Introducing the Netooloombox!

[krupted]

I finally have all the parts worked out and on order... i decided to start a worklog for this. ive wanted to do this for about 7 years now, its pretty cool i finally get the chance to do it.

The idea is to have a portable computer that i can bring anywhere and play music... battery powered, internet enabled and windows compatible. It will be partly a boombox, partly a media center computer, and partly a mini laptop/netop.

these are the only parts i have so far, like i said the rest is coming.

this shows where the speakers will go, theyre a little smaller diameter then i was originally thinking, but they are too good in every other aspect. theyre dayton D90's from partsexpress... 4ohm.

here you can see how well the 9" USB screen will fit. this is a Doublesight 9" USB displaylink monitor. 2 reasons i went with this- one, its 9" with a MUCH better resolution then your average 7" that has a stupid 800x480 screen (not supported by windows), and it runs off one usb power line. i will allow this screen to be pulled out on a long usb cord so you can use it like a netop on your lap, while the case sits on the floor or table

this shows how thin the screen is with the cover on. the cover i am going to hinge to the screen, and when you fold it out there will be a slim keyboard built into it (not the one in the pics, something more standard like). it will be lighter and thinner then any netop, the only catch is the usb cord but so what!

the other problem with the screen? its not a touchscreen. however, if you look here you see they actually have a stylus built in, so they are obviously planning on making a touch version we just dont know when. no problem, i ordered a touchscreen kit for an eeePC that should fit on this perfectly.

this kinda shows you how the netop will look. like i said, the keyboard will be much better then this one

25wX2 Tripath Amp from 41hz audio
Dayton full range speakers
mITX asus ION motherboard/ atom dual core
2gb ram
320GB notebook harddrive
160w programmable USB dc-dc controller
14.8v 8ah li-ion battery built in
5+ hours battery life at moderate speaker volume? it better be!

once the parts all get in, i plan on staying awake for 2 days straight getting all this together. the only part i should have to paint is the custom speaker grill im making... and the tray that needs to fit in the top of the toobox. it is my intention to drill my holes and build all this without messing up the original finish on the toolbox. we will see how that goes!

 

[cnealjr]

Looks like a cool project!

 

[DeFex]

you will have to put a LOT of damping/reinforcement on the inside of the metal or its going to sound very bad. you could use some sound deadening for cars (i believe one brand is "dynamat")

thats why you dont see many speakers in tin enclosures.

nice project though.

 

[krupted]

dynamat was my first thought, although i might go with something thinner...

the size of the 16" waterloo is way too perfect to pass up. an mITX motherboard fits in the bottom with 1/16 of an inch to spare! and the locking latch on the front if very rugged, overall this will be a crazy portable pc. its actually intended to replace my laptop- i have found that since laptops dont have handles on them, you still need to carry around a backpack just to haul them around in... what a pain! besides, i cant just up and replace my laptop motherboard when i want more power... this toolbox pc should be timeless, as it uses standard hardware.

still waiting on a $80 order from mouser (i can make 5 of these boxes now! ) and some stuff from minibox.com

 

[jackknife]

Are you 100% sure it's not a touchscreen? If so, what's the USB-connector at the rear for? Just for power? Have you tried connecting it to a PC via USB - do other devices show up in the device manager?
Some screens only work with a stylus and not with your fingers, like a graphics tablet (the usual tablet pcs from Toshiba and IBM come to mind, you can rest your hand on the screen while writing without messing anything up - these digitizers are actually of a higher quality than the finger-usable ones)
I can hardly think that a 500ma 5V USB connector would give enough power for this screen alone, seems a kinda strange desing to me.

Edit: I just read up about the monitor - USB for video? I pray not - the refresh rates of the screen might be to slow for video or gaming then...

 

[krupted]

mmmm, you have not been a user of displaylink monitors i see! i had the same fears, but there's a reason manufacturers like samsung are starting to roll out usb-only monitors. they work! the only drawbacks are no bios screens (which, someday we might see displaylink capable bios in mobo's which will solve that problem) and the extra cpu load you put on the system depending on the resolution your running.

but you dont need much cpu- it runs on a via c7 800mhz without issue. and theyre designed to handle video- the lag is unnoticeable. that usb port on the back is the ONLY port on the screen, it gets its power and video signal all from usb. this will allow me to just have one long tiny cable to tether to my base, so i can use the screen like a nettop.

and the stylus is just a dummy piece of plastic... i doubt thats what they would use if it were the real deal. it just looks like they had plans for a touchscreen model and quite possibly they just got held up on the touch part for some reason, but they still wanted to ship some screens anyway.

 

[shadowlord]

looks interesting
/subscribed

 

[Power5]

Do they make a narrower box? Seems like lots of wasted space beside the monitor. The smaller the more portable obviously.

Interested in your battery and how you connect it to the motherboard and stuff. Be sure to document the power connections very well. Not sure how a laptop connects to its PSU.

 

[krupted]

about the size- i might not even have enough room as it is! but for the screen, it only stays in the lid like that when i want to use it as a jukebox/radio or video games when i dont have a hdmi enabled tv around... and of course when you close it up for on the go. im selling my tabletpc to fund this, i plan on using as a laptop most of the time so the screen will be outside the box.

the motherboard will go on the bottom, but there will also be an a/c-d/c converter, a li-ion charger, and a dc-dc converter/shutdown controller... so all those will likely take up the same amount of area the motherboard does. i plan on double decking this stuff on top of the motherboard, that way the amp and batteries can sit on the other side away from the RFI noise.

you can see how small the amplifier is though! thats it in the top left corner. you also see how PERFECT the mITX motherboard fits. just 1/8" clearance all around, its like they designed it for this! as you can see the mailman brought some more goodies... i still only have about half the parts.

also, the speakers are going to need all of the air volume they can get. the overall size of the whole box is only 16"x7"x8" anyway, i think the box just looks bigger in the pics... its quite small! i will partition down the middle, so the right and left speakers get their own chambers. i will make a flat painted red tray to sit on top of all the electronics, and to hold a few switches and led indicators. and wifi antennas and hdmi ports. and headphone jack and 12v car power socket with the lighter socket, ill be able to use a male-to-male adapter and recharge dead batteries without even opening the hood of the cars! i have plans to make this project crazy-functional, and all the ports and controls will be in the top plate. the only things that will show on the outside will be the speaker grill and on the back will be an a/c power cord on a cord wrap.

anxious to get this going but i really cant start until i have almost all my parts. i need to make sure it all fits, ill definitely have to get creative.

 

[krupted]

new feature added to the project. ill hack the pcb out of this fm transmitter, and wire in a dpdt slide switch so i can go from ~100ft output to a couple miles at will

http://electronics-diy.com/store.php?sel=kits&sub=fm_transmitters

and add this circuit so i can piss off people that cant even see me-

and i have most of my parts in.

notice the hooks i will be using for an a/c cord wrap (below dvdrw). they are off my old vacuum cleaner, and will go on the back of the toolbox so i can easily wrap up the cord, and swing a hook down to pop the cord off in one move. finally i found some free recycled parts for this damn thing! build cost for the entire box will be almost exactly $1000. the power/battery system kills it, costing nearly $260 just to have the battery system... it is some serious amp-hours though, and over-kill on safety so im not too off-put by it. the battery pack itself cost $130.

ive been holding off actual fabrication so i can get all the parts together. ill probably start drilling holes this weekend. oh yeah, i dont have it in this picture, but HD RADIO is coming and will be built in! it looks like i will be able to run just the hd-radio itself too without the computer on, which i image would give me probably 24hrs+ on a charge... and thats for am/fm and hd radio.

also, look below the screen and you see an IBM tablet hinge. i am hell-bent now on making this little keyboard/touchscreen thing a tablet convertible.... clearly its going to be the hardest part of all this.

 

[drgnfang]

the other problem with the screen? its not a touchscreen. however, if you look here you see they actually have a stylus built in, so they are obviously planning on making a touch version we just dont know when. no problem, i ordered a touchscreen kit for an eeePC that should fit on this perfectly.

That's not a stylus. That's for supporting the monitor when not connected to the stand. Full details here: http://www.doublesight.com/product/?idx=53 If you want touch screen go with one of these http://www.mimomonitors.com/.

 

[krupted]

it most definitely is a stylus. it might be a dummy one, its just plastic, but it is the same shape as any stylus ive seen... much like a pen. ill post a full pic of it tomorrow.

the screen's circuit board is clearly designed for touch, mic and camera. even the case is molded to fit a camera in the top. this is just the first basic model they are selling, there is no doubt a touch version with camera will come out soon.

also, the 7" screens are terrible compared to the 9" with higher resolution. 800x480 isnt even fully compatible with windows, trust me i know because i have a 7" in my car. it sucks.

and, i did get the touchscreen kit in. it is a pulled part from an eeepc. it includes a tiny usb hub that can control up to 4 devices... and the best part is the touchscreen glass fits perfectly inside the case without any modification- further proving this screen is fully designed for touch it just hasnt come to market yet.

 

[drgnfang]

*sigh*

Yeah, it's not a stylus. I have the DS-90U (I agree about the 7" that's why I got the DS rather than the Mimo - the only difference [other than the resolution] is the color depth [9" has 18bit, 7" has 24bit]). It's an Easel Stand (from their page: "A convenient easel stand is tucking into the back of the Monitor to use when traveling."). It's not a stylus. Could you use it as one? Probably. But it is not a stylus. DS clearly does not intend for this to be used as a stylus, and having handled one, it would make a pretty bad one. It's to "chunky".

To make things easier, here is a clipping from Page 5 of the DS-90 user manual:

EDIT: On a completely different note - where did you get the touch screen from? That sounds like a sweet package.

 

[krupted]

dealextreme was the website i found the touchscreen package.. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18490 the only tricky part is the usb port on the DS is soldered right to the pcb inside... so it looks like we gotta unsolder that first, tap the pcb into the usb hub and then somehow mount the usb port back in its place but not hooked to the pcb- rather it needs to be wired to the usb hub. that way it would just be one cable still for the screen and touch function... if you wanted, you could also add a usb camera and sound, because its just a normal hub with that touch kit.

they might call it an easel stand now, but i can guarantee you that when the touch model of this screen comes out that thing is gone and in its place will be a stylus. they just didnt want people to realize a way better version of this screen is coming, they had to put something in that hole... you dont need an easel stand when they supply a real stand anyway!