If you have an older Shuttle, or one of the low end models with a perspex front,
then you can improve the appearance of the front panel in minutes. The white
background to the perspex panel is only a piece of white paper. Use a 2.5 mm
Allen key to take the perspex off. The paper is held on with only a few tiny
scraps of glue, and pulls off easily. When you replace the perspex, this leaves
the silver plastic showing behind the clear perspex. The FDD blanking plate
was given the same treatment.
Cold Cathode
The Shuttle can benefit from a cold cathode, even
if you do not fit a window to it. I fitted a cold cathode behind the side
intake holes, which now glow nicely. A standard 12" cold cathode is
too long for this and a 4" one is a little on the short side. I found
a suitable length one in a broken scanner. It still needs an inverter to
run off of course and I managed to identify the necessary parts inside
the scanner and reassemble them in a suitable package. It would be much
easier to use an inverter from another cold cathode though. The scanner
cold cathode is white, so it needed a bit of red cellophane sellotaping
over it.
Conclusion
Nothing is perfect, so with a little work you can greatly improve the cooling and looks of your Shuttle, which should help keep any high-end AGP cards you might have installed at a more reasonable temperature and make yourself a little more respectable at a LAN party.
More importantly, it can all be done without having to resort to hacking your shuttle to peices with a jigsaw or dremel.
