Doctor Who has a TARDIS
It goes through Space, and Time.
What better to house in a model of the
TARDIS, but a super* computer?
*Computer may not be 100% super
So why a TARDIS PC case?
My work PC has the name of “TARDIS” on our network, as it's a good enough name for a box as any other. But to be honest it doesn't go through space, and travels through time at only 60 seconds a minute.
Then, I started getting interested in Mini ITX motherboards and case mods after seeing a toaster PC case. Sites like mini-itx.com show other things these motherboards fit into, everything from a (plastic) cow to a gum ball machine through to a Millennium Falcon. Suddenly, it clicked “why not a TARDIS?” and lo, it was started
How's that going to work?
As there aren't any suitably sized off the shelf TARDISs that I could use (unlike the Falcon mentioned above) I would have to build it from scratch. Laid before you on the next few pages is my little journey from blank canvas to completed project. I started writing this at the end of my first day's work on the case as I thought some people would be interested in how it progresses, so at the moment I've no idea of the finished result.
Please note: This is not a 'How To' step by step guide, just how I did it. You might pick up some useful tips if you are stupid enough to embark on a similar trek as mine (but I'd rather you did something else, something original). It could also help you avoid some costly mistakes. Who knows?
Picking the bits
I just wanted a cheap** TARDIS for word processing and emails, so, I ended up with:
1ghz motherboard. Surely that's enough to take over the world with?
A sexy little slot loading DVD R/W (the green item is the adaptor so it can accept a normal IDE cable).
Little screen thing. I plan to put this behind the TARDIS door, where the phone would normally be kept. It plugs into a parallel port, and draws power from a USB port. You can put things like what Winamp is playing and other things. Apparently. I've never used one, but it looks cool. There are also no instructions with it.
External power supply. This is great as I don't need a massive power block inside the case. The little green board (second left) has the 20 pin ATX cable plug into it, then the other end of the cable plugs into the motherboard. The black wire (third from left) plugs into the small blue thing and the green board. The power cable then plugs into the blue thing, and lo, science kicks in and it all works. That's the dream.
And some RAM and a hard drive. You've all seen them before, so have a group shot instead.
**Mini ITX is certainly not the cheapest way to go about this. Because everything is tiny, it costs more. A normal ATX motherboard would be cheaper but the TARDIS would be huge and not fit on the desk.