does anybody have an idea of a cool mod i can do w/ my powerbook g4 12"? i got it in pieces from a garage sale for cheap, and accidentally broke the cable for the superdrive, so i have lots of extra room in the case. just searching for ideas. (oh, yea, i almost forgot, it does not have hinges, i thing i threw one away when i was making it into a desktop) also, could i mod it to attach to a different battery, i know they all have had the same connector since the clamshell ibook.
Registered: 11/16/07
Posts: 1816
Loc: Florida, USA
I say build a tablet system out of it and hard wire a USB hub into where the super drive use to be located and install a wireless mouse/keyboard dongle so when you're at home you can just use a book stand and use it like a desktop.
what would be the best approach to make a tablet. i have seen all the tablet mods here, and am looking for something less expensive. also, if i connect an internal usb hub, it would render 1 usb port dead, right? also i don't think anything wireless works well through aluminum. and a battery, what would be the best way to approach that?
Yes, you would lose a port, but if you used a 4 port hub, you'd still be up 3. If you did decide to make an internal keyboard/mouse dongle, you'd be up 2 ports. Yes, the range may be limited due to being inside the powerbook, but range is fairly limited with those anyway. You may only have to be 8 feet away instead of 10. And you can get a digitizer from ebay for about $80-100.
[censored]" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.com/Touch-Screen-Panel-C...4#ht_3929wt_912 it is an overlay. i am only going to use this for internet and things like that, would this be usable?
Yes, it would work, but isn't going to offer you a high level of sensitivity. I'm not sure it would be sensitive enough for anything smaller than a fingertip. Add that and a keyboard app, you should be good to go.
leopard has a key board app built in. if you go to system preferences>international>input menu then click on keyboard viewer, and a flag will pop up in the top finder thing, click on that and the click show keyboard , it will give you an onscreen keyboard. if you can think of a more functional keyboard app, please do tell me.