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Almost small enough to be a cereal box toy...

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Captain Slug

Helpful Senior Member
Joined
May 23, 2001
Location
Asteroid B-612
I have a new toy! I poke around eBay alot looking for good deals and pounced on yet another item I've been wanting for a long time. A Saintsong\Upont Cappuccino TX3 socket 370 mini book PC. This one came loaded with a 1.2ghz Pentium III and a 10gb notebook hard drive. I swapped in a 256mb stick of PC100 and a DVD-ROM, both of which I hawked from my laptop that died recently.

10_size.jpg
Size, as compared to Ren & Stimpy CD
10_open.jpg
"Oooohhhh Free toy inside! Free toy inside!"
10_setup.jpg
And even better, it matches ALL of my current portable components.

I was hoping to switch out the blue power led for a red one, but they're miniature surface mount LEDs and I don't have sturdy enough hands to solder something that tiny. The included speaker is very weak, but clear. Is really only good for system sounds or playing music when you're trying to go to sleep. The whole unit weighs only 6 pounds and measures about the same as a small square tissue box. It's also much quieter than I expected, mostly due to it's improved cooling setup which is more effective than it's predecessor. Once I have the time I'll finish making a matching miniature LCD monitor and carrying case for it and it's peripheral set.

Joy...
 
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Wow, look's awesome. Those things look cool. I wouldn’t mind getting one of those Captain Slug.*Awesome Toy* Captain Slug have I ever told you that you are an awesome modder.. Your skill and craft'smen ship is just unbelievable.. You’re so talented; you should be recognized for your help and generous contribution to these forums. I think the Alternative modding section local's should recognize you and all that you have put into the Alternative modding as well as all the forums. We should make you an award or a trophies or something. What do you think guys?

-Orange Fire.


Thank you Captain Slug.
 
just wondering what kind of video does that thing have, 16 mb shared :p

~Magick_Man~

*EDIT* yes i have to agree with Orange Fire, you do very nice work. and when ever someone needs help it is Captian Slug to the rescue
You deserve a medal
 
I love the setup. I also believe he deserves a medal. I know that he has personally helped me out with man things including the designing and soon to be making of the USSR case. Captainslg you are what makes the modding comunity what it is today. Congrats
 
Orange Fire. said:
We should make you an award or a trophies or something.
:eek:
The work done and friendships formed are reward enough.

magick_man said:
just wondering what kind of video does that thing have, 16 mb shared :p
If I want to do 3D gaming I have the Flamecube. Lately I've been more into emulation.

AlucardCasull said:
how much did htat thing run you?
$320 shipped, which is more than 60% off the retail price.

At present I'm just so pleased with how tiny this thing is that I'm hard-pressed to find anything I want to modify. The few things I can think of right now are a case light to make the intake glow and maybe a vinyl decal skin pattern design.
 
And here's what the inside looks like. The intake fan blows air through a compact set of heatsink fins which are brazed onto a thick slab of copper covering the whole processor. It also ducts airflow onto the capacitors and voltage regulation section of the motherboard.
10_inside.jpg

In order to tap power for any LEDs I might add I will probably need to add a wire extension in series off of the wires for the fan. The only other option inside the case would be the 5V power pin-header from the hard-drive, but that's such a tight fit that I don't even want to attempt it or risk the possibility of killing the hard drive.

I may also design a new intake grill. Either out of black plastic or possibly just clear thermoplastic mesh to match the mesh on the flamecube.
 
qualhiveldorf said:
awesome. could you get a close up of that heatsink. Great deal also.
My camera doesn't do close-ups...
10_hs.jpg
The base is about 1/4" thick and the fins are extremely fine.

AlucardCasull said:
maybe mod a heatpipe thing in there like shuttles have
I'm not THAT good of a machinist and heatpipes rely on gravity so they won't work in a linear setup. A 1U heatsink MIGHT fit inside this shell, but I won't really gain any noise advantage.
I could care less about overclocking this machine since it's primary function is graphics creation.

The more I look at this machine, the more it looks to me like a Klondike bar made out of pewter or titanium. :p
 
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To reduce the "pallete" of the machine a little I decided to cover the DVD-ROM faceplate in aluminum tape. This was fairly easy to do and now the finished machine is reduced to only 3 different karatones. Chrome, Charcoal, and Black.
10_chrome.jpg
 
absoultly great captain!

I'm glad you got it at 60% off retail price.

It also goes well with your modded LCD monitor!

It's a shame these mini PC's are really big out here in Japan and cheap! �iMaybe i should start an export company!),
 
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