My new semi-portable jukebox project /w pics (UPDATE 06/12/05)

[AlanS17]

I have an Elo 17" touchscreen monitor that's just been taking up space lately. It was used for a touchscreen in a jukebox, but the hard drive in that project crashed and I just didn't have the incentive enough to do it over again. I'd done it once before and there really was no challenge to it. I wanted to make something cooler, harder, and more impressive. This is where the story begins.

That was a lie. The story begins over a year when I bought the TS (touchscreen). When I first got it I was like, "Damn this thing is huge and it's built like a tank!". It had a full frame and lots of room inside because the chassis is a decent size. This made for a lot of wasted space. I noticed it immediately.

Ok back to semi-recently. I had that monitor in a jukebox, but the thing was too heavy to move upstairs. On top of the monitor, itself, I had a full cabinet to move around. I couldn't move it up stairs and it never got used inside the house. It was built in the garage and stayed in the garage.

When the jukebox died, I gave away the kiosk to markrvp (who is gonna use it in hia own jukebox project) but I kept the monitor. I couln't con him into buying it off of me. I mean... He wasn't interested in it. I was also left with the motherboard from the project, a mini-itx M10000. Now if anybody here knows anything about mini-itx boards, they know that they are super tiny, very quiet, and give off very little heat. You can put them just about anywhere.

What? You can put them just about anywhere? Hmmm... And you say that monitor has alot of space inside the frame? Hmmm... I wonder if that mini-itx PC with mobo, HD, power supply, and speakers can fit inside the monitor casing!

 And so the project begins...

[shadowdrak]

What if you expand the concept-- by adding a larger hard drive and a tv card-- thus becoming semi-portable media center.

[AlanS17]

Well the mini-itx board has built-in tv output that I plan on taking advantage of. However, I'm trying not to use a super heavy duty HD. I need something as close to silent as possible. I plan on using a laptop HD because it'sd quieter.

Plus this thing is quite large. It wouldn't make a sensible portable device. It's the kind of thing where you could take it to a friend's place and get it all set up, but it's still probably 30 pounds.

[AlanS17]

Ok, first progess pics! Who said a rack-mount touch screen had to be ugly?

I've got the thing all painted. It looks kind of orange in the pics because of the flash but it's bright red. Check out the shine on that sucker! It'll have decals on the sides eventually to cover up a couple little mishaps, but overall it turned out pretty well.

Anybody got any name ideas for this thing?

P.S. You might notice that some bolts are painted and some aren't. Just ignore that part. They're all getting replaced eventually with black bolts.