HP Mini Tablet Mod!!

[timm.mccoy]

Alright guys..

I've seen the touchscreen hack but i wanted to take it a step further.

I'm going to get a touchscreen, add bluetooth internally....

then i'm going to mod the case to make an HP Mini Tablet!!!

I started playing around with it tonight and here are the pics of the layout i'm probably going to use.


the screens not attached!!!


It's up and running Windows 7... got the speakers resituated and the webcam too.


a worse pic of the screen, better pic of the internals.

I ordered the 10.2" Touchscreen kit from mydigitaldiscount.com and when it comes in i'll have more info. i have a few vids of it as well that i'm gonna post to youtube, I'll put links in here. stay tuned.

youtube vid!

[MiniKJ]

Great work Brian, Have added a Blog post for it.
viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2099

Please keep us in the loop with updates!

[timm.mccoy]

wow, thanks!

mydigitaldiscount is shipping out my touchscreen today, and i'm going to start looking for a good usb bluetooth dongle, if anyone has suggestions that would be great!

also, i'm eventually going to have to model the new case top in Solidworks, so that i can have it machined for me. I'll post whatever designs i make up here for people to check out and use.

[elipsoid]

Wow, I am very tempted to try this too. Couldn't you cut a display-sized hole in the lid and use it as a front cover?

[timm.mccoy]

That's definitely the plan.... except i'd like to have it laser cut, and also have a hole for the webcam cut, and maybe a speaker grill too.

i might have to make some kind of spacer that'll fill the gap between the top and bottom, but i have some scrap aluminum laying around back at school i can use.

some of the more custom work MIGHT have to wait, I'm currently up in the San Jose area doing an internship, I go to school 3 hours from here.

but i'll at least have the case layout finalized.

i SHOULD have the touchscreen by friday, i went for 2-day shipping from mydigitaldiscount.

UPDATE: ordered a bluetooth dongle from DealExtreme - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12696
only downside is it's shipping from Hong Kong so It'll take up to 2 weeks, I'll be using a wired keyboard and mouse til then.

[mbudden]

why order a bluetooth dongle? when you can add the HP Internal Bluetooth yourself? the bluesoliel software that comes with the bluetooth adapter you just bought is junk. also with the internal bluetooth you'd have yourself another free USB slot. just a little fyi.

[timm.mccoy]

so the advantages of the dongle are:

1) it's cheaper
2) win 7 has drivers built in, i won't be using the blue soleil bs
3) it can sit in the spot where the mobile drive goes and not add any thickness to the final product.

so yes i understand where you're coming from. the touchscreen controller has a built-in USB hub so i'll have more ports (i might wire the bluetooth dongle directly to the board) so that resolves that issue. and space is quickly becoming a major concern, the touch controller is pretty hefty 20mmx60mmx6mm and the more space i can avoid using the better IMHO. in the future i can most likely upgrade, depends on how i end up doing component placement.

[yaemes]

man you don't know how inspiring this is. i'll be going to engineering school in a few months where i'll be able to laser cut stuff like this. or even make a new enclosure... i was thinking about modding it to include a touch screen (and keep the clamshell design) but i may do this instead. i wonder if the usb touchscreen drivers are compatible with OSX.

this bluetooth module is even smaller than the "worlds smallest"
http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11825

maybe also check out http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0028Y4D8G/

this is a great read and it might give you some ideas
http://beta.ivancover.com/wiki/index.ph ... l_Upgrades

[MiniKJ]

Just a quick update. Congrats Brian:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/20/hp-m ... een-tablet
http://www.slashgear.com/hp-mini-1000-g ... o-2053042/
http://www.liliputing.com/2009/08/1-hp- ... ablet.html

[timm.mccoy]

man you don't know how inspiring this is. i'll be going to engineering school in a few months where i'll be able to laser cut stuff like this. or even make a new enclosure... i was thinking about modding it to include a touch screen (and keep the clamshell design) but i may do this instead. i wonder if the usb touchscreen drivers are compatible with OSX.

Thanks! I'm glad i could be inspiring. I'm also going to an engineering focused college, and am studying computer engineering. AFAIK, the touchscreen includes drivers for all major OS's, I'm considering hackintoshing my Mini after the tablet conversion, we'll see.

and Thanks MiniKJ! there are a few more blogs that put it up, but the big one is engadget. I'm glad i could cause some good (blog) press for the myhpmini community.

I'm gonna toss up some links for people who're checking this out.

Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/timmontech
My Blog:
http://www.timmontech.com
An email address to use to get ahold of me:
briantimm(at)timmontech(dot)com

I'll have to break out the tripod when doing the next vid... this video doesn't look all that great.

touchscreen will be here tomorrow so stay tuned!

[MiniKJ]

touchscreen will be here tomorrow so stay tuned!

Did you receive it yet?!

[timm.mccoy]

yes!!! and i'm using it to type this response!!! it works great! the included drivers work fine on 7.

i'll take a video later and post another response.

[EDIT] (on my normal laptop now)
VIDEO!!!



enjoy