loading, so it doesnt have a tray. The actuating arms grab the disc and draw it into the drive. Once ejected the arms stay there until another disc is put in. If the drive has something like the tray-in/tray-out signals of that other drive, it should work.

 

Yes, it was that log after all in a way - i followed the link to zapwizard's updated log which you seem to have found aswell

Well hopefully your drive has the same labelling as zapwizards. If not a bit of probing/trial & error might find the required points! A well posistioned/aligned pushbutton switch mod to activate from those arms will work aswell, i didn't know slot loading drives worked like that, haven't pulled one apart b4

 

Out of curiosity, which drive are you using? I'm hoping to get a slot loading drive to use on my build when I start it but I'm having trouble figuring out the interface from the laptop style to a normal PC

 

I have been using the Pioneer K05 slim line slot loading DVD drive, with a 2.5" IDE to standard IDE adapter that connects directly to the back of the drive.

 

Well, unfortunately after studying the dvd drive's internals, there is no way to get to the pcb without removing the entire disc-loading mechanism. It is buried underneath everything (check out the second pic in my last update) and the top cover is the only part that is removable. So I guess I will have to figure out a different, more external way to light the led's.

I may be able to fashion a switch at the drive's opening, so when I insert a disc, the disc actuates the switch to turn the led's on.

 

You are crazy! (In a good way!)
If it was me I would have a malfunction and laser-in-the-face injury.
-But hey, It wouldn't be a proper battleship without it's own perimeter defence!