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Thread: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

  1. #51
    woy...collokweee...weeble weeble blaaaat artoodeeto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    Thanks guys!! The more I use it, the more I like it. I've had to dim the screen a bit since it gets very disconcerting to look at a bright screen, then the relative dimness of the keyboard, back at the bright screen, etc. But one thing I'm very relieved about - the air coming out of the case is not warm at all. Whew! I'm still trying to get used to the foot pedal page changer, but all in all it's worked out great.

    BTW...did I mention I added up the pages of music I have in my solo piano collection and it's over 90,000?
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  3. #53
    woy...collokweee...weeble weeble blaaaat artoodeeto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    Well guys, I now have a job again, which means I have income again...which means modding! I'm going to be rebuilding this machine. Smaller, (much) faster, and quieter. Oh yeah, and PORTABLE!!!

    The screen will remain the same, but I'm changing out the motherboard for a mini-ITX, a pico-PSU instead of the full-size one, and as I'm upgrading my regular desktop and my wife's, I'm bringing over a 2.5" SATA 160GB hard drive to replace the 3.5" 80GB drive. Not that it needs a higher capacity drive, it'd actually be fine with a 40GB drive. But my goal has always been something of a "poor man's imac" and I'd rather have the physically smaller hard drive in there.

    I will rebuild the case around the new system. The old one is a micro-ATX, which is substantially larger than the ITX. And with the pico PSU in there, I'll be able to build a much smaller box and bolt it to the back of the screen. Add in a new stand, I'm thinking a couple legs that hinge out from near the top kinda like a picture frame, and I should have something I can easily pick up and take with me to my in-laws house, where they have a grand piano

    The specs and pics (I just placed the orders today so these are the marketing photos):

    ASRock E350M1 AMD 1.6GHz mini-ITX system with built-in Radeon 6310 graphics. supports up to 2560x1920 on a DVI connection (I'll be running 1920x1080). This is the slightly newer board that has a couple USB 3 ports.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157247

    4GB DDR3-1066 RAM, single chip to cut down a little on voltage. I may well remove that heat spreader - depends on how tall it would force me to make the case.
    160GB Western Digital 2.5" hard drive (from my wife's desktop)
    USB Wireless Ethernet dongle so I can directly put music score pdfs onto it, either downloading or from my desktop

    80W Pico-PSU with 60W AC-DC converter from Minibox.com. I'm real excited about this - after researching power consumption, I found I wouldn't need a high-watt PSU. In fact, under load in setups comprising more hardware than I'll be using, and taxing the CPU far more than I will be, the thing hardly went over 50W total power. It averaged 32W, but idled at under 15W. I'll have one less RAM chip, a 2.5" instead of 3.5" HD, and the most taxing thing it'll do is record wave files of my piano playing. The best part is the PSU is TINY, so it won't take up extra room.

    I'll top the build off with a single slim 120mm fan blowing right on the MB, and I'll have vent holes cut in the side of the case. There's a good chance I'll remove the installed CPU fan shown in the photos - I think with the 120mm an inch or two above it should be fine, and I want to cut down on noise as much as I can.

    Everything else - monitor, keyboard/mouse, usb foot pedals for page turning - will remain the same. I'll be running Windows XP on it for now, but when Windows 8 comes out and I upgrade our desktops to it, I'll likely install my Win7 copy on this machine. Which is why I went with 4GB RAM and the USB 3 version of the MB. Slightly more future-proof, although I don't expect to really push this system anywhere near its limits.

    But who knows? maybe someday I'll want to use it as an HTPC too...

    I'll post sketchup designs soon.





    Quote Originally Posted by ElevateThis View Post
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  4. #54
    woy...collokweee...weeble weeble blaaaat artoodeeto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    Here's the promised sketchups. I'm toying with the idea of clipping (rather than bolting) the computer box on the back of the screen. The line of reasoning is that ideally, I want to be able to pull the box off the back for those occasions when I'm playing a piano where only the screen would fit on the music stand (think upright). But for my own digital piano, which has a deep flat top, and grand pianos, I want it to be one unit rather than 2. We'll see if that ends up being practical.







    That last render shows the box's approximate mounting location on the back of the screen. My model is pretty basic; it's only real purpose is so I can build the case. Currently the cases dimensions are 10" long, 7" deep and 2" tall. I may have to push that to 2.5" tall - depends on how tall my RAM stick is w/heatsink. If I have to make the case taller I'll put the 120mm slim fan inside the case rather than outside.

    Aside from size reduction, one of the other major changes I'm making is to have all the plugs accessible on the left side of the case. Currently they're fully contained in the case. While aesthetically it looks good, it's really inconvenient for moving it. The power plug will likely be mounted on the right side of the case due to cord length and where the PSU plugs in. Happily, there will be very little cabling mess in the case. The only cable of any real length will be the SATA (not shown in the model). The PSU cables will be the only others, and they're short.

    That's it for now, I'll post pics of the components when they arrive later this week...
    Quote Originally Posted by ElevateThis View Post
    I'd mod my dog if i could.
    Quote Originally Posted by AmEv View Post
    (Steam me.... that sounds bad >_<)

  5. #55
    The floppy drive is no longer obsolete. AmEv's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    Now I have an idea as what to do with a spare LCD I have....
    Two years. They were great. Let's make the next ones even better!

    Tri.fecta

  6. #56
    Shut up and take my money!
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    That tiny mobo is cute

    Also, instead of clipping or bolting, what about having little "ledges" on the pc part of it, that slide in to groves or L brackets to hold it to the lcd? And then maybe a pin or something to secure it? Easy to remove, should still be secure, and not too hard to do. Probably a bit more secure than clips too lol
    Quote Originally Posted by Outlaw
    Will have another Aldersan pic in a bit.


    Myrmidon

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  8. #58
    woy...collokweee...weeble weeble blaaaat artoodeeto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    Most of the stuff for my new comp has showed up! I'm actually upgrading my sandcrawler computer ( http://thebestcasescenario.com/forum...ad.php?t=25683 ), my wife's soon-to-be Rivendell computer (remember that one? I'm going to get going on it...soon... http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...ad.php?t=21563 ), and this piano computer, and moving parts around. So unfortunately I can't finish it til everything's here, since I'm moving a good chunk of my system to my wife's, and I'm moving her hard drive to the piano computer.

    Anyways. The new pico PSU is TINY! Rated at 80W, although the adapter is only 60W. But it should be fine, as all my research indicates the system won't go above 50W under load, and that's with more hardware than I'll have in it.

    Pics. I used a ballpoint pen for size reference:







    That's a 120mm fan on there:


    And in this picture I removed the original fan that was screwed onto the heatsink. With the 120mm fan I won't need the original.


    Finally, I updated the sketchup model to reflect the MB's actual dimensions. Mostly stuff was slightly shorter than I thought it would be. I made the side opening a little smaller, and I added the slanted vent holes. I don't know if it'll look quite that clean when I build it, but hopefully it will


    This weekend I want to at least get the case built and parts in it, even though without a hard drive I won't be able to power it up yet...
    Quote Originally Posted by ElevateThis View Post
    I'd mod my dog if i could.
    Quote Originally Posted by AmEv View Post
    (Steam me.... that sounds bad >_<)

  9. #59
    Now making cases for the heck of it =) Waynio's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    These tiny PSU's are quite amazing eh would have loved to use one on my latest but was told they wouldn't handle a bunch of HDD's so had to stay with big & bulky.

    Those slim fans are very handy too.

    See you say your married now, congrats.

  10. #60
    woy...collokweee...weeble weeble blaaaat artoodeeto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sheet Music Computer for my Piano

    Quote Originally Posted by Waynio View Post
    These tiny PSU's are quite amazing eh would have loved to use one on my latest but was told they wouldn't handle a bunch of HDD's so had to stay with big & bulky.

    Those slim fans are very handy too.

    See you say your married now, congrats.
    Thanks! Yeah, we got married this past June - big wedding, almost 200 people there!

    And ya, those little PSU's can handle low-power stuff, and they *could* handle a hard drive array but you wouldn't be able to have much else of a system. I think the highest-rated one MiniBox makes is 160W or so. I'd love it if they could all be so tiny. One can hope. Oh yeah, and that slim fan is leftover from my sandcrawler's first water cooling loop. During an upgrade of WC parts the rad sprang a leak, so I now have a new rad with more widely spaced fins, and I did away with the cylinder res's on top, which allowed room for regular fans instead of slim.

    More pics tomorrow or Saturday after I start construction...
    Quote Originally Posted by ElevateThis View Post
    I'd mod my dog if i could.
    Quote Originally Posted by AmEv View Post
    (Steam me.... that sounds bad >_<)

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