A fair number of people who stop by my office inevitably end up asking about the funny computer on my desk (see the picture to the right - and yes, that's an HP-35 calculator on the right if you click on the picture). It's a long story, but I'll make it short!

Some time ago, the monitor on one of the Sun servers (Maxwell) failed. It was probably for the better because if you've ever been to the office, all the computers and monitors really heat the place up. Anyway, I started to think about replacements and always wanted one of those cool flat-screen LCD monitors. But they're pretty expensive. Then I noticed I had the bits of an old Apple Powerbook 520 lying in a box (the laptop's outer casing had failed). The rest is history!

So, the funny computer is a Powerbook 520 mounted to a lucite sheet. The display and associated driving hardware are mounted in front, as well as the speakers and microphone. On the back is the logic board, CPU, and a small laptop hard drive (upper left). This worked out well as the power, ADB, serial, and network ports are all accesible from the bottom. Adding the copper legs and the Apple Adjustable Keyboard finished it off. It's a fully functional computer (except it's no longer really portable) and lives its life as the console and log-host for Maxwell. As an added bonus, it uses far less power and generates way less heat than the old monitor did.