Linux.com shows how to turn a pirate's chest into a Linux powered computer. Arg!
My girlfriend's ancient HP Pavilion was dead, and she wanted a replacement that was a little different from the standard desktop computer. I showed her a few ATX chassis designs on some Web store sites, then casually mentioned that some people like to make computers out of strange and unusual objects. "Really? Could you make one out of a pirate treasure chest?" she asked. She just happened to have one lying around; I just happened to have a Linux-compatible Mini-ITX VIA EPIA ME6000 motherboard/CPU combo lying around. Here's the story of the pirate chest EPIA project, complete with photos.
A pirate chest like this one is not an ideal computer chassis because of its irregular shape. This particular chest was also cheaply made out of 1/4 inch plywood, glue, nails, and a thin copper faceplate. It looks fine sitting on the floor, holding old magazines or something else innocuous. It looks good as a computer, too, but getting it to that point was easier dreamed than done.
I test-fitted the motherboard into the chest along with a hard drive to see if everything would fit comfortably. Even with a full-size ATX power supply, I had enough room to mount all of those parts securely on the bottom of the chest. We decided not to bother with a floppy drive since neither of us had any diskettes left. She definitely wanted a DVD writer, however, and that would be a problem due to space constraints.
