Q: What do you call someone who spends more than $3.48 on a new PC case?

A: A perfectly normal, rational person.

This is actually a staging rig for upgrades for the kids’ PC. I’m upgrading the motherboard, switching to an SSD, and switching from Windows 10 Pro 32 bit to 64 bit (I know), and this allows me to do so with minimal disruptions to their Minecraft machine. Also, orange milk crate!

I only gave this six switch 2600 a good cleaning and added a power light. A resistor inline with the LED keeps the LED from pulling all of the current necessary to run the console. A composite video output may be in this unit’s future.

I wasn’t happy with my Western Digital USB drive’s creaky plastic case, so I hastily hacked together some scrap wood decided to take it in a different direction.

It’s a Light Sixer Sears Tele-Games with a thin Mini-ITX motherboard and a 120gb SSD. It’s a Celeron 847 (not exactly a hoss), but it doesn’t do too poorly with “vanilla” Minecraft on Windows 10.

Since these pics I’ve cut out more of the bottom of the unit and routed the cables more tightly for cooling. I also added a blue power LED that needs a resistor, as it’s blindingly bright at night.

As a riff on the all-black “Vader” 2600s, I made a white/black “Stormtrooper” case.

The text is die-cut using Erikstormtrooper’s “Sith Prophecy” font. It does read “Video Computer System” above the slot and “Atari 2600” on the front panel.

I know what you’re going to say – text on an a Stormtrooper’s Atari console would be in Aurebesh  – and that learning the ancient language of the Sith would probably mean certain death for a Stormtrooper. Let’s just say a whole bunch of the clumsy lugs chipped in and had a unit built especially for Lord Vader. Consider it the lost segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special.