The Archbishop PC Suite

This post is an archival post from www.Datamancer.net, which is no longer available. It was originally written by Richard Nagy many years ago when he did the project, before he passed away. We have decided to keep it public along with some selected other projects in order to make the information available to as many people as possible.

This is a PC/LCD/Keyboard/"Mouse" combo built using some of the more attractive design elements of the Gothic school of architecture. The LCD lives inside a scratch-built Gothic arch with quatrefoil designs and stained-glass doors. The PC case features the same Morisco-patterned glass, brass embellishments, a hinged lid for access to the drives and hardware, and soft, ambient red lighting. The third image is a closeup of the beautiful "Morisco"-patterned glass.

This particular computer was sold, but please contact us if you would be interested in having something similar made for yourself.

The quatrefoil on the LCD arch has a piece of matte brass behind it. The small brass plaque matches the one on the PC case and the LED shines through a small plastic jewel. The quatrefoil theme is continued onto the keyboard which also has a wooden faceplate that matches the lighter wood inside the LCD arch. (The button panel was added at last minute which is why they it is not in the other photos)

Originally I had wanted to put the DVD-ROM and buttons in the panels below the stained glass panels but time and design limits dictated that I find another solution. I decided to fabricate this small button panel and mount it inside the case. The whole panel is removable and the DVD-ROM drive is mounted on brackets and removable/replaceable/upgrade-able if need be.

I think one of the more tasteless trends in PC casemodding lately is to have big, obnoxious lighting effects spilling out of every hole in the machine. I wanted my lighting to be as subtle and ambient as possible so I added these C-shaped brass pieces around each CCFL bulb to act as both reflectors and blinders. The polished surface of the brass directs the light back into the case while the small "walls" block the bulb from being directly visible through the glass when you look at the Archbishop from different angles. I tried to make the back as interesting to look at as the front with…yup…more quatrefoils. Some of you Catholics may recognize this as the exact mesh used in confessionals.

This antique book serves as the pointer device. Housed inside is a Wacom drawing tablet that can use either a pen or a mouse. Beneath the Wacom tablet is a small, felt-lined area to store the pen and mouse (and other valuables) while not in use. Don’t freak out, bibliophiles. This book was utterly destroyed before I modded it. The spine was broken into 3 pieces, both covers were torn off, and a lot of the pages had crumbled to flakes.

Computer Specs: (keep in mind this computer was built in 2006)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
Memory : 2GB DDR2 800 (upgradable to 8G)
Hard Drive : 250GB SATA
Optical Drive: 20X DL DVD+/-RW Drive
Graphics : NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS 512MB Video Card
Audio : ALC883 High Definition Audio CODEC
Ethernet : Built-in GB Ethernet LAN
Power Supply : 420 Watt Power Supply
Operating System : Windows Vista Home Premium
Motherboard : ASUS M2A-VM Mainboard
LCD : 20 Widescreen LG LCD