build phase

notes

The configuration of the unit during the testing and modding phase included keyboard/mouse connectors and the OS stick was mounted on the side for ease of access. The display was sent via the VGA socket visible at the top of the head and is kept for the possibility of upgrading the ananlogue CRT TV to an LCD. A cover was placed over the test phase connectors and the USB cable for the OS stick was replaced with a CAT 5 cable.

A fan is installed in a position to provide a flow of air into the unit where the CPU and PSU sits and then a second is mounted at the top of the head to extract air from the unit above where the graphics card is mounted. The fans are connected to 12v power with the lower fan regulated to 10v so it isn't too noisy. This configuration will be monitored over several months, presently we are in winter so the running temperature isn't too high but the noise from the fans is noticable.

The motherboard is mounted on a plate which is then attached to the Dalek head via 3 screw points. With the Dalek face down ,as in these photos, underneath the motherboard plate is a mount for the hard drive and mount for the power switch, IR receiver and OS stick. The OS stick is mounted in such a way that its status LED is visible through the front grill. Presently the Dalek Eye Stalk LED is connected to the Power LED header and the left Dalek Ear LED is connected to the HDD activity header. The right Dalek Ear is unused but could be used as a LAN activity indicator.

Visible in some of these photos is an amount of dust built up around the unit which so far has not really penetated into the unit itself. The DalekTV is used in a lounge room and is sometimes left running over night looping through episodes of children's television shows but this doesn't appear to have caused any high running temperatures of the unit. At the moment the DalekTV is plugged directly into the television so this means that to navigate menus and to play music only then the TV needs to be on. Due to the inefficiency of this a separate low powered audio device will be used and a WLAN set up to enable mobile phone control through the XBMC http API remote application.

The hand held remote control is a cheap MS Media Center type remote bought off ebay ($20). After a bit of faffing around it was determined that this remote uses keyboard emulation signals for most of its buttons so only the cursor, TAB, enter and Esc keys are used. Trying to configure LIRC to use this remote proved too time consuming so a rather ugly hack was performed and most of the buttons cut off with a knife. The top part of the remote uses parts cut from another toy Dalek to cover the unused buttons, the activity LED remains visible through a round clear plastic lens. This remote will be upgraded one day...

Despite the occasional support from VIA for Linux drivers it remains a great board to work with due to the large amount of header connectors on the main board that allow the mounting of sockets anywhere. This makes the placement of the board within the housing a lot easier as the only real considerations are dimensions and airflow. In the case of the DalekTV the rear panel of the motherboard that has the mounted connectors is covered up by a side wall.