mini-ITX SCSI Enclosure Mod

My new firewall/server named "Trusty" is made out of a recycled two-drive SCSI enclosure.

A mini-ITX SCSI Enclosure Mod

Introduction

You never know what kind of treasure will show up at a parking lot hardware swap meet following a Linux Users Group meeting. On Sept. 7, 2002, Miles Oliver, a fellow member of the Northern Virginia Linux Users Group , drove up to our meeting at Dyncorp in a sedan packed with boxes of hard drives, PC cases, PCI graphics cards, cables, mice, and keyboards for giveaways. Thanks to Miles, I was able to snarf an old external, two-drive SCSI enclosure for use as a case for a VIA Epia C3 800 mini-ITX motherboard. It was the hardware's last chance, as the next stop was the landfill. I also snarfed two hard drives, one of which (an 800MB) subsequently worked. Many fellow NOVALUG'rs walked away happy that afternoon. Even Vint Cerf (yep, that Vint Cerf ), who had given a talk that day at our meeting, stopped by to take a look.

Parts List

I didn't have really big plans for the PC, but I did want it to run Linux, run headless, and sport at least two Ethernet NICs. I wanted it to replace an aging 100MHz 32MB AST laptop that has been my firewall. VIA's mini-ITX boards currently come in two flavors: one is a 533MHz fanless jobbie, and the other has an 800MHz CPU with a small heatsink and fan (there's a 667MHz fanless one from a different manufacturer). Both VIA boards feature an ATX power connector, built in audio (AC97), built-in video (Trident on my mobo), Ethernet (via-rhine), LPT, RS232, (2)USB (you can hack the mobo to get two more), (2)PS/2, and TV out (RCA and S3). You can get 'em for about $100(US) or so, with the 800MHz model costing about $10(US) more. The boards sport two DIMM slots, one PCI slot, and two ATA100 IDE connectors. No floppy port, but booting via USB floppy (and other devices) is supported. The VIA CPUs run very cool and draw only 5 watts. Compare the power requirements to other Socket 370 CPUs, and you'll see why these mobos are becoming choice equipment for embedded computing without a high developer cost, and inexpensive consumer workstations.

(1)VIA Epia C3 800MHz mini-ITX motherboard.
(1)micro-ATX Power Supply
(1)recycled SCSI enclosure, a real tank!
(1)Matrix Orbital RS232C LCD panel
(3)micro-testclips from Rat Shack
(1)RS232 mobo cable (used to connect to the Matrix Orbital; see below)
(1)800MB Western Digital Caviar drive (that had some funky MCI Win3.1 demo on it; it was wiped immediately)
(2)red velcro straps (used to strap the drive to an inner wall
(1)PCI tulip NIC (no-name brand; can't remember where I got it, but it works)
(1)6"x8" 1/4" cut sheet of plexiglass for the front window
(1)IDE cable
misc. nuts, bolts and screws
(4)thumbwheel case screws (used for the feet of the case!)
(1)stuffed Tux penguin
(2)cans enamel spray paint (red and yellow)

The Mod

Building the case was pretty much a snap. I had to cut two pieces away from the inner sides to accomodate the VIA's 170mm x170mm motherboard. I then cleaned up the case, and spray painted the parts. The front panel is a separate piece, and as luck would have it, quarter-inch plexi fit perfectly between the panel and case. When the panel is bolted on, the plexi is held firm. The LCD is mounted behind the plexi using two bolts. Power and HD LEDs are in a small piece of plexi in the front. The power and reset momentary switches are similarly mounted in the rear, using a small rectangular hole originally occupied by a small SCSI DIP switch.

The VIA mobo is about 6.5" square. Here's a shot of the inside looking forward . Here's a shot of the inside looking towards the rear . The mobo sits on a bracket found in the original case. The power supply is underneath, bolted to the inner carriage, and exhausting out the rear. Having the mobo up top is a hell of lot easier to work with. Due to thick walls, and the case design, which uses an inner carriage and outer shell, the box is totally quiet when running, and stays nice and cool, too!

I only had to make two other cuts; a small square for the PCI nic's cable, and rounded edges to accomodate the mobo's rear connectors. The hard drive is strapped to the inner carriage (and it ain't moving!). The pengie is stuffed under the cables, but there's room for another hard drive. No room for an internal CD-ROM drive, though, if you look from the top .

Hooking up the Matrix Orbital

The Matrix Orbital LCD panels are relatively inexpensive and work well. You first do a simple mod to a floppy power connector, then wire the RS232 like this:

pin 2<->pin 2
pin 3<->pin 3
pin 5<->pin 5

That's it! Here's what the LCD panel looks like from the rear .

Easy Internal RS232 Hookup

Many ATX mobos have an on-board internal COMM connector. Well, at 170mm x170mm, the VIA mini-ITX mobos don't have the room. However, due to a fluke of engineering, good design, or an attempt to save use of plastic in the extrusion/molding process, VIA uses an open-pinned RS232 connector on the mobo. This makes hooking up an internal RS232 device, such as the Matrix Orbital a lot easier. I simply trimmed away cable for pins 2, 3, and 5, then soldered on micro-clips from Rat Shack, and clipped onto the appropriate pin internally. Here are the clips holding onto the pins .

Using Linux

You can use any number of Linux distributions, but some install kernels will barf with the VIA CPU. I use Trustix for now, although I may switch to Slackware . Use the via-rhine kernel module for the built-in Ethernet. Sound is AC97 and is supported, but I haven't bothered to configure it yet. The video works using the Trident module for XFree86 4.2.0, but you should email VIA for its XFree86 driver.

I'm very happy with the new box, and it only took a day or so to put together. The results are quite nice (at least I hope you agree), and show that you can put recycled computer equipment to good use. I feel pretty good that this box won't hit the landfill for a number of years.

Have a happy!