QL Case designs...

[Dave]

Since a long term project is to design a QL2, I have been thinking about the case design process.

One thing decided early on was that the QL2 PCB should fit in a QL case, but also mount happily in a picoATX case. This led me to think about extended ideas for case design. I have spent some time sketching, drawing and model-making. It started as playful fun thinking of what was possible. I see the photos of the QL prototypes and it fills me with the sense of untapped possibilities.

I was lucky to, in the 90s, work at a facility that had a Cray supercomputer. It was a tower of a machine with a bench seat. The computer itself was C shaped - this allowed the backplane to be as short as possible, but allowed the attached machinery to fan out in a way that was great for heat distribution.

I also look at newer developments like the thoughtful but impractical new Mac Pro - a very efficient design, but with a finish that will quickly be scratched and damaged.

I have to look at the QL2 as a complete system with expansion cards, a power supply, some kind of storage, an area for connections that faces in one direction. I have considered the idea of flexible PCB as the backplane allowing an arc like the Cray.

Lots of ideas.

I thought it might be fun if we just posted some drawings - they don't have to be fancy or 'professional' - mine surely aren't! They could be all-in-one systems, case and keyboard, who knows? I even had an idea (not new) for a simple black box that screws onto standard VESA mounts on the back of an LCD.

The best bit: all these ideas will feed in long term to... Something. I don't know what yet.

[tofro]

I have considered the idea of flexible PCB as the backplane allowing an arc like the Cray.

Dave,
don't forget the bench around the central tower. And once you do that, think about your thermal design - We elder guys like it nice and warm in the back


Tobias

[vanpeebles]

Can we have a waterfall with fluorinert?

[Dave]

I have submerged a computer in mineral oil, which works almost as well, but it has the same problems as Fluorinert - It creeps along by cappilary action between wire and insulation, then oozes out of the ends of all of the cables into your hard drives, power supply etc. Fire is a common result. :/

I'd just use distilled water if I did it again. I'd have a little evaporative waterfall at the top, and a header tank to top it off.