The "NT Gas Station 2.0"
Introducting Webb Speidermann's RedCan Linux
-or- NT Gas Station 2.0 -
depending on the mode he's in...
For some unexplainable reason I've wanted
a gas can PC for 4 or 5 years.
When the VIA Mini-ITX made it's way to my attention I ordered
one and a smallish power supply then started searching for
the right container to put it in.
Being male limited me to purchasing the very
first one into which everything would fit. I will be keeping
my eyes open for the perfect portable plastic petrol pot.
Using a battery-powered reciprocal saw with
a semi-sharp blade I removed just enough of the bottom to
allow the components to be inserted.
I made a paper template of the 'to the world'
side of the power supply, taped it to the can's bottom as
far away from the M/B as possible. With a hammer drill and
recip saw, drilled, cut, and melted the power supply cutouts
and trimmed it up with a mini pocket knife (normally used
for carving cat5 cables).
PUSH! BREATHE! PUSH!
Did a test fit of the components. The power
supply fit first time (this was not expected).
Velcro will be used to mount the hard drive.
I threaded a 1' X 1" ribbon of Velcro loops through the
handle and stuck it to the strip of adhesive-backed hooks
that I'd adheezed to a Western Digital 10 JiggleButt IDE drive.
There is family history with Velcro: the Speidermanns
became wealthy running the most successful Velcro ranch east
of the Mississippi River. Then in 1984 we were wiped out when
that terrible Lint storm blew through. Lost everything.
The final OS is Mitel's 'e-smith-server',
found at http://e-smith.org/
With this variant of RedHat you get options for web, proxy,
mail, and file servers. I'll just use it as a backup server
for the other PCs at home and will use it's MP3 jukebox option
as Red Can Linux's main function.
