Dimension 2400 = disposable PC = HACKING :D

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Dimension 2400 = disposable PC = HACKING :D

Just started on the Dell yesterday.

So far I've got 3 bright red LEDs shining down through the largish air vent at the front(above the USB/phone ports and below the dell badge). VERY nice- goes with the black/grey case perfectly.

Also threw in an old iMac 4GB hard drive to stick my music and video on- anyone know if one of these drives(Western Digital of some description) are fast enough to be worth putting the Windows page file/virtual memory on? Would that give a performance increase over just having VM on the main HD?

Anyway...back to hacks. My next idea is to replace all the LEDs with ones of a different colour. Was thinking blue for power, red for HD activity... suggestions?

After that, just basic mods like rounded IDE cables(preferably black or red), hard drive coolers, maybe a new fan up the front... unless someone here can give me some more fun ideas. Wink

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Oh yeah- if anyone's wondering how to install a second hard drive in a Dimension 2400, it's easy- move the DVD/CDRW drive into the lower bay, stick the cover on the top bay(requires a bit of simple modification)and pop the hard drive on top of the CD drive. Use one screw to hold it in, and stick a bit of cardboard or whatever under the corners of the drive to keep it level. Does the job. Smile

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Screw cardboard.

2nd hard drive bracket kit:

http://www.issue-resolved.com/

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erm..

That thing: approx. AU$38.

Cardboard: Free.

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Re: Dimension 2400 = disposable PC = HACKING :D

Also threw in an old iMac 4GB hard drive to stick my music and video on- anyone know if one of these drives(Western Digital of some description) are fast enough to be worth putting the Windows page file/virtual memory on? Would that give a performance increase over just having VM on the main HD?

The biggest performance increase you're likely to see is that experienced by removing that boat-anchor hard drive from your device chain and pitching it into the nearest wood chipper.

Those drives *at best* handle UDMA/33, (The iMac itself only uses the yet slower 16.6MB/sec mode, so count on Apple to have seriously underspec'ed the stock drive) and are slower then hell in all other respects.

I used one as a root drive for a linux server for a while, so I know of which I speak. The only saving grace was I had enough RAM in the system that once everything was up and running it pretty much ran from cache.

--Peace

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Well i do plan on keeping it

Well i do plan on keeping it in there for dumping music etc on... are you sure having the VM on that won't help performance at all? I mean, it would mean windows wasn't having to swap files back and forth on the one drive all the time...

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get a cheap fast HD of eBay o

get a cheap fast HD of eBay or something ... those iMac drives, as eudi said, are slow slow slow ...

TOM

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Ok ok I believe you now! :p I

Ok ok I believe you now! Blum 3 I've got it set so it's always switched off unless I open Media Player or go through its files.

A second HD isn't at the top of my list, given the 2.5GHz Celeron and 256MB RAM...

I'm now thinking of doing something involving paint- but can't work out what. Maybe red/orange flames on the round, recessed Dell logos on the sides...?

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window!

add a window, and maybe some LED fans! Acute after you add more ram though, 256mb these days isn't good for anything. and BTW most of the time you can find 40gb hdd's for $48 bucks, and thats if you get a nice one. :o

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I thought of the window, whic

I thought of the window, which would mean replacing the side access door with a big perspex sheet(maybe held on with velcro or magnets etc.) but I don't have access to a bandsaw... Sad

LED fans are a maybe... but I'm still unsure about having the wall behind the computer lit up Blum 3

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today

Well this is what happened to the poor dear today(;)).

I took out the original front vent lighting, removed 2 LEDs from the PCB and stuck them at the very bottom of the front inner panel shining downwards. Used the same USB port for power. So now we have a gorgeous, subtle red glow escaping from underneath- VERY cool.

I also went down to my local electronics shop and picked up a blue LED- DAMN THESE ARE EXPENSIVE! $0.35 for red, $8.95 for blue... yowzers!

Anyway this completes the status indicator LED changes: red for power, beautiful blue for HD access. When the blue LED really lights up, the upper front air vent gets slightly lit up which gives a nice lightning effect in the dark, but it's not nearly enough to bother you.

I'm really liking where this is going... Biggrin

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40 gigs=48 bucks? 200 gigs
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