Case designed like game cube

[mdcomp]

I have seen that cube case, but I want to make it a little smaller and get the cd-rom drive to be the pop up kind (like the ones on boomboxes). Can this be done??

 

[xl]

ALL cdroms i've worked with would not allow you to do this.

 

[iggybaseball]

have u seen how small the case is? how could u get even that small? what components would u use?

 

[mdcomp]

they make these specially made small mobos that have like everything integrated. The ports are stacked rather than lined up...

 

[glass]

theres special small mobos for things like this.. i dont remember exactly but i remember reading on slashdot lately of something like 200mm*200mm that had 'everything' (gfx, audio & net)..
theres also smaller but with fewer features.(you can make a computer capable of running http server the size of a matchbox.. it was done already years ago)

and about the cdrom, you might want to use an external cdrom drive, some of those have this popup drive like boomboxes.

 

[xl]

VIA was coming out with some boards with an integrated proccessor (rather slow if I remember right) with a new "ITX" form factor.

 

[iggybaseball]

i know i saw those boards but where would i find a commercial board like this on the market?

 

[Krusty]

Hmm...It may be possible to mod a cdrom to pop up instead of flip out. Just screw with the mechanism that makes the tray pop out so that it no longer pops out. Then slice off the top half of the drive and use parts from a boom box to make the popup part. You could even get really crazy and use the bits to eject the cdrom tray and rig it to make the top pop up.

...or you could buy one of those external ones....I guess

 

[eab]

I have a really old cdrom drive that you push it then you pull the enitire drive out (but its still in the coputer), then you flip top up so that it is a top loder cdrom drive. its really werd

 

[mdcomp]

do any of you know where I can buy these ultra small mobos???

 

[adamtekh]

cd sucker

 

[Captain Slug]

oooh ooooooh, idea!

Here's one way you could do it yourself...

Purchase a Slim CD-ROM drive and adapter and remove the upper sheilding with a tiny screw driver.

It would allow you to load a CD and the eject lid could be made anyway you want. In order for any of your CDs to auto-run and auto-update when you switch them, you'd have to have a mechanism that would...
a. press the eject button on the drive when you opened the lid.
b. allow the CD-tray to move a small amount so that the drive thinks that it is open.
c. closes the tray as you close the lid.

It would work the way you want it to and it would save you alot of space. The ejcting lid would require alot of engineering though.

 

[Robbiem01]

instead of making the drive move the tray out some why not just disconnect the motor from the tray so the motor runs then drop the cd in through a window mod on the top without the window .... AKA hole and push the eject button again so it thinks its closing. Then once the motor runs for about a second it will think its closed and will read the cd that you slipped in the top. You dont really need to have a fancy top load thing that springs up ... you just need a hole that a cd can fit in and a way to get the cd back out.