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Toys Hardware

PC In An XP Box 296

wolrahnaes writes "There is an article up on mini-itx.com explaining how to fit a fully functional PC based on a VIA M10000 EPIA board in to a Windows XP box. The author even explains how he then fit it in to a Red Hat box and used a sensor to tell the bootloader which OS to run based on which box it is in."
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PC In An XP Box

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  • PC Mods.... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by objekt404 ( 473463 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @07:49PM (#8709166) Homepage
    I don't see how this is that great of a mod. Big freakin' deal, its in a WinXP box, someone tell Virtual Hideout....

    Next on Slashdot, a PC mounted in Sun External CD-ROM?
  • by MythMoth ( 73648 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @07:59PM (#8709251) Homepage
    I thought that project was kind of dull when I first saw it. It's not improved with time. On the other hand, I really like the look of the new Nanode PC from Mini-ITX (same site), designed by Hoojum.

    Take a look at this picture [mini-itx.com] and the cat. Now look at your desktop PC and imagine a cat standing next to it. The nanode really is that small.

    I want one.

    The site with the rest of the info is here [mini-itx.com].

    D.
  • FedEx box (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tverbeek ( 457094 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @08:05PM (#8709291) Homepage
    This is a more refined version of what I did recently, mounting a standard ATX motherboard (with integrated video), a sideways-mounted ethernet card, a 1U power supply, and a 20GB hard drive in a FedEx box, with a power and reset switch and an HD LED on one side. I had room in the box for a stock CD drive, but didn't bother, since I rarely use removable media. I did leave an unused IDE cable and power lead available near the opening in the end of the box, just in case (since the IDE connectors on the motherboard are inaccessible).

    One substantial difference is that I used only the cardboard box itself as a mounting infrastructure; I didn't build a little case and then wrap the Windows or Linux box around it, like this does.

  • "Too many users" (Score:1, Interesting)

    by jaydeejee ( 731720 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @08:06PM (#8709297)
    Google cache [66.102.9.104] it, then follow the links as normal. The site is still very responsive. It looks like only the main page is being blocked. Perhaps they are checking referrers...
  • Re:Wow! (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 29, 2004 @08:07PM (#8709307)
    Ummm...yeah, I have rarely seen what retail cds of most products even look like. And the funny part is that *most* of my burned copies are legal under the MSDNAA too. Even then, you can download images directly form Microsoft's site.

    Even all of the companies I have worked for kept real copies in the tape safe with the lost PFY trainee, and use burned stuff.
  • by wing03 ( 654457 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @09:06PM (#8709750)
    Goes right back to that thread about hot rods and PCs.

    Some are interested purely in performance.

    Of those, there are the straight line speed freaks, tight cornering freaks, altogethering racing freaks...etc.

    Some are interested only the aesthetics of the car. Neon, bouncing and turning the trunk into a giant subwoofer.

    Off in another corner, you've got those who are cooking food ontop of their engines, putting real aviation wings (to fly), turning the car into an amphibious vehicle, sitcking incredibly weird looking chasis on a vehicle frame.

    With someone sticking a computer inside a software box, it certainly looks like computers have made it to the same level that automobiles have in the minds of people.

  • Recursive PC boxen (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 29, 2004 @09:38PM (#8709975)
    You mean Like This? [mini-itx.com]

    All the working bits are crammed into the PSU, the rest of the case just has a disco ball in it. Pretty neat case to have sitting on the desk with the side panel off.
  • by Trejkaz ( 615352 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @10:15PM (#8710187) Homepage

    Now that is an intuitive bootloader "menu."

    If you built one of these into a cube, you could colour the sides differently and boot a different OS depending on which side of the cube is facing the top!

    *tilt* Windows *tilt* Linux *tilt* BSD... now if only you could do that at runtime as well. :-)

  • by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @11:19PM (#8710571)
    On the chance that Microsoft might go after someone, I'm certainly not going to name anyone, but you can find this very easily by searching on-line retailers. I just found a second source with a very quick look, and my usual source is currently selling the OEM version of XP Home for $84 and OEM XP Pro for $134. The website says "Must be bought with hardware" and if you look a little more you will see that they spell out that it can be ANY HARDWARE, and they do have some quite inexpensive hardware items (Need an extra patch cable or extension cable?)

    Even if you can't find the OEMs who will sell it with "any hardware", considering that the OEM price of XP home is in the $80 range, if you did have to buy it with a CPU or Hard drive, you could still buy am OEM version with low end hardware for a lot less than you would have to pay for the retail box version of XP home with no hardware (not that Bill is over charging or anything). Given the option, I would take a "free" CPU or hard drive to save some money.

    However, you have pointed out one cookie-cutter license posted by Microsoft. It's well known that they write individual OEM aggrements with many if not most resellers, and the terms of these licenses are generally not made public. Since the terms of private agreements between Microsoft and their OEM are not public, I can not know them and I cartainly cannot be held to terms kept secret from me. So if I buy an OEM product from a Microsoft reseller in good faith, I certainly have every right to use it. And I have to believe that Microsoft is condoning the selling of such products that they supply, even if they hold other vendors to different standards. As you say, The "nonperipheral computer hardware component" is a bit vague, but Microsoft is the one who wrote it and made it vague. You know it's happening (you say as much), and Microsoft knows it's happening. In any case, the end user is in the clear, so paying a lot more for the retail box of XP is a move that only puts more money in the Microsoft war chest.

  • by 1u3hr ( 530656 ) on Monday March 29, 2004 @11:22PM (#8710589)
    The average case temperature is 35deg C. Paper, wood, tinder, sawdust, none of it will burn at 35deg C.

    Of course, literate geeks should know that paper ignites at Fahrenheit 451 [gradesaver.com], (233 C).

  • by prockcore ( 543967 ) on Tuesday March 30, 2004 @12:14AM (#8710904)
    Of course, literate geeks should know that paper ignites at Fahrenheit 451, (233 C).

    You should definately be modded up for that.. I totally forgot about that book.

    I believe my motherboard is set to shutdown if it reaches 110C... so I'd have no problem making an origami computer case.

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