My Retro Waste Of Money

spoonie · Oct 9th, 2012, 04:11 PM

working on building an SE30 case into... probably an itunes server. It will be capable of sending out video as well, but.. that seems pointless.

here she is. happy to answer questions.

I picked up 3 classics - a Mac Plus, an SE30 and a SE HDFD.

So far, i've only molested the SE30 as the case is in the worst condition of the 3.

The beast in question:

making a matte/backing for the screen so it "bends" - using a thin, but not too thin clear plastic material i got from deserres.

test fitting with the VGA plugged into my macbookpro:

image of the 8" screen (ebay) - $80 shipped) - set in place:

Slow project, but it's coming along.
Stuffing it with a mini-itx Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 mono, and a passive (no fan) GeForce 210 videocard.

I'm still not thrilled about cutting the back of the case, but I don't see another way around it - I'm not great at fabricating ports, or, moving everything down to the bottom/back of the case.

Anyway, happy to answer questions! So far:
SE30: case of beer
Clear Plastic: $22
Screen $80ish

Mobo: $80
Chip: $65
Video: $40

Still to buy: Ram, HD (got a few of those), choose a PSU.

fyrefly · Oct 9th, 2012, 04:26 PM

Seems like a fun project! Your title makes it sound like you're unhappy, but the post makes it seem really cool.

spoonie · Oct 9th, 2012, 05:43 PM

I didnt mean to sound unhappy! Having fun with it. Fitting everything inside along with the cooling should be a challenge.

Dr_AL · Oct 9th, 2012, 07:52 PM

I think it's a great waste of money.

I'm sitting on a Mac classic that is one day destined for some similar waste of time and money when I get around to it and have some $$ to throw out. The carrying handle will make an interesting all in one desktop...

Sent from my iPhone

pm-r · Oct 9th, 2012, 10:32 PM

Next up a Classic Mac aquarium??? Hmmm...????

Across-the-Board (acrosstheboardblog.com): iMac-aquarium?

etc. etc. etc.

spoonie · Oct 12th, 2012, 09:35 AM

coupla small updates...

i love that everything (except the PSU) fit inside the case in their original boxes. hilarious!

it's alive...ish.

DempsyMac · Oct 12th, 2012, 10:23 AM

looks really cool! Have always wanted to do something like this. But could you have not done it with a MAC?

spoonie · Oct 12th, 2012, 10:28 AM

Demp:

So far my hackintosh should run 10.6.8 with everything working properly.. for $220. I'd sort of feel it'd be a waste of a perfectly good mac mini if i stuffed one inside. I was even tempted to purchase a white ibook and just "rejig" how it's put together - but, it only has one video out.

~R

DempsyMac · Oct 12th, 2012, 10:47 AM

after I clicked post I figured that you would not be going to all this effort with out also doing a hackintosh!

Glad to hear, can't wait to see the final product

spoonie · Oct 15th, 2012, 11:09 AM

Well, she's up and running on 10.6.8.

Video, sound, ethernet, sleep/wake etc - everything works.

Right now the tiny screen is hooked up via DVI/VGA adapter.

The last hurdle to test is to see if the HDMI out (plus audio) works.

Then - i get the fun of making it work inside the case.

I don't think i'm capable of doing something ultra-tidy.. it'll probably be a cutout on the back with the standard pc i/o plate. I'm going to try to utilize the original power button and plug... it may be tough.

and a suitable test