Thinkpads Forum

I kept coming across the ebay ads for the small form-factor NetVista cases on ebay and became really intrigued with the idea of doing something with them. So I bought a case and a MB cheap, then scrunged leftover parts such as a PIII CPU and PC100 RAM together to get a "light-weight" machine up and running. I then picked up a very cheap, Sony M51 LCD with built-in speakers to attach, added my old server style TrackPointed KB and now have a Media viewer with a good sized display. I just put the display on a cabinet and kinda of tuck the KB and CPU case behind to give a fairly clean a appearance. Load the thing up with digital family pictures and Voila! When I get time, I'll build a frame to go around the LCD to make it look more like a picture.

So for less than $200 total, I'll have a 15" digital picture frame that I can actually use for something else as well.

Congrats!

You should post a picture.

schen, I thought those cases were intriguing as well. I managed to wedge a generic mATX board in there but had to extend the all the power cables about 3 inches to reach the motherboard connector. It was a lot of soldering and shrink tubing. It works well, but the onboard graphics are a bit weak and there's no AGP slot. Does yours have one? If so, would you mind sharing the motherboard model number?

Are we talking about the H32 cases, sorta bluish-purple in color? I have used one for the last two years as my internet desktop machine. Took a long time to find all of the correct parts, but it is a fantastic little set up.

I found a frame that turns the standard optical bay into a slim optical drive/floppy disk mount. (Standard optical drives extend too far back into the case)

Both the MSI K7N2GM-V socket 462 motherboard and PM8M-V socket 478 fit perfectly. Any flex motherboard will fit as well.

I was even able to locate new power supplies to upgrade the weak 95W original units. (www.power-on.com) There are two types, dependant on the motherboard you choose.

The Flex ATX-200PLA (200W Flex ATX12V) model is the smallest, and the only one that would fit the slightly larger than flex sized MSI motherboards.

The Flex ATX-200PS (200W Flex ATX12V) has better cooling (2 fans), but the large fan is mounted on the outside of the ps. You could only use this ps with a true flex-atx board.

I have both versions of the power supplies, (Of course, the first one I purchased didn't work with the K7N2!) Only two of the four screws holes align with the case, but that has not proven to be a problem.

I still look at this machine in awe, as it is so "old". But with an Athlon XP2500 cpu, a 36gb Raptor and 1GB of ram, this little machine still flys! Here are links to some pics.

Case in Use
MoBo Fit
Inside Case
Optical Frame

Virge, I used to use a low-profile AGP card in this unit, but as you can see from the pics, the case is a spaghetti bowl of wiring. With the AGP card in, an ATX extender cord was needed to reach the 20-pin slot. The 4-pin wire was long enough out of the box to reach.

losmeme, thats the same case I've got, but you have a much nicer setup. You think yours is old-- I'm running a P3 900Mhz. I don't remember the motherboard model, but its not a perfect fit. I had to move one of the power supply screw brackets. Also, I'm using a short version of the standard desktop CD-RW drive and it pushes right up against the RAM sticks. I like your slim CD/Floppy/USB bay a lot better. Where did you find the drives and bay adapters. Ebay seems to have Floppy/CD or Floppy/USB, but nothing with all three.

Also, I'm using the original 95W power supply without any problems (last 3 years). I thought that was pushing it, but did you try running your current setup with the original power supply? Putting in a new one wouldn't be too bad now that I know ATX extenders exist... I learn something new every day! Extending those cables individually was tedious.

That sounds like an interesting project but I actually use my TV sets as large digital picture frames. I software modded an original XBox and installed XBMC.

Virge;

Couldn't use the original PS as it didn't have the extra 4-pin plug required of the newer motherboards.

The slim disc/floppy frame is actually pretty cheaply made. It is metal, and was bent out of shape when it arrived. I have had a heck of a time getting the optical drive to sit properly. The extra USB ports on the frame are not hooked up, I use the ones built into the case.

Can't remember who I bought the frame from, but would like to see if I can't replace it with something that works a little better. Where on eBay did you see the others? I looked about a year ago, but couldn't find anything. For it to work with the slim optical drives, it really should be made out of plastic, would love to find a new one.

Very infrequently, I have seen the original IBM motherboard for sale on eBay, but it is an 810 chipset board, 100MHz FSB.

losmeme wrote:Virge;

Couldn't use the original PS as it didn't have the extra 4-pin plug required of the newer motherboards.

durrr... I wasn't using my brain. Okay, so I went back on Ebay and found one that looks like yours. Item: 230009773840. The one I was originally looking at is item 140161551054. Its pricey considering that its only the mounting kit!

There are a few of the motherboards for sale now, but that would be downgrading if they only work at PC100. The board I have now is PC133. My next one will be modeled after yours and should be a heck of a lot faster.

Yeah, the prices are outrageous. The one from racksys is the one I purchased, two years later he still has them in stock. I also found some others on eBay used for an Intel server chassis, but none of the auctions had pictures of the item. The prices were even higher than the ones you found!

I had tried a short, full-size LiteOn drive originally, but it didn't like reading disks vertically.

How did you mount the I/O shield on yours? The hole is not really large enough to take a standard shield without cutting it up. I borrowed a friends Dremel and found it really easy to open it up to fit a standard shield perfectly, didn't draw any blood doing it either.

You pay a lot to get a little for those slim bay adapters. Those prices are just for the bracket! Yikes. I think I'll stay with the full size drives for now.

I'm not sure how I managed to get the I/O plate in, but it involved a pair of metal shears. It was almost as much of a pain as wedging the mATX board. Next project, I'm going with those flex motherboards you mentioned! There are a couple of the original motherboards on Ebay right now, but like you said, they're PC100 or at most PC133.