You know the old adage, the more things change they stay the same. Well, today, I’m having one of those feelings.
After playing with the HP Mini 1000 for a few days, I’m quite convinced it’s power is on the right course. However, for development it’s not going to happen. I’ll need another machine. That’s fine. Netbooks aren’t intended to be used as primary notebooks word is. But there’s more to it. When I’m programming, I’d really like my seconday machine to be better at quick notes than quick blogging or quick emails. That’s just me.
And here’s the rub. In terms of notetaking, I don’t really need the physical keyboard. A very good on screen keyboard will do just fine and touch combined with pen input would win me over. Alternatively, if I need to I can use a keyboard on another computer. Sound familiar? Yeah, I’m dreaming again of my NEC LitePad Tablet PC and ShareKMC working in combo.
Unfortunately, the LitePad is long gone.
However, as I look at the HP Mini case, I’m wondering if it would be possible to make my own slate from the Netbook. Can I disconnect the display and flip it around so it sits on the keyboard? I’d need portrait mode so further I’m not sure if I can force the graphics driver to display in another orientation.
There’s the issue of a digitizer too, of course. At first I thought it might be possible to place an InPlay WriteSense capacitive/touch digitizer all on top of the existing display, but I’m not sure if that’s possible. I don’t think InPlay is going for the aftermarket.
If all of this worked, the weight and form factor would be different than the original LitePad. It would be heavier and a bit smaller in width and height though about double the thicknes. Liveable. The nice parts would be that it would have an updated processor, the Atom N270 running at 1.6GHz, more memory, and longer battery life. Even more liveable.
What do you think?
The reality is that a DIY project like this is not practical yet. Maybe I’ll run into someone at CES that can help me figure out how to make something like this a reality. I can dream can’t I?
I was thinking the same thing. I bet a netbook slate would be a great device to have around. The until yesterday or the day before, I had only seen homebrew projects like your suggesting for doing it, then this came up on one of my blogs (I think it was Engadget): http://www.aeeeris.com/
Its a 3rd party bezel that has space for a reversed display and a touchscreen.
Seems like a good idea to me. The problem with a device like this would be the tiny 7inch touch screen (which I guess isnt really that tiny) and the resistive touchscreen, which I guess is also able to be overcome.