Singing Potatoes
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Wednesday, 9 February 2005
Hurrah

Last night, my little motherboard finally arrived. Unfortunately, the right-angle PCI riser didn't arrive until today, so I couldn't cut any holes in the ammo box. However, I did put it together and make sure it works.

Someone recently expressed to me his hesitance to try building a computer. Here, then, is a photo-journal of all it takes to turn a pile of components into a working (albeit naked) computer:

  1. Install the memory.
  2. Snap on the hard drive adapter. This was necessary because I'm using a 2.5" laptop drive. For a regular 3.5" drive, this step isn't necessary.
  3. Connect the hard drive to the motherboard.
  4. Connect the DVD±RW to the motherboard. This could have been put on the same cable as the hard drive, but you can get better performance if each device is on its own IDE bus. Or at least that used to be the case; I'm not sure if it still is.
  5. Connect the power supply to the motherboard. This is the tiniest power supply I've ever seen.
  6. Connect the power leads to the hard drive and DVD±RW drive.
  7. Optional: Install expansion card. The motherboard comes with onboard six-channel audio, but I want a better quality interface, with more than two inputs, for recording.
  8. Optional: Connect the USB and FireWire ports to the motherboard. The motherboard has two USB connectors in the back, but includes headers for two more USB and two FireWire connections.
  9. Install the operating system of your choice.

Now all I have to do is install it into the ammo box. I'm a bit wary of this part, but if I screw up the location of the holes, there's an army surplus store less than five minutes away with more boxes.

Posted by godfrey (link)
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Comments
Well, I'll be.

So is the VGA out right in that particular motherboard? Is that usually the case?

(I wrote a big wailing e-mail about video out before I saw this, but for some reason it won't send.)
Posted by Squelch on 9 Feb 2005 19:49
Yes, this one's got VGA out, S-Video out and an RCA plug which can be used for either video or SP/DIF output, depending on how you set a jumper. 64MB on the graphics card, with hardware MPEG-2 decoder. (full specs; PDF manual.)

These days, there are a lot of "all-in-one" motherboards with sound, video, 10/100 Ethernet and sometimes FireWire (in addition to the usual USB, serial and parallel connectors). Just about all of the mini form factor ones have at least sound and video, so they can be put into small enclosures.

Posted by Godfrey on 9 Feb 2005 20:32
GOD DAMN IT. Now I have to make one. Especially if I can get the MII and install a wireless PC card, so I can access the tv guide stuff without Ethernet cables.

Which riser are you using, the one which folds over the mobo?
Posted by Squelch on 9 Feb 2005 21:28
Yeah, that's the one. And I'd suggest going with the 200W power supply just to be safe.

Posted by Godfrey on 10 Feb 2005 03:35