Dugie’s Pensieve

Following up from my last Home Server post, here is a list of all the tools, bits, photos and prices that I used to build my replica arcade machine to hide my Home Server - all for under $500 AUD.

Here’s the list of materials I had to buy, prices included where I have them:

• +1 premade X-Arcade controls - 250
• +1 1L tin flat black easy coat - 24.72
• +2 tins 310 gm plastic cote flat black spray paint @11.00 ea - 22.00
• +2 pack disposable rollers and paint tray - 8.98
• +1 pack of 2 zinc hinges - 3.10
• +1 pack of 2 magnetic door catches - 6.98
• +4 lengths 1.8m x 42 x 19 dressed pine - @2.19 ea - 8.80
• +2 sheets 1800 x 900 x 12mm MDF panel for the sides @ 21.00 ea - 41.00  
• +1 box 1000 screws, gypfast 6-18×30mm - 14.98
• +2 lengths of 1200 x 600 x 12 MDF for front and back panels
• +1 sheet 600 x 1200 Perspex - 34.00
• +3 lengths of big ass pine plank
• +4 castors
• +1 pack of 100 screw caps
• +1 pack 4 metric drills
• +1 set Logictech X-230 2.1 speakers

To see the tools and photos of the cabinet assembly download my PPTx Slide Deck, that I presented at the December Usergroup in Brisbane.  There we go, that’s everything.  Go forth an pimp your home server!

All previous updates #: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

For those who came in late, here is the story so far:  I have built a Microsoft Home Server, in an arcade machine. 

Since second-hand arcade machines are both rare and reasonably expensive in Australia, I have built this arcade machine completely from “the ground up“.  Just for kicks, I did it with a self imposed  budget of $500 AUD just like this:

• Google the different types of cabinet and find dimensions
• Sketch the outline onto timber, and armed with only my trusty jigsaw cut out the panels
• Install a reinforced timber shelf to hold the 21″ monitor
• Fix the side panels together
• Attach the first lot of panels and then the last lot of panels
• Put in the false floor, power board
• Paint it, and plug in all the cables
• stick on all the decals, perspex monitor cover
• Mount the hardware (essentially just left over drives and a spare motherboard I had lying around)
• …and install Home Server

The whole project took a couple of weekends, cost just under the $500, and as you can see came up nicely.   …and plays old arcade games too!  See Virtualization has a use in the home as well :)

Tomorrow, I will post the breakdown of all the costs, tools, and equipment that I used.  And next week, I’ll post the complete picture gallery and commentary. 

All previous updates#: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, photos.   

First of all, a warm welcome to all my new blog readers who are exclusively for the content on the Arcade Cabinet - I’m glad that you are enjoying the show  :) 

The cabinet is complete, with only the 6ft decals on each side to be done - it looks so *naked* without them.  The silly part is, I’m having a tough time deciding what I should use.  So until then, Optimus Prime takes the first watch.

Even without installing Home Server just yet, I’m really happy with the result.  Currently I’m running heavily modified version of XP Media Centre.

UPDATE:  Home server is installed and working sweet.  It feels sooooo good to have everything backed up. 

It allows me to play arcade games (using MAME), and watch TV and Movies whilst sitting (and drinking scotch) on the deck.  There is something quite enjoyable about watching classic movies on an arcade machine!  I even use the arcade machine as a juke box. 

I think BBQs these holidays are going to be a lot of fun.  So far I’ve spent ~$478 of my [self imposed] $500 AUD budget, and the build has taken about 16 hours.   This excludes waiting for the paint to dry and the 4+ hours I spend playing arcade games and watching tv/movies.  =)

The cabinet is ‘finished*‘.  Now that’s just the cabinet, not the project. …I say “*” because I’m sure it will never be truly finished, I’ll always find “just one more thing” that needs to be made better.  Only this morning, I was thinking I should change the layout of the keyboard draw. :)

Anyway, the cabinet is painted (and looking good).  The false floor is in.  Tonight, I pick up the UPS, HDD cage mounts, and spare Cat 5e sockets.  Although there are still a couple of cosmetic fixes, everything is very functional.

…so functional I spent a couple of hours testing some old favorites last night.  I was warned that might happen :)

For this photo, I took the front panels off, so you could see inside.

Once the UPS and drives cages are in, I’ll take a photo of the finished product both with and without front panels.

Ahhh, it feels good.  The mounting bracket for the monitor is in, and the last of the panels are done.  I’d forgotten just how heavy those old 21″ monitors are!

Next is wiring up the cabinet with ethernet cables, some logitech speakers, keyoard, power boards and stuff.  Once that is done, I’ll have to rip it all out again, so I can paint it.  I’m still deciding if I want to paint it “Windows Ultimate Black” or “Windows Home Server Blue”

But, it’s raining here is Brisbane again, so I’m not sure if I’ll get a chance to paint it today.  On a side note, why does it only ever rain when I want to paint!?  Great weather all week, and rain on the weekend.

I must keep going, hopefully I’ll have another update tomorrow.

I spent an hour this afternoon putting a few more panels on my arcade machine.  Tomorrow afternoon I’ll fit the monitor bracket, slide rails for hardware, and most of the cabling.

I’m planning Saturday to fit the last of the panels, and paint the cabinet with undercoat.  Depending on the weather, and a bit of luck I might even get a chance to put on the final coat of paint.

So far I’ve spent ~$410 of my $500 AUD budget:

+ $247.95 on the pre-made arcade controls
+ $105.80 on timber
+ $58 on assorted finishing bits for the cabinet

I’ve got ~$90 left, which should be enough to finish things nicely.

Once the cabinet is together and painted, I’ll start the install of Home Server.  When that’s underway, I’ll post a full breakdown of costs and all the item that I bought.

It’s taken me about 9 hours to get this far.  That includes, all the setting up, cutting, etc, and 2x trips to Bunnings.  One to buy all the timer, and another to buy replacement drills for the one I broke =)

I’ll post more on the weekend.

Coming to you live from the Windows Home Server Session presented by Todd Headrick and Joel Burt.  The guys have got 4 different servers here from different vendors.  There are pictures below, with an Aussie $20 note for perspective.

UPDATE:  No the speakers, didn’t put the $20 note there.  I did, it’s an Australian thing.

I’m not going to cover what home server is, so for the full review see Paul Thurott’s review.  I will to a write up on the features I use at a later day.  But I have to finish building my arcade cabinet first.

Here is some assorted snippets from all the questions asked during the session today:

• Home server does not use raid, but can duplicate the data to multiple drives.
• Home server installs from a DVD media
• Largest home server storage to date (that he knows of) is 25 drives with 12 Tb of storage
• 35 Software applications are available to run on top of Home Server to do different stuff.
• The inbuilt backup is for Windows XP and Windows Vista machines
• Apple Macs can use the home server as a file server Read the rest of this entry »

After a day of cutting, glueing and and drilling, the cabinet is beginning to take shape and looking pretty good.

Only this morning, I started with a couple sheets of MDF/plywood and a jigsaw.  By lunchtime I had the outline of an arcade machine:

And this afternoon, I have this:

Not bad for a day’s effort — I’m really impressed with my progress so far.  There are still a few remaining panels to cut out and glue.  We have rain and thunderstorm here in Brisbane at the moment, so trying to keep everything dry is slowing me down.  I’m not sure if I’ll get too much more done this weekend.

I’ll try and do some more during the week after work.  If I make some good progress I’ll jam together another update before I fly out to Seattle on Saturday.

Keep you posted.

The first step in building my Home Server was decide on an arcade cabinet type (See Update #0 for the story so far).  There are six or seven different types of cabinet (Wikipedia has the complete list) - but I wanted an upright cabinet.

My original plan was to buy a second hand arcade machine, and refurbish it.  As it turned out, buying a second hand cabinet is not that easy in Australia.  Most machines were ~$800+, or pickup only from Sydney (which is 12 hours drive away).

So I decided instead to make my own, with a self imposed budget of $500 AUD.

After a bit of research, I found out quickly, that the arcade controls, can be a time consuming pain in the ass if you don’t know what you’re doing - I admit, I don’t know what I’m doing, so I bought the pre made arcade controls from Xarcade.  Good choice I thought :)

Side Note:  Strangely enough, you just don’t see old school arcade machines anymore, nowadays they tend to be car racing simulators, so measuring up an existing cabinet wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.

I ended up taking a ride to a laundromat out near Ballina just get “hands on” and old arcade machine — I probably didn’t need to, but I knew there was one there, and it was a great excuse to go for a ride :)

 Getting Dimensions, via Google.

• In the end it was just me and google, trawling the web looking for resources
• Getting dimensions was tough - most sites have 404s or just not there anymore.
• I found wiki.arcadecontrols.com, a great place to look around for ideas
• 1.8 m high seems to be the normal height — deluxe cabinets are 2.2 m high (and too expensive for timber)
• If found Jeff McClain’s page a great site for ideas
• and decided on using on Pier’s dimensions
• As for the cabinet width; measure the width of your doors and where you want to put it inside.   No point building it if it wont go inside =)
• My width is 700 mm  

Tracing the Cabinet

• I sketched a couple of plans onto sheets of timber - get a feel for what it would like.
• And make sure the monitor would fit
• For personal preference I moved 77.56 a bit higher, so it was above my knee
• I flattened 60.106 a little bit, to fit the premade controls

Now it all looks, pretty good, so I’m off to starting cutting it out!

Ok, so some of you jumped the gun and have asked what the pet project is.  Well the short answer is:  I’m building a Microsoft Home Server, cause I’m at a point in my life where I need the remote access, storage and the backups. 

No before you go "Oh pleeeeaazzzeee!", I’m following Doc Emmett Brown’s advice:  The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a home server , why not do it with some style?  

So my home server "ultimate case mod", is a replica  arcade machine.  Sure it’s not as small and sexy as well blogged Home server prototype, but it’s got other appeal - and it’s an tribute to my interests in virtualization.

Think about it, it’s perfect:  Lot’s of room for drives and big fans for cooling, UPS, and storage of other stuff.  I’ll be spending particular care, to make this machine as silent as possible too.

I’m picking up the wood on the weekend, the arcade controls arrived last week, the 21" monitor is out of storage.

This will be the first post of many, as I’ll be blogging everything as I go along.  I plan need to have it finished by Christmas.  Thanks to mame-arcade for the sample photo of their arcade machine, until mine starts to take shape.

Anyway, there is lots more to do, but I’ll save that for another post.  Now the interesting question is, does anyone know the subtle link between an arcade machine and Windows virtualization — and no, Ben you are not allowed to tell :)