Inspired by Tom61's PC in a drive bay project, I decided to blatantly steal his idea and build my own version.
First, the parts.
Main part of this project is an Advantech SBC. Originally designed for use in a PCI backplane, it can operate just fine without one.
Here are the basic specs.
- BX chipset
- Socket 370, supports PPGA and FCPGA Celeron and PIII chips with 66MHz or 100MHz bus. This one is running a PIII-500
- 2 SODIMM slots, supports up to 512MB of SDRAM, this one has 128MB right now.
- All the BX basics, dual ATA33 IDE(note below), 2 COM ports(one port, one header), 1 Parallel header, 2 USB(headers onboard)
- One IDE header is 44 pin. With a 44 pin cable a laptop hard drive can be directly attached AND powered. Second IDE port is used as a Compact Flash interface(seen in second pic), although it only seems to work with the small CF cards I have.
- Onboard Trident video, has hardware MPEG2 decode AND headers for direct attachment to an LCD panel
- Onboard 10/100 ethernet
- Powered through a standard molex, will run on only a single 5 volt line, too. I'll be using +5 and +12 because otherwise the onboard CPU fan header doesn't work.
- Dimensions are around 4.5" x 7", 115mm x ~180MM. Height with heatsink is a little over 2"(50mm), so I won't be able to fit this into one 5.25" bay.
Here's a shot of the onboard ports.
From left to right are a pair of USB headers, VGA out, ethernet, COM1, and a single PS2 port that splits to AT keyboard and PS2 mouse ports with the cable in the pic below. Also in the pic is the proprietary 44-40-40 IDE cable that allows standard IDE devices to be hooked to the 44 pin IDE header on the board.
And because I have the pic, here's some things I won't be using that came with the board. Included is a proprietary floppy cable, an adapter for using an ATX PSU with a backplace, and serial and parallel ports for hooking to the onboard headers.
And more cables, this time a USB port for one onboard header, the CPU fan(which I''m not sure if I'll use), and a section of cabling yanked from and old PSU. That will be adapted to power everything. Yes, that's a black cat paw on the USB cable.
Next is the 8x DVD drive that will be used. It's a laptop drive, made by Lite-On, and has a 40 pin adapter for hookup.
Here's the hard drive, a 10GB IBM Travelstar. Not sure what this PC will get used for, so the 10GB could be replaced down the road. Not shown is the 40 pin adapter.
And here's the beginning of the case that will hold everything.
It's 1/4" plexiglass. Cuts are rough, but that's nothing to concern me. The face of the box will be made of aluminum and once mounted in a PC, that's all that will be visible. I still have to do a bit of work on the pieces shown. Sides are attached to the base, but I have to trim down the base to make it fit my case better. Dimensions of the case are 3.25"x5.75"x8" deep. Overall depth will be around 8.25" when face and back are attached. All cooling will be done with one fan mounted in the rear of the case. There's just enough room for a 70mm, so that's what will be used. Faceplate will have cutouts for all the ports on the board, DVD drive, one USB, the power switch, and some vent holes to let cool air in.
One last shot of the case in place for a test fit.
yes, I know it's short, that's on purpose. I may have screw heads on the top piece of plexi, so I wanted to make sure I had space.
The final setup will be powered by a secondary AT PSU mounted in the case shown, but could just as easily be hooked to the machines normal PSU since it will only draw about 30 watts.
Things to do:
- Drill holes for board mounting standoffs
- Make mounting brackets for hard drive and DVD
- make backplate, find a quiet 70mm fan
- Buy power switch and start wiring up everything
- mock-up faceplate using posterboard BEFORE cutting the aluminum.
- make faceplate, then finish the wiring
Probably going to get back on this soon, but I have a few other things to take care of first.
First, the parts.
Main part of this project is an Advantech SBC. Originally designed for use in a PCI backplane, it can operate just fine without one.
Here are the basic specs.
- BX chipset
- Socket 370, supports PPGA and FCPGA Celeron and PIII chips with 66MHz or 100MHz bus. This one is running a PIII-500
- 2 SODIMM slots, supports up to 512MB of SDRAM, this one has 128MB right now.
- All the BX basics, dual ATA33 IDE(note below), 2 COM ports(one port, one header), 1 Parallel header, 2 USB(headers onboard)
- One IDE header is 44 pin. With a 44 pin cable a laptop hard drive can be directly attached AND powered. Second IDE port is used as a Compact Flash interface(seen in second pic), although it only seems to work with the small CF cards I have.
- Onboard Trident video, has hardware MPEG2 decode AND headers for direct attachment to an LCD panel
- Onboard 10/100 ethernet
- Powered through a standard molex, will run on only a single 5 volt line, too. I'll be using +5 and +12 because otherwise the onboard CPU fan header doesn't work.
- Dimensions are around 4.5" x 7", 115mm x ~180MM. Height with heatsink is a little over 2"(50mm), so I won't be able to fit this into one 5.25" bay.
Here's a shot of the onboard ports.
From left to right are a pair of USB headers, VGA out, ethernet, COM1, and a single PS2 port that splits to AT keyboard and PS2 mouse ports with the cable in the pic below. Also in the pic is the proprietary 44-40-40 IDE cable that allows standard IDE devices to be hooked to the 44 pin IDE header on the board.
And because I have the pic, here's some things I won't be using that came with the board. Included is a proprietary floppy cable, an adapter for using an ATX PSU with a backplace, and serial and parallel ports for hooking to the onboard headers.
And more cables, this time a USB port for one onboard header, the CPU fan(which I''m not sure if I'll use), and a section of cabling yanked from and old PSU. That will be adapted to power everything. Yes, that's a black cat paw on the USB cable.
Next is the 8x DVD drive that will be used. It's a laptop drive, made by Lite-On, and has a 40 pin adapter for hookup.
Here's the hard drive, a 10GB IBM Travelstar. Not sure what this PC will get used for, so the 10GB could be replaced down the road. Not shown is the 40 pin adapter.
And here's the beginning of the case that will hold everything.
It's 1/4" plexiglass. Cuts are rough, but that's nothing to concern me. The face of the box will be made of aluminum and once mounted in a PC, that's all that will be visible. I still have to do a bit of work on the pieces shown. Sides are attached to the base, but I have to trim down the base to make it fit my case better. Dimensions of the case are 3.25"x5.75"x8" deep. Overall depth will be around 8.25" when face and back are attached. All cooling will be done with one fan mounted in the rear of the case. There's just enough room for a 70mm, so that's what will be used. Faceplate will have cutouts for all the ports on the board, DVD drive, one USB, the power switch, and some vent holes to let cool air in.
One last shot of the case in place for a test fit.
yes, I know it's short, that's on purpose. I may have screw heads on the top piece of plexi, so I wanted to make sure I had space.
The final setup will be powered by a secondary AT PSU mounted in the case shown, but could just as easily be hooked to the machines normal PSU since it will only draw about 30 watts.
Things to do:
- Drill holes for board mounting standoffs
- Make mounting brackets for hard drive and DVD
- make backplate, find a quiet 70mm fan
- Buy power switch and start wiring up everything
- mock-up faceplate using posterboard BEFORE cutting the aluminum.
- make faceplate, then finish the wiring
Probably going to get back on this soon, but I have a few other things to take care of first.