TomToms have been getting pretty cheap. We like ’em because they’re nice and hackable. This diy docking station was made from some etched PCBs, a bunch of male pin headers and a bit of hot glue.
handhelds hacks406 Articles
Pocket Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy (Wikipedia Style)
[PKM] decided to breathe new life into a Psion 5mx handheld. He slapped linux on it, added a wikipedia dump to a CD card, and voila: pocket wikipedia. It’s the closest thing to an actual hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy I’ve ever seen. So long and thanks for all the fish!
Make Your Own PS3 Laptop (part 1)
Let the how-to’s begin: [Ben Heck] put up the first installment of his how-to series on making your own PS3 laptop. Since this one is all about the tear down, you might dig the PS3 design even if you’re not interested in making your own portable.
Chumby Hacking By Bunnie
[bunnie] is one of the main people behind the Chumby, and even he can’t resist modding the things. He decided to outfit one with a larger LCD – using a stereo microscope to do the really fine pitch work – and a laser cutter to create a custom bezel for the finished piece. The new LCD is still a touchscreen and allows the Chumby to display 640×480 resolution over the stock 320×240. The mod requires a few parts, but the ultimate difficulty is caused by the surface mount connectors. If you’d rather have some software fun, you might want to check out [bunnie]’s Chumby wifi sniffer.
Spectrum ZX Laptop
[Jim] sent in this interesting laptop modding project. He started with a Spectrum ZX and a Toshiba Libretto 110. The libretto kept its brains, but the lower case and keyboard was replaced with the ZX hardware. Since both machines use matrix style keyboards (but different matrix layouts) he was able to create a passive adapter circuit to match things up.
Console On The Kindle (and More)
[Dev] sent in an interesting blog series on hacking Amazon’s kindle. [Igor] has documented getting a console, the bootloader and more. Even if you don’t have a Kindle to hack on, it’s a good overview of hacking similar devices. He used a cell phone cable to build his interface, but I suggest getting familiar with the MAX232 family of semiconductors for cheap rs-232 to ttl converters.
Hack-upgrade Your Magellan GPS
[dgoeken] sent in his Magellan 3100 hack. The device runs Windows CE 5.0, and mounts as a standard flash drive. Since everything is easily accessible, it’s just a matter of replacing and modifying the appropriate files. According to the GpsPassion message board, some are finding his guide useful for other models of Magellan GPS. So far he’s added a file manager, media player and upgraded the Points of Interest file. The site is slightly bandwidth challenged, so I’ve mirrored his hack process here.
