Hack a Day » eee

Inside the Asus EEE Keyboard

Nick Caiello — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:49:07 +0000

It seems that our french friends over at BlogEEE.net have gotten their hands on a prototype of the Asus EEE Keyboard all-in-one keyboard computer. After plugging it in and messing around it a little bit, they decided to take it apart. Although BlogEEE.net is in French, we were able to learn several things about this prototype. According to the site, the PCB in their EEE keyboard is marked as Revision 1, meaning that it is very possible that this could be the finalized version of the PCB that will be seen in retail units. Also, they mention the presence of a Silicon Image sil1392cnu, a chip responsible for sending HD graphics via the EEE’s onboard HDMI port, supporting resolutions anywhere from 480i to 1080p. Perhaps one of the most impressing details uncovered was that when weighed the EEE keyboard clocked in at an impressive 2.1 pounds, lighter than most keyboards that don’t have an onboard CPU or display. While we’ve learned a lot about the Asus EEE Keyboard so far, there is still no information available regarding its release date.

[via Gizmodo]

Posted in news, pcs hacks

Mario etching

Caleb Kraft — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:12:39 +0000

[revolvingdork] etched his Eeepc with the entire level map of Super Mario Land for Game boy. He set the laser to 70% speed and 40% power to get it to turn out this way. This is a far safer way of expressing your self and playing with laser etching than tattooing yourself with the laser.

Posted in netbook hacks, news

Buy an Eee Box and get a free virus

Caleb Kraft — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:25:08 +0000

Some of the Eee Box PCs have been shipped with viruses on board and ready to go. The virus was sitting on the D: drive, labeled as recycled.exe. As soon as that drive is opened, the virus is unleashed on the other drives and removable media attached. Strangely, Microsoft has come to the rescue as their Malicious Software Removal Tool detects it and removes it. This was only on some models, and apparently mostly in Japan.

Before you denounce ASUS for this oversight keep in mind that they make things that we really want, such as the touch screen Eee PC promised in 2009.

[via Gizmodo]

Posted in netbook hacks, news, security hacks

Changing the EEEPC 701 form factor

Caleb Kraft — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:00:23 +0000

Over at the EeeUser forums, [PvP_lostnight] is designing a kit to convert your EEEPC to a different form factor. He is modeling the design after the Samsung Q1 UMPC. The kits will eventually be for sale, but as you can see from the pictures, there’s a long way to go. He seems to be taking lots of input from the forum members, so go there and help him make it perfect.

[thanks Tony]

Posted in handhelds hacks, netbook hacks, news

Eee PC 900 touchscreen

Juan Aguilar — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Jkkmobile has just posted their touchscreen hack for an Eee PC 900, and it looks great. Installation of this kit is pretty easy, just fit the panel to the screen, connect the controller to the USB lines, close it up, calibrate it, and you’re done. The controller board is placed on top of the WiFi card. Jkkmobile has informed us of touchscreens for older Eee PCs before, but this is one of the first we’ve seen for a 900+ model. The post lists a few sources for touchscreen kits, but no word on which one they used.

Eee PC 1000H dissected

Juan Aguilar — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:55:00 +0000

The people at TweakTown completely disassembled a new Eee PC 1000H and documented the entire process. Aside from showing you the side effects of too much tech fetish and not enough regular fetish, the article reveals all the parts of the new Eee, with a few surprises inside. Although it’s an Eee PC, it’s very different from all of its predecessors.

One of the things the teardown shows is that several parts are far more modular than previous Eee PC models. The hard drive, for example, is a standard Seagate Momentus which is made for desktop systems; it can easily be swapped out. Another easily swapped component is the 1GB SIMM from ASint.

Although their (ahem) stripping process was a bit unconventional, a lot of interesting information was yielded from this teardown. Keep ‘em coming, TweakTown, just be sure to clean off your tool when you’re done.

[via Gizmodo]

Eee PC 901 teardown

Eliot — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:55:00 +0000

The folks from bit-tech have done us a great service by tearing open the Eee PC 901. Under the keyboard is a large metal plate that acts as the processor’s heat sink. The 4GB SSD card is not soldered to the board this time around. There is some empty space labeled IDE3 and solder points that say 3GCard, which definitely deserve further investigation. The oddest thing they found was a button with no indication to its purpose. It looks like a good machine and we hope to see more Eee PC hacks in the future.

[via Engadget]

Making music with the Eee PC

Eliot — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:35:00 +0000

Create Digital Music has been watching the Asus Eee PC closely. The laptop’s portable nature and low price-cheaper than a turntable-have made them desirable to both producers and performers. CDM has collected links to many people that are figuring out how to leverage the lightweight rig. [Dan Stowell] put together a tutorial for SuperCollider, the real time audio synthesis engine. The machine is good for simple text based tracker software too. On the Windows side, a lot of software, like Guitar Rig, can be enabled with just a little display driver hacking. This really makes us wonder when we’ll see the first Eee PC keytar mod.

Touchscreen kit for Eee PC

Juan Aguilar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:15:00 +0000

We’ve featured hacks for the Eee PC 701 before, but nothing so easy as this touchscreen kit.

This kit includes everything needed: the touchpanel, a USB controller card, and the correct connectors. The touchpanel is placed inside the frame in front of the screen. The controller is plugged in line with the USB webcam. This mod can be completely installed in 9 steps, the hardest of which involves removing a few screws. This is great solution for first-time modders, but if you’re not afraid of a little solder and prefer a bit more challenge, check out jkkmobile’s original touchscreen hack. He even hints that he’s successfully added touch to his Eee 900 as well.