Machines

This is another variation on the shoji screen computer case.

A called it DimSum because it is small, and I put tape over all of the LED lights in the system so that it wouldn't glow. Therefore DimSum.

Howard is one of our primary machines. It's time for an update. Here are the specs:

I also decided to order a new case. I went with the Mini-Box M350 which has an external power supply.

It is really compact.

Front and back views. The front even had a place for an OEM logo.

Inside views. I also ordered a CPU fan from Mini-Box. It seems very quiet.

I finished by mounting it to the underside of a cherry wood side table.

Here is a video of the distance sensor scanning.

I found the course material for the E11 Autonomous Vehicles class on the Harvey Mudd website. I ordered all the parts, and wired together my own PCB board. The first step was to build a Mudduino. It has a distance sensor, a phototransistor sensor, and a reflectance sensor.

I painted the guts with a hammered gray paint.

I cut a window in the side panel and built an aluminum frame.

Here is the completed case.

The screens are covered with a PVC laminated rice paper.

I'm using an acrylic case with white lights on the inside, and shoji screens on the outside. Here are the designs for the case.

I built a prototype as a lamp with just a lightbulb inside.

Here are some pictures of the construction.

Howard is a Shuttle XPC Zen model ST62K. We bought it as a barebones a few years ago, and put an Intel Pentium 4, 2.80 Ghz in it.

We used Howard to control our AV devices. Howard was hooked up to our 400 disk DVD Jukebox, our Tivo DVR, and our TV. Howard has now retired, and he is only being used to browse the Internet, and to author this website.

Howard Revived

Howard lasted for about 7 years. Then he suddenly went dead, and I determined that it was the motherboard. It seemed like it was time to revive Howard, and update the processor in the process.

Gordon is Howard's brother. Gordon is an old Dell case that we gutted, and then painted red. We put a piece of orange plexiglass on the front to replace the original Dell cover. Gordon sports a GIGABTYE motherboard, and an AMD processor.

Mr. Carlin is going to college. So, we got a new case, and started cramming all of Mr. Carlin's parts into the new case.

Things are a bit cramped inside.

There is not much clearance for the heatsink.

We put in blue fans.

You can see the POST codes through the window.

Front View.

We submitted pictures of our Kaypro to MaximumPC magazine's Rig of the Month contest. The Kaypro was featured in the Holiday 2008 edition. Here is a link to the article. The PDF is kind-of big, so it may take a while to download.

If you don't recognize this type of computer, you will probably just think it looks kind of strange with a built in keyboard, monitor, and mouse. If, however, you do recognize it, you were working with computers in the early 1980's and are wondering why it looks different in comparison to the original computer that bore the name Kaypro. It looks different from the original Kaypro because it is a gutted out Kaypro 2 rebuilt from the motherboard up.

Step 1: Taking out the Guts

The first step involved completely removing all inferior technology from the case and buying a modern case from which we took mounting brackets. Anything that was permanently connected to the case came out through a little bit of coaxing, and we did end up saving some of the original metal brackets for use later in the project.

Step 2: Melding with the Modern

We used a dremal to coax out the power supply and the motherboard mounting bracket from the modern case. The stresses of cutting through metal turned out to be too much for our older dremal, so we purchased a newer one that could cut through the extra thick Kaypro case. With a little bit more coaxing we were able to install the new brackets into the Kaypro.

Step 3: New Guts

We used a regular ATX board in the Kaypro as well as a Pentium D Processor and a 250 GB Hard Drive. We later replaced the power supply shown in favor of a more powerful one, and changed out the underpowered CPU Fan seen in the picture. Although now fully functional, we still had to mount all of these parts into the old case.

Step 4: Homemade Mounting Brackets

Since we were rebuilding a computer and not using a prefabricated case, it was necessary to construct new brackets to fit into the cramped spaces of the old computer. Luckily, DVD drives still use about the same mounts as floppy drives did in the 1980's, so it was possible to take the old mounting brackets for the floppies and with some cutting use them for the DVD drive and front panel. We also found a small monitor to replace the original Kaypro screen. The hard drive was the hardest to mount, but eventually we just took two metal rods and hung it from the top of the case.

Step 5: Final Touches

To finish off the actual computer we added some lights to the inside and added a front panel which included USB and FireWire ports. The major final touches we added were the keyboard and mouse. The original Kaypro had a handle on the back and a keyboard that folded up and latched onto the case; these two innovations made it one of the first portable computer (it still weighed quite a lot). We wanted to replicate this, so we gutted out the old keyboard tray and added in slopped supports with Velcro. We then got a keyboard and a gyration mouse that you simply move through the air. We attached the keyboard and the mouse charger on with Velcro and the mouse was strapped onto its charger. We also ran a USB wire through the tray to charge the mouse.

The hard drive recently went out, so we ordered a larger 320 GB hard drive. We suspect the hard drive was to close to the top of the case and overheating, so we are going to lower it a little.

We put together a small robot car using a PIC16F690 embedded controller. It randomly moves around, until the whiskers on the front sense that it has run into something. Then, it backs up, and tries a different direction. The two red LEDs on the front flash randomly. The two LEDs on the left indicate whether the whisker sensors on the front have been activated. The two LEDs on the right indicate the direction of movement.

Here is a link to the assembler source code.

Video is not visible, most likely your browser does not support HTML5 video

Overhead Lights

HP Photosmart C410

HP Photosmart C8180

Air Filters