This video is probably the most encouraging thing I have ever watched. He takes the setbacks with a sense of humor and accepts the limitations he runs into and shows you can still reach your goal even if its a little different from your original plan.
Inventor of single board computers: "I'm going to cram everything you need in a computer onto a single board so you'll never need to add accessories to it!" ExplainingComputers: "Here's my tricked out rig with all the accessories I like."
@@ExplainingComputers You are so cool seriously. You answered one of my questions before I wonder if you will do it again. I will keep short. Occasionally my computer boots up into Windows 7 when it is configured to boot up and 10. In other words it boots from the other Drive occasionally. So my question is if I remove one of the drives which it should not boot from, will it boot from my solid state drive which has Windows 10 on it ? I hope you understand my question thank you. Keith Kuhn
@@KTHKUHNKK I would think it would, depends where the main boot was written to though in all honesty. My best guess is since you'd have to add windows 10 after windows 7 then the boot "should" in theory be written on the windows 10 drive. If you're not sure just unplug the windows 7 drive and test it before removing it
I love how you sound like you know what you are doing, while simultaniously say that you have no idea how to do it, but give it your best shot anyway. It's just lovely to listen to and inspires me to try things. Thanks.
Oh Chris, you really shouldn’t hang around with “Henry the Hacksaw, Donald the Drill, and Freddie the File” ... they are only just out of jail from that Hatton Garden jewellery heist ... please don’t get led astray!
@@ExplainingComputers But don't worry... think how much you've learned about escaping from the hoosegow :D Seriously, that steampunk look is just delightful, and if you could find a metallic sheathing for the looped cable, it would look like it belongs there.
Hi Chris, just seen on WISH A 90° Down USB 3 adapter. Wouldn't two of these plugged together create the neat return adapter you attempted to make? I've no idea about the loss of signal but shouldn't be to big. Only £3 each plus whatever p&p
Total happiness between the implementation of a super muscular RPi and the SteamPunk references! Christopher, you are the quintessence of digital pedagogy!
@@ExplainingComputers If they could only make an adapter for the smaller 2242-ish sized SATA m.2 drives as well. The smaller capacities for Rasp Pi's and fast flash drives could use a small enclosure for them for space savings in certain cases. They only seem to make the huge ones that are, in my opinion and use case, far too large for a Pi or main flash drive replacement.
If the pins you're soldering to go all the way through the PCB you could stagger the wires - alternate ones on opposite sides - to give you a little bit more room, with less chance of a short.
Christopher, the vision of you, crouched over the brass sheets, cutting away on your kitchen floor, demonstrates your inventiveness and persistence on this 'steam punk project. Well done!
It's quite amazing how small the solder joints on data and electric connectors for computers have gotten. It's a joy for keeping things small, but for modification and repair it's pretty nutty without a microscope and associated skills. I too would have tried taking that adapter apart to keep the build super clean, but it still looks wonderful and inspiring!
You are proof positive that for really creative people, like yourself, there are no impassable roadblocks just far more clever and creative detours. Bravo!
Nicely done, it has a steam punk feel to it. now i hope it will give the companies ideas for some pi enclosures which include fan and m.2 drives and right connectors.
@@ExplainingComputers I'm surprised no maker or group of makers has put out an open source one, it's design and prototyping would make an interesting multichannel video series
Using brass plates in your design was brilliant. You tempt me to create a similar open case for my Pi4. On the other hand, a brass open case for my Pi Zero W is also very tempting! Looking forward to your next video.
Using a front end for copying images instead of DD, but not wanting the computer being clever? What a phony hack! This channel should be called "Using computers... barely".
@@redgek sure, but he also literally clicked the button saying to open it in file explorer, so the computer didn't do anything except ask if he wanted it to do something with it.
Chris, this video isn't cursed you've hit on the bane of existence of every SBC / SATA build I've ever done-- the cable is always too long and a nightmare. If you started a Go-fund-me for a Sata -> USB 3.0 180° adapter I'd send $50 happily --absolutely no questions asked.
Hi Chris, I can understand your frustration on this build. I run into a few problems myself in my last Pi 4 project. I used Fusion360 to design my new P4 case. After designing my masterpiece I then fired up my trusty 3D printer and 5 hours later I had all 4 sides printed out. Things didn’t go as planed. After more designing and printing a week later I had something that I was happy about. I made my case larger to accommodate all the extra wiring and connections for the USB ports I’m sure some manufacturer of Raspberry Pi cases will come out with a case that will have a M.2 and custom USB connectors. I’m sure they won’t be as rewarding as our home build units. Thanks for giving us your behind the curtain view of your USB failed project. New Makers need to understand that not everything works out as they thought it would and we definitely learn from getting it wrong . That’s why we are so excited when we finally get it right! Your project today provided the inspiration to get me back in the shop and build something new!
@@ExplainingComputers i must say im surprised you struggled with wire and pcb soldering , if yoiu struggling with old age and your eye sight , you should get a hdmi camera and use it as a cheap microscope , very easy to set up and very effective , even jobs like straightning pins on intel sockets after users have bent them is a very possible , i allmost wrote doddle then and deleted it then lol, if you would like a better solution i have done a few of these adapters , im in uk and can happily solder it up for you for your next video
Thank you, Chris ... great videos you produce ... you do it in such a way that it feels like we are right there with you with the overview, planning, unboxing (I know it was already unbox here except for some nuts & bolts), showcasing the parts, ordering (where necessary), and importantly, assembly, installing software and testing! You really do take us on a journey (like you mentioned at the start) and we experience the whole thing! Very satisfying indeed!
Your videos haven’t been popping up on my play lists last 6 months or so. I was worried something happened. Glad to see you are fine and still doing great content. Great Mod going there. Can’t wait to see the next step of its evolving state! Keep up the good work Chris!
@Blitzen I have stopped using Thingiverse as they don't check that the parts actually work unlike other sites but in this case (pun definitely intended) I will make an exception!
Christopher, you are a gem! "Exciting things have been arriving!" It's a box of brass standoffs. I love this!!! Excitement for finding niche parts and the packaging it's in, how it fits well into your makerspace. This is why I love makers like yourself and Adam Savage. Genuine joy and excitement for small victories and for your craft! Keep up the great work! Your videos always make me smile! Thank you!!! 😊
This tiny rig looks great! For the USB connection, maybe you could design a little adapter board with easyeda or something like that? I'm not sure how it would work out with the shielding (or lack thereof) though.
I rebuilt the rig, but spent a few more Euros and got the Geekworm M.2 NVME expansion board for the RPI 4. The whole thing now looks very slim and organized.
Louis Rossman channel probably has about five people that can do the soldering you need. ipad rehab probably has a few more. You need to do a collab video! :)
@@paparansen googled "Louis Rossman" and didn't see anything bad in 4 pages of results. You're going to have to provide sources for your claims to convince me.
@@paparansen I've been following Rossman for a few years now, i'm also EE and i can't find anything wrong with him. EDIT: Not following ipad rehab but i watched few videos in past, nothing wrong with it.
My favorite pi project was a retropi project I made to fit inside an empty SNES shell, and your soldering troubles brought back some tough memories. But in the end it was worth it, I had a natural A/V out to a standard 4:3 CRT TV, perfect for retro games. Also the controller ports connected to a USB adapter. It was really cool. Ended up selling it but some day I might do it again. If I do I'll make a youtube video like this one.
"EBay, where you purchase everything you can't get from Amazon." So funny because it's so true. I think with the steampunk idea instead of getting rid of the cable you should embellish it. Make it look like a pipe or conduit. If you can't remove it, go with it bigger.
What a great setup Christopher - it looks very similar to my ultimate Pi setup except I have an old SSD instead of an mSATA and no brass but that might change now 😁 If you search Amazon for 'Geekworm X857 mSATA SSD shield' the kit includes a U shaped USB3 adapter which would be perfect for this build
We are begining to see customised pi that mimic those monster gaming rigs. :) I am thinking of case that are made from thin sheet metals, acrylics and mini water cooled aluminium blocks with radiators all integrated in.
Other than polishing out the imperfections, all I'd add is either extra plate, or make the top hole for the heatsink small enough the heatsink touches it. After all, the more heat dissipation, the better. How ironic would it be to use the pi to *make* a steampunk inspired item? like have it run some thing with steam coming out of it, and rumbling and all sort of steam punky goodness?
Time it to a fuel throttle and whistle for starters. There is a miniature saw mill at "Minature World " in Victoria B.C. that could use an update, the thing was unreal.
When I first saw the title, I thought, I dunno, is this really in the spirit of the Pi concept. Then you said Steam Punk and I was hooked. Also this is a great project for a collab with Big Clive to solve that 180 degree USB hole in the market
I built quite a similar setup, but I mounted it inside an old 5.25'' to 3.5'' drive bay adapter, and it's now inside my PC case, with the HDMI, LAN, power and USB cords routed to the back of the case and a power button in the front. It's quite neat.
One question keeps going through my mind: If you are on chummy first name terms with Stanley, Henry, Freddy and the other tools, why so formal with Mr. Scissors? Is he your landlord? Or perhaps you are engaged to his daughter?
@@dpwaaw So is Stanley the Knife. My theory is that Chris "The Soldering Iron" Barnatt has known Mr Scissors since he was a child but met the others when he was already grown up.
Chris. this is a really great attempt and execution to build the ultimate Rasberry Pi 4 rig from OTS (Off the Shelf) parts. I can see where you want your rig to go (the vision) and this is where the maker community can step in to help you turn your vision into reality through design execution. It's hard to make an engineered product do everything we want. However, it sure is nice when we get an engineered product to do exactly what we need, and at the time we need it. Because the Raspberry Pi is a trusted and well supported platform, a permanent solution would be a good investment of engineering to create the ultimate Raspberry Pi 4 rig, like the one you've described and demonstrated in your video. You know what, I'm going to pick one up this week and see what I can do.
Aligning yourself with Charles Babbage was a very bold move. But, I think if "old Chuck" could have a look see (and after the shock of being re-animated in the 21st Century wore down) he'd be impressed with not only your thought process but the implementation as well - it'll be the kitchen floor work that will put him over the top. Good show. Now it's on the the software bits... Oh, and thank you sooo much for all you share.
If Chris picks up the soldering iron and is accompanied by 3 gentleman: Henry, Donald and Freddy, then this video is cursed to be particularly excited. Thanks. 👍(ツ)❤️
That looks so cool! Assuming it is a 40mm fan or one of their other sizes, I can just picture a small brown Noctua fan on it looking sharp. I think the blue led clashes a bit with the industrial steampunk look of the rest of the setup, but that's just my opinion. I just purchased my first pi (pi 4 4GB CanaKit) and a separate gpio electronics kit to learn more about electronics and programming. Having a lot of fun with it so far, and thinking about using a spare 240GB Kingston SATA SSD and USB booting it, as well as making some sort of bench setup for it so that it stays flat and I can have my breadboard and other components all together. Love your videos! So informative and being hard of hearing, your accent is extremely easy for me to understand without having proper captions or turning the volume up too loud.
Wow, you surely put in a ton of labor on the metal work, and a lot of time trying to make the angle USB connector work. Although not shown in the video, I appreciate the massive effort you put into this and your other videos!
@@ExplainingComputers I hear mineral oil is the way to go. Here is a link of someone using mineral oil: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qdT9e5eCBYY.html&feature=emb_logo
Top class. Not only technically interesting (not that I know any of the technicalities), but damn funny, too. I like a heavy pie, too. It means there's a lot of meat in it.
What an absolute mad lad. Pretty sure that monstrous cooling unit won't pass FAA regulations. EDIT INSERT: Must admit the end product looks damn slick, where does the cooling end and the encasing begin?! Well done!
Great video, very nicely explained. I want to apologize for canceling the commercial at the beginning, but they had a informercial that was twice he length as yours.
Now THIS is me.....always thinking of ways to modify my hardware to fit in tight spots. Yes, this gave me plenty ideas for my project control dashboard in my mobile unit. Thanx Chris.
Nice video mr Chris, it's nice to see the many possibilites the Raspberry Pi is open to. By the way, I made a similar rig, tho I bought a prebuilt aluminium case on eBay with heatsinks and a little fan, but I still connected an M.2 SSD to the USB3 where I installed the OS, first Raspbian/Raspi OS and now I am on Ubuntu Mate. But I have faced a problem in both OS's, and seems it has happened to other Raspi's users too: When using the M2 SSD and using also the onboard WiFi, the WiFi doesn't work and, if it works, it disconnects and ejects the M.2 SSD drive leading to a system crash. Using ethernet LAN cable doesn't have that problem, but I don't want my RPi connected all the time to a LAN cable, so I bought a USB to WiFi adapter and disable the onboard WiFi with the parameter "dtoverlay=disable-wifi" on config.txt, it helps but doesn't solve the problem completely: I can connect to the WiFi network now, but still, some random times the M2 SSD is ejected. I was wondering if you have heard of similar cases and possible solutions to this situation, I have searched on internet forums and other sites, but haven't found a solution. Thank you.
A WHOLE BOX OF STANDOFFS! When will this madness end? I mean the cooler was one thing but this... I think I need to lie down for a bit. It really looks great. Very well done.
Another top draw video, Chris. You've an eerie ability to make them about builds that I want to do. This one breaks the back of the set-top Freeview tuner box I am planning to build. Thanks!
Bro - love your videos. Watching the enthusiasm in your videos reminds me of my childhood when I got a toy that required me to assemble it like a model rocket or similar. All the best!
It's not quite often Chris sounds like a smart ass, but "This video is cursed" has me exhaling loudly through my nose. This continues to be my favorite raspberry pi & SBC channel.
Hey Chris... this was very entertaining while also being very telling of the many ways that a Pi can be customized using the new I/O and the firmware being able to boot from USB. Great video!
I'm in the serious phase of picking parts or a kit for a Pi4 system and had considered using M.2 drives but had thought 'How do I cover/pack them and do cases/enclosures exist!?' But having realised they exist now, M.2 drives are gonna be my choice of drive to minimise space. I'd like to think that an angled USB 3.0 adaptor exists out there but the possibility of using an M.2 drive has already excited me so far. Gonna look into it deep this week and enjoy moving away from windows and making a point of telling Microsoft too via social media.
I use a one of the very compact usb 3.0 drives and it works rather well. Its about the same size as a wireless mouse adapter so it doesn't stick out the side much. Can be left in place for transport without the risk of damaging the usb ports.
I really like the brass look, the brass gives it a strong Babbage look, it’s like an 8gb difference engine. Wonderful video it’s inspired me to do something better with my 4gb pi4
Terrific job Chris, given the limited set of tools and the obstructions caused by the pandemic. That sort of soldering is easy once you get the TS-100 soldering iron with the TS-I fine tip. That and an LCD microscope will do the job. The iron costs around $70 (with the all important 24 volt power supply). A good LCD microscope will cost cost about twice that. Worthwhile investments if you plan on doing more custom stuff like this.
Congratulations Chris on knowing how to use hand tools. At 70+ years people expect me to know theses things just like I taught my son! You must have learned this somewhere?
Still loving your videos. I can't quite articulate what it is about the aesthetic is that is so appealing, but it makes a great change from the Linuses of tech youtube.
Thank you sir for the useful video. The ministry of education in Lebanon is seriously considering switching to raspberry pie for the effective cost-value and licensing issues of windows and office. Believe it or not, your channel and videos had a great influence in that decision. I hope so since this is the only solution against the crisis in Lebanon
Thanks for this feedback. You may find useful my video a week on Sunday looking at 64-bit operating systems for the Pi 4. It really is becoming a great desktop PC.
Hey, I walked past you multiple times on my way to university late 2019 (before everything locked down). I knew I remembered your face from somewhere. Can't believe I'm doing EEE at the same university as you
Chris, the cable that you are looking for is available at AliExpress. Search for "USB 3.0 Cable Flat USB Extension Cable Male to Female Data Cable Right Angle USB3.0 Extender Cord for PC TV USB Extension Cable". There are several variants, you want the one called "S3S4" with a 0.05m cable length.
