worked without any problems (was substituted with "Silent PC2" after 4 years)
Current version:
0.1
Download:
-
What’s this project about?
PC case with added air grill on the top
My retro arcade cabinett is based on AdavanceMAME/AdvanceMenu
(special MAME version for arcade monitors) runnuing under linux.
While builing this machine I was very unsatisfied with the fact, that I always needed to attach a real PC-monitor
for every administrative task. This was really annoying and extremely slowed down the software configuration. So
I began to search for a solution which makes it possible to use the linux colsole on my direcly connected arcade monitor.
And because the special VGA-mode is entered before the kernel boots (and even before GRUB starts) this solution even
allows me to see the kernel startup messages, which is sometimes very useful.
Steps of the Boot Process
This soultion adds one more stage to the boot process. This stage (using FreeDos) is executed before
starting GRUB itself.
At first the PC BIOS boots the freedos (get the whole image) which executes
VGATV. VGATV tweaks some registers in your VGA card to
force it to generate a TV compatile (NTSC or PAL) video signal. Afterwards GRUB (for DOS) is started
to allow you to boot your favorite OS.
Technical Details:
Pentium III 650 MHz ("coppermine")
Added large air grille on top of the pc case
ATX power supply was mounted upside down, to allow better air convection
fanless Rage128 graphic card (was later subsituted with a fanless Matrox G450 dual-head)
harddisk was removed - booting is done with the help of etherboot (Eprom on a RTL8139 ethernet card)
Pictures
This is my selfmade heatsink. On the lower right you can see the mounted Pentium III with its SECC2 case.
The heatsink is made from an aluminium cooling element (200mm x 25mm x 150mm). The larger part was build
to fit SECC2 standard. So it fits nicely into the mainboard brackets. The Pentium III was mounted with four
screws.
another picture of the heatsink ...
to allow a better air convection the power supply was mounted upside-down. Since the standard fan was not used
I removed it, because it slows down the air flow (in the unplugged case).
Related Links
MAME , the well known "multiple arcade machine emulator
ADVANCEMAME , special MAME version for arcade monitors
GRUB for DOS , a patch to allow using GRUB from DOS/freedos
