Comments on: Hackit: Designing a web tablet for $200

By: Nirav Patel

Nirav Patel — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:59:28 +0000

The touchbook from Always Innovating seems to be promising. A bit big but put a rubber case on it and then just give it to the kids to play with.

By: hacker 711

hacker 711 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:51:03 +0000

my dad make those

By: tihomir

tihomir — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:06:52 +0000

If they can do it…
http://www.paceblade.com/site/desktopdefault.aspx?tabindex=2&tabid=61&modid=617

and here is the price – 2050 EURO
http://tinyurl.com/6ka7kz

Only with cheaper hardware.

By: PocketBrain

PocketBrain — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:54:57 +0000

Gee, I don't know, maybe the display could come from a magazine cover?
http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/30/esquires-hackable-e-paper-display/

By: highschooler

highschooler — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:31:13 +0000

well, if your gonna build from scratch, i still think the AMD geode route would be a good way to go b/c it’s already designed to be about 3/4 of an inch think when assembled but still has an ok processor and is low power which means low heat, and i know you guys can get the thickness down even more. As for dealing with the heat for any of these applications, just make your back solid aluminum and use it as a heat sink for everything that needs cooling.

By: John

John — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:00:02 +0000

It is possible,

Hack the EEE PC onto a pre-existing LCD screen.. add in a touchpanel, throw in a few of the established mods.. throw it all in a custom skinny case, fashion an lcd connector adapter (this is what I am having trouble with) connect it all together, and you can get a 1-2 hour battery life out of the original battery

By: Wildcat

Wildcat — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:26:13 +0000

Regarding the specification for a minimal no-GUI, kiosk-mode browser-only Linux, a look may be given to LAMPPIX:

http://lamppix.tinowagner.com

By: PocketBrain

PocketBrain — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:44:16 +0000

How about we say "Fixed drive" instead of "hard drive?" Any actual drive mechanism will destroy product-thinness and battery life. And flash media comes cheap nowadays.
Buy:
The N800 would fit the description, except for RAM. And it has extra buttons, which could be packaged out. Modify the OS and you get the other features. Oh, and buy a couple of 2GB SD or a single 4GB SDHC, whichever is cheapest at the moment. Interesting... as of this writing, the N810 is $299 at compusa.com and the N800 was $219 last week.
Hack:
Seriously, though, the most forward way to achieve this would be to retrofit a touchscreen to something like the eeepc or similar ultracheap laptop. If I were doing this, I would probably just reverse the screen on an old IBM laptop sitting in my closet and add an inexpensive touchscreen. Getting the right non-desktop interface up-and-running in Linux on the thing would probably be the most time-consuming task.
Build from scratch:
How the heck would we do this for production? The average user here won't have access to volume discounting. I would probably use an atom processor board with breakouts for the essential functions. Probably supply the 4GB as a SDHC in a USB reader (under $20), RAM just a 512MB SODIMM (under $10). Video processor might be a pain. You can get 802.11g USB sticks for under $10 now.
Eurotech-inc's Atom-based catalyst module has video, usb and SD/MMC interface all included. I'm trying to get pricing right now. They want $3850 for the dev. kit. Hope the target board is cheaper.

By: Aquify

Aquify — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:33:07 +0000

Just steal one of the huge iphones from an apple store.

Problem solved.

By: The zigg

The zigg — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:34:04 +0000

The only way i could think to achive that time of usage is either solar panels or a removable hand crank assambely for emergency charging.

By: Fredrik Nyman

Fredrik Nyman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:14:06 +0000

uhu01 -- where did you find that $40 Intel Atom board?

Thanks!

By: Dissident75

Dissident75 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:37:40 +0000

Fujitsu Stylistic 1000. Nifty piece. Won’t do it all but it works as a simple web browser. I picked mine up cheap at a show a few years back. Specs – 100mhx 486DX4 w/up to 24 meg of ram. Runs win 95 well, or maybe toss a linux distro on it if you need to.

By: brob

brob — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:05:40 +0000

actually myself this may be off the beaten path but i was looking into built tablet that are nice and i came across this article....may be warranted if anyone wants to check it out?
http://www.layersmagazine.com/gateway-e-295c.html

By: danahyatt

danahyatt — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:52:57 +0000

re: N810
The 810 cost too much to be practical. I bought one that does everything this ideal machine does; including 8gb SD, USB for key board. The most important thing is to have a machine that is small enough to fit into a pocket. The availability to use free wifi sites to make voip (video) calls is excellent. I would like to through away my cell. The best idea, as far as I am concerned, is to make the best use of technology. Happy Hacking!

By: Pragma

Pragma — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:44:14 +0000

What about B&W displays? If you’re looking to do an eBook, that’s pretty much all you need. It might also fix the display matrixing issues that come with a full color display, and get your price-point down at the same time.