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Well, It finally has happened. The internet is chasing us everywhere so the kitchen needed a proper upgrade. This project of mine is about providing media, music and internet acces to our kitchen as it’s the centerplace of our small family and our small appartment. Small being the keyword here.
I should mention from the very start, this is not a project I built from scratch. I already had most of the parts by repurposing parts I gathered for a different project that I gave up on. Other than that, it’s just as much work and money spent as any project built from the ground up. Read on for details.
My wife used to keep her aging laptop on the kitchen table. Whenever she wanted to check her emails, find some recipe or buy something online she would turn it on and wait for Windows to load. Sleep wasn’t an option as the battery was dead and unplugging it would have erased the RAM. The power cable was in the way. The whole experience was even more cumbersome because our 1 year son needed frequent attention and any internet-related tasks were being interrupted a lot, then eventually forgotten. It was clear that even with a laptop at hand, things were’t easy. Besides, the space occupied by that laptop on the kitchen table was significant (the countertop area is too precious for that). And we have a wetwall in our kitchen that’s a bit oversized and from the first day we moved in (about a year ago) I knew something had to be done about that. So I wondered if I could fit a computer in there. And I did. Here’s the story.
I should mention from the very start, this is not a project I built from scratch. I already had most of the parts by repurposing parts I gathered for a different project that I gave up on. Other than that, it’s just as much work and money spent as any project built from the ground up. Read on for details.
My wife used to keep her aging laptop on the kitchen table. Whenever she wanted to check her emails, find some recipe or buy something online she would turn it on and wait for Windows to load. Sleep wasn’t an option as the battery was dead and unplugging it would have erased the RAM. The power cable was in the way. The whole experience was even more cumbersome because our 1 year son needed frequent attention and any internet-related tasks were being interrupted a lot, then eventually forgotten. It was clear that even with a laptop at hand, things were’t easy. Besides, the space occupied by that laptop on the kitchen table was significant (the countertop area is too precious for that). And we have a wetwall in our kitchen that’s a bit oversized and from the first day we moved in (about a year ago) I knew something had to be done about that. So I wondered if I could fit a computer in there. And I did. Here’s the story.
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We all have to pay attention to our wives, right? So she needed a PC with Internet access for recipes, e-mail, music and photo sharing. Maybe a few chat sessions but she’s too busy anyway for that. As our kitchen is so small we had to order custom-made furniture and it turned out very pretty (and expensive) so a new requirement kicked in: to be able to integrate perfectly without being obvious. I’m a professional graphic designer so this might be my requirement actually J. The input devices would have been a problem. Keyboards get dirty in a kitchen. They actually don’t belong there at all. So the only viable option was a touchscreen. She was reluctantly OK with that, she never used one before.
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As it is, Windows 7 is still the best option for her. We'll see.
The system specs are detailed in one of the steps. It's a Intel Atom ITX system. Yes, it runs flash. Tv channels are forbidden by my wife herself. She said that I'll starve to death if she catches HBO on that. :-)
Actually there are fridges already with built-in display, internet access and so. But since we're meeting here, I doubt any of us can afford one. :-)
Or you could do the same with a tablet, although it's a bit less elegant.
Thanks again for everything :D
You see, necessity is the mother of invention. Should my wife requested a Mass Effect 2 compatible setup with facial recognition, fancy speakers, 8Gb RAM and so on, I would have made everything possible to get closer to that.
Instead she barely visit a few websites a day, checks her Live e-mail account and the weather. That's about it. Her mobile phone pictures are downloaded via Bluetooth. USB connections are not really needed but are available in the cabinet under the screen. A webcam would have been useless as she never uses it. Don't get me wrong, your setup is great, I was considering a E-350 APU myself but I realised it would have been way overkill.
A better use for those money would have been a Toshiba GoFlex Satellite hard drive. That's a wireless-N, self-powered, 500Gb HDD. Put it anywhere around the router's range and you have a backup destination/cell phone storage/video and music stream provider no matter where you put it. That's what I'm waiting to be delivered.
I have a wireless bluetooth keyboard with mouse functionality built in that I haven't had use for in a long while so that will be perfect for this unit if I ever need to do anything more than a single touch interface will handle. One other slight variation I am adding is using a PicoPSU. The 80Watt one will suffice for this just fine. The E-350, though it's dual core and has a decent ATI card, only uses 18 watts. I believe it may be possible for it to go higher than that, but 80 watts is more than enough. I also modded the LCD controller panel to be powered off of the computer as opposed to requiring it's own power supply, I power everything by simply turning the computer on. I used my broken laptop's screen which is a 17" LED back lit, beautiful display. I believe it only uses about 20w. PicoPSU is nice for both saving power and the fact that it is completely silent. (For those who need some perspective on this, a 32" Sharp LCD TV can use up to 165W of power watching Digital TV channels. My touch screen, PC, etc will safely use less than 65w)
I don't think the webcam is exactly overkill. A programming friend of mine made a program that will allow my computer turn off the screen and conserve power, but when the webcam detects movement it powers everything back up. The screen isn't exactly in my kitchen, but on a wall right outside it. I have a hallway that comes from the bedrooms to the kitchen and this wall faces down the hallway on the edge of the kitchen entrance. So in the morning when I walk out of my bedroom to go make coffee, the screen will quickly power back up and I will be greeted by my appointments and news and such. I think that is a pretty cool feature for the $1.99 cost of a webcam. I also use Prawler so if I am on vacation and someone walks in front of the camera it will take photos every 500ms and instantly email them to me. So, God forbid, if someone broke in, they would have to go in that hall and I would get notice anywhere I am at to call the cops.
The mic is there for voice commands, and the speakers are for Pandora and such.
The Motherboard I got also has 2 USB ports that can charge Ipads and such even if the PC happens to be off. Those are going to be mounted under my kitchen cabinets so I can easily plug in my phone and what not if I'm needing to charge it.
Sorry, lots of typing. I wanted to explain in more detail the reasons for the decisions. I appreciate this guide though, it gave me the initial idea.
P.s. That program actually increased ALL performance on my Netbook. Between just jumping from one site to another, minimizing....EVERYTHING. Since it's all integrated it seems to help everything by going to 400mhz instead of 166mhz.
So here are the reasons:
1. A tablet has a small screen. No matter the brand. This one is 17".
2. A tablet has built-in OS, no software upgrades for the newt generation of OS'es while this one runs Win7 and expecting Windows 8. I can change the OS whenever I like with Linux or even OSX Leopard (Yes, I tried, it works on this hardware but it was slow)
3. The wife's used to Win7. No further explanations needed.
4. The tablet is not upgradeable. Meaning you're stuck with the hardware it features. This ITX Atom PC cand be replaced or upgraded with a SSD, faster RAM, etc.
Hardware specs are listed in the video description.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIjp8jPwr5s - Software Demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZEomYNIQX4 Hardware Demo
Thank you again claudiopolis for your inspiration. I couldn't have done it without you!
I'm glad you got inspired by my post. I hope many will as it's not that hard, especially if you have the cash to make your work easier (meaning ready-made touchscreen monitor, etc.)
Once again, congratulations. It looks great. How's your wife treating you post-Kitchen PC? :-) Mine is no different. :-D
Do you recommend any specific recipe RSS reeds. I've found a few on food.com and epicurious.
I'm looking into iTunes library sharing and adding some speakers so she can listen to her music while she cooks.
Unfortunately my touchscreen kit is natively serial and uses a serial to USB adapter so it won't wake from touch. I'm thinking about wiring up a proximity sensor to an old keyboard controller so when you walk up to it, it'll auto wake up.
Now I just need to find a skin for Plex that is touchscreen friendly :)