The Stereo PC: Minor Tweaks

The Problems:

This page will be updated as new problems and solutions present themselves

While functional, there are still a few - mostly aesthetic - issues with the Stereo PC that I want to clean up. They are:

The old CD tray bezel is missing, leaving a gaping hole for DVD-ROM access.
The CD display has been removed leaving another ugly viewport to the internals.
The buttons for controlling the monitor are unattractive circuit boards hanging by their wires behind the machine. Not convenient or pretty.
There is no way to manually open the DVD-ROM.
(02/05/2009 UPDATE) The sideways monitor, while somewhat more aesthetically pleasing, has proved to be a nuisance.
(02/05/2009 UPDATE) Antivirus and anti-malware applications cause the system to be slightly sluggish. User interface customization options are somewhat limited and also cause a degradation in system performance.

The Problem According To My Wife:

I tinker too much and can't just let things be.

The Solutions:

Take the old CD player's bezel and attach it to the one on the DVD-ROM.
Hide the wireless keyboard's receiver here. The LEDs for Num Lock, Caps Lock, etc. will be visible through the window.
Find a way to use the cassette deck buttons to control the monitor functions. To be determined.
To be determined.
Return the monitor to its proper orientation.
Install Ubuntu GNU/Linux.

The Result:

First, the CD tray. This was fairly simple. The tray bezel from the original CD player slid right off the tray neatly as did the smaller bezel on the DVD-ROM. This made it easy to drill holes in the DVD-ROM's bezel to attach some screws. I filed things down a little so the screw heads wouldn't get in the way of re-attaching the bezel to the DVD tray. After that I secured the screws with washers (to keep things straight) and nuts. I lined things up and used some more Amazing Goop to attach a second set of nuts to the CD player's bezel into which the screws were threaded. The DVD-Rom was secured in the bottom of the machine by gluing some scrap wood around it. I decided that would be easier than fashioning some metal brackets or drilling the bottom of the stereo to screw it down. This allows me to push the drive closed as there is not (yet) a way to access the open/close button on the drive. But for now at least it's a little neater. It's a non-issue to eject the drive in any modern operating system (Windows Vista in this case).

The second issue that I decided to tackle was the unused window that once displayed track information for the CD player. As it stood, it was just a clear window to the destroyed circuit board that once contained the display LCD and the top of the hard drive. Not very exciting. I considered going to Matrix Orbital To get a small replacement LCD that would be compatible with the PC that replaced the stereo, but for this project it seemed a little pricy (for my next project, I hope to utilize one of their displays though - stay tuned).

So, a new LCD was out of the question. For now, at least. What I did decide was that the wireless keyboard reciever with its LED indicators for Caps- Num- Scroll- and F-Lock ("F-Lock" is for the extra multimedia function keys on Logitech keyboards) kept getting in the way and needed to be stored somewhere. What better place than the unused display window for a few LEDs? After cracking open the plastic housing, I extracted the circuit board and screwed it in place. Two birds with one stone. The keyboard receiver is out of the way, and the display window once again has a function. I may or may not (probably not) find a way to label the LEDs.

Remaining Problems:

That leaves the unsightly monitor controls and the open/close button for the DVD-ROM. The button will have to wait awhile. It isn't overly important as it's a trivial matter to eject a disc from within Windows Vista (open My Computer, right-click DVD-ROM, choose "Eject") Ubuntu (or Linux in general, for that matter).

As for the monitor controls, I did notice one interesting fact. They are roughly (haven't measured properly yet) the same length as the row of buttons for the tape decks, and they number of buttons and/or LEDs on the boards corresponds to the number of buttons on the cassette decks. The only problem that I forsee is the fact that the wires connecting the controls to the monitor are fairly short. That means I'll either have to rotate the monitor 180° to move them closer to the tape decks, or I'll have to find a way to extend the wires without destroying them. As they aren't used often and I don't want to ruin the monitor (or disassemble the entire unit, for that matter), this portion of the project will also sit on the back burner for now.

02/05/2009 Update:

Adware and viruses are a big problem on Windows. It is pretty much necessary for even the most conscientious and experienced user to have antivirus and some sort of antimalware/antispyware applications installed and running 24/7. This requires system resources, something that this PC is a little short on.

So, I installed Linux. Linux is great at running on older hardware, though you can put your system to the test with a lot of eye candy; something that Linux is much better at than Windows, or even the Mac OS (proof here, here and especially here...). I decided to use Ubuntu for a number of reasons, one of them being the excellent support that they provide via their forums, another being its ease of use relative to other Linux distributions. This ease of use, I believe will entice more users to switch to Linux and possibly from there explore other distributions. That will result in a greater Linux market share, and in turn, hopefully and eventually turn into better hardware drivers, etcetera from the big vendors that currently do not provide open-source drivers.

Back on point. Ubuntu wouldn't let me rotate the screen while simultaneously connect my TV to my video card's TV-out jack. For this and other reasons, I decided to put the screen back to its natural orientation. It doesn't look quite as nice, but it's more useful. It wasn't a perfect fit when vertical anyway, so I'm not losing any sleep.

Because of the monitor's having been re-oriented, the abovementioned tape deck solution for the monitor controls was found to be impractical. I will probably just mount them behind the screen with some sort of fastener and maybe fashion some visually pleasing control to hang below the monitor. It's still on the back burner.

The Stereo PC, Almost There:

Back to Phase I
Back to Phase II

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