Project OCTITRON - From the Ground Up Custom laptop project

Serg ..................................

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

Now that's the most serious mobile computer i have ever seen. Sure pays off to have access to building machines and materials like that at your university.

If you need any serious anything here in Romania, you usually have to steal it. And you gotta be good at doing it.

I have a portable project of my own, something involving a PDA, a bunch of cellphone batteries and a large screen. A ghetto internet tablet if you wish to call it so. I have the PDA, but no screen, but most importantly no SMD soldering equipment, so it remains another incomplete plan, and most likely will remain like that forever.

 

He said he tried that for the hinges and they warped. While I gotta say it'd be lighter and probably distribute the heat better, stainless IS far more durable. Not to mention, I mean, can you stop a 7.62 with YOUR laptop? Now THAT would be some serious bragging right

Edit: And, if he does it right, asthetically it might end up a lot nicer (stainless can have an amazing shine, among other things).

 

Are you going to put in 4 little legs on the corners (and maybe some in the middle) so help even more with cooling?

 

K-Tron,

How about upgading to a 16-core system?

 

Hey buddy.
Just make sure I have my name somewhere on the laptop with yours

 

Extremely interresting project, im looking forward to see more!

 

How easily is this upgradeable? I mean two 8800gt's and 8 1.9Ghz Athlon 64 cores isn't exactly top notch these days. I can't imagine how much it would cost you for procesor/motherboard upgrades. Maybe you hold off on buying new processors until core i9 comes early next year, which would surely blow away anything you could get (within reason) on your current platform.

Oh common, have some courage. Pretty much anything can be soldered by hand. Just buy the right tools, find out the right techniques, and practice.

 

I have another question, how did you turn the battery voltage into the voltages the computer needs?

 

Can you feel he heat of the sun on your lap? Man thats gotta be enough power N heat to ignite some atmosphere flames.

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

I have been having tons of problems with my laptop, so I never could ask you.

How did the Al prototype end up being? (that is a resume, since I wrote a lot, and my CPU crashed...)

 

Yes? Something you want to ask me?
Or this post is pointless?

I did get a reply from K-TRON saying he did try with it but preferred using other material. Thanks.

 

I love your project. I have one question. What will you do with the laptop after completion? Will you use it or sell it for profit maybe?

 

It's for school

 

Actually he plans to hijack Reaper UAVs with it and hold key individuals hostage until they send him 50 billion dollars! Muahahaha....

...don't look at me like that.

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

Bummer k ..... Hope you spot the not

 

Wow, that's a bummer. Hopefully Tyan will respond in a timely manner, because I heard Tyan CS isn't very good at responding.

 

Looks like you've got quite the project going there. Good luck with it!

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

Ooooo low blow on the wallet

 

Ouch...that is not fair!
Did they not inform you on that matter?

 

crazy project good luck! hope to see final photos soon

 

looks good k-tron, but how come you didn't put the ports out the back?

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

K-TRON, did you solve the dual CPU problem?

 

K-TRON, I just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed reading about your projects (both the OCTITRON and your custom Voodoo). As someone who is fairly new to even servicing his own computer, I'm really impressed by your skills and broad level of knowledge; even though I would never attempt much of what you do, it gives me confidence in going a little bit further with my own projects.

Thanks for posting the details online so others can see and learn!

P.S. Good job on keeping the budget for this project so much lower than on the previous (while accomplishing much more); that's more than just technical skill and many people wouldn't have adapted so quickly.

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

I have a question for you. How did you get it so thin?

It looks thinner than the motherboard plus GPU's would allow. Did you have a special adapter that "laid down" the GPU's or is it just an optical illusion and i just cant tell its really thick enough for the GPU's to stand "up" from the mobo.

Cant wait to see the keyboard installed... i had no idea that board would be so heavy. Hope you're able to get the weight down to your satisfaction

 

Great update! What will be the final cost upon completion?

 

proabaly has a L bracket ( for PCI cards)

i can't remember the name

 

Just do a search

 

"about a hundred dollars"--Rainman

 

Nice mod with the keyboard - I never would have thought to pull the metal backplate and replace it with wood. Interesting that you say the wood has a slightly better feel - I wonder if it would be feasible to use that in some of the higher end keyboard models.

When you're removing something that's well-glued like that, does it help to heat it up (hairdryer, maybe heat gun) or would you say that it's better to just pull it off with force alone?

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

No K-tron, please don't pull the thread. We all can't wait to see the end products.

I hope you will consider going to 16-core system when it's completed.

 

So how are you managing the power? From the wall alone it would be a piece of cake, but how are you doing it with the batteries to supply the ATX voltages? That's the only problem I can't think of a good clean solution to.

 

No doubt. When you initially described your plans for the OCTITRON, I was skeptical due to the degree of difficulty and the sheer amount of work involved, but you've managed to halve the weight, work on a fraction of the budget, and literally create your own laptop form factor.

Whenever you go against the grain and do something others are incapable of or afraid to do, some of them will admire you for it and others will try to bring you down. Anyone who feels the need to blindly criticize this project is a victim of their own emotions.

 

Hi there Ktron, got a suggestion for the sound.

How about getting hold of a set of small, BOSE second hand hi-fi speakers and stripping the drivers. I actually usually hate even mentioning BOSE, being overpriced, underspecced et al, but they do make some excessively small drivers (and try and convince you you can get 100% sound out of them, you cant). If you could find some, and strip the speakers back to the crossovers and drivers; if you could find a small chinese USB/12v powered DAC and amp, then providing you can build a small enclosure with decent EM/RF protection in the laptop you might get the results you're after - a small sound setup that sounds better than the majority of laptops.

If you bought the BOSE either damaged from ebay, or from tips etc, you could probably find some to experiment on very cheaply, and the chinese audio kit is definately available; it'd just take a bit of removing from the supplied boxes, and building new, protected enclosures for them.

Sorry if this doesnt read as well as Id like, due to shift backspace on the PS3, my m17 being broken, this post has been rewrote about 3 times

 

I deleted a few earlier posts in this thread for an insulting/condescending attitude. If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything - thanks.

The project looks great, K-TRON - kudos for being creative. It could be an interesting business idea - I'm sure there would be a market for this device.

 

Hey, WACOM just launched new Bamboo Tablets, that support both the pen and multitouch finger. Around $70 for the smallest one, that would save you from using the pen...or you already have the digitalizer?

 

K-TRON Computers Inc.?

 

Just read this whole thread after having seen references to your project and WOW. This is pretty awesome I must say. I am dying to see some pictures from this finished product. The couple you have shown so far feel like teases to something amazing haha

And as a heads up, the new ATI 5870's are out now and only $380 for a single GPU that is about on par with a GTX 295 on performance and MUCH MUCH lower power consumption. That would be a nice addition I would think (and a feaux dragon platform, just opteron instead of phenom)

 

i would buy one

 

I love this thread and find this entire project immensely interesting. Keep up the great work K-tron!

K-Tronics?

 

I am sorry, due to the lack of respect given on this forum, and the derogatory acts of numerous members, the contents of this message have been pulled

K-TRON

 

K-Tron you're a genius.

We gotta meet up if I decide to attend RPI next year.