Quickie Project: Desktop Control Console

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widefault

Supreme [H]ardness
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Dec 18, 2000
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Playing around with an idea here. Right now I have my systems rack-mounted, which makes for a compact setup, but also puts a couple of them out of easy reach. Not much of a deal, but can be a big pain when troubleshooting or overclocking because I have to constantly lean over and reach down to hit reset or the power button. It's an even bigger pain if I need to clear the CMOS, have to pull the whole case out of the rack right now.

So, what to do? Move the switches to a better spot. Bought a few switches, then pillaged the parts pile and came up with this.

dcc1.jpg

dcc2.jpg

dcc3.jpg


Toggle switches are momentary on, normal off, but can also be wired to momentary on/normal on. One will be wired as a power switch, haven't decided if I want to wire the other as a reset or CMOS clear. I may just add a third switch and have both. Center LED indicator is left over from an old project and will be wired to the regular power LED. Gauge is from an old radiation detector and will be hooked to the HD activity indicator. Yes, the needle will bounce with drive activity. The mesh is the last bit left over from an earlier project.

I still need to wire things up, but I've got some more metalwork to take care of before I start. For the internal PC hookup I'm using a cable from the parts box that was at one time a USB front panel header cable. That will go to a PCI slot cover that has a male VGA header that was also in the parts box. On the console I'll have a female VGA header. The two will be connected by a VGA extension cable.

Going to have to add a little weight to the base, right now it's a bit wobbly when you work the switches. Doesn't fall over, but stable is better. Hmm, wonder how it'll be when the cable is attached...
 
I cannot wait to see this completed; when I get my own place, I am going all rack mounted, on every machine in my house:)
 
Man you stole my idea with the gauge. :p I have always wanted to do an old military radio where the gauges show hd activity. I love to see how it works for you so I know when I try it myself.
 
I actually did a gauge for HD activity quite a while back when I built this external firewire hard drive case in an old radiation meter. I've done a few more of those, as well as two embedded PCs in cases like that. The hookup is simple if you have a regular HD activity header, just need to hook it up. I do throw in a resistor or diode, helps to keep the needle at 0 on boards that "leak" a little extra voltage.
 
And it's wired, tested, working, and in need of installation.

dcc4.jpg

dcc5.jpg


and the internal cable
dcc6.jpg


Now I just need to install it. If I get motivated I'll make a video clip or something. Decided against adding the CMOS reset switch, rather put that on the case somewhere. Too much chance of hitting that on accident if it's near the power and reset switches.
 
dude, thats awesome, and a good call too, very convenient!



cant wait to see it working, that gauge looks interesting...
 
what did you do to get the gauge to report hdd activity? Is there some kind of controller the serial port is connected to?
 
Nothing special, it just hooks right to the header through the cabling. Might look like a serial port, but it's just a DB15 from the parts box. I use a VGA extension cable to connect all the pieces. The other end of the bracket cable goes to the motherboard headers.

If anyone wants to try something similar, you want a gauge that uses voltages lower than ~5 volts. Anything higher and your needle won't move much. You may also want to put in a resistor to keep the current down. That also helps keep the needle at zero during idle since some boards will bleed a little juice. That'll cause a dim glow on an LED, but is enough to move the needle on the gauges I have near the limit.
 
widefault said:
I actually did a gauge for HD activity quite a while back when I built this external firewire hard drive case in an old radiation meter. I've done a few more of those, as well as two embedded PCs in cases like that. The hookup is simple if you have a regular HD activity header, just need to hook it up. I do throw in a resistor or diode, helps to keep the needle at 0 on boards that "leak" a little extra voltage.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. Also the project looks great can't wait to see it finished.
 
Well, finally had a chance to hook this up. So far it works as it should, although I seem to have the HD activity hooked up wrong. Board has a 4 pin header, need to figure out what pins go where.

I also have to pull the CPU in that system, throw in an older one, and flash the BIOS. It POSTs, but hangs before it boots. Did that a few times before I noticed the BIOS was date a year and a half ago. Kind of figured it wouldn't support a Merom without the update.
 
Finally got around to taking some video of it in action. ~1.5MB, 1:16, Windows Media format. Shows the switch on, drive activity as Windows loads, then switch off and shut down.

Click to Watch
 
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