PROJECT #01 - WebServer netbook (sort of) - step 0: Introduction

One of my major concerns right now is the way I use power (electricity), the impact on the environment and - of course - on my monthly transfers (fees) to my power provider.

Anyone - financially challenged or not - should be environmentally conscious enough to drive a rational use of energy and keep the power bill to a minimum. Wasting gets you nowhere and Oil won't be around forever... "Cheap Energy" - if it ever existed - its closer and closer to an end.

Enough of environmental brainwash and get to it!

I need a simple solution to be able do lots of stuff (home / media / web server, home automation - arduino, ...) but for now let's focus on keeping a 24/7 PC running and keep the electricity cost as low as possible. The actual PC setup is an Intel Pentium(?) dual core D'940, with 4 physical HDD's and a GeForce 6xxx Graphics Card powered by and 500W power supply. Since the Intel D940 is still based on the Pentium 4 architecture you know it's hot like a mini-volcano and not very power efficient. One could simply replace the whole setup for a new-more-power-efficient i3 or i5 processor but I'm cheap AND this PC still does pretty much everything I need it to do. Also - and here comes the netbook part - I was offered some fully functional netbook in pieces (i.e., with no outer shell, no battery and no screen) which should be powerful enough for my needs.

The first tests confirmed that the hardware was 100% functional and the next step was about getting an enclosure for the collection of parts - it won't be much functional without a protective structure.

(reminder: insert picture(s) here)

It was obvious that I have to fabricate such structure.

After some brainstorming about the shape, materials and function I opted to build an acrylic housing/box.

Here comes to play sketchup. Sketchup is great! You can prototype and visualize the final part on your computer screen thus you can diagnose a problem even before you get to the workshop. Pretty much like other expensive prototyping software except that sketchup is FREE (as in free beer - at least the basic version). There are lots of tutorials about sketchup that get you started in no time.

Let see the 3D model:

What it should look like, in the end

View without top lid/Motherboard/HDD

Just the Motherboard/HDD model

What it end up looking, in the end

As you can see, I had to make some compromises to the final design for simplicity sake.


The next step on this project will be about the fabrication and hardware. Stay tuned.