The O2D2

By Corey Menscher on Day 5

(Sorry for the delay…I decided to delay posting my documentation until today so we could go out and celebrate!)

I started out the day with the intention of doing an ice cream-based project. But when I happened across a couple of working EPIA mini-ITX TC-1000 motherboards that Tom Igoe was giving away during his marathon office-cleaning, inspiration hit:

Several weeks ago, a few ancient Silicon Graphics workstations were found to be discarded by ITP…two Indy’s (from 1993), and two O2’s (from 1998). As soon as I saw them, a rush of nostalgic awe washed over me. Nevermind the fact that these machines are probably less powerful than the iPhone in my pocket (and currently worth maybe $100 from their original $5000+ price tag). I remembered the days when seeing one would have made me swoon. Since I first noticed that these beautiful machines were being callously discarded, I had been trying to come up with a way to use one. I realized the O2 has a really nice (and fun) form factor, I decided I would commandeer one and turn it into a Linux server using one of the mini-ITX boards that Tom Igoe was giving away.

Here’s what the SGI O2 looks like. It has a short and squat nature, reminiscent of R2-D2. Hence, my server has been dubbed the O2D2. (The “D” could conceivably stand for “Dremel”.) It’s hopefully going to make a sweet Asterisk server for my home!

As I attempted to take the thing apart, I realized that they were not really designed to be so user-serviceable. Granted, the main board, drives, power supply, and video hardware were all designed to slide out the back. But getting into the actual case was a bitch. Installing an 80gb IDE drive (also being discarded) in the removeable drive tray was easy…but the IDE connector sticks out much further than the ultra-wide SCSI connector of the stock drive. The SCSI connector at the back of the bay made it impossible for me to fit the drive all the way in. I decided the best way to handle this was to simply use a dremel to cut the connector and make it flush with the case:

Unfortunately, this did not provide nearly enough room, and I realized I needed to take off the entire plastic casing to access the front panel and completely remove the connectors. Well, that took a couple of hours…but I managed remove the circuit board that was installed vertically on the face of the machine that contained the SCSI and IDE connectors for the optical and hard drives. I also had to use a Dremel tool to cut wider the slots in the sheetmetal case to give the IDE connector and Molex power connector area to poke through. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the drive connectors poking through the case, but it really isn’t all that interesting anyway.

Since it is removable, I also went ahead and dismantled the power supply’s innards and left the cage. It eventually became clear that the mini-ITX’s external power supply could actually sit inside this cage! This means I only have one power cable snaking out of the machine…which is awesome. I also added a personal touch…I gave the O2D2 a blue power LED. What’s an ITP project without an LED?

The machine powers on and gets mostly through the POST, but then hangs. I assume this is due to the discarded drive that I installed…I’m going to need to wipe it and start fresh. So, I wasn’t able to actually get to the part of installing server software, but I will soon. Here are some shots:

August 2nd, 2008