Jkkmobile has just posted their touchscreen hack for an Eee PC 900, and it looks great. Installation of this kit is pretty easy, just fit the panel to the screen, connect the controller to the USB lines, close it up, calibrate it, and you're done. The controller board is placed on top of the WiFi card. Jkkmobile has informed us of touchscreens for older Eee PCs before, but this is one of the first we've seen for a 900+ model. The post lists a few sources for touchscreen kits, but no word on which one they used.
Eee PC 900 touchscreen
Jkkmobile has just posted their touchscreen hack for an Eee PC 900, and it looks great. Installation of this kit is pretty easy, just fit the panel to the screen, connect the controller to the USB lines, close it up, calibrate it, and you're done. The controller board is placed on top of the WiFi card. Jkkmobile has informed us of touchscreens for older Eee PCs before, but this is one of the first we've seen for a 900+ model. The post lists a few sources for touchscreen kits, but no word on which one they used.
Make a universal Macbook Air Superdrive
For $99, Apple will happily sell you a slick USB superdrive (aka DVD burner) that only works with the MacBook Air. [tnkgrl] swapped out the USB-IDE interface with a generic $9 unit to make it work with everything else. The generic board required a few mods: relocating the crystal oscillator along with the amputation of its daughter-board that carried an external power connector, usb connector and some caps.
Add a second internal hard drive to your laptop
[Andrew] sent in something we've been considering for our 17 inch Dell. He squeezed a 100GB PATA notebook drive into the spare space in his Compaq laptop. He used a USB interface to provide the connection and added a toggle switch to conserve power when he doesn't need the drive spun up. The mod would be even nicer if you added a keyboard activation switch like [sprite_tm]'s keyboard light.
Synaptics trackpad swap
Some people are really picky about their trackpads. [John] posted a guide on retrofitting a Synaptics pad in place of the newer, but less user friendly ALPS touchpad/stick combo used in the Dell Inspiron 8200. On the opposite end, [C. Järnåker], loves laptop keyboards enough to mod them for use on his desktop machine.
What to do with an old laptop?
Back in November we asked what you would do with an old unused laptop. If you have an old laptop that's not doing much more than gathering dust, chances are you could put it to better use. You could sell it, but you probably wouldn't get too much for it. Donating or recycling can also get it out your hair, but if you'd like to try something different, read on for some ideas.
Hacking the OLPC now and the future
While we haven't talked about the OLPC XO laptop much here, don't think we haven't had our eyes on its developments. Originally shipping last November, this unit captured the interest of many for its humanitarian goal, low cost, and potential hackability. After the break, let's take a look at what has been done with this device and poke at the prototype for version 2.
Interfacing your laptops onboard i2c
[ladyada] ran across this excellent hack by [phillip]. Apparently there's a clock, data, 5v and ground connection available in most modern video connections. (He even notes HDMI cable pins) He wrote some drivers and can now control i2c hardware directly from the
Ghost external VGA display hack
Certain OS installers cough*osx*cough don't like the on-board displays on some machines. [Ziddan] posted a paperclip based work around for them on the eeeuser forums (originally posted by [mugan] on insanelymac). Apparently by shorting the pins, the video card will report that there is an unknown external display attached.
Buy Ben's PS3 Laptop
Just a little public service message: If you've been drooling over [Ben]'s work and have plenty of loose change, his PS3 laptop is up for auction to benefit the National Cancer Coalition.
Apple IIGS laptop
I may hit my limit on DIY laptops soon, but [Ben Heck] has been extra quiet for a while. Now we know why. Just after the release of his PS3 laptop comes his Apple IIGS laptop. Thanks to [Ed] for the tip. It features original Apple hardware and even uses the original keyboard PC board. A CF drive adapter replaces the hard drive and a 15 inch screen shows off the true power of 8 bit computing.
DIY iMac Mini
[Phyro-Mane] sent in his home built iMac mini. He based it on an old laptop with an install of
Spectrum ZX Laptop
[Jim] sent in this interesting laptop modding project. He started with a Spectrum ZX and a Toshiba Libretto 110. The libretto kept its brains, but the lower case and keyboard was replaced with the ZX hardware. Since both machines use matrix style keyboards (but different matrix layouts) he was able to create a passive adapter circuit to match things up.
Asus Eee PC trace hunting
There isn't anything hacked into it yet, but [tnkgrl] spent some time hunting around her Eee PC for some handy hackable extras. I'd been ignoring them, but now I want one. Oh yes, I do. Hit the writeup for details, but [tnkgrl] identified some semi un-used USB connections, an accessible 5v supply and a spare mini-pcie slot that seems to disable the SSD when it's in use. The currently unusable mini-pci slot is actually pretty intriguing.
In bag USB cable
Ever had a USB cable sticking out of your laptop bag? I've done it many time while I've been traveling. James built a simple right angle USB cable so he could keep things tucked away and damage free. He epoxied a connector to some proto board, then soldered things back together.
Dual nic laptop mod
[Robert] opened up his old alienware laptop and installed an Intel Pro 100 mini-pci ethernet card. Then He replaced the modem port with the second ethernet jack. The hardware side is pretty simple, but getting the port soldered to a new custom cable and fitted to the case was the hard part.
