QL Case designs...
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:37 pm
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.
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.
