This
may look like a Victorian music box, but inside this
intricately hand-crafted wooden case lives a Hewlett-Packard
ZT1000 laptop that runs both Windows XP and Ubuntu
Linux. It features an elaborate display of clockworks
under glass, engraved brass accents, claw feet, an
antiqued copper keyboard and mouse, leather wrist pads,
and customized wireless network card. The machine turns
on with an antique clock-winding key by way of a custom-built
ratcheting switch made from old clock parts.
This
particular laptop is not for sale, but feel free to
join the mailing
list because I do plan to build some more in the
future, and possibly some smaller netbook versions
using a Lenovo
Netbook or similar.
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This
laptop was featured in a gallery of steampunk creations on Newsweek.com!
(10/31/07)
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The violin-style sound holes, or "F-holes" are functional speaker
grills covered with black cloth. For a little added redundancy, the original
power switch is accessible through the speaker fabric. If you need to
do a hard reboot, you can take a pen or pencil and press down on the
fabric in the dead-center of the leftmost lobe of the f-hole to contact
the button. The original keyboard LEDs now shine through small plastic
gems.
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Here's
a video of both the clock-winding key and the hidden
power switch in action.
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The
DVD-ROM opens by pressing a small, round, brass button.
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Here
is an accessory that I am going to add to the laptop
once I cut the PCMCIA door into the side. I have added
a pen holder and a ball-point quill pen to a standard
D-Link WiFi card. This
pen can double as a stylus for use on the touch pad (or
for a future Wacom tablet mod....hmmmmm..the contraptionist
hairs on my neck are standing on end).
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I also plan to eventually add a small wooden drawer that fits into the
empty PCMCIA slot that will hold the clock-winding key when
not in use.
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For
all you aspiring tinkerers out there, I've composed a
short tutorial on how you can create brass borders of
your own without the need for expensive metalworking
tools.
Enjoy!
If
you are interesting in seeing the creative process
behind the laptop, you can also check out this thread
at the Brass Goggles Steampunk Forum which grew into
a sort of 'build log' for the project. Ignore the original
stated timeline for the project. I delayed the publishing
of it for quite a while.
http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk/bg-forum/index.php?topic=1359.0
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