Pole Position driver bartop - Finished!

[johnrt]

Yesterday I ordered the NUC, today it arrived. 

Tonight I've been gluing the cab. And I felt I had to make some reinforcement between the panels on the top. I think I nailed that quite well. I used some custom made wooden blocks and screwed the panels together. Along with the glue I think it'll hold together for ever. I also attached a pic of my NUC. I found out that you can connect an external on/off button to it (http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034369.htm), which kind of makes it perfect as far as I can see. Well, nuff said, here's the pics:

[BorgDog]

Which NUC model is that, and what is that thing sitting to the left of it? 

[johnrt]

Which NUC model is that, and what is that thing sitting to the left of it? 

DC53427HYE, Core i5-3427U, DDR3 SO-DIMM, HD4000, 2xmini-PCIe, 1xHDMI, 2xDP, USB3.0, vPRO

This model was a demo-unit from the webshop which I got for half price. But it came in a sealed original antistatic package, so it's never been used. 

The thing sitting to the left of it is something called a CD-ROM. This particular CD-ROM contains the installation files for an operating system named Windows 98. 

[ChanceKJ]

This windows 98 that you speak of... is it compatible with my copy of windows 95?

Also, isn't that the exact same model of NUC i'm using in my SuperPlayChoice...  now i have to check...

[johnrt]

This windows 98 that you speak of... is it compatible with my copy of windows 95?

Also, isn't that the exact same model of NUC i'm using in my SuperPlayChoice...  now i have to check...

Are you happy with your NUC? I'm still missing RAM and a SSD in mine, so I haven't been able to test it yet.

[JDFan]

This windows 98 that you speak of... is it compatible with my copy of windows 95?

Also, isn't that the exact same model of NUC i'm using in my SuperPlayChoice...  now i have to check...

IF you need a copy of one of the 21 floppy disks for the win 95 install let me know or if you want to return to win 3.1 instead I've got the 6 3.5" disks for it also (since win 95 got so bloated !! - I mean I can understand they need more than the 8.64MB of install files required for 3.1 but to jump all the way to over 30MB for an OS !! ) - I never could figure those newfangled CD's out so still use the floppies instead !

[ChanceKJ]

Quite.

Lately it sits in a display case inside the controller in my games room. But it's a solid peice of kit for sure.

[ChanceKJ]

Haha. Those floppies are awesome. I'm trying to think of what one could do to even get those floppy disks to work with a NUC. Haha

I remember when we first got Windows 95. That classic Cougar wallpaper, a Weezer music video. It was a sign of things to come.

And then Windows Millennium happened a few years later, pfffft. Now that was a peice of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

[JDFan]

Haha. Those floppies are awesome. I'm trying to think of what one could do to even get those floppy disks to work with a NUC. Haha

I remember when we first got Windows 95. That classic Cougar wallpaper, a Weezer music video. It was a sign of things to come.

And then Windows Millennium happened a few years later, pfffft. Now that was a peice of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

Yeah was going through some of the old stuff looking for something the other day and these brought back a lot of memories :

[johnrt]

I remember when we first got Windows 95. That classic Cougar wallpaper, a Weezer music video. It was a sign of things to come.

Ohh... this brings back many bad memories of my first AST computer with 4 MB of RAM (and a harddrive with the breathtaking 850 MB of space!). It took forever to load the damn thing. When I got it upgraded to incredible 8 MB of RAM it kinda worked OK though. I kind of miss those times. Sound and network cards (ISA of course) that you had to set IRQ manually with a jumper... ohh the glory days!

[johnrt]

Cab is finally ready for it's first coat of primer. As boring as it may be, the repeatedly filling and sanding is paying off.

[Malenko]

filing then sanding multiple times, then priming and sanding multiple times, then painting and sanding multiple times.......

the most important and under appreciated steps in finishing a cab. 

[ChanceKJ]

filing then sanding multiple times, then priming and sanding multiple times, then painting and sanding multiple times.......

the most important and under appreciated steps in finishing a cab. 

Agreed.  It's like putting a nice shine on a good pair of shoes. Just takes time and patience.

[johnrt]

First coat of primer applied. Surprisingly good looking result. All the filling and sanding paid off. Just some minor flaws that I have to deal with.

[johnrt]

First video of the project:

[johnrt]

And now I'm almost done painting the black parts (except for the back lid). Tomorrow I'm gonna install Windows on my NUC (I forgot my Win7 Install USB-stick at work).

Side panels willl be covered with artwork, so no paint there.

[BorgDog]

Both of yours looking nice, I especially like the vent slots you made, I'll have to remember that.

[johnrt]

Bottom base mounted, and some stick-on floor protectors from IKEA placed over the screws. I also mounted speakers, power intake, USB-connectors and the on/off button. Here's the pics:

[johnrt]

I'm currently playing with the artwork for this. I had to widen the marquee a little. Maybe it resulted in too much real estate on the sides of the Pole Position logo. What do you think?
As usual you can download the full photoshop files:
http://www.379009.net/polepos-bartop/photoshop/
(3.83GB unzipped, 35MB zipped)

[jennifer]

    I would say the "Pole position" could be made larger by separating the 2 a bit and making the white a bit longer and wider, Obviously then centering it on the checkerboard.... Other than that two thumbs up.

[johnrt]

    I would say the "Pole position" could be made larger by separating the 2 a bit and making the white a bit longer and wider, Obviously then centering it on the checkerboard.... Other than that two thumbs up.

I agree. And I'm right now completely redrawing the whole thing. I'm also gonna check how the same gradient as in the bezel will turn out in the marquee. So I'm making the blue squares transparent in photoshop.

[ChanceKJ]

Side art: smaller Atari logo, larger race scene ?

[johnrt]

Marquee v2: (Here's together with the bezel)

Link to updated marquee PSD file:
http://www.379009.net/polepos-bartop/photoshop/marquee_realsize-2015.03.20.zip

[johnrt]

To avoid vibration from the marquee plexi (the speakers IS right behind it) I'm applying self-adhesive velcro band, well at least the soft part of it. I had great success with this on my OutRun bartop.

[johnrt]

I made the hole for the fan on the back lid today, and testfitted the fan and the fangrill. Pretty cool, and it was a tight fit (see pics). This fan is a PWM fan and since I will not be using a traditional motherboard on this build I need some kind of fan controller. So I ordered one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181694032917

[johnrt]

Playing with the CP design. Ditching the minibuttons and using regular size admin-buttons as well.
I feel there's something missing still...

[johnrt]

Too much?






Edit:
Without gradient:

[johnrt]

Bartopmania's new forum software has this nice preview:

[yamatetsu]

The CPO should definitely have the gradient, but I would change the color of the text in the gradient to white or something, otherwise it might get lost a bit as it is right now.

[johnrt]

The CPO should definitely have the gradient, but I would change the color of the text in the gradient to white or something, otherwise it might get lost a bit as it is right now.

I tried white and many other different colors. The text just disappear on that background.

[johnrt]

It's getting there...

[8BitMonk]

Great build john! Some ideas for your graphics.

I'd increase the logo text size in the marquee and reduce the red Atari logo to compensate. I like the marquee better blue, the Pole Position text gets lost with the warm gradient since it has orange triangles behind the letters. A gradient from the original blue to a lighter blue might add some visual interest. Example below:
 


It might be interesting on the side art to break out the graphic like they do on the cockpit version and reduce the Atari logo. Example below:

[johnrt]

Great build john! Some ideas for your graphics.

I'd increase the logo text size in the marquee and reduce the red Atari logo to compensate. I like the marquee better blue, the Pole Position text gets lost with the warm gradient since it has orange triangles behind the letters. A gradient from the original blue to a lighter blue might add some visual interest. Example below:
 
It might be interesting on the side art to break out the graphic like they do on the cockpit version and reduce the Atari logo. Example below:

Thanks! That's very interesting. You surely took some time on this. Look like you even downloaded and edited the photoshop file. I like the blue gradient! I will try that. Thanks again! 

[ChanceKJ]

8Bit's side art is SICK!

That's exactly what I was thinking!

[Malenko]

so weird to see red gas and green brake.

[Rick]

so weird to see red gas and green brake.

Maybe Johnrt's Australian?

[johnrt]

so weird to see red gas and green brake.

Never mind that.  At the end it will be corrected. 

[8BitMonk]

Thanks! That's very interesting. You surely took some time on this. Look like you even downloaded and edited the photoshop file. I like the blue gradient! I will try that. Thanks again! 

Just a few minutes actually, I do it for a living so it's pretty simple when you have the source files and right tools.

If you use the sideart idea I'd add back the b/w checkers somewhere. Maybe sub out the thin blue and red stripes with a stripe of checkers that is about the width of them combined. Or maybe replace the gray block area with checkers. 

[ChanceKJ]

so weird to see red gas and green brake.

Maybe Johnrt's Australian?

...or from Edmonton.

[Superfrog]

Great build john! Some ideas for your graphics.

I'd increase the logo text size in the marquee and reduce the red Atari logo to compensate. I like the marquee better blue, the Pole Position text gets lost with the warm gradient since it has orange triangles behind the letters. A gradient from the original blue to a lighter blue might add some visual interest. Example below:
 


It might be interesting on the side art to break out the graphic like they do on the cockpit version and reduce the Atari logo. Example below:

I really dig this artwork