I've become obsessed, again, with constructing my own tablet. I say again...really it's sort of a morph of a previous idea. I bought an old laptop to use as a firewall, which failed, so I gutted it. Seemed like it would have plenty of room to put new parts in, so I looked into buying a beagleboard or gumstix mobo and going from there. That idea sort of fizzled.
Anyway, I've been looking around these forums, and hackaday as well, for inspiration and guidance. I've come to the point where I think I need advice/opinions before I can move forward. So let's break this into it's parts:
1) Do any of you have experience with any of the following: Beagleboards, gumstix overos, or via epias? I realize most here are game system modders, but I thought mebbe some of you are also into hacking other things as well
2) Opinions: Is it better to buy a monitor and use it's included DVI connection as a screen or buy an lcd panel and drive it through LVDS or similar standard? I suspect, reading these forums, general consensus will be the monitor. As a third option I was thinking about getting an Aluratek Cinepal. These sell for something like $140 on B&H, and as a bonus include battery and other electronic goodies that may be useful for the project.
3) Cases: I really don't want to slap this into some square generic project box. It would work, but I think it would be counter productive to the purpose of a tablet. So it looks like I'll have to make a case. I've looked into vacuum-forming and plastic molding, both of which seem most likely for me. I like the idea of casting aluminum, but that requires a lot of other stuff I don't have, not the least of which is cash monies
But also a forge, molds, molding sand, room to house all that stuff....Some other time perhaps. Thanks for any help folks. If you think there are other sites that might be better suited for this kind of thing lemme know. I just thought you guys seemed like the right kind of fit and a good place to start.
~!Matt
That's what this site's for!