Technabob » disk drive http://technabob.com/blog Cool Gadgets, Gizmos, Games and Weird Science Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:15:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Floppy Drive Protects Itself From Its Natural Enemy http://technabob.com/blog/2010/10/03/floppy-drive-avoids-coffee/ http://technabob.com/blog/2010/10/03/floppy-drive-avoids-coffee/#comments Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:14:50 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/?p=36090 What happens when you spill a full cup of coffee under your old Apple 5-1/4″ floppy drive? I’d expect it to either damage the mechanism, or at least make a mess you had to wipe off the bottom of the drive.

floppy drive sprouts legs

Well if you think like the guys at Chambers Judd, you might imagine it doing something like this…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Yep, that’s right, this particular floppy drive sprouts legs to avoid spills. Floppy Legs is one of several creations of their fictitious “Attenborough Design Group”, which takes concepts found in nature to create products which automatically defend themselves from everyday threats. You can check out more of their wacky creations here.

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2010/10/03/floppy-drive-avoids-coffee/feed/ 2 Apple ][ Disk Drive Modded Into a Mac Mini (or Vice Versa) http://technabob.com/blog/2009/02/21/apple-ii-disk-drive-mac-mini-casemod/ http://technabob.com/blog/2009/02/21/apple-ii-disk-drive-mac-mini-casemod/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:27:18 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/?p=9385 This could be my favorite Mac Mini mod yet. Take one part retro Apple Disk ][ drive and one part Mac Mini, and what do you get? A little bit of casemodding genius.

mac mini apple 2 drive

Modder Charles Mangin took the guts out of his old Disk ][ enclosure and managed to find a way to squeeze the innards of a Mac Mini inside the case. The 5-1/4" drive is perfect for slot-loading DVDs. And when not loading a disk, you wouldn't ever know this was anything other than an old floppy drive.

mac mini disk 2 mod

Charles even wired up the old drive activity LED, so it looks like the floppy drive is cranking when the Mac Mini is on.

mac mini 2 int

And contrary to the warning lable below, I don't think it would be a good idea to connect that video cable sticking out of the back to an Apple Disk ][ Interface Card. At best, flames would shoot out.

mac mini disk 2 back

Kudos to Charles for a great mod! Maybe he can find a way to cram my iPhone into a Newton. Or my Macintosh IIfx into a MacBook Pro. That would be sweet.

[via MacRumors Forums]

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