Once again, I am a little lacking on posting, but I’ve got some exciting news….

I would like to announce the arrival of the Apple2PC. My first mod, I took an old Apple IIe and swapped out the original components with modern parts. The system includes:

• Via M10000N Mini-ITX motherboard with 1GHz processor, onboard audio, video, and network connections, 256MB DDR RAM, 4 USB ports and 2 Firewire ports on the back, and more…
• 30 GB Maxtor hard drive
• 250 watt low profile power supply

The actual construction only took me about 3 days, once I sat down and did it. The parts had been sitting for more than a year, waiting for me to get motivated…

I plan on writing up something about the construction later. I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep, but I want to get it done soon.

My secret modding project was being held up by the lack of a metal part for the back of the machine. Two days ago, Bill (the gentleman making the part for me) came through. I have had some success with grinding and deburring, but I will need two brackets before I can finish the project. I can at least get started, however.

Once I finish with the metalworking, there have to be several holes drilled to attach the backplate to the chassis and to attach the motherboard and other components inside the box.

After that, I can begin assembly, as long as I don’t want to paint the rear panel.

My hardware project is beginning to come together nicely. So far, I have all of the computer components I need, while the exterior case is something I need to work on. Actually, there is a gentleman who is going to help me out by bending the metal pieces I need for the back and the brackets to hold it all together. The only thing I have to do is draw it up so that he knows what I need.

Once I get those pieces, I can assembled everything and then begin to work on the operating system/system configuration. I am leaning towards a dual-boot configuration so that I can have full gaming support no matter which game I want to play.

I have a bit of a secret project that I am working on… it ought to be rather sweet when it’s done. Today, I ordered the parts after dealing with a credit card snafu. Anyway, the parts should arrive in a matter of days, and then I should be able to begin. Of course, I plan on documenting the process and posting it here on my website.