PicoCube

Last week I finally finished my Gamecube mod. It’s been a labour of love that has taken over a year to complete. Last Thursday I took it to school with me and it is now the star of the staff room. I’m very pleased with how it turned out, I’d say 90% true to my original plans.

It’s no powerhouse but it’s perfect for my needs when I’m at work. More pics on my Flickr.

Hit the jump for details.

PicoCube is based on the tiny Pico-ITX motherboard, one of the only boards that will actually fit in such a small space. I’ve also got an 100gb SATA hard drive in there, 1gb of RAM, along with a Pico PSU and 4 USB ports. You can see a slot for the DVD drive but with everything crammed in there, it wasn’t long before temps got too high and the unit shut itself down. I may replace the lid in the future or rework things on the inside.

Input is via an Apple Wireless keyboard and Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 8000. Both are running from USB Bluetooth receivers inside the case. Two more USB ports are at the back. The monitor is a BenQ FP93VW hooked up to the the VGA port on the motherboard.

OS is Ubuntu 8.04 which runs fine on the system as I don’t ask it to do anything fancy. Startup time is around 25-30 secs. I made a custom GDM from a very cool wallpaper, a few simple Conky setups, and some screensavers too (see Flickr)

A rather patchy worklog can be found here.

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12 Comments

• 

  By cronogenesis, September 7, 2008 @ 11:28 am

  Great work Alex! Looks brilliant!

• 

  By wingnux, September 9, 2008 @ 11:45 am

  Ok, I REALLY NEED your conkyrc config and wallpaper as shown here http://www.flickr.com/photos/shashinpapa/2830289876/sizes/l/in/set-72157607122904219/

  Thanks in advance and GREAT WORK with the mod, it looks awesome!

• 

  By Alex@WiiDS, September 23, 2008 @ 3:05 pm

  OK wingnux – I put a link to the conky on the Flickr page.
  http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5219447&postcount=2713

Other Links to this Post

1. GoNintendo » Blog Archive » The PicoCube- What are you waiting for? — September 7, 2008 @ 2:11 pm

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