Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

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DAE_JA_VOO
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Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

Post by DAE_JA_VOO »

First of all, i need a name for this mod. Help me out guys :P

So, while trying to get my hands on one of VIA's Pico-ITX motherboards a few months ago, i received an email from one of VIA's reps offering me one for a project. How lucky is that! VIA offered to send me one of the boards for a mod project.

It just arrived earlier today. Here's the box:

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What's inside? The board, some cables, and a driver CD:

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The cables: DVI, USB, PS/2, Audio, ATX power adapter, COM port, IDE Cable.

And here's the little monster:

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Compared to a full size ATX motherboard:

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Compared to a notebook HDD:

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As you can see, this thing is unbelievably tiny. I actually find it quite ridiculous how small it is. It's amazing :D

I've been lucky enough to be sponsored by another company for this project too. A great bunch over at Logic Supply. This US based company sells an amazing variety of tiny stuffs like the Pico board that i have here. Check them out ;)

Anyway, Logic is hooking me up with a 160GB SATA notebook drive, 1GB of So-DIMM RAM, and a fantastic PSU, designed SPECIFICALLY for this motherboard. The PSU is the Serener 120W DC-DC Power Converter.

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They're also sending me a power brick for the PSU.

So i'm pretty much sorted for hardware for this mod. There's just one or two last things i want for this project. I'd REALLY like to pair it up with a 7" touchscreen, and with a small little VFD, but i'll first do some more planning.

Big BIG thanks to my sponsors for this mod, i really appreciate it guys!

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Okay, so now it's on to the planning. I plan on building something REALLY tiny. I started with some rough sketches last week but i wanted to wait for the PSU to arrive before making any solid plans. The package from Logic was only shipped today, so i still can't do any solid planning, but so far, i know that i want this machine as tiny as possible, without compromising size for quality. I don't want a mod that's REALLY small, but looks crap. If it needs to be a little bigger in order to look a lot better, i'm cool with that.

I was originally planning on removing the heatsink that's on the board and having the case cool the board, but after some consideration, i've come to the conclusion that it'll just not be worth it. I might earn 3mm at most by removing the heatsink. So the heatsink stays.

I want the case to look REALLY really good here. I'm going to see if i can have it CNCed out of a block of Alu and then have that alu anodized to a nice colour; just not black. Please. Not. Black.

So that's it so far. I'm almost done putting an unboxing video together, i'll upload that soon.

Thanks for reading. I hope you like where this is going as much as i do :D
Last edited by DAE_JA_VOO on 20 Sep 2008, 11:15, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by DoOb »

Ett, you sure they gave you the right thing....heheh

Just a tad SMALL 8O 8O

But hect should be a killer mod.

btw isnt that the board i was gonna buy from you last year. its the -D hey or DR

See what happens with this one. :wink:
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Post by douglash »

I say call it, "Mini-Mod".... :lol:
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Re: Project: Pico ITX

Post by RuadRauFlessa »

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:First of all, i need a name for this mod. Help me out guys :P
How about "The Smallest Driblet" :?:
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Post by Samaya »

How about "Nicky Hilton" LOL :D :D :D

That is a awesome piece of equipment. I assume you will be running Linux on the little beast? Actually that would be a good name: Little Beast. I definitely want to see this one in the flesh...
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Post by RuadRauFlessa »

:lol: Litle Nicky :lol:
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Post by DeanMF »

Pica-Voo :P
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Post by DAE_JA_VOO »

Thanks guys :D
DoOb wrote:btw isnt that the board i was gonna buy from you last year. its the -D hey or DR
It is yes :P

Just laying here now :?

Samaya wrote:How about "Nicky Hilton" LOL :D :D :D
ROFL!

Samaya wrote:I assume you will be running Linux on the little beast?
Yes of course! Do you think i'd ruin something like this with something like windows? :P

Samaya wrote:I definitely want to see this one in the flesh...
Let me know when you have time :D

Someone on another forum suggested i give it a "big" name, like TITAN, which i think is a very cool idea :D
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Post by RuadRauFlessa »

How about "Little Big Adventure" :lol:
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Post by viceroy »

Nanophoria?
Derived from "Nano-technology" and "Euphoria"
Reason being is that it's really small and makes you happy
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Post by psYChowIt »

viceroy wrote:Nanophoria?
Derived from "Nano-technology" and "Euphoria"
Reason being is that it's really small and makes you happy
Nanoria works better for me :D
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Post by I34z1k »

Goliath? (Sp?)
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Post by RobThePyro »

'REALLY BIG PC MOD' :P
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Post by RuadRauFlessa »

Could also change that to Nanophobia

The fear of anything really small :!:
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Post by Skidd »

Interesting :-)
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Post by DAE_JA_VOO »

viceroy wrote:Nanophoria?
Been thinking about this name for a few weeks now. I think that this is what i'll go with, if you're cool with it :D

Anyway, and update is on it's way. Some new goodies arrived today from the US, AND, there's a 7" touchscreen with my name on it coming to me from a great company in the US.

Details and Photos to follow :)
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Post by Anthro »

What sort of shape is it going to have - maybe try a BALL ?
Then call it Microdot™ / PicoDot™
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Post by DAE_JA_VOO »

lol :D

No no, not a ball. If it we a ball, it would be bigger than necessary. I want it as small as i can get it :)
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Re: Project: Pico ITX (Half an update)

Post by DAE_JA_VOO »

UPDATE!!! Holy moley, it's been ages. Endorphin is getting an update soon as well :P

Anyway.

First off, my goodies from Logic Supply arrived:

The HDD, RAM, PSU, and powerbrick:

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HDD and RAM. 160GB Seagate Disk and 1GB Transcend DDR2 667:

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The Serener PSU. This thing is insanely small:

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Another shot of the RAM:

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Here's a FULL PC:

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Compared to a Rubik's Cube:

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Compared to a Swiftech Storm waterblock:

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And lastly, the powerbrick:

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All hooked up and running:

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Then it was down to design. I spent so much time doing this. I went from design idea to design idea, and finally settled on something unique - A Rubik's cube :D

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This is how the board will sit inside the case:

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VIA also gave me rights to use their logo:

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Some colour:

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A clay render:

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And two colour renders:

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I plan on having the cube machines out of Alu, and then having the Alu anodized black.

Please also watch these two videos i've made for the project. The first is the Pico ITX unboxing clip:





And the second is a video log of what i've done so far. Part 1 :)



Please let me know what you guys think so far :)
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Re: Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

Post by Monty »

One thing DAE, If you put it in a Rubik's cube, you must have a program on it that generates solve algorithms ;)

Looks awesome!!!!
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Re: Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

Post by Prime »

:shock: You didn't? Yes you did! Omw. Ha ha awesome!
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Re: Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

Post by djwez »

damn dae a wonder where you got the inspiration to do that :lol:
looking good
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Re: Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

Post by Firestrm_ZA »

OMW i couldnt say i saw this coming :roll: LOL nice one ett, how are you gonna make those parts though? injection moulding?
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Re: Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

Post by Samaya »

That is going to look so cool. I have an idea for you, but I'll PM it to you :twisted:
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Re: Project: Pico Rubik's Cube (Update 20/09)

Post by Firestrm_ZA »

someones been neglecting this..... :P
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