For your next project, you may want to take a look at the Parallax Propeller – a 32 bit, 8 core microcontroller that can drive composite video, VGA, keyboard and mouse using nothing more than a handful of resistors. More info here http://www.parallax.com/propeller/index.asp and here’s a message thread discussing FemtoBasic – an interpreted Basic that uses most of those devices listed above and can read/write from a SD card http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=173975

The main point here that the non supporters miss is that it is not about making a pretty laptop. Its about writing your own compiler and having a system to test/practice on. The best way to learn a language is to write a compiler for it. “i made my ds run twice as fast with just three parts.” is not nearly as impressive on your ee-resume as “i built a micro-controller circuit, added keyboard and display functionality, then wrote my own language compiler for it that runs directly on the hardware with file editer/loader/saver tools. Here is example code for pong written in chris+ …”

It really would be fun to have kids build something like this for an intro computer architecture class.

going along the lines of the above comment, i know that one of the goals of this project was to be low-cost — but if you could ever get your hands on a gumstix, or, potentially a SNAP ( http:/www.imsys.se ), then you could have something with a huge improvement in functionality and interfaces that you could expand on. I don’t think either the gumstix or SNAP have a straight-forward LCD or keyboard interface, and you could surely add an SD/MMC card without too much trouble.

That being said, I think I like this project far more than just using one of those off-the-shelf solutions for ‘functionality’. There’s something really to be said about building your own system at the board level, and using microcontrollers to do it at that! If anything, maybe you should just set aside all the suggestions for ‘making it more functional’ and start to “downgrade”. Make your own 3-bit CPU out of 74xx’s on a big project board, and add a ton of led’s on the bus. That would be too cool!

I find that what was done in that project comes close to what I would want to see in a laptop that one could do from the ground up let me tell you what I see that I like;

1) It’s low cost.

2) It’s low-power consumption and the batteries are generic (No ridiculously expensive batteries. When are laptop companies going to learn that?)

3) It’s got the basics input-output. Crude, but no different than say some of the earlier electronic word processors that Radio Shack used to have.

Now, here are my suggestions to IMPROVE it.

1) Get something that’s a little more powerful than the current micro-controller. There are many embedded systems out-there that carry more bang for your buck

Just three examples…

http://www.jkmicro.com/products/v25.html

http://www.rabbitsemiconductor.com/products/SingleBoards/

And last but not least…

http://gumstix.org/

These will give you the extra “oomph” that you would seek and would carry support for a larger LCD and even include ethernet and audio.

2) Stick to off-the-shelf components. You will save a bundle in prototyping and hours of head-aches in trying to figure out how to make it work.

3) Use generic chipsets. That way it can be used with almost any of the major Operating Systems.

4) Stick to a modular format. That way not only one can customize their lappy as they like, they also can also fix it themselves just by replacing a component.

Other than that? Use your imagination.

TPW

I guess it would make the interface more complex but i’d love to see something like this with a dot matrix phone LCD like the missing competition entry had. also, given the amount of empty space in the case at the moment, think you could fit the couple of circuit boards and LCD into an old psion case, or even a large mobile phone case?

PS: 256 inst/sec? You rule. :)