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Also if you ever come across an internal jet direct for a HP 4500 serries printer or any other parts let me know as I have a working one here that I use. Thanks.

Too bad you didn't mention that Jet Direct network card about 5 months ago. There was one in our office that they were giving away, but it was the 10Mbps version, not the 10/100 speed. Anyway, another guy got it, since he had a use for it. I'll keep my eyes open for them now. That 4500 series is the color laser, right? I think we have one or two in the office.

Yes its color. Its nice. I got it cause it blew up and would cost more to clean then to replace. So i took the time to clean the whole thing up and now it works great.

Nice case, of course it would have been nice to put everything in that lower sun thing. Too bad AMD doesn't make any mini ITX boards or procs for those.

I think if you put the free solaris x86 on there then you may be able to talk sun into letting you use their logo.

...talking to Sun. After all, I'm an engineer. They are engineers. We speak the same lingo. In fact, Sun seems to prefer AMD over Intel by a big margin. I appreciate that.

Only one problem though. I don't want to give this machine up. It works perfectly for it's intended purpose, and I love how it looks. Even if I were able to sell if for a few thousand, I would miss it, and then I would have to come up with another wall-hanging unit. Of course, the next one would be a very big wall-hanging unit! But I digress. I should leave things as they are and be happy.

Mdmtask, I could have put that PSU in the case. I actually had it and the motherboard both in there, and I was preparing to start the drilling operation. Then I thought more about how that PSU would look, sticking out of the top cover. I thought I might pull the case away from the wall, and sink the PSU into the bottom of the case so the top cover wouldn't get all hacked up. I would still need an opening for the 120mm fan though. The CPU wouldn't be centered either - it would be off to the right one or two inches. In the end, I decided it looked much better with the PSU outside (aka external power) and separate lighting effects unique to both sections.

Originally posted by rndmtask
Nice case, of course it would have been nice to put everything in that lower sun thing. Too bad AMD doesn't make any mini ITX boards or procs for those.

I think if you put the free solaris x86 on there then you may be able to talk sun into letting you use their logo.

You know, I just realized you were talking about putting the whole computer into the small box - namely the power supply chassis! That surely would be a micro-computer! Anyway, do you know what sort of performance you get out of those ITX boards with the VIA processors? It doesn't even come close to a gaming capability, which is what I build most of my machines for. This Sun X-Terminal Mod was specifically designed just for work bench support, and there is no intention of gaming with it. Built-in graphics is the limiting factor here.

I just couldn't call the Sun X-Terminal Mod complete without modding the keyboard that came with it. So I have begun a project that is coming together in my mind as I start cutting.

My concept is basically to spell out "Sun X-Terminal Mod" in a piece of plexiglas that is inserted where the keys were. This will be lit up with cold cathode tubes (What else from the house of Bigal Computers?) from within the keyboard.

Here are the preliminary pictures. This might turn into a keyboard "how to" guide later down the road. There is still a lot of work to do - namely all that etching. Any ideas? I'm also thinking about EL wire being used to spell out the name, instead of etching plexiglass.

I would say cut that name out of the area above the F keys. so that the light shines through and put like a peice of frosted tape behind it.

Use purple too!

Well, that cold cathode tube is a purple one, so I'm on track there. The last picture shows that I've cut the whole area out, so it's not a matter of putting the keyboard back in there - this is now a sort of "picture frame". I want to spell out the "Sun X-Terminal" in big letters, tall and wide enough to fill that space. It's almost like a big neon sign, which will be placed on the wall, above the chassis. At least, that's my concept.

Oh wait.. this isnt going to be a keyboard thats usabale?

That's right. It's no longer a functioning keyboard. I went and bought a small USB 'laptop style' keyboard to keep on my work bench. This Sun keyboard is now a display frame that goes above the chassis hanging on the wall.

I've decided to temporarily forgo some more expensive solutions, like a scrolling LED or LCD display in the keyboard frame. I need to save some money to pay for my Screaming Eagle slip-on mufflers purchased last week for my Harley Fat Boy. So, I used one of my green EL wire kits (made by XG Extreme Gamer - part IS-ELW01GG, http://www.mge-usa.com ) to fashion the letters "AMD". These pictures show that I used scotch tape to hold it down, but I removed that and covered some bits with black tape for a more finished look. It's not really permanent either, as I can pull the wire up and reapply the black duct tape.

The first pictures show that I forgot to thread the wire through an existing opening in the keyboard, so I had to either take the lettering off, or cut a larger hole in the keyboard backing plate. I elected to cut the hole! I'm getting lazy I guess...

Well Boys, I finished the Sun X-Terminal keyboard mod. Gone is the electroluminscent wire "AMD" sign, and in it's place is the "Big Al's Computers" logo!