For the past month or so, my spare time has been consumed by researching how to build a mini-itx media center. I am am stuck on how to approach the idea of controls and servos though. Given the diverse talent pool here, I though that someone may have some ideas.

(As an aside, some of the work that these guys put into case mods is outrageous. I found this one this morning. Absolutely incredible...Doom 3 Case)

From the inspiration gleaned at the Mini-Itx website and Mashie.org, I've bought an old bakelite radio from ebay and intend to turn it into a mini-itx media center. The radio has 4 knobs on the front and a speaker opening that can be used for ports or an lcd screen. I would like to make the 4 knobs map-able from the OS with one of them controlling a speaker opening cover that rolls up and down like a tamboured/security.garage door to hide the screen or ports.

What is the best way to make this work? I don't have much experience with electronics/soldering but I have found a couple of control board that can be interfaced as USB HID devices (for mapping) or can be controlled from Windows. This would make it easier for me to setup.

Phidgets

GPWiz for input

I would like the cover to either open/close on demand via one of the knobs or as a startup/shutdown event. How can I make this work? What hardware would I need to do it? Any pointers would be appreciated.

Oh and while you are here, please feed the dog