Applefritter - Artistic Hack

PB1400c Digital Picture Frame

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 01:48:38 -0700

[center][b]PB1400 Digital Picture Frame (Rev2)[/b][/center] I began my work on my picture-frame a couple of weeks ago with the the acquiring of a PB5300C. This was my 1st Apple pre G3 laptop, so didn't know what to expect. (I own a iBook G4 and Pismo on the moment and before I had different iBooks from Blueberry onward) So as usual with all my computers I opened up the 5300 and looked how it was made. By freak accident I destroyed it by bending the Adapter connector (it was already flaky) Well I tried to repair it but no go, 5300 destroyed. But maybe that was a good thing because the screen was small. So I set my eyes on a PB1400. My research (reading the service manuals of the PB5300/190, 1400c/cs and 3400) showed the 1400 series what ideal for it's small logic-board and nice screen. So I put an ad out for a 1400c/cs. While waiting for a reaction I looked at different sites on the internet about the PB1400. It stated that the CS had a nice screen even though it was Dual-scan Passive Matrix. Well because I'm spoiled from the beginning with all those beautiful Apple laptops with active matrix TFT's, seeing a site saying that the CS had a nice screen gave me hope that the CS someone offered me was OK for my project. So I payed the $70 for the 1400CS and waited for it to arrive at my home. Two days later I received a big package with the PB1400CS in a nice bag. I booted it and looked at the screen and was a little disappointed. I ones saw a dual scan passive matrix on a PC laptop of a friend. And the screen of this CS reminded me of that. It was not as bright as my old BluebeiBookBook and you could see the refresh. But because I didn't have any better this would do. So I disassembled it, installed a MacOS 8.6 system with JPEGview and tested the software. The next day I bought some wood and a picture frame with glass to make a case out of it. I'll explain how I made the frame later on. Anyway the Rev1 was hanging on my wall for a couple of weeks, but I wasn't satisfied with the result. Mainly the screen wasn't what i expected so I looked for another PB1400 but now a C type. A couple of days later I bought a 1400C with a beautiful bright screen. This screen did remind me of a iBook. So with that PB1400, the story of the Rev2 picture frame starts. Lets begin: [center][image:4954][/center] As you can see here, the 1400c is getting a full install of MacOS 8.6. This one came with two CD-ROM drives so I could install it from my CD's. I installed it on the internal HD, then I slimmed down the system folder to the bare extensions, etc. My system folder is about 40Mb now so I transferred it to my CF card. I tested if it run and all did go well. Then I put JPEGview 3.1 on the CF card, a folder with pictures and put an alias in the startup-items folder. I set the preferences of JPEGview to show random pictures from the folder with a duration of 30 minutes. I Booted from the CF card and watched JPEGview start up and showed my pictures. So all the software was set to go. Now the hardware. [center][image:4955][/center] Here the 1400c is getting disassembled, i only need the screen and the Logic-board but i kept all the other parts. I was planning to exchange the old logic and screen from Rev1 with this so i had a working 1400 and an nice picture-frame. [center][image:4956][/center] Here you see the part that is important, the logic board. As you can see the pins for the battery are still there but I needed to get those because the Rev1 logic missed them. (I clipped those because i was afraid for problems in the picture-frame) Well now you're thinking 'why all the fuzz for this logic-board?' Well because the Logic-board of Rev1 had a broken/destroyed reset button. I tried to de-solder it and wire it to the to of the picture-frame but in the end i destroyed it. So that's why I'm switching logics as well. [center][image:4950][/center] So here you see the logic-board and the CPU card sitting on my table, ready for operation. I need to de-solder the pins for the battery and re-solder them to the old logic-board in the next picture. [center][image:4941][/center] Here you can see the old (bottom) and the new logic board (top) ready for the pin transfer. So with a lot of patience and a little luck I managed to de-solder the pins and re-solder them onto the old logic-board. I installed the old logic in the 1400 case, put the CPU card on it, hooked up the Dual-scan screen and tested if it worked on the battery. All worked so I could almost reassemble the 1400 with the Dual-scan screen. [center][image:4942][/center] Before reassembling the PB1400 and the picture frame I tested both the logic boards and the screens side by side. So here you can see the difference between the Passive Matrix Dual-scan (left) and the Active Matrix (Right) Both are displaying the same picture and both are full brightness and same contrast. In real life the difference is more clear. But as you can see the active matrix is brighter and better looking than the Passive. The resolution of both is 800x600 with thousands of color, but the colors of the Active Matrix are better and crisper than the Passive. Don't know if my passive is just bad or not but the screen of the 1400c is 100 times nicer and good for this project. [center][image:4949][/center] Well everything was working. The new screen looked great, but it was a big mess on the table. So before continuing with Rev2 of my picture frame I decided to reassemble the PB1400 first. So after 20 minutes it was reassembled and working properly, table was clean and i was ready to work at the picture frame. Well here I already mounted the screen on the inlay for the frame. I used the thick carton they used for the back of the frame. Originally your picture would be put between this and the glass. Anyway i centered the screen, draw lines where the screen would come and used an Xacto knife to cut out that part. It all fit very well. This was already done in Rev1 but the mounting procedure is the same. I put some double-sided tape (Nitto they use it here in the Graphic industry, nice stuff very strong) all along the sides of the screen. The screen has an aluminum frame around it with all the electronics and mounting holes, so that's where the tape goes. I centered the screen and pushed it firmly but gently against the carton. To secure it all so it won't move I used the magical Duct tape as you can see. Now it's not going anywhere. So on the picture above you can see the logic board all ready to get mounted. CF card is in the adapter with one 48MB and beneath that the 256MB. I later removed the 48MB. It was planned in rev1 to use the 48MB for system startup and the 256 only for the pictures. But while making Rev2 I decided that I wanted a wireless card in it. So i put all the stuff on the 256MB card so i have one slot open. [center][image:4958][/center] Ok, here is the case. This is the Rev2 case. I made some adjustments to the hinge system and locking mechanism. I made the case out of four pieces of 4.5 cm wide wood with a thickness of 0.5 cm. The black part is from the frame I bought. The back is 0.5 mm, I think MDF (don't know if it's called that elsewhere, but it called that here in Netherlands) I used the Dremel tool to make holes for the screws on the corners and used wood glue for extra support. So its really strong. I first assembled it without the glue and drilled an extra hole for the adapter cable, then disassembled it and reassembled it with glue. I Also drilled holes in the bottom and top for convection. [center][image:4947][/center] This is the Case opened, in Rev1 it was also like this but the hinges weren't good and I only used two screws in each hinge, so it moved about and wasn't hanging flat and aligned with the sides of the case. I therefore used two locks on both sides of the case so it was at-least not moving. Rev2 gave me the chance to correct this. I used four screws in each hinges and replaced the two locks with one lock on the frame. Because the hinges didn't move anymore and the frame was perfectly aligned and centered with the case, the one lock was sufficient. I also used screws on each corner as spacers. (you can see 1 screw in the lower-right corner in this picture) The spacers are there so the frame with the screen is flat against the case. This also lets the locking mechanism work. [center][image:4946][/center] Well this is the famous locking mechanism. Originally it's used for hanging frames and paintings. But this one is lucky. Anyway because I used the spacers there is a little space between the frame and the case. And because the spacers are on the edges, you can press the middle of the frame with the lock against the case. So then you can flip the triangle thing and open the case. Simple but efficient. Oh by the way the 2 black holes are convection holes. I used the Dremeltool and i guess it's not made for making holes. Because it really burns the hole. [center][image:4953][/center] Ok now its mounting time. I mounted the glass and screen in the frame. Here I'm trying to get the perfect mounting position of the Logic-board. The position on this picture is how it was mounted in Rev1, but in Rev1 the two cables that run to the screen where just hanging loose. You couldn't open the case the whole way like here. I wanted the inverter (the thing with the 4 buttons under the screen) to be mounted next to the screen like it is in the picture. But then I could connect the other cable. I tried different positions, also with the PCMCIA cage flush against the left part of the case. I could always take the whole case out if I wanted to changes the pictures. But i decided not to do that. Instead i flipped the logic 180 degrees and mounted it to the left side. I mounted the logic board using little screws and the mounting holes in the logic-board. [center][image:4952][/center] So here you can see it mounted the good way. The CF cards are now fully accessible without taking out the whole cage. Just press the button and it will be ejected. (when its powered off) The inverter is in the good position and even if connected with the logic the case still can open like on the picture. The only problem was the other cable, but when the case is half open (or half closed) its still easy to connect that cable to the screen. Then I had only one problem to solve: The reset switch. Its called reset switch but it acts like an one and off switch which is perfect for my use. It was already late at night and i didn't have anything long enough on the spot to use as a push device. I thought of using some Technic lego but could find the box. So i decided to use some quetips. I clipped off the cotton buds of both ends. I used tape to put it together. I made a hole in the right spot and used some wire fasteners for the wall to keep it in place. On the part that is outside the case i put a little screw and inside i used tape so it would fall out the hole. Well not pretty but it works. I also mounted the speakers so i know when its starting up in the morning. [center][image:4951][/center] Here a close-up view of the whole thing while it's running. The case can open half ways when it's running because of the data cable to the screen. The 48MB CF card was there just for testing and is replaced with the 256MB CF card. All works perfectly. [center][image:4968][/center] [center][image:4969][/center] And here is the final result on the wall. I took these pictures with my camera on a tripod, so I could make a picture without the flash. So as you can see it turned out very nice. The 2 round things in the bottom and the right side are from the hooks that i removed. I'm planning to buy some silver of black paper inlay at the Photo store so it looks more professional. But anyway the Rev2 is how I thought my picture-frame would look like so it's OK for now. [b]Some problems i encountered.[/b] Well not much, mostly my own, like the reset button. Only problem that I didn't like is that for some reason the auto sleep doesn't work. I guess it just doesn't work with the PB1400. Auto wake up does work. But anyway using the reset button does the job. [b]Some more info.[/b] The PB1400 Picture frame runs from one Compact-flash card of 256MB, with MacOS 8.6. Things I still want to do are: Add an wireless Card. Already did the research and just need to find the right card. 802.11b card based on Lucent chipset. Configure ARD so i can upload the pictures using my Pismo, wireless. Make a better silver of black inlay so i don't see the 2 spots where the hooks where. Lastly, I still need to paint the case black and then it's all done. Update (23-oct-2004) Well i got my lucent wavelan silver card this week. Installed the orinocco drivers and card works. Only problem i have with the card is that it's SSSOOOOO slow. The transferspeed is almost 5kb/s! Well it's a 11MBits card and my iBook and router are 54Mbits. I tried it in the wireless network and as a own network for the pictureframe, but stil a slow connection. Don't know what it is, but i don't care. It's easier to shutdown, get the CF card, plug it in the USB reader connected to my iBook and wait a couple of minutes instead of hours Wireless. Still not painted, but getting to it. This project is inspired by the PB3400 Hack also on Applefritter, The Duo digital frame and some others. Hope you enjoyed this hack and may it inspire you to make you own. Oh and the PB1400CS works and is now used by my sister for the pre X games she plays.

The Green Apple IIe

Sat, 14 Aug 2004 10:35:20 -0700

[b]I present to you my Green Apple IIe.[/b] [image:4098] No it's not some ultra rare original Prototype model or anything. It's just an old '82 Rev B Apple IIe I had kicking around and wanted to spruce up a little bit. [image:4100] Underhood, we find the standard issue assortment of cards: - 64k/80 Col. card, - 5.25" Disk controller card, - Super Serial II card, - Serial Mouse interface card [image:4101] Really easy to do if you're in the mood. Recipe instructions: - Disassemble the Apple II, the Disk Drive, and the Mouse, - Thoroughly clean the parts with dish soap and water, - Rinse well and either towel dry or air dry, - Shoot the appropriate parts with Plastic primer - Let it dry! - Spray your choice of color on the primer. - Let it dry! - Reassembly is reverse of disassembly! - Voila Enjoy! Later, Craig

Burlwood 'Book

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 21:18:19 -0700

For some time I have been looking for a Bookwares wood bookcover for my Powerbook 1400. After searching in vain I decided to take a cue from some of the mods seen in this site to attempt a burlwood motif on an existing bookcover. Here is the result: [image:3641] I used a woodgraining tool to get it started. The paints used are Rustoleum Calret Wine and Kona--red and brown! The graining tool left the "grain" but took away the excess brown. I used a small modeling paint brush to apply and blend the wine color to the exposed areas left by the tool. The indirect light I used kind of cast a glare on part of the cover, but you get the idea. The brushed aluminum-like upper is actually metal look contact paper I bought at a hardware store. Took a while and the minute detail of handpainting and blending each line in the grain was a bit tedious, but the results were better than I expected. In the face of that, though I am also in the middle of creating an aged leather look cover using the same paint and some unusual tools. I will post here when that is complete--if it isn't a total disaster! Thanks for looking everyone, and thanks for all the support that everyone on this site continues to show!

Quadra 7100 Digital Camouflage

Mon, 28 Jun 2004 06:10:30 -0700

I've painted a few cases since joining Applefritter. Most have been 'experiments', which means: 1) They're done on old PCs that I don't care about, and 2) I wasn't impressed with them enough to move my daily-use motherboards into them. The Quadra 700 case I started with had been somewhat successful and useful. [center][thumb:3529][/center] It was painted with dark red Krylon Fusion. Fairly soon it chipped, and after resting my camcorder bag on top of it, the paint was damaged from the vinyl of the bag - and this was at least a month after painting. That experiment was a written off as a failure. The remaining Fusion paint my wife put to great use on garden pots. After seeing tmtomh's excellent [url=http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/3437]Quadra 7100b[/url], I decided to resurrect my 7100-in-700 project. The Quadra 700 case was sanded with a random orbit sander to remove most of the Fusion paint, then wet-sanded with 150-grit emery cloth to clean up. Planning on using the 7100's AV card this time, I cut a hole for it using my Dozuki saw, and cleaned up that hole, and the original cuts I'd made in the case, with a combination of the Dremel and files. I was stuck on how to repaint the case, until I stumbled across a photo of an F-18 jet painted up with a newer 'digital camouflage' pattern. I found the vintage-computer bitmap look quite appealing, and decided that's what the case would get. [center][thumb:3528][/center] The inside and outside of the case was sprayed with matte white Krylon enamel indoor-outdoor paint. It's recommended for just about everything, and dries quickly. [center][thumb:3524][/center] I removed the 'weatherstipping' from the inside of the case that presses against the lid. Anti-vibration? Don't know, but it had red Fusion paint on it, and I wasn't about to re-paint it or clean it. I removed the metal shielding from the back of the case. After cutting the hole for the 7100's AV card (thanks again for the advice tmtomh!) it was ruined anyway. In retrospect, I should have also cut a hole for the third Nubus card. The remaining metal shield on the side of the case was removed and painted with a matte black Krylon, as was the speaker housing, the power/operator buttons and the drive/floppy carriage. I removed the top panel from the power supply, and painted it black as well. [center][thumb:3525][/center] I was afraid the matte black would rub off on the matte white of the case, so I painted the fronts of the power buttons with a dab of gloss black enamel, and being extra cautious, gave them a dab of silicon grease to slide on. On to the camo pattern: [center][thumb:3523][/center] I'm lucky enough to own an airbrush: A Paasche model H. I considered masking and painting the camo pattern with a spray can, but figured the amount of masking involved, and risk of overspray and difficulty of cleanup made airbrushing a better candidate. I mixed up a medium gray using Liquitex acrylics, thinned with methyl hydrate (rubbing alcohol works as well, so does just water, but it takes far longer to dry). Using acrylics over enamels gave me the ability to wipe up mistakes on the surface without damaging the white undercoat. I made a printout of a few random shapes created by turning an image into a bitmap in Photoshop, and selecting a very small portion of that image. I blew it up until I had massive, square pixels, then saved it and printed it out from from Quark Xpress. From that, I cut out a few shapes to use as a stencil. [center][thumb:3527][/center] The larger shapes were held onto the case with two-way tape. I airbrushed the gray over the stencil, then carefully pulled the stencil off. This only made it through a couple sprays before the paper became mushy and ripped. I made s smaller stencil, and just rotated it to vary the pattern. I also used low-tack masking tape to create a few panels. [center][thumb:3522][/center] Once that had dried, I added white to the paint, and sprayed another layer of pattern. I kept the spray light, so some of the first coat of gray would show through, creating depth. I let it dry, then gave the airbrushed areas a coat of an acrylic matte coat to protect them from scuffs and scratches. [center][thumb:3526][/center] The 7100 logic board had its power LED removed, and a white LED put in its place. As you can see from the photo, the LED is a white-ish blue. The hard drive - for now an Apple-branded Quantum 500MB, has no built-in LED, and I have yet to find a connector small enough to attach to the drive's LED interface. If I do, it'll get a white or blue LED. The moment of truth... [center][thumb:3521][/center] All back together, it boots! The AV card was a bit loose, but once the lid of the case is on, it's held in firmly. Things to do still: Case badge: I've got some clear inkjet decal film onto which I'll print a case badge. "Feets:" Every Mac needs some feet to rest on. Home Depot carries transparent stick-on rubber buttons for putting under decorations and counter-top appliances. These should do the trick nicely. I figure I'll put four on the bottom, for a micro-tower position, and four on the side for a desktop configuration. The whole process took two days. I'm impatient when it comes to painting, which has ruined more than one project. To be really safe, I should have waited longer for paint to cure, but I didn't. Now that it's done, I've got to wait until I get the decal and feet done before I can use it, so it should have time for paint curing. Acrylic paint is cured within days, but enamels can take up to two months to be well and truly cured. I'm happy with how it turned out. The digital camouflage pattern looks just as I'd envisioned, and my hope is it'll be much more durable than the original paint.

Quadra 7100b/G3 - Power Mac 7100/G3 in a Black Quadra 700 case

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 17:22:36 -0700

[center][b]Macintosh Quadra 7100b[/b][/center] [center][image:3434][/center] A Power Mac 7100 in a black Quadra 700 case with a wireless keyboard [center][b]Introduction[/b][/center] I've always been a fan of hacking, case mods in particular. Recently I've felt the desire to do something a little less intricate, and at the same time a little more comprehensive, than the CC mods I usually do. I love the Quadra 700 mini-minitower form factor, and while I respect the 68k purity of it (it's my favorite machine for running A/UX), I've always wanted a PPC Quadra 700. PPC601 cards are hard to find and relatively expensive, so I decided to make a cheapskate's PPC Quadra from what I had around the house: namely, an extra Q700 with a discolored case and no RAM, and a really beat-up 7100 with a terrible case and no CD-ROM drive. I later added a G3 card, a MacPicasso 340 NuBus video card, and an old Dolch industrial 10.4" black LCD VGA monitor. The G3, MacPicasso and Dolch LCD set me back quite a few clams, but hey, hacking ain't supposed to practical! You can see some pics of the monitor here: http://homepage.mac.com/mruben/macstuff/PhotoAlbum51.html The black color for the case was inspired by a very cool black wireless keyboard I just got off eBay. The Acer Airkey is an infrared, ADB keyboard with built in mouse pointer and clickers. It's compact and just too cool. Finally, I'd been wanting to try out Molecubond, a spray dye designed for cars and boats that actually bonds to plastic. Unlike paint, it won't peel off, it won't scratch off (unless you really gouge it), and it won't obscure the texture of the plastic. [center][b]Step 1: Get out the Jigsaw[/b][/center] Step One was to modify the Q700's case to fit the 7100's mobo. Both mobos share the same form factor -- they're the same size and, crucially, they have the same two cutouts in the middle, which allows the 7100's mobo to latch securely to plastic standoff hooks molded into the base of the Q700's case. So the only real modification involved removing the rear port holes to accommodate the 7100's different port array. I also cut a hole in the rear of the Q700 to accommodate a monitor port from the 7100's HPV card, because I had no HDI45 adapter, and this mobo's HDI monitor port seems to be defective anyway. Here are the cutouts, made with a drill and a jigsaw. I started with a dremel, but it was taking forever and was melting the plastic -- yuk! (Inside, the Q700's shielding was cut with tin snips--wear gloves, the edges are razor sharp!) [center][image:3410][/center] In the foreground is an Asante NuBus ethernet card I had lying around the house. When I upgraded to a G3 card, I had to abandon the HPV video card - it would no longer fit in the case. Instead, I got the aforementioned MacPicasso NuBus card. I now wish I hadn't cut the HPV card opening, but it is relatively small and is in the back, so it's not a big deal. [center][b]Step 1a: Plow the Field[/b][/center] The top wouldn't close properly with the HPV card installed. It doesn't appear to stick up any higher than the ethernet card, but you can't argue with physics. So out came the Dremel. After three abrasive cutoff wheels shattered on me, I switched to the metal cutoff saw, which did the trick. The basement did smell like melted plastic for the rest of the night, however. :-/ [center][image:3426][/center] [center][b]Step 2: Molecubond![/b][/center] I'd read about the miraculous Molecubond, a paint that's actually a dye, and which promises to bond to plastic so that it can't be scratched or peeled off like paint -- all the while preserving the texture of the Mac's case. Molecubond is now ColorBond, and is made by Bryndana International Ltd.: [center][url]http://www.colorbondtuner.com/[/url][/center] [center][image:3428][/center] So I got two cans for -- ouch! -- $9.99 each, and went out in the yard to spray. But first I had to remove the Apple logo and the plastic piece that lets the power LED shine through: [center][image:3415][/center] That done, I began to spray the dye: [center][image:3416][/center] [center][image:3417][/center] Molecubond preserved the case texture as promised, but it covers very thinly, as evidenced by the above pictures, taken before the final coat. And it stinks to high heaven. If I were indoors I would've passed out from the fumes -- seriously! :o I went through both cans, which promise a combined 14 square foot coverage, and the case -- which is about 4.5 square feet -- still needed one more coat. I made sure to coat the front and top well, so they looked the most even: [center][image:3408][/center] [center][image:3425][/center] Here's some detail on the front, around the floppy and logo area, and around the reset button holes: [center][image:3414][/center] [center][image:3407][/center] And here are some shots of the little things: reset buttons, NuBus slot covers, and case feet: [center][image:3436][image:3421][/center] [center][image:3429][/center] After I took these pictures, I bit the bullet and got a third can of Molecubond. The case now looks much better, deeper black and much more even in color. [center][b]Step 3: Putting It All Back Together[/b][/center] This part was fairly simple, with only one little trick. Here's the 7100's motherboard, fully populated with 72MB RAM (4 16MB sticks I had laying around, plus 8MB on the motherboard). Also shown are the cabling, the HPV card and the ethernet card: [center][image:3418][/center] Here's everything stuffed back in the painted case... [center][image:3419][/center] ... except for the speaker. The Q700 has a different shaped speaker, (below, left) with a different impedance and a different motherboard connector: [center][image:3422][/center] So the 7100's speaker must be used. And because of its different shape and size, it won't fit into the Q700's speaker enclosure. So I attached it to the case with super-velcro: [center][image:3427][image:3424][/center] [center][image:3423][/center] BUT, I soon discovered that the original speaker's plastic bracket also helps steady the motherboard in its case. So I cut off the top of the bracket and reinstalled it, re-stabilizing the mobo. Finally, I snapped on the top and put on the feet: [center][image:3409][/center] In outdoor light, or by the flash of a camera, some unevenness in color showed up. But now, with the third coat of Molecubond on, it's a non-issue. [center][b]Step 4: Fire It Up![/b][/center] I'd installed a 2GB Seagate Barracuda I got from who-remembers-where, and I had no idea if it had an OS on it, much less one that would boot the 7100. So in addition to a monitor, I attached an external CD-ROM drive in case I had to install an OS from CD. Finally, I attached the super-cool Acer Airkey wireless keyboard, pressed the power button (the Airkey has no power key :( ), and voila! [center][image:3413][/center] Turns out the Barracura had OS 8.0 on it and booted right up. It was rather noisy, however, and I got sick of listening to it. So I swapped in a 500MB Apple/Quantum drive and installed OS 8.6. Now, at this point the Quadra 7100b got a little full of itself and started posing like the old Beige G3 towers, with its keyboard leaned up against it, sort of like a jacket slung over the shoulder: [center][image:3411][/center] When not in use, the keyboard fits perfectly on top of the machine: [center][image:3412][/center]

PiMPBook

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 07:12:38 -0700

Ever since the introduction of the new case design with the G4 models, iBook owners have lamented Apple's decision to switch back to an opaque plastic case (as opposed to the translucent-painted case in previous models, which allowed for numerous case mods such as the TronBook, featured on this site.) The new case, as stated above, is an opaque white polycarbonate plastic. The real trick here is finding a paint that settles in and binds properly - what's more, you need to find a test surface to practice on. Where am I going to find a test surface that perfectly mimics the iBook case, one that I won't mind defacing? Well, it hit me - the AC adapter for my 20gig iPod is made of the same material, and in fact, is almost identical to the iBook's AC adapter (just a bit smaller.) So, I bought a can of Krylon Flourescent Pink (what other color could a pimp-book be!), making sure I picked a paint that will bind to plastics. Out of curiosity, I contacted the folks at Krylon, and they said the paint was untested on polycarbonate surfaces.. so, with that in mind, I broke new ground. [image:3431] I also tested some spray-on chrome, and my "secret weapon" - Krylon Clear Acrylic finish (this bad boy was my best friend in my Spiderbook hack.) It might be a bit hard to tell from the picture, but the finished pink looked quite nice, and was extremely smooth to the touch, mimicking the bare iBook surface nicely. The chrome dulled a bit with the finish, but still sparkled in the light. The case was then masked and painted. I put on one coat, allowed it to dry, and then added a second. Once the second coat dried, I applied my "ink", and then finished it off with two coats of the Krylon finish. [image:3430] Voila. What's more, the paint glows an eerie flourescent orange under black light. Wicked. As a side note, although there are many finishes out there, I can't stress how well the Krylon worked - I'd strongly push for it if you're thinking of doing this yourself. I might chrome the sides at another point.. if I do, I'll post an update. Measure twice, cut once, and have fun.

1400 to Brain 'Book - the Whole Sordid Tale.

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 15:28:36 -0700

No one may remember this place--unless you are from the Boston area--but there was a place called Learningsmith--General Store For A Curious Mind. I worked there for a while, but then they folded and I have a chance now to pay homage to this great place. Sad? Maybe. Geeky? Yes, yes it is. I had great experiences at this place, and have done my best to stay in touch with the people that I met there. What better way to pay my respects than through my first modest mod. I started this with a Powerbook 1400cs, with 48 MB RAM, 775 MB HD, built-in ethernet, running System 7.6.1--changing soon to 8.6, along with a new 2 GB HD, but that is beside the point. Be forewarned, this is not yet done, and even when it is, it will not be a big extravagant hack, but I will be proud of it. [image:3344] Start at the starting point--plain old 1400 [image:3343] Bookcover and other covers have to come off for painting. [image:3347] The bookcover goes white with some Krylon Infusion--good stuff!! I the attached the brushed metal Learningsmith logo that I stole from the store (oops!) with an overlap so that it would cover the Apple logo--no offense Apple! [image:3348] Now the 'Book goes a little purple--hidden homage to Prince, perhaps...or, not. It took a LOT of tape and saran wrap to paint this sucker without taking it apart. Time consuming, I agree, but based on previous experiences, a logical choice. And it turned out very nicely. [image:3349] The Brain 'Book: phase I is complete! Not too shabby! Well, again I know that it is not the most extravagant mod, but I am happy with the results so far. Other than the upgrades that I intend to make to the hardware/OS mentioned at the beginning, I also plan to paint the top case/palm rest, as well as add more to the outside--a ring of green around the logo. The colors being used are all the colors of the Learningsmith, may it rest in peace! Add a wireless card and it is a pretty respectable websurfer to boot!

Darth Maul PowerBook

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 17:04:43 -0700

[center][image:3210][/center] Basically what I have done is replace the metal inserts on the top and bottom of the machine's outer plastics. I obtained some unpainted panels from a friend of mine in PowerBooks, which already had adhesive on them. Since the original panels has started to come loose at the edges, I started there. Using a heat gun, I applied heat to the metal panel and gently peeled it up using a pair of pliers. It took about an hour for each panel. I discovered that it was easiest if I left the machine fully assembled with 2 batteries in it for weight. Once the old yucky black panels were removed I cleaned the plastic with alcohol and applied the replacement panels. No, I cannot get more replacement panels for you. [center][image:3211][/center] I then removed the rear display housing leaving the front housing and display still attached to the machine. Utilizing an Exacto knife I carved away the black plastic inside the cover right above and below the white Apple logo insert. When I was satisfied with the size, I mounted a T-1 sized red LED on either side with the lenses pointed towards the center of the Apple logo. Do not use an accelerator if you use cyanoacryllate to attach the LED's. The accelerator will dissolve the white coating on the Apple logo. For power I tapped the 5V line going to the microphone apmlifier board. Make sure you wire this circuit in parallel, not in series with the microphone power line or you will reduce the dynamic range of the microphone. The LED's I purchased were rated at 20mAh maximum current. From the 5V line I went through a series of resistors to limit the current, the each LED in series, ending at the ground wire on the microphone amplifier. I calculated the resistor values using Ohm's law (V=ir). In this case 5V(minus 1.2V drop per LED) = .02A(r) solving alegraically, r=130 ohms. There is no such thing as a 130 ohm resistor so I wired 2 47 ohm resistors in parallel, then in series with a 100 ohm resistor arriving at the value of 123.5 ohms. Considering the 5% tolerance on these resistors, it's close enough for government work. Doing the math again with that value I see that I will be allowing 21.05 mAh of current through the circuit. Running the LED's 5% over thier rated spec is nothing to be concerned with; it simply means that I have to dissipate an additional 2.7 milliwatts of heat. An LED can easily tolerate that. In fact it would take a pretty darn precise instrument to even measure the change. Finally before reassembly, I glued all the components down and covered the contacts with capton tape. I will probably pour epoxy over them later. When later finally came I decided to remove the original LED's and install a pair of high intensity red LED's that are each 3 times brighter. It now shows up even in daylight. Also I changed the circuit so that each LED has it's own 100 Ohm resistor. I'm not adding anymore pictures as the camera flash still obliterates it. [center][image:3212][/center] The LEDs are bright enough to be seen indoors, and seen very well in dim light. However, the camera flash is too bright to photograph it well. Here is one without a flash: [center][image:3213][/center] I must emphasize STRONGLY that this project should not be attempted unless you are comfortable with wiring basic electronic circuits, are very very patient, and you are brave/stupid enough to risk destroying several thousand dollars of machinery for a cool red light. [center][image:3214][/center]

Bruiser

Fri, 13 Aug 2004 15:58:47 -0700

[center][image:3205][/center] Note the Blue LED I installed behind the Apple logo. It blinks whenever the disk array is accessing. [b]How I installed the LED:[/b] Basically I used a standard T-3/4 sized Blue LED. You can buy a mounting grommet for that size and then drill a 1/4 inch hole in the metal behind the apple logo. To locate the hole you should remove the front cover, remove the apple logo, and replace the front panel without it. You should indent the center of that area with a centerpunch or a pointy phillips screwdriver and a hammer (Don't worry, the steel of any decent screw driver is many times harder than the soft sheet metal of your G3.) You should remove the front cover before drilling and also you should consider that some small metal shavings will fall inside your machine if you aren't ready to catch them. Have a friend hold a paper cup under the drill site while you drill. To drive the LED, do not ever hook it up to the power supply directly or it will light very very brightly for about 1/10 of a second and get very hot. You have two choices. If you want it on all the time, wire the LED into the 5V supply with a 100 ohm resistor in series to limit the current. Or, if you have a SCSI card or hard drive with and LED output, you can simply hook it up to that. LED's are polarity sensitive, but it won't hurt them if you hook them up backwards. Be sure to consult the directions that came with your LED as they are not all created equal. If your LED only comes with a maximum current rating you can calculate the resitor value algebraically using the formula "voltage = current X resistance" Since you know the voltage of your supply is 5V and you know the maximum current rating of the LED, calculating the resistance is simple. Don't be surprised if you can't find the precise value of resistor you calculated, just be sure to buy the next highest value rather than the next lowest. If you can't find a proper resistor you can run the equation again using the 12V supply. If you're still stuck you can get creative by putting resistors in series and adding thier values or putting them in parallel and dividing thier values. Make sure to test the resistance with a meter before trying the circuit if you are not experienced in calculating complex resistor values. Also, you should run the formula again and calculate the current flowing through your resistor to be sure that you don't smoke it, either. [center][image:3206][/center] The marbling effect is cased by inconsistant translucency of the clear panels. [center][image:3207] [image:3208][/center] By painting the inside of the plastics, I was able to preserve the shine of the front panel. The Configuration: [list][*]Dual 500MHz PowerPC 7400 (G4) processors with 1MB of 250MHz cache [*]512MB of PC100 RAM [*]140 GB hard drive [*]True 52x Kenwood CD-ROM [*]16MB Rage 128Pro AGP Graphics Card [*]Airport [*]Adaptec 3950U2W SCSI card [*]Adaptec 2940UW SCSI card[/list]

PowerBook 3400 Pictureframe

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 13:50:37 -0800

[center][thumb:2359][/center] After seeing projects like the [url=http://www.applefritter.com/hacks/duodigitalframe/]Duo Digital Frame[/url] and others online, I thought I'd try my hand at it. Instead of hunting down a Duo or Powerbook 100 for a 4x6'' frame, I decided to go for an 8x10'' size (or 800x600 resolution) to display my travel photos. I have, or had, a PowerBook 3400c that had been surplussed from work due to a dead CD ROM drive, the replacement cost of which is about the same as buying another used 3400. The trackpad button also had some issues, but otherwise, the 3400 was in pretty good repair - no spots on the screen, for one thing. And so it began, as most of these project do, with disassembly. As with every Mac model, Apple provides assembly and repair instructions for the 3400 [url=ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Misc/Service/servicemanuals/powerbook_3400c.g3.pdf]here[/url]. Don't lose that Torx #6. Once the 'book was apart - completely apart - I set aside all the parts I didn't need, everything but the motherboard, power supply, RAM, hard drive and LCD. If anybody needs a 3400 keyboard, trackpad, bezel, case, speakers... call me :) [center][thumb:2360][/center] [i]update: In a recent overhaul of the 3400 frame, I put the speakers back in, so I can now, potentially, have the tiny little speakers sound off alarms or something. I don't have any real use for putting them in, but I thought I'd find something eventually.[/i] With all that taken out, I needed to be sure the PowerBook still worked for what I wanted to do with it. So i hooked everything that was left back together (on the coffee table in my living room) and fired it up. With thoughts to making the frame wireless, I popped in a WaveLAN Silver PC card and configured it so I could control the 3400 from my iBook via AirPort with Timbuktu, load new photos onto it, etc. It's a lot easier this way than trying to hook up a keyboard and mouse to the ADB port which, at this point in the build, I couldn't be sure was going to be accessible. [i]update: if you look at the [url=http://www.applefritter.com/node/2356]detail[/url] you can see where the ADB port is, next to the AC power in the upper right. it's accessible when the lid is opened, and comes in handy for soft reboots and making occasional tweaks.[/i] [center][thumb:2357][/center] At this point, I also wrote an AppleScript to manage the tasks of 1) randomizing the photos to be displayed, 2) copying the photos to a RAM disk, as I could never get the contents of the RAM disk to be saved between boots, and 3) kicking off the slideshow. At first, I had intended to use JPEGView set to display the photos at random, fade between, etc. But I noticed one problem with JPEGView: the cursor! So I poked around amongst my old utilities and dug up KPT QuickShow, which does slideshows with configurable fades and delays, but doesn't do random, hence that step in the AppleScript. The JPEGs and slideshow software are on a RAM disk, so the hard drive can spin down and the frame can run almost silent. [center][thumb:2356][/center] [i]update: Instead of a RAM disk, I've updated the script to copy images to a 16 meg PCMCIA flash memory card that acts as a little hard drive, just big enough to hold about 25 photos. The advantage of this, in addition to being flash and thus maintaining its contents between reboots, and the continued silent operation of the pictureframe, is that the limited RAM of the powerbook can be used for the system and slideshow program. cutting into the RAM for the RAM disk posed too many problems (a memory leak somewhere, the setting reverting every time power was cut out). It also comes in handy to shuttle files to and from the machine, now that the waveLAN card is being put to use elsewhere, in one of my Newton MessagePad 2100s.[/i] [i]update again: I've posted my applescript in [url=http://www.applefritter.com/blog/3795]my blog[/url]. share and enjoy.[/i] Then came the woodwork. Quarter-inch poplar (probably my favorite material to work with) was cut, sanded, stained, burnished, and attached with hot glue and some scrap quarter-round for strructure. (Remember, measure twice; cut once.) I lay the screen into the frame and attached it with double-sided tape, then built the rest on top of that with a combination of double-sided tape and white masking tape. [center][thumb:2363][/center] I left the top panel of the frame free so the necessary ports on the motherboard could still be accessed. You can see the AC power plug, the ADB port, and PCMCIA slots. The wireless card is removed during normal operation so I can use it elsewhere, but its a simple matter to pop it in and update the scripts or upload photos. On the far right in this shot, you can see where the hard drive is mounted. [center][thumb:2361] [thumb:2362] [thumb:2358][/center] I took some pains to get the little details on the outside of the frame to look right, despite the mess that's on the inside. For one, I needed a way to power up the 3400 without a keyboard and without taking half the frame off. So I drilled a small hole in the frame opposite the reset button on the motherboard and inserted a... um.. well, it's a chopstick from some carryout Chinese food. I didn't have any dowel on hand, and the chopstick tapers perfectly to hit the button on the motherboard. I also cut a notch in the frame to thread the power cable through, so the frame can sit flush to the wall it's hanging on. The final result is a nice addition to my living room, and leaves a lot of room for improvement. For one, I'd like to keep the wireless card in place, and put together an applescript to grab images off my network, rather than having to pre-load them onto the hard drive myself. There's also the possibility of using it to display things like the weather map or scrolling headlines, but showing off my vacation photos is enough for now. Maybe I'll use the PowerBook 190 I've got in the closet for the other stuff, once I find a power supply for it.

Mighty Kat!

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 15:19:00 -0700

[center][image:3200][/center] My most current project is customizing one of my home grown PowerBooks. This machine is based on the PowerBook 2400/240, which was only sold in Japan. The Japanese are rather fanatical about customizing thier machines. They have available to them a plethora of vinyl sheeting that can be applied with a heat gun. Unfortunately, it's hard to make the vinyl conform to oddly shaped pieces, so they tend only to do the big parts. I have decided to paint mine. I have selected as my pigment Pactra "True Blue Pearl" metallic part #RC293. The pictures really don't do this color justice. My digital camera's compression just eats up the sparklies. Pactra is nice because it's thin enough to fill in the embossments around the ports and because it has an agressive polycarbonate solvent that makes it polymerize as part of the plastic, therefore making it very tough. It takes about 3 days to cure completely and I should warn you that it's profoundly stanky. I do mean stanky. Use it outside on a warm day. The downsides are that because it's thin I have to sand all the texture off the plastic, and pactra does not cure with a high gloss finish. After I'm satisfied with coverage and it's cured fully, I plan on shooting it with some acryllic clear coat that I can later wax to a new car shine. [center][image:3201][/center] Sanding every surface is a long, boring, tedious, and very thereputic process. I enjoy sitting out on my balcony on a mild bay area summer day sanding and painting. Given the amount of overtime I've been working, projects like these keep me from climbing the nearest clocktower and shooting my co-workers. Yes I know you guys are reading this and you all know what kind of a nut I am. My roomate thinks I'm completely off my rocker. Some day I shall endeavor to buy a rocking chair and fall off of it periodically. Sorry the picture of the bottom is a bit out of focus. [center][image:3202][/center] I now have 2 coats of Pactra on every piece and I must admit it's turning out quite nice. The color is opacifying properly, and it's even picking up a shine. I'm all out of Pactra now so I won't be able to do any more until the hobby store re-opens after the holiday, which means next weekend at the earliest. I wish they sold the stuff in cans bigger than 3 ounces. I had to apply some liquid mask to the IR window to protect it from overspray as well. I still plan on doing at least 3 coats of Pactra and then 2 coats of clear acryllic. Hopefully this project be done in the next few weeks. I have a spare mouse button and I'm considering painting it and the PCMCIA eject buttons a crimson red. I'll probably paint the mouse button first, see how it looks, and then decide. I've also been debating whether or not I should buy a blue translucent keyboard from MacImports or not. It looks cool but it's kinda expensive for a computer I will hardly use. [i]Update 9/19/99[/i] All of the parts are fully painted and several are now clearcoated. The clear coat takes several hours to dry so this is going to take some time. After that I need only to wax it up and I'm good to go. I also found a T1 sized blue LED that I'll replace my sleep light with. No new pictures yet. It doesn't look that different from above. [i]Update 9/26/99[/i] Almost everything is clearcoated at least partially. This stuff takes so long to dry that progress is very slow. Look how shiny that is! [center][image:3203][/center] [i]Update 12/8/99[/i] Not much progress has been made. The rainy season is upon us and it always either too cold or wet (or both) to paint. The laquer takes so long to dry that dust gets in it. Still, I'm watchful for a sunny weekend... Also I have gotten an EVIL idea. The 20th Anniversary iMac. Not till new year at least though.

iMac G5

Sun, 06 Jun 2004 12:56:25 -0700

When it came out in 1999 I bought an iMac G3/350 Blueberry. I was very happy with this machine all the years. Then some day the Modem didn't work anymore. Then some weeks ago I got an iMac DV 400 board from a friend in Sweden. He didn't know if it will work but He sent it to me anyway. I got it and put it in. And what wonder it worked!! So I have a full working and upgraded iMac now. But what to do with the board?? eBay?? No way man... But what else to do with it?? Some months ago I saw that PowerMacintosh Cube hack from a japanese guy who put a Cube Core into a self made G5 styled case. Yeah!! Thats what I want to do! One thing was to get the G3 cooled. In the iMac it is placed onto the big alloy plate. I simply bought a Pentium cooler and milled it a bit so it fits on the iMac board. [image:2209] [image:2210] After that i googled for a bit to find out how the iMac's connectors work. I found out how to connect a common Micro-ATX Power Supply and how to connect a VGA connector. Finally all the adapters were made and the machine itself worked. [image:2212] [image:2236] [image:2215] After that I tried to place the parts to get an idea how big the casing will be. [image:2211] And now for the casing itself: I used 2mm and 1mm thick Polystyrene plastic sheets. I got them in sizes of 2x1 metres from a local reseller and I use it to build accessories for my model planes and dioramas. [image:2213] [image:2214] Then I placed the mainboard inside it and built the case around it. [image:2216] [image:2217] Another thing were the perforated front- and back covers. Luckily i had a piece of perforated stainless steel plate that I used as a template. This way 2x half an hour of drilling and the holes were done! [image:2237] [image:2218] After that I glued it in place. [image:2219] To bend the cover around the round edges I used one of my special tools... [image:2220] Here is the back cover. [image:2238] Before i could have glued it in place i needed to make the housing for the connectors. [image:2239] Then the rear cover took its place. [image:2221] [image:2222] And then the handles were made. Because Polystyrene isn't very strong I needed to make an understructure. [image:2223] [image:2224] After that it started to look complete (from the outside) [image:2225] [image:2226] The inside only a bit... [image:2227] Then came the hard part... All the gaps were filled and the whole outside was sanded with water and waterproof sanding paper... [image:2228] A very dirty work! [image:2229] After that I gave it to a friend who painted it with a 2 component pure white Polyurethane paint. After some days I got it back and that's how it looked like: [image:2230] Then I put all the parts together. [image:2231] The only thing thats still missing is a chrome Apple on both sides. And here we are! An iMac G5: [image:2232] [image:2233] To show the size I put it beside a G4/400. Its very small and light. Why don't we get such a machine from Apple?????? [image:2234] And that's me on our April MUG (Mac User Group) meeting. [image:2235] What else to say? I really enjoyed to built this machine. It's very cool to make such things with your own hands! My iMac is still in use. That the Modem doesn't work doesn't bother me. It's Ethernet still works... Thanks for visiting me here!!! I hope you enjoyed this little adventure... :)

My Franken-Mac - A G4's Transformation

Sun, 06 Jun 2004 12:55:52 -0700

[center][thumb:1902][/center] [center][i]Click to enlarge[/i][/center] I must first say that I am a Switched PC User. I bought an iBook off of a friend because I was interested in OSX. I then wanted a Mac that I could edit Final Cut Pro on, because I was using Adobe Premier on a PC and I wanted to make the transition. I bought this G4 466 Digital Audio on ebay, figuring that I would upgrade as funds became available. The first thing that I did was up the ram from 128meg to 1.5 gig, and add an 80 gig hard drive to the 30 that was already in it. I then bought a Lacie DVD Burner to replace the CDR, and Panther upgraded Jaguar. The third step meant moving the 30 gig Hard Drive to a firewire box and adding a second 80 gig drive. Step four was the addition of a 1.33 gig processor, and a third 100 gig hard drive. Step Five was moving the internals to a new ATX case. The case transfer was very easy because I decided to keep everything that I could, and work on making it fit in the acrylic case. If you notice, I used the original power board and drilled holes into the side panel and connected it using standoffs. The power button was simply "super glued" to the case wall. I never worked with acrylic before, but I found it pretty easy. Naturally the motherboard mounts were for a PC, but I was able to redrill holes and move the mounts to the correct location. (Someone ought to make a template that would show the exact place to redrill while aligning the PCI and AGP slots where they ought to be.) The Acrylic case that I bought came with more that enough hardware to mount things like the speaker, airport antenna, and power button. The only thing that made me somewhat nervous was adding a LED fan to the inside of the power supply. While it wasn't hard, I heard stories of a charged capacitor blowing people's hands off. I went to ebay and bought all the lighted goodies, and as of now I am still waiting for some of them to come in. I would like to figure out a way to make acrylic handles for the top and bottom, and give this case a "clear g5" look . Like I said, I think that it went very easy, but I must say that I have been building PCs for 10 years. I never knew that there were websites available like this one, and so many after-market upgrades out there for Macs. Once I found them, I was able to make my Mac into a Franken-Mac. [center][thumb:1899] [thumb:1901] [thumb:1900][/center]

Compubrick Accessories

Mon, 07 Jun 2004 20:50:20 -0700

[center][image:1884][/center] The Compubrick 160� and its two accessories: a keyboard and a Quickcam. [center][image:1885][/center] The keyboard is simply encased in blocks; the actual keys are ordinary keyboard keys. This was actually a lot harder to make than it looks. A good many tabs had to be sanded off and it was difficult to get all the studs to line up. In fact, you'll see two slots up around the F6 and F7 key where I couldn't get them to line up. The keyboard's most noteworthy feature is the caps lock light. I placed a transparent block over the LED and the effect is very nice. The other two lights I covered up as I don't use them anyway. [center][image:1886][/center] Getting the round Grayscale Quickcam apart was a real challenge and I cut my self twice. But in the end it was worth it, as I now have a building-block encased camera and the wounds have healed. I may end up redoing this one in more interesting colors. It's kind of dull. [center][image:1887][/center] Clearly, I can't do an entire system in building blocks and then leave the mouse a dull platinum.

The iNoteBook

Sun, 06 Jun 2004 18:56:45 -0700

[center][image:1586][/center]

The iNoteBook started out as a non-working iBook 500 with no display, hard disk, memory, or battery, and the DVD drive bay was on the fritz. In other words, a perfect candidate for a hack! I was able to get the machine to boot with some new memory and a little work on the DVD drive, so I began to think about what kind of machine I wanted to make.

[center] [image:1587] [/center]

I have seen all the great hacks on Applefritter and was interested in trying my own modest hack/mod. This was my first attempt so I tried to keep things relatively simple.

All of my lectures are on a flash memory key and I haul my PowerBook or iBook to every class to run the slides. What I wanted was a stripped down machine onto which I could easily load my lectures and carry to class. Each classroom has an overhead projector which is sufficient to start up the machine and launch the lecture. I have some old Duos and 5300s that could have worked, but a broken-down G3 with USB ports was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I decided to make the iNoteBook.

I began with an MO/floppy disk case (I'm in Japan so MOs are plentiful) and I used wire cutters to cut out the clips that hold the disks in the folder:

[center] [image:1588] [/center]

[center][image:1589] [/center]

Without the palm rest and bottom case, the iBook skeleton fit easily inside the prepared notebook, and a few extra cuts with the wirecutters produced a good fit. I really got lucky here; I knew the notebook was about the right size, but it turned out to be near-perfect.

[center][image:1590] [/center]

Cutting holes for the ports (power, fan, and the Ethernet/USB/display set shown here) was relatively straightforward. The plastic is hard but not brittle, and a box cutter made short work of the cuts. In this photo, I show the port cut-outs next to an iBook. The iNoteBook is a little thinner and a little larger than a regular iBook.

[center][image:1591] [/center]

After that, there was nothing left but to hook up an external keyboard and display and fire it up.

[center][image:1596]

[image:1592][/center]

I didn't have to secure the machine in the case as the stubs left over from cutting out the floppy disk clips hold the machine firmly with no movement. The speakers fit into their original holes and while they are not screwed down, they don't move around or rattle. The photo is a little blurry, but you can see the start-up button in the upper-left corner of the iNoteBook. When you push on the plastic cover, there is just enough give to activate the button and start the machine.

The translucent blue of the original MO case gave the machine a retro iMac look which is pretty cool, but I wanted to try for a real notebook look, so I put together mock front and back composition book covers using Photoshop,

[center] [image:1593] [/center]

printed them out on reasonably good paper, and taped them onto the MO case:

[center][image:1595] [/center]

I'm pretty happy with the final product. It is light (no display or battery), and since the covers are taped (rather than glued) onto the case, I can easily go back to the translucent case, or put on different covers. I am also looking for a hard cover book of the right dimensions to use as a new cover. If I ever find one, I'll be sure to post pictures here. In the end, it was a pretty easy project. I'm already looking forward to my next project. Questions and comments welcome. DS :macos: