If you’re hungry for a portable HTPC (Home Theatre PC) solution, maybe packing everything into a stylish mini lunch box is the way to go. [tomhung] wanted a quick and easy way to drag his media around while he’s away from home, but in an intentionally portable, self-contained enclosure, and the Star Wars lunch box provided plenty of space for the necessary guts.
Inside, he’s stacked the RasPi and a USB hub on top of one another. Each is mounted to its own platform made out of plastic DVD covers, and kept separate by standoffs carved from what appear to be the casings of inexpensive plastic pens. The stack also includes a 250GB 2.5″ HD, which [tomhung] simply attached with velcro for easy removal. The cables underwent minor surgery to keep the rat’s nest under control, and although the interior may still cause cable management enthusiasts to cringe, the exterior of the box cleans up well for its evening out. [tomhung] fit a simple 6-port keystone wall plate to the face of the lunch box to provide simple connections for all the important plugs.
PLEASE tell me he DIDN’T use a VINTAGE Star Wars Lunch box for this, and that this is some sort of hipster reproduction box….
It’s a miniature reproduction lunch box, $20 on Amazon.
Those keystone plates are the same size as a US standard outlet wall plate, to give you a sense of scale.
Or a dollar at a yard sale.
At least he didn’t chop up a vintage box.
For what he paid he could have just stuck an Android TV box in it, much easier, but good concept though.
And how would that make his media portable?
Take the board out of the android tv box, mount it in the lunch box instead of using a Raspi, you get USB, HDMI, Wireless, an android system, xbmc, etc, and the rest is just like he did, and since tv boxes use wall warts he powers it just like he does above so it’s just as portable.
Ah, I thought you meant that he could use an Android TV thing instead of the whole lot.
You know if he wanted to use an android TV Dongle and a Flash drive he could fit the equivalent into an altoids tin, and he could run it off USB power as well, but it would be HDMI only.
Don’t trust the handle on that lunch box, it’ll break at some point while you’re carrying it.
Srsly. I’ve had my Beatles lunchbox-boombox coming crashing down more than once before I just gave up on the cheap handle brackets and bolted a handle on it.
Not a bad idea i bet you could fit a decent battery and a mouse in there also.
You know, there was a time when you could impress your friends by having a dairylea triangle in your lunch box. Please tell me there’s still room for sandwiches.
For those of us who had no idea of what a Dairylea triangle is…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairylea_%28cheese%29