I've been fascinated by Big Computers all my life. I almost did not find the era of these giants (I only remember vague memories of a children's excursion to a computer center with huge reels).

But in any decent server room, or even better, in the data center there are alluring lights. There are some of them even on an ordinary desktop, but very few ...

It is the craving for these lights, piston engines of steam locomotives, mysterious gears, which seems to me to be the basis of modding. An attempt from a dull plastic box with Windows inside to make a small technical miracle. Show this miracle. Reveal it to the eye, not the mind.

... And precisely because, it seems to me that the fans illuminated with blue LEDs are profanity. As well as a flash drive with gears and Archimedean screws on the sides.

What should good modding look like?


All mysterious light bulbs, gears, peeping boxes look mysterious not because they blink and move, but because they do the CASE. Anyone who looked at a busy server rack knows how enchanting it is. Light bulbs show the activity of large computer spirits (demons, demons, services). And that's why they are fascinating. Like the pistons of a steam locomotive, they look so interesting not because they are round pieces of iron, but because it WORKS.

That's the word “WORKS” is not enough in pop modding. Well, what will change if the flashing lights on the motherboard stop flashing? NOTHING. A fan backlight? Similarly.

Profanity, gilded cardboard theater crowns, silver paper rain and a foil sword.

What should a real modding look like? This should be a visualization of how the computer works . These bulbs should not light up and blink on their own, they should show what the computer is doing ...

What should a cool computer look like?

Light bulbs

• Light bulb interrupt. There is an interruption - the light blinked. You can have a light bulb for each PCI-E bus. Launch the game? First, the disk controller’s light flashed frantically (not like the controller’s activities, interrupts, and “busyness” are two different things), then a video card interruption light came on, then a sound card, then a network one. They closed the game and the light bulbs slowed down, “calmed down”.
• Light bulbs network activity. RX, TX. Immediately it becomes better to see what is happening on the network. Surfing on the Internet does not look like the work of a torrent ... It is not at all the same as ACT on modern network cards ...
• CPU loading light. Goes off when the processor executes Idle. - An ideal indicator of system loading. The brighter and more continuous it burns, the greater the load.

Perhaps you can come up with more things that can be displayed on the front (and side) surfaces of the computer.

Compare such a monster, whose "soul for plowing" with a dull winking fan ...

Gears

By themselves, they are just spinning pieces of metal. These gears have to do something. This is probably because water cooling systems with transparent elements are so popular - you can see how it works. But, monotonously. Well, who can admire a tabletop fan with a turning head?

To be cool - they must act like a clock. Move at different speeds, stop, turn. And all this should lead to a result, it should not be movement for the sake of movement. There must be some kind of system that is difficult to grasp with consciousness, but a perceptible one, complex but rational.

What can be done in a modern computer? Well, a transparent hard drive, perhaps yes, a CD-ROM ... What else is meaningful moving in a computer?