My blinged up Lego Pi case

[bbmaj]

Hello from a N00b, I won't introduce myself but would like you to meet my Pi.

It arrived on Monday and was up and running the same day - despite waiting for my son to finish school. All parts and cables have been scavenged from the house, so iPhone charger, PS3 USB Hub (not charged!), USB mouse and keyb from computer, SD cards from camera, HDMI from a TV, an old 19" LCD for the TV, powered 500Gb USB HDD and x-capsule speaker for sound. So the Pi works, shame about everthing else in the house

Most of the time on day 1 was spent on the case. After a lot of trial and error we came up with a design that had plenty of ventilation (with opening lid just in case!) and kept the Pi nice and snug, while still allowing access to all ports:

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On day 2, in addition to trivial matters like getting the sound working and reminding myself about Linux 101, the case was "improved". It now has a swivel base and a fair bit of bling! I'll add further pics in a reply to this message.

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[bbmaj]

Bling!

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[sparky0815]

Hey, congratulations
Its an very cool Lego Case Nice done ...
See my Case here http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 247#p88247

greetings

[bigsi111]

Wonderful, truly wonderful - the first transformer Pi!

[benedict3578]

Sold my Lego a few weeks before getting the Pi! Noooooo. Some people have written to Lego, and they may be selling a kit with the pieces to build a Pi case very soon! It looks great!

[bbmaj]

Sold my Lego a few weeks before getting the Pi! Noooooo. Some people have written to Lego, and they may be selling a kit with the pieces to build a Pi case very soon! It looks great!

That would be quite cool, and just like Lego, but is there really a market? Maybe I should put together a few simple cases and see what EBay thinks...

[bbmaj]

Wonderful, truly wonderful - the first transformer Pi!

You are too kind! The swivel base and ornate lid are easily detached for a more sleek and portable version, like in the first pictures, so it could be considered a transformer.

I might have to go back and re-engineer now so that it "docks" more readily, and could even build housings for other components. Darn, that's the next week of free time used up!

[555]

This is the greatest raspi case in existence.

[cloudsloth]

You have awoken the builder inside of me. Thank you

[bbmaj]

Quick update, the case has proved to be just fine and so we have been trying out different things...

Bluetooth keyboard/mouse from an old mac - tick! But it is noticeabley slower, so they went back in the box.

Wirless networking, using an old VAIO network streamer - tick! But it only support WEP, and I'm not keen on downgrading all other devices, so back to the LAN cable we go.

XBMC and RaspBMC - stuck on another SD card, they boot up but playback of video files is problematic (though sound is ok). I didn't intend this to be a media unit, so haven't followed up, maybe wait for someone else to iron it the bugs first.

Shairport running so we can stream music from iDevices, this works quite well.

MAME is compiled and working, and a competition pro USB joystick worked without any editing. All of a sudden the children are starting to show an interest!

Xboard working, and a FICS account created so we can play chess online. The current challenge is making it talk to an external chessboard (novag) so we can play with real pieces. I have cobbled together a serial cable and adaptor, then acquired a USB to serial interface - got it working on PC, not yet on OSX, next try will be Pi.

[Chris_Reynolds]

If you can find a design that 10,000 people like then you've got a chance:

http://lego.cuusoo.com/discover
http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/CUUSOO

Love the case. When my replacement arrives I'll see if I can persaude the kids to get creative.

[Mephisto]

Xboard working, and a FICS account created so we can play chess online. The current challenge is making it talk to an external chessboard (novag) so we can play with real pieces. I have cobbled together a serial cable and adaptor, then acquired a USB to serial interface - got it working on PC, not yet on OSX, next try will be Pi.

Hi
Are you sure that Xboard can communicate to the Novag Citrine?
Novag have added software so that it can use Arena chess engines.
Is the code to use Xboard and FICS publicly available to download?
I am really interested in this.
Regards
Mephisto