Black Dwarf
Logic Supply recently helped support a project by Will Urbina, a custom computer designer and modder. He created a computer system that contains a storage “mass completely unprecedented for its size”; it is compact, well designed, and really creative. I kind of want one for my office. It looks like a mini jukebox that plays HDDs instead of records. The final project is titled “Black Dwarf,” and you can read about it here.
The donated hardware was a Quanmax KEEX-2030 3.5″ Mainboard and a 120-watt miniature power supply.
You can also view a video of the project here.
About Kristina Bond
Just imagine, Mini-ITX technology rendered through the eyes of an art student. Sounds impossible? Sounds absolutely painful? Not so. I have a great respect for the industry I serve and I hope to do it justice with a fresh eye and firm background in photography and design.
I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia with an M.F.A. in photography and a B.F.A in photography from Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. I tend to gravitate toward small towns, and I soon found myself stationed in Vermont. Not by chance, I dare say.
I have been with Logic Supply since February 2007 and I handle all the marketing, design, and editorial aspects of the company.
I love to read anything by Tom Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, and Ayn Rand, but my writing style is more along the lines of "Mr. Men" books.
Very nice… any idea what OS he decided to run?
I keep my comment simple: I like it very mutch. Where can I buy ??
@ Ihage,
I don’t believe Will plans to make any of his final projects into sell-able items, which is unfortunate because he creates some really neat stuff! However, it doesn’t hurt to contact him and ask. See his site here for contact info.
@ Benjamin,
He’s running Windows 7 right now, but is looking into running other OS’s as well.
Since it’s headless, he could consider running Open Solaris with the zfs file system.
I thought that you weren’t supposed to operate hard drives oriented like that? Maybe I am wrong, but what I have always heard is that running them while they are perfectly vertical or horizontal is fine, but not running them while they are at an angle. The issue was something about the forces applied to the drive as it spins.
@Mike> The problem isn’t the angle its running at, its changing from one angle to another and using them, meaning, if you install with the drive horizontally, it could cause drift if moving to vertical. If the data is loaded when the drive is on an angle, gravity doesn’t change so the heads will still be on par with where they’re supposed to be.
How about the Serener 120W DC-DC Power Converter since it’s no longer available what is the best alternative for the same application? I’m looking to build something similar and need to power 8 to 16 drives.