One option if spare Sun Sparc IPC

Well, managed to nab this IPC before it was binned.

Makes a great home for an empeg.

Note: the optical cable is so i can see the light for the ethernet on the front of the unit , works very well.

(Not quite finished yet)

C.

Oh, that is just too twisted!!! And I have one of those under my desk in the cube, too... Hmm... How hard is the conversion for the mechanically inept?

After attempting to do the same with an old SGI machine, I broke down and bought two of mlord's docks.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I have a few of Mark's docks, and they are really the greatest thing!!! There is just something a little surreal about putting an empeg into a Sparc IPC carcass. I enjoy twisted things like that...

Case and point - does anyone here remember Microsoft Bob???



Check the hardware. Bored at work one day, I decided to try and get Microsoft BOB running under WABI (Windows 95 emulator) up and running on a Solaris 2.6 SparcStation 2. (This was a long time ago, obviously.) I got it working, somewhat, and Joe D'Andrea (jdandrea on the board) and I staged the photo, complete with Diet Coke, rainbow slinky and O'Reilly books. The machine crashed immediately after the shot was taken - probably for the better.

Yeah, but enjoyment of the twisted technological surrealness does not, in my case, make up for a lack in case modding skill.

I know what you mean. Thus my question about how hard it is for the mechanically inept. I have quite happy with Mark's docks, but this could be an interesting side project.

Actually, if you start out with the right tools and materials, it shouldn't be that bad. Mr. Dremel will be your friend. I was doing a reasonably fair job until the part where I needed a spare sled. That proved my downfall. If the Sun cases are over-engineered like the SGI cases, then be prepared for a bit of metal work. I was also working with a case that had a bit of a curved front, which didn't help matters much.

Nice, NICE install. I once (foolishly) bought a used IPC so I could "learn a bit about Sun hardware and play with Solaris at home". Little did I know that the machine was totally worthless and the 500 meg SCSI hard drive was louder than ALL my computers running at once. Oh, and the 20" fixed-sync monitor was FAR heavier than my 21" Nokia 445Xpro.

I might just do this to "my little IPC." The obvious questions is, how well does the ethernet and A/C adapter work? Do they reliably connect when you put the empeg into the dock?

And Paul, yes, I remember MS Bob. But what the hell WAS it?!

I think it was kind of like windows 3.1 where is was some window manager running on top of windows 95. I was supposed to make a computer really easy to use for a novice by relating everything to real life. I turned out to be a buggy pile of crap.

I saw an old video on the techtv website where they had it running on windows 2000.

It was also the prototype for all of those intelligent agents, like "Clippy".

If you position the RJ45 male properly (the blockes like M Lord uses are perfect) there is absolutely no problem with the ethernet. As for power. If you are going to use a sled. Go ahead and use the sled plug. (less stess on the mechanical switch)

Easy.

Gutting the case is very easy.

Cutting the case i used a jigsaw, with a diamond blade.

The bit of the case left above the sled is a bit flexible all still fits ok.

The fan is wired to the AMP power line, and tis mounted to the top on 2 bits of soft rubber tubing to prevent vibration.

Doing the RJ45 plug took a while, used a pc case blanking plate for the mount, and trimmed down the corners of the RJ45, fits fine every time.

The other connector is optical for the ethernet light to the front of the case.

I used the Sled connector for power.

Took about 6 hrs to do.

C.