I started off with a slot1 PII-400 and was running freesco. I switched to smoothwall so I could fold on that box as well (easier to do with smoothwall). While I was at it, I dug out my old BP6 w/dual 500Mhz celerons and replaced all the bad caps and power coils. (sorry, no pics of that).
Well..that was all fine and good, but my wife was getting onto me about the mess of wires. I had a Speedstream DSL modem, going to a Linksys wireless router, which in turn went to the smoothwall box(for firewall, content filter, ad blocker, dns caching, squid, etc...), which then went to a 10/100 switch. I'm sure you can imagine the wires...both Cat5 and power adapters....
So...I thought...hmmm....there still enough room in that little mid-tower case to fit all that other stuff in...it would just take some doing. So here are the pics (work in progress....not all painted yet, and only about half done at this point)
Sorry...forgot to take pics of the before case...
The back after cutting the holes for the CAT5 jacks. (yes, the bak mb plate is missing...I lost it in the process of all this)
The back with some jacks installed....
My DSL modem modded for use in a drive bay (it's held in place by the faceplate until I can make a more sturdy merthod). I bypassed the stupid power connector and modded a molex on there. Works great.
I had an extra 100/TX hub lying aound...had 4 ports, used one internally, which left 3...perfect for a front bay access! Also modded a molex power connector on this too.
The hub mounted in the front bay.
Hub AND DSL modem in front bays...
Now the fairy part....I disassembled the Wireless router, tossed the carcass in a box. Mounted a protective board underneath to prevent shorts. The best place to locate this large board was on the bottom rear of the case. Which also allowed convenient access to the ports on it I ran the CAT5 from the ports on the back, to the jacks mounted in the case. Also drilled out a PCI plate cover and mounted the antennae to it (using remote antennae since the cheap stock ones won't do squat on the floor). Oh, and yes, I put a molex connector on this too.
So heres the inside shot of the result...not much wire management done here either yet...
another shot with some wires cleaned up...
and here's a shot from the back all plugged up for an initial test run.
It was an initial success! Powered up, connected to the DSL, router operational, smoothwall loaded without probs, and all the ports are functional
one last pic...remember when you were a kid and everyone told you a sharp knife is safer than a dull one? Well, I suppose that's true...as long as you're not on the receiving end of that sharp blade! I had just spent about 45 minutes sharpening this knife. I got it to the point you could shave with it...ultra sharp...so I could cut through some of the plastic on the faceplates with ease. Well, I slipped, and even though it wasn't a slicing motion, the cut was 1/2" long, and went all the way to the bone...including right through my fingernail. And I must say, it went through my skin and fingernail like a hot knife through butter!
Well..that was all fine and good, but my wife was getting onto me about the mess of wires. I had a Speedstream DSL modem, going to a Linksys wireless router, which in turn went to the smoothwall box(for firewall, content filter, ad blocker, dns caching, squid, etc...), which then went to a 10/100 switch. I'm sure you can imagine the wires...both Cat5 and power adapters....
So...I thought...hmmm....there still enough room in that little mid-tower case to fit all that other stuff in...it would just take some doing. So here are the pics (work in progress....not all painted yet, and only about half done at this point)
Sorry...forgot to take pics of the before case...
The back after cutting the holes for the CAT5 jacks. (yes, the bak mb plate is missing...I lost it in the process of all this)
The back with some jacks installed....
My DSL modem modded for use in a drive bay (it's held in place by the faceplate until I can make a more sturdy merthod). I bypassed the stupid power connector and modded a molex on there. Works great.
I had an extra 100/TX hub lying aound...had 4 ports, used one internally, which left 3...perfect for a front bay access! Also modded a molex power connector on this too.
The hub mounted in the front bay.
Hub AND DSL modem in front bays...
Now the fairy part....I disassembled the Wireless router, tossed the carcass in a box. Mounted a protective board underneath to prevent shorts. The best place to locate this large board was on the bottom rear of the case. Which also allowed convenient access to the ports on it I ran the CAT5 from the ports on the back, to the jacks mounted in the case. Also drilled out a PCI plate cover and mounted the antennae to it (using remote antennae since the cheap stock ones won't do squat on the floor). Oh, and yes, I put a molex connector on this too.
So heres the inside shot of the result...not much wire management done here either yet...
another shot with some wires cleaned up...
and here's a shot from the back all plugged up for an initial test run.
It was an initial success! Powered up, connected to the DSL, router operational, smoothwall loaded without probs, and all the ports are functional
one last pic...remember when you were a kid and everyone told you a sharp knife is safer than a dull one? Well, I suppose that's true...as long as you're not on the receiving end of that sharp blade! I had just spent about 45 minutes sharpening this knife. I got it to the point you could shave with it...ultra sharp...so I could cut through some of the plastic on the faceplates with ease. Well, I slipped, and even though it wasn't a slicing motion, the cut was 1/2" long, and went all the way to the bone...including right through my fingernail. And I must say, it went through my skin and fingernail like a hot knife through butter!