Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Death
The laptop has given up the ghost. Let this be a lesson; a faulty CPU power jack is a bad omen.
Monday, 4 August 2008
Victorian Laptop Attempt
Here is my first attempt at delving into the world of steampunk modding. The most important tip; cynoacrylate works wonders.
SUBJECT
The base was an old Alienware Sentia 12" notebook. The plastic casing had been losing screws here and there, and a crack was forming in the lower right-hand corner of the keyboard cover from a previous jaunt down a flight of stairs.
INSPIRATION
I had always been a fan of steampunk along with various clockwork devices, however the main inspiration for this project was a fellow by the name of Datamancer. I can not even claim to be in the same class as this guy. One day when I am not working at a computer desk with a leatherman and super glue I shall.
MOD
I was watching Systm and noticed the spiffy vinyl sticker on the laptop. After browsing around for a while and finding incredible images, one thing be came incredibly clear; you cannot place a sticker over the custom Alienware case. But the laptop spoke. "Look at me. Look at what you've done. I am fading into electric dust bit by bit. It is time for the next incarnation." What could I do? The machine had spoken. A mere sticker would not suffice.
Over the next few weeks I ordered 1mm oak burr veneer, 2mm enameled copper wire, 1.5mm brass sheeting, and procured an iron from my friend (I avoid formal attire like the Black Death)
The oak was a pain. It is incredibly hard to get iron-on glue and veneer to stay flat on a surface as varied as a laptop case. Eventually it worked as seen in these photos. Yes, I put a battery under the iron.
The port and drive holes were milled out of the 1.5mm brass sides. I fashioned the backplate out of the copper wire and brass angle, also trimmed out the keyboard and mouse.
ELECTRONIC MODS
This was not planned. But as luck would have it the CPU power jack on the mobo, the LCD power inverter, CCFL bulb, and trackpad failed over the duration of the mod.
The power jack was bypassed via the power rails on USB. I added a hub underneath the front right-hand corner to make up for the lost port. Fan speed is controlled by a 1kOhm trimming pot. This is the bright blue thing in the photos.
As far as the LCD was concerned, I didn't want to deal with paying out the nose for a repair. So I used this to justify splurging on a pair of Myvu Crystal video goggles. The laptop (running XP) will not output to S-Video alone by default, so I had to use a flashlight and output the screen to 'Television' then reboot. From that point on the goggles had to be connected and powered on in order for the laptop to recognize it as a display and not output to the non-existant LCD display. (I have removed it altogether)
Trackpad. This is easily fixed by using a mouse. No biggie. There's one of those 'worlds smallest' Bluetooth adapters on the hub's internally-facing port.
FUTURE
1. Brass-rimmed power/reset buttons. Currently using a headphone jack to poke them.
2. Replace the non-functional trackpad with a touchscreen. Simple enough, just requires $.
3. Paint that pot a less-offensive color. Gold?
4. Find some way to replace the keyboard with etched copper, or typewriter keys
SUBJECT
The base was an old Alienware Sentia 12" notebook. The plastic casing had been losing screws here and there, and a crack was forming in the lower right-hand corner of the keyboard cover from a previous jaunt down a flight of stairs.
INSPIRATION
I had always been a fan of steampunk along with various clockwork devices, however the main inspiration for this project was a fellow by the name of Datamancer. I can not even claim to be in the same class as this guy. One day when I am not working at a computer desk with a leatherman and super glue I shall.
MOD
I was watching Systm and noticed the spiffy vinyl sticker on the laptop. After browsing around for a while and finding incredible images, one thing be came incredibly clear; you cannot place a sticker over the custom Alienware case. But the laptop spoke. "Look at me. Look at what you've done. I am fading into electric dust bit by bit. It is time for the next incarnation." What could I do? The machine had spoken. A mere sticker would not suffice.
Over the next few weeks I ordered 1mm oak burr veneer, 2mm enameled copper wire, 1.5mm brass sheeting, and procured an iron from my friend (I avoid formal attire like the Black Death)
The oak was a pain. It is incredibly hard to get iron-on glue and veneer to stay flat on a surface as varied as a laptop case. Eventually it worked as seen in these photos. Yes, I put a battery under the iron.
The port and drive holes were milled out of the 1.5mm brass sides. I fashioned the backplate out of the copper wire and brass angle, also trimmed out the keyboard and mouse.
ELECTRONIC MODS
This was not planned. But as luck would have it the CPU power jack on the mobo, the LCD power inverter, CCFL bulb, and trackpad failed over the duration of the mod.
The power jack was bypassed via the power rails on USB. I added a hub underneath the front right-hand corner to make up for the lost port. Fan speed is controlled by a 1kOhm trimming pot. This is the bright blue thing in the photos.
As far as the LCD was concerned, I didn't want to deal with paying out the nose for a repair. So I used this to justify splurging on a pair of Myvu Crystal video goggles. The laptop (running XP) will not output to S-Video alone by default, so I had to use a flashlight and output the screen to 'Television' then reboot. From that point on the goggles had to be connected and powered on in order for the laptop to recognize it as a display and not output to the non-existant LCD display. (I have removed it altogether)
Trackpad. This is easily fixed by using a mouse. No biggie. There's one of those 'worlds smallest' Bluetooth adapters on the hub's internally-facing port.
FUTURE
1. Brass-rimmed power/reset buttons. Currently using a headphone jack to poke them.
2. Replace the non-functional trackpad with a touchscreen. Simple enough, just requires $.
3. Paint that pot a less-offensive color. Gold?
4. Find some way to replace the keyboard with etched copper, or typewriter keys
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