A 'puter in your shop?

[EJ_Sawmill]

You bet makes a nice addition. I built a PC out of a rack mount server case that measures 1.25"x19"x24" it's designed for front to back air circulation so it's easy to filter the air (old knee high stocking from swmbo) mounted it on it's side in the back of a wall cabinet added a cheap flat screen monitor and a shop built keyboard/mouse tray. Whole thing closes up really nice and out of the way. It looks odd in the shop as I mounted it for a convenient height for my favorite stool. Secured wireless to the house from inside the cabinet degrades the 11 Mbps signal to about 70% ( 100' to the access point in the house) so the network is fine. I'll try to follow up with a photo on the website.

SL

[mrdancer]

AMD's newer chips are starting to run "Cool & Quiet". They have the ability to adjust the multiplier setting to meet the demands of the system. For example, a 2200Mhz chip that runs at 11X200Mhz can be stepped down to

4x200Mhz (800Mhz), and cranked back up depending on needs, and it is all automatic. Just tell your motherboard manufacturers to get on the ball and offer up the utility setting in their BIOS. See

[Rosco]

One idea that isn't used much for networking these days, but could probably work in this situation, is infra-red.

You would have to buy a transmitter/receiver pair, but I don't think they would be that expensive. As long as you have line of sight, you should be fine. I suppose someone could pop into your yard and jump into your network, but I don't think there are that many infra-red wardrivers out there.

Also, for the Keyboard, there is a company that makes overlays for most brands. Oh, and get a wireless mouse for obvious reasons. the computer case could pretty much be sealed into a box with some filter padding. Not sure exactly what you could do about the monitor, though.

Rosco

[Greg G.]

I haven't kept up with this stuff much lately, 'cause there ain't no money in it anymore. I'm not anti-AMD, I just think the flaming Athelon CPUs they made the last couple of years were a bad idea, catering to the gaming atta-boys. Cracking cores and high temps with no overheat shutdown. I still have a whopping 40mHz AMD 386 system!

Greg G.

[mrdancer]

Well, I'm not a gamer, but I'm running a 1400 T-bird in one system and a

2500 Barton in the other. I just build systems around AMD because they are significantly less expensive for what you get out of them. For example, I'm running my Barton 2500 (1.83Ghz) at the equivalent of a P4 3.2Ghz. My CPU cost $85 whereas the equivalent P4 cost $397.

Both AMD and Intel have their good points and bad points. It would be a sad world if either one of them left the game, though.

[Larry C in Auburn, WA]

I did the same with an extra computer. I have it connected to my main computer via a wireless hub/modem/thingy. I don't worry about dust since it was an extra computer anyway. So far I haven't had any problem with it after 5-6 months. I did buy a flat monitor for $180 at Best Buy to replace the big monitor I had. That way the monitor sits flush against the wall at the end of my workbench. When I think about it I'll pick up a wireless keyboard and mouse.

I like it because I have two main computers and two teenagers so this gives me a dedicated machine for myself. It's also nice if I want to look at projects, jigs, pictures, etc in my shop.

If it's an extra I'd vote to put it in your shop. Now, if you had to go spend $500 to buy one for out there I'd suggest there might be better uses of the money unless you do project drawings on it then I'd think you might want one even if you had to go buy it. In your case it's a no-brainer.

[Silvan]

Older machines were a lot less sensitive to heat. My 1 GHz Athlon just barely stays cool enough to function with the standard CPU fan, in a controlled environment that doesn't get warmer than 80 F. If I run seti@home or other such that keep it running at 100% capacity around the clock, it overheats and locks up eventually.

In contrast, the power supply fan on my old P166 went out, leaving the CPU fan as the only source of cooling. That thing got hot enough to fry an egg on, but it kept working.

[Silvan]

I don't think there's much to worry about there. Paper ignites at 454 F. Paper is made out of wood. I have no idea how the flash point of, say, walnut compares to the typical pulp pine used to make paper, but I would guess it's comfortably above 203 F.

[Larry C in Auburn, WA]

Damn, another way to explode my shop... PVC for air lines. PVC for vac lines. Now my computer. I might as well just become a neander. Nah.

[Mike Patterson]

I put a "spare" in my basement shop 3 years ago, plus a printer a neighbor gave me for installing his wireless router...

Great idea! I can look up something, print it if i need to, check email, etc.

I used an old indestructable IBM keyboard, wrapped it in plastic wrap, the monitor has a loose cardboard box built around it on the top, side, & back to reduce dust infiltration, and the CPU box is inside the small cabinet that the other parts sit on.

The printer sits nearby uncovered (need to correct that). It's full of dust, I vacuum it before printing anything.

I stuck a cheap PCI wireless card in it, which links to my wireless router in the 2nd floor office, I get more than enough signal strength and access speed for anything I do in the shop.

Mike

[Silvan]

Those were the days! It was so cool having the fastest computer in the neighborhood, a whole 7 MHz faster than any of that crap Intel was shlepping out. I had an Am80486DX2-80 too.

I'm still an AMD man today though. I bought an Intel when the Pentium came out, because I didn't quite trust the K5 or whatever it was. I came back with this latest purchase, and I intend to continue to buy AMDs.

I guess one reason for this is because I've yet to see some moron in blue paint whacking on a pipe advertising an AMD CPU. :)

[Mike Patterson]

Is that you, Junior?

Mike

[Sam]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem. I might cover the intake fan with a foam pad or something to keep the big pieces out. I used to work on machines that sat in the factory floor. It would be 100+ degrees in the summer, and cold in the winter didn't seem to bother them. Aside from that evertime I would open one up it would be covered in dust and metal filings, (and the occasional oil) and it didn't seem to phase them at all. More often the network cards would fail before the machines. Wireless has a pretty limited range, and needs to properly secured. Basically it's a 2.4 GZ signal just like a cordless phone, subject to all the same problems (including incompatibility with each other). If you do wireless make sure you restrict the it just the MAC addresses of your computers, or get real certificates and use that for authentication onto the network. By and a large a good deal of the cheap wireless hubs are very insecure (some can't be secured at all). I just have cat 5 cables, and lots of holes in my floors/walls where I ran my wires for the machines/games/etc. I don't have one in the shop since I go there to get away from them. If i were going to have one, I think i might go to one of the local (used) computer stores and by an old laptop, they are very cheap now which make it pretty portable and easy to manage. (then I might by a wireless card for it)

[Larry C in Auburn, WA]

I'm sure there are people that could figure out how to steal my internet connection, but not most neighbors. My wireless network needs a network name and an 8 digit code I assign to the network. I have to type in the code on all my computers. Again, I'm sure there are people that could easily crack this, but not most people. Plus, the wireless network has a limited range so it wouldn't reach most neighbors, maybe even none of them. I'm not worried about it.

[Bob Haar]

I would bet that you are not more of a computer geek than I am, but that is besides the point.

I put an extra computer located in a room adjacent to my shop and ran extender cables for keyboard, mouse and video through the wall. Even then, dust can be a problem so I use an optical mouse and keep a cover on the keyboard. This is an old PC running Win XP Pro but it sits next to my home server machine and is connected to my 100 MB home network and to a firewall that connects via cable modem to the Internet.

And I often have a PDA in my pocket with a wireless connection.

[Larry Blanchard]

I'd say go for a rack-mounted industrial chassis. Last time I looked, JDR had them at a fairly reasonable price. I've used similar in an aluminum rolling mill and smelter. Of course, there was so much electricity used in the smelter that we had to put the whole thing in a Faraday cage :-).

[Charlie Self]

I think it's more or less the other way around. Those old CPUs didn't generate enough heat to create the kind of problems you get out of new machines. My old

166 and a later AMD around 300 ran without fans half the time. I wouldn't wonder if my old 25SX didn't freeze in winter. The first time I assembled a 1 gig machine, I put a power test on without a CPU fan and the CPU burned out in about 3 seconds, all from its own heat.

I'd hate to think what the inside of this 3 gig is like on a summer day!

Charlie Self "Brevity is the soul of lingerie." Dorothy Parker

[Doug Winterburn]

Must not have been an Intel. A former Intel employee expalined to me that my Cyrix chip fried itself but I wouldn't have had that problem as Intel chips shut down on overheat detection in the chip. Have no idea if he was BS'ing me or not.

-Doug

[Greg G.]

He was accurate.

Greg G.

[Nova]

I don't normally keep a computer in the shop but I hardwired a port from my router to the shop. If I need access to the internet from the shop I use my laptop.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)