DIY Luggable Pentium

 Ages ago, I bought a Socket 5 Pentium via Ebay.  I had mounted it in a DIY wooden case just so I could use it, but it was always a bit of a pain to fish out a 4:3 monitor, PS/2 keyboard and mouse and connect it all up.

So for a long, long while I have had the idea of making it into a 'luggable' machine.  Finally today, I have made it a reality.

 


I had an ancient monitor kicking around that ran off a 12V input and I had tested powering it from an ATX PSU.  I dismantled it with the idea of using it for video and audio.  Unfortunately while removing it from its case, I managed to damage the cable connection for the speakers, so then I had to dig out an old speaker from a box of scrap.

Annoyingly, this motherboard did not have an amplified output - only a line out.  So I bought a cheap amplifier module that works off 5V so I could power it off the PSU's 5V line.  This has led to an annoying amount of noise in the output - I suspect from the PSU.

The keyboard is new off Amazon (apparently people still make PS/2 keyboards!), and the mouse if off Ebay.

I am not skilled at fitting hinges, so the lid and base don't line up very well.   However, it is good enough.


I still need to close in the top and add a carry handle.  I want to do it in such a way that the mouse and power cable can sit happily in the top.

The keyboard cable is fairly long, so it can be taken out to reveal the horrific mess inside.


You can also see the network card with an RJ45 extension to the back of the case so I can connect it up and transfer stuff via EtherDFS.

Overall, even though the workmanship is shoddy as all hell, it does what I need it to: I can pull it out of its cubby, open it up and just connect the power and network and it's ready to go!

As a bonus, if I want to take it somewhere to show off how amazing MS-Dos games still are, it's just one box!




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