Wooden Computer Accessories 467
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."
Finally! (Score:5, Funny)
There was a little wooden PC once... (Score:5, Funny)
a wooden mouse
a wooden keyboard
and a wooden cpu
and it wooden go!
Finally (Score:5, Funny)
Wooden you just know it! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wooden you just know it! (Score:5, Funny)
I bet the Halon can't keep up with that tinderbox!
Fire hazard... (Score:3, Funny)
w00t! Woodie PC parts (Score:2, Funny)
Still... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Still... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Still... (Score:3, Insightful)
But regardless, the 100 joules per second of energy being produced are not necesarily 100% heat.
lemons are yellow, but that doesn't mean all yellow things are lemons.
Re:Still... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Still... (Score:2)
oh please (Score:4, Informative)
Re:oh please (Score:3, Informative)
Re:oh please (Score:4, Informative)
Re:oh please (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:oh please (Score:5, Interesting)
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:Still... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Still... (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a good idea to put the components in a metal enclosure - it's a nasty thing
Re:Still... (Score:5, Insightful)
That does not really matter. As others have pointed out, the heat disappation of your metal case is close to zero compared to how much is dissappated by the air circulated by your case fans, so switching to wood won't make any difference.
There are lots of predicatble jokes here about it catching fire, but most traditional Finnish saunas [finland.fi] are made from wood. You can actually have wood panelling right next to metal that is so hot it's glowing red without the wood smoldering. Though just like with saunas, it would probably be best not to use wood that is impregnated or treated with anything for the cases, as that might give off not very healthy gasses if warmed up.
With regards to being heavy - it might be a bit bulky, but I think I read wood is actually one of the strongest materials compared to its weight in the world. Hey, here is an idea, how about spider silk cases?
Finally, the environmental question: wood is about as renewable resource as there is, and we have lots of it in Sweden. As long as the wood doesn't come from protected forests ("ur-skog") or rainforests, you can't really get more environmentally friendly.
The next thing in retro: (Score:2)
Just like the wooden car with wooden wheels (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Just like the wooden car with wooden wheels (Score:2, Informative)
then it would probably explode, sending toothpick like shrapnel in all directions..
Heck, the spokes on Model A's and T's were wooden.
Talking Heads (Score:2)
So? (Score:3, Interesting)
And that brown stuff on the sides is real wood.
Re:(OT) Re:an actual link (Score:3, Insightful)
First, by default Slashdot mentions the link target's server right after the link in brackets. Second, I when I hover over the link, the URL is displayed at the bottom of the browser (and yes I do look at this before clicking). Third, try quoting sometime, it's very useful, but oh, wait, you can't use HTML, never mind. Fourth, you've got legs, why bother with a car or bike? Just walk every
Plenty of wood already .... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Plenty of wood already .... (Score:3, Insightful)
Did anyone else see the URL for that site and immediately try to figure out if it was something akin to goatse.cx?
See...
Interesting (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
wood? (Score:2)
WTF why has my Prescott case gone up in a fireball and electromagnetic interference fried all my electronics?
Yawn. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Yawn. (Score:2, Informative)
nice theme... (Score:3, Funny)
wooden cases huh? wouldnt want an Athlon in there, the heat might cause an office fire. Whats next, tablets made out of stone?
I can see it now, the boss walks in with his shiny (heavy) new tablet, suddenly those power point presentations are elevated to commandment level. Plus if someone disagrees, it doubles as a pacifier.
Stone PC? (Score:2)
How about plaster? Could you chisel out an artistic PC? Clay.... doesn't it retain shape rather nicely after heating (might be a bit fragile though).
If we moved away from the metal frames, we could perhaps make some rather wicked PC mods. After all,
You love nature so much that you (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmmmmm..... Anyone else see somehting wrong with this picture??
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:2)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:2)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Interesting)
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).
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:2)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Insightful)
actually, if you cut the tree correctly, the stump will live and produce yet another tree. Only the part you cut away dies (and even that could be coaxed into becoming its own tree).
I propagate roses all the time in this fashion. It's called "asexual reproduction" (something with which many slashdotters are invariably familiar...).
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:3, Informative)
The lumber companies know that more land isn't being created, and if they cut down all the trees, well, um, they're going out of business. Most lumber companies aren't stupid enough to do that to themselves.
Perhaps what you are seeing are the farms. Fly over any farmland, and you'll see exactly what you're talking about.
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know much about washington state, but I do know that in MN where most of the logging is Aspen (for paper, a fast growing tree), the best way to harvest them is clear cutting a small area, and letting nature take over and re-seed. There is a lot of wildlife in MN that prefers this system. Some like the forest just after the cutting, while others like it just before, but if they would leave it, the forest would change again.
Note that I'm talking about one particular type of forest, and this practi
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:2)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:2)
I refurbish and recycle.
And when I say recycle, I don't mean into raw materials, I mean refurbish and put back into service....
http://www.systemrecycler.com/ [systemrecycler.com]
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:3, Informative)
Attempts at replanting logged / burnt tropical rainforests haven't been all that successful, because the ecosystems tend to be so funky and tightly woven.
At least metal is scrappable, although it's been @$%!#%$ hard to find a scrapyard that will take the random chunks of various metals I have lying around since I can't produce anything in any real quantity.
No, no, at the rate at which people use up an
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Insightful)
If you want some exotic rainforest hardwoods instead, there's no need to "strip log" them. Selective cutting preserves the ecostructure quite nicely. Clearcutting is a sign of bad government management of resources. It's easy enough to brand "eco-friendly" lumber to make sure you aren't buying mouse made from clearcut timber.
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Funny)
Empty soda can.... about 17 g
Ennyah ATX case... 5 kg
Knowing your case can be recycled into about 294 cans of jolt cola... priceless
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:2, Interesting)
heat (Score:2)
Re:heat (Score:2)
About 6 years behind the time. (Score:5, Funny)
Why yes, he did.
In like 1998.
And there's always competition. [woodbin.com]
Unbended Clippy: (Score:2, Funny)
For the "nature lovers"... (Score:5, Funny)
Me, I'm still waiting for my authentic ivory mouse and tiger fur coated keyboard.
yes, that was a joke
Re:For the "nature lovers"... (Score:3, Funny)
everyone knows that the skin of a small child is better for case mods.
Nature-loving geeks? (Score:2)
Re:Nature-loving geeks? (Score:2)
Re:Nature-loving geeks? (Score:4, Insightful)
Wood feels nice, sounds nice, and looks nice. It is renewable. And you're forgetting WHERE this tree is cut down, is it in an ancient forest with 300-year old trees, or in a homegrown backyard lot?
"I'm nature-loving."
Then why not do it the natural way?
I think... (Score:4, Interesting)
I just can't see wood fulfilling any of these requirements.
Re:I think... (Score:3, Insightful)
Nice, big, low RPM fans can take care of the heat.
And transparency... well, that's silly
Re:I think... (Score:5, Insightful)
The innards of my computer are a twisty maze of cables, all alike. Between the hard drives, two CD drives, Audigy 2 Platinum front tray, case fans, etc, it's one big mess of cables.
Not that it would be any better without the cables. It's a colour cacophony of red PCBs, blue PCBs, traditionalist green PCBs, aluminum heatsink on the CPU, copper heatsink on the graphics card, and whatever else.
Now if I were to also add some lit fans or neon lights, as seems to be the custom, then it would only get an even uglier colour cacophony.
What's that supposed to look like? A cheap circus tent? A bad acid trip? A sad clown on a really bad makup day? A terror attack on a paint warehouse?
And the real question: why on Earth would I want to look at that every day? Also: why would I want the others to see that?
Now I can see haow that would have a novelty factor in the beginning, and can appreciate at least the work of those who personally modded their own case. (Even if to a butt-ugly result.) But... you know... it's been some years already. The novelty ought to have worn off, and you can already buy that kind of cases mass-produced.
Re:I think... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the grandparent post meant the computer itself should be transparent as in not drawing attention to itself. Not a physically transparent case for the computer. Maybe a better word would have been "unobtrusive."
Correct me if I'm wrong though, grandparent.
RaviRe:I think... (Score:3, Funny)
You see, there's this thing called "taste." It's hard to explain but it's different for different people. In short, some people think techy color innards are cool. You're not one of them? Fine. You think your taste is good and everyone else's is crap? That might make you an elitist snob, but hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion.
Re:I think... (Score:3, Funny)
looks fine.. (Score:3, Funny)
But thanks, I'll just stick to the cheap mass-produced hardware (except the monitor, that's the only computer part worth spending money on imo). Maybe I'm just a functional type..
Nice! (Score:2)
Just what I always wanted
Wow.... (Score:2)
(BTW, how is a mouse made from a dead tree supposed to be nature-friendly?)
Re:Wow.... (Score:2)
Getting Slashdotted?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wouldn't sweat wreak havok on a wooden mouse, anyways? My lowly plastic one gets stained and dirty enough.
sweet (Score:2)
seriously though, look at the the review [voidedwarranty.com] of a couple of wood cases, some of the pre-made ones are pretty slick!
Gawsh I hope their webserver.... (Score:3, Interesting)
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
If you do a wooden case mod... (Score:2)
Fashion & the Beige Box (Score:5, Interesting)
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:Fashion & the Beige Box (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, Sun and SGI were making purple machines long before Apple switched from beige.
Re:Fashion & the Beige Box (Score:3, Funny)
Or turing your water cooled computer into a feng shuei water feature? (Wait another minute, hasn't Cray already done that, too..?)
Ah, well, never mind then...
The only true wooden computer (Score:5, Funny)
And there are also analog wooden computers [sphere.bc.ca].
Just to state the obvious: (Score:2)
(No, it's not funny)
I'm wondering how heavy a wooden mouse would be...would long-term use give you thick muscled wrists? (*NO* don't even think about it
Re:Just to state the obvious: (Score:2)
Neat wood Mac mod (Score:2)
No /.ing! (Score:2)
Re:No /.ing! (Score:3, Informative)
Not by 9am GMT it hadn't.
TiggsFinally (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
To all the damn-hippies (Score:2, Insightful)
When you whine about "cutting down trees", consider the fate of useful and useless species. Corn versus wildflowers, for example. Wood is probably the sole reason there's any trees left standing anywhere.
IT people and woodworking (Score:3, Insightful)
The funny thing is how many people seem to be in my position. When reading newsgroups like rec.woodworking, I came across a lot of tech-types that have either turned to woodworking as a hobby in their spare time, or in their laid-off time.
Anybody else on this board that have moved toward woodworking?
Obligatory Slashdot Intellectual Snobbery/joke (Score:2)
I'd never even accept one if it was given [about.com] to me.
Reminds me too much of Greeks Bearing Gifts [berkeley.edu].
(clue [usenix.org] for the philestines: I think we have enough [webopedia.com] trouble [google.com] with [windowsecurity.com] TROJANS [ripnroll.com] already)
Prices! (Score:4, Informative)
15" TFT 458 Euros
17" TFT 604 Euros
19" TFT 1090 Euros
Which is not all that bad considering how nice they look - here's [erl5.de] a german shop selling them for those that are finding the site slashdotted.
Jedidiah
wouldn't this be (Score:2)
Remind anyone of the Apple I in the Smithsonian (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Remind anyone of the Apple I in the Smithsonian (Score:3, Interesting)
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?
They just don't work very well (Score:5, Funny)
I have to ask: (Score:3, Funny)
Is cardboard "wood"? (Score:5, Funny)
Beware of the termites! (Score:3, Funny)
So who do you call when your mouse got bugs?
Trees (Score:3, Funny)
Why? Because after a frustrating tech support call with no real help, some might end up throwing their wodden computer accessories in the fireplace...
Re:Yes, wood is "nature loving" (Score:5, Funny)
Picture: A post-apocalyptic world, now grown lush and green again.
"Father, what kind of animal is that?"
"That's a qwerty, my son. If you know how to skin and prepare one, you can use almost every part of it to make a keyboard."
"Almost? What's left over?"
"The scrowlock and the cisrek. Hell if I know what they're good for."
Re:Shame (Score:2)
Re:Shame (Score:2)
Re:/.tted already? (Score:3, Funny)