PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2024-07-21, 00:22:Possibly the Linkworld 219A?....https://web.archive.org/web/20021204140242/ht … e/case_219A.htm […]
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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-07-20, 20:34:Okay, I've been putting this off for about 8 years since I started getting into retro computing. I still haven't seen one of the […]
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Okay, I've been putting this off for about 8 years since I started getting into retro computing. I still haven't seen one of these cases anywhere.
My first PC was built sometime in 2000. I didn't know much about this stuff at the time, and we didn't do a lot of online shopping yet so there is a good possibility this was purchased through a catalog over the phone.
The attachment long-lost_firstcustomPC_case.jpg is no longer available
This is just a rough sketch because I don't remember specific features of it other than the two-tone stripe on the front. The stripe was kind of a light metallic-blue\teal, and where the vertical and horizontal stripe intersected it was a darker tone.
It is also possible that the stripe went all the way to the top.
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Either way, it actually looked fairly sleek for what was probably just a cheap plastic front snapped onto a generic budget ATX case. It wasn't one of those weird blobby-looking rounded things with transparent plastic all over it.
If anyone has a picture of one of these or knows anything about it, please let me know. I have pretty much admitted that this PC is long gone (sold it to a buddy back in 2002 or so), but I will at least have some closure if I can just see some pictures of the case again. I built this PC with my brother, and it was the first one I'd ever built.
Specs at the time of building:
Tyan Trinity K7 S2380 - Slot A Via KX133
Athlon 750Mhz Slot A (Pluto)
~128MB SDRAM
Voodoo 3 2000 PCI (later upgraded to a VisionTek Geforce 2 GTS 32MB)
Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500
Quantum Fireball hard drive of some kind...
Windows 98SE
EDIT: Also, it is not this case. I actually have one of those though, heh.
Possibly the Linkworld 219A?....https://web.archive.org/web/20021204140242/ht … e/case_219A.htm
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http://www.linkworld8.com/barebone/217-Barebone.htm
Hey, thanks!
Man... the coloring of the strip is similar but I don't remember it being transparent on the bottom and the shape of the rest of the bezel doesn't look familiar to me.
Linkworld does sound like a familiar brand name from back in the day. I wish I had *something* to give me a better idea of when I got it and maybe where. It also predates my first digital camera by about 4 years so I have no photos of it.
... I can't remember if it opened like that either, with the side panel that folds down. Argh!
If anyone else has any ideas of cases that look similar to that, feel free to shoot them my way.
EDIT: Boy, I don't know. I did a Google Image Search using the linkworld 219A and the photo of it here does seem more familiar to me...
https://www.coding-lemur.de/posts/2023/01/how … tware-engineer/
EDIT2: Oh! They did make some where the stripes weren't transparent!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HOT-Powerfull-pfSens … 15246436?_ul=IN
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THAT HAS TO BE IT! Mine just had a metallic teal stripes instead of gray or transparent. The sections of the stripes are like separate pieces of plastic (I remember seams between them), which is why there are so many different colors and styles available.
I have not seen this case since I sold it to my buddy back in ~2002 when we were having a LAN party it his house with another friend of ours. I never went back to his place for whatever reason, so I never laid eyes on it again, and it was probably gone within a couple years. As far as I know it would have had all of the original hardware in it except maybe 256MB of SDRAM. My Tyan S2380 board, Athlon 750 Slot A, Geforce 2 GTS and Vortex 2 SQ2500...
That was such a beast of a system when I built it, and yet was totally obsolete within two years. I think the CPU and motherboard were close to $300 each. 🤢
EDIT3: If anyone can find a picture of the non-transparent teal one... or if by some chance one is available to purchase anywhere, let me know. I really have absolutely no need to rebuild this and I have basically none of the exact parts to do so (other than a Vortex 2), but I would entertain the idea if one popped up. 😀
... also somehow found a German video of someone who built a retro PC in one of these cases (the transparent teal one). Seeing it in a video makes it seem a lot more familiar to me. This is definitely the case...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiXAY4Kfuk0
