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Cool Modding Stuff #1

Posted at 12:07 by Antony Leather with 7 comments

Being a modder at heart as well as an IT journalist, I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting hardware or gadgets that might be part of a future mod. I thought I'd share my findings here on bit-tech, just in case I've come across something you might find useful!

I hope to do this regularly too and I'll be bringing five or so cool things I've found on my travels on a monthly basis (hopefully!), so if you're planning a mod or a scratch build or you're thinking of improving the cooling in your existing PC, make sure you watch this space!

Written on 17th September 2009
Tags acrylic, case, cathode, cpu, fan, graphics card acryan, mod, modding, modding bits, modding gear, molex, radiator, thermochill, watercooling

Morph tries to build a PC

Posted at 12:41 by Antony Leather with 18 comments

For those of you not familiar with Morph, he's the plasticine creation of the late Tony Hart whose art-focussed kids TV shows were aired in the UK in the 1980's. I thought they were great and recently I received a 'kit' as a present that allows you create your own Morph. If you have no idea who Morph is then check him out here.

Of course as soon as I made him he was up to mischief and with lots of PC bits hanging around, he soon caught the bug. I've hidden my Dremel for the time being in case he fancies and bit of modding. I dare to think how quickly a circular saw attachment can cut through plasticine, pretty quickly I'd imagine.

Written on 10th September 2009
Tags animation, cartoon, modding, morph

Make your own Dvorak keyboard

Posted at 08:10 by Ben Hardwidge with 15 comments

Patented by August Dvorak in 1936, the Dvorak keyboard layout proposed a new way of typing based on the way that humans typically work, as opposed to the needs of mechanical typewriters (the reason QWERTY was originally designed).

Dvorak places the most commonly used letters on the second row, referred to as the ‘home row’ because it was where a person’s fingers typically sat. All the vowels are on the second row, while the sparsely-used Q and Z keys are placed on either side of the third row.

The layout was also designed on the principle that people should type from the edge of the keyboard inwards, as it’s apparently easier to switch from your little finger to your index finger than vice-versa.

If you’ve ever wondered whether the Dvorak keyboard really is the superior layout that it was claimed to be, then there’s an easy way to try it out for yourself. After all, your keyboard is just a mechanical rack of buttons that’s controlled by Windows. If you have a spare keyboard up on the shelf then it’s usually easy enough to transform it into a Dvorak keyboard.

The Dvorak keyboard layout

Written on 2nd September 2009
Tags dvorak, how to, keyboard, modding, qwerty

What was your first mod?

Posted at 10:36 by Antony Leather with 21 comments

Bit-tech is full of modding. In fact our forums are brimming with countless different types of mods using an even greater number of different materials. Some are simple, with modifications to improve cooling or allow installation of hardware that otherwise might not fit, while others completely transform the look of an entire case or are even built from the ground up.

I bet there are many different reasons people take to modding. Personally, my modding experience began ten years ago with a high end system in a Chieftec Dragon. It's a poor case in terms of airflow compared to modern cases like the Antec Twelve Hundred, and I was finding the temperature inside the case was nearly hot enough for hydrogen atoms to start fusing together. I decided to cut a hole in the roof and mount an 80mm fan which actually worked really well.

Written on 29th July 2009
Tags chieftec dragon, cooling, dremel, fan hole, jigsaw, modding

Guess who's back in the project log forum?

Posted at 09:54 by Tim Smalley with 3 comments

G69T, the Italian stallion behind Dark Blade, one of my favourite projects of all time, is back with another worklog on the bit-tech forums after a two year break from modding.

In his latest project, titled DBRS Project, G69T plans to make a driving station with an integrated PC chassis. G69T describes it as "a very simple project," but we'll have to wait and see what his definition of simple is.

Written on 2nd May 2009
Tags bit-tech, forums, g69t, modding, project log, worklog

Modding and hello!

Posted at 11:22 by Antony Leather with 8 comments

Actually that should probably be the other way round as I’d first like to say greetings to the bit-tech community! I’m Antony Leather and like Mark who blogged recently, I also joined the Custom PC team in June of last year.

Unlike Mark though, I wasn’t in IT or system building prior to starting at Custom. Instead, the last few years have seen me come very close to becoming a pilot in the forces, then in to housing development of all things. However, my evenings and weekends were spent gaming (mainly FPS and flight sims), overclocking, modding and building a range of water-cooled PCs and I was also the Custom PC forum water-cooling guru for my sins.

Written on 23rd February 2009
Tags forum, modding

Archive for the ‘modding’ tag

Cool Modding Stuff #1

Morph tries to build a PC

Make your own Dvorak keyboard

What was your first mod?

Guess who's back in the project log forum?

Modding and hello!

Authors

Archives

Links

Archive for the ‘modding’ tag

Cool Modding Stuff #1

Morph tries to build a PC

Make your own Dvorak keyboard

What was your first mod?

Guess who's back in the project log forum?

Modding and hello!

Authors

Tag Cloud

Archives

Links