Wooden Computer Accessories

polyp2000 writes "It's always interesting to read about case-mods, but this company has a novel twist, for nature loving geeks. Maybe even the perfect accessory for a wooden case mod. Swedx do a nice line in wooden monitors, keyboards, and some sweet looking wooden mice in a selection of different woods."

So?

[tonyr60]

So what else is new? Here is my first bought PC... http://www.computercloset.org/OSI-C4PMF.htm

And that brown stuff on the sides is real wood.

Interesting

[Felinoid]

Not nessisarly practical but intresting.
I can see walking into a log caben and finding a computer in a woden case, woden monitor and woden mouse and keyboard.

Might also work for a CEO who wants the building done in wood motif.

Yawn.

[Chess_the_cat]

The Mac prototype was made of wood and so was the first mouse. Nothing new here.

FCC?

[ocularDeathRay]

isn't there a bunch of problems with EMI here? I thought this stuff needed to be surrounded by something conductive. oh well... back to bzflag

I think...

[Elpacoloco]

Wood is maybe not the best idea. I'd like my computer to be silent, dissipate it's heat properly, and otherwise be transparent.

I just can't see wood fulfilling any of these requirements.

Gawsh I hope their webserver....

[agent dero]

Why is it that every case mod article we have, that will get slashdotted (they always do), causes at least 10-20 "I hope their webserver isn't $CASEMOD"??

I mean, we're all smart enough to know that they're actual webserver is probably some black 1U server somewhere

I don't mean to start a holy war here.....aw, that's another post :-p

Fashion & the Beige Box

[spun]

For the longest time, the beige box was the height of fashion in the computer world. Everything was the same shade of beige, too. Printers, monitors, cases, keyboards, mice, EVERYTHING. And everything was boxy, too. Rounding the corners on your box was considered daring. Then some bright boy came up with the idea of white boxes. Then the natural corollary, the black box. Then Apple came out with the iMac and suddenly we had six new colors. And we had blobs as well as boxes.

Of course, we have had case-modders from the get go, and some innovative 'concept' designs have been displayed at trade shows, but in the mainstream, the physical design of computers and accessories has been boring.

I would love to be able to choose from a wide style of cases for my computer. Computer case design has been unobtrusive and homogenous up till now to please the major buyers, corporations. Now, with many smaller form-factor motherboards, and more people with some kind of fashion sense buying computers for the home, there will probably be an explosion in case and accessory design.

I'd love to see some nice retro stuff. Cases and accessories that looked like a 1950s wooden stereo, or a brushed aluminum AirStream trailer, or made to look like a sculpture would probably sell well. How about a tiny computer with only USB and FireWire (or maybe BlueTooth or something like it but faster, to do away with cords.) for expansion that comes with matching 'collectable' accessories. Companies could manufacture snap on covers: Star Wars or LoTR for us geeks, sports memorablia for the average joe, unicorns and big eyed ragamuffins for the ladies, and so forth.

The day of the beige box is hopefully done. I for one welcome our new, more stylish computers & accessories.

Re:Still...

[sjlumme]

Over here, we had the "silverware computer" running a webserver for a while. It was a standard AMD box assembled out of mostly dumpster-dived components, except instead of giving it a proper case, they stuck it in a wooden kitchen drawer. It served webpages just fine as long as nobody closed the drawer all the way, which would cause the AMD to overheat.

Re:You love nature so much that you

[timeOday]

Do you worry about breakfast cereal depleting our precious natural corn resources?

The key of having enough of a renewable resource is getting people to value it in the first place. With the $15 I pay to cut down a Christmas tree, the forest service plants several more. (And that is in fact exactly what they do with the money).

Finally

[Coryoth]

Argh. Too many stupid jokes are the only things getting moderated up at the moment.

I'm so pleased to have heard about this - I've been after this sort of thing for a long time now: case mods etc. that have elegant or classical styling instead of the usual "how many lights can I stick on it" crap.

I'm quite sick of beige boxes, and ugly designs - why can't more companies go for something like this? How about some nice brushed steel keyboards and mice? How about a nice (fake) tortoiseshell keyboard and mouse combo?

Apple turns out a ine array of beautiful elegant designs, but all the PC accessories just look like they escaped from the set of a cheap sci fi film set.

About bloody time, that's all I have to say.

Jedidiah.

Re:You love nature so much that you

[snicklas]

Actually it's very japanese. some believe that the true life of a tree is far more than just its life in the ground, and that truly beautiful furniture is the highest form of praise for a tree.

Remind anyone of the Apple I in the Smithsonian

[owlicks58]

For some reason remembering seeing the Apple I in the Smithsonian was the first thing I thought of when i thought of a wooden computer case. Have a look Smithsonian Apple I [si.edu]

Re:You love nature so much that you

[Dark Bard]

When's the last time you flew over Washington state? It looks like a big checkerboard. They're sneaky and leave a strip along the road to fool you into thinking there are trees. It's a myth that the trees are replanted. Until recently the lumber companies argued that clear cutting was good for a forest. Kind of like extinction is good for a species. Some trees are planted because they are forced to but most of the forest are lost and we'll never see them come back in our lifetimes. Most lumber companies operate as strip miners and will keep cutting trees until there aren't any. They'll simply move onto the next resource when they run out. It doesn't make sense but blind greed rarely does.

Re:Still...

[silentbozo]

Heh, I've actually thought about sticking a computer under a kitchen/bathroom sink, and connecting a heatpipe from the processor to the cold-water line. There's plenty of unused room under there, and noise isn't an issue since it's not living space. I should have thought ahead and embedded telephone/network/cable/and power in the cabinets when they were installed. As it is, to do this means fishing more wire into the wall :P

It's a good idea to put the components in a metal enclosure - it's a nasty thing when an electrical-short inspired fire breaks out (scary too - I fried a UPS once, there was the brief foomph as the circuit vaporized, then the smoke as it consumed the available oxygen/fuel inside the metal case.)

Re:You love nature so much that you

[BrynM]

Have it both ways with Hemp Plastics [google.com]. Hemp can grow so rampantly it has to be gotten [douglas.ne.us] rid [ctimes.com] of [ottawakansas.net] with other wild weeds, such as thistle. How much more renewable do you want?

Re:Still...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just so you know, when you've born in a culture where sauna is an everyday thing, there's nothing sexual about it. Sauna is purely for cleaning up, relaxation and boozing. You also develop a healthier attitude about nudity.

Re:oh please

[zakezuke]

Agreed... old fisher tube based amplifiers / radio receivers often had wooden cases. My current receiver is circa late 70s, it's PS is rated for well into the 300watt spectrum... it doesn't catch fire. Both are passively cooled with linier power supplies if i'm not mistaken. Your PC with it's switching power supply shouldn't be much of a problem. It has a fuse, your house has a breaker. Not a problem.

I'll submit that wood is more of an insolater then steel or aluminium... and is less likely to be good at passive cooling... lets say in the event that your fan fails.

Re:Remind anyone of the Apple I in the Smithsonian

[Bobman1235]

For some reason remembering seeing the Apple I in the Smithsonian was the first thing I thought of when i thought of a wooden computer case. Have a look Smithsonian Apple I

Jesus, I really thought that was a joke, until I backtracked to find it. Towards the bottom of this page [si.edu], it says that the Apple I was a kit that you designed your own case for. Who knew?