lately ive been thinking of ways to use this old laptop ive got lying around. P1 300mhz 1.34gb Hard drive 32mb ram no floppy, external cd rom, no usb, no networking, no internet. today i thought of the idea of making a tablet pc out of it. its mostly just for the learning experience, but i might use it now and then. anyways, it looks like a laptop that had its hinges ripped out and glued on wrong, because thats what it is. im working on making it look better, but i need some ideas on how to make it look cleaner and, well, better. heres a pic of what i have now: pityful, i know. so to fill the gap in the back where the keyboard used tobe, i took the case from a old drill and cut the side out of it. i then took that casing piece and trimmed it to shape, then hot glued it into place. i think it looks decent. the main problem is the sides, where you can see the cardboard spacer in between the 2 main parts. i need to put something over that, maybe all it needs is some black electical tape. then ill take a dremel and cut the stumps of the hinges off, because they look stupid and are sharp right now. then ill fix the mouse, which is the blob of electrical tape with a white cord sticking out the side. it was supposed to be on the side, and you would control it with your right hand, like a blackberrys scroll wheel, but i couldnt find a good housing for it. ill see if i can get some sort of small black plastic box for it. maybe a small radioshack project box. anyway, heres some more pictures i took. the side (sorry, sort of blurry) and the back with the drill casing on. again i appologize my cheap crappy camera doesnt focus very well, i think my mom broke the lens movement motor or something. so thats my mini project. any questions/suggestions/insults?
hehe, its always nice to see someone do mods that are realistic, not like half the mods on this site, people w/ access to ever cnc and tool in the world, and enough money..., i like the concept
im going to assume that you have some sort of PCMCIA slot. itll prob be a type 1 as the thing is old but you might be able to get a Wireless card for it (t'internet).
yeah, theres 2 PCMCIA slots, i have a external cd rom that works with them. im gettting a wireless card for my good laptop, so i can use it with that as well.
Quick and dirty, i think it would be nice if you could mount that mouse somehow.. im sure there is a way.
well, while holding the mouse in my hand and using it, i found it annoying to move the ball with my thumb and click with my thumb as well. i also cant click and drag. i need to extend the buttons over to the other side, and make a small enclosure for the mouse pcb to stick to the side of the whole thing. im also thinking of wrapping metal around all the sides, so that you cant see the gap between the 2 halves.
I'd say try to integrate a track ball mouse, as much as they suck, it'd allow you to have a stationary mouse and just a moving ball
