How to make a tablet pc from an old laptop

Check out my other projects:
Xbox Hackintosh casemod
And
DIY Spy phone



In this project i used an old Fujitsu Siemens life book S series laptop. It has got a 1 Ghz processor and 256 Mb ram, (not sure about the graphic card but i know its between 8-32 Mb). In this instructable i will show how to do tablet pc the easy way(and the cheapest) , and how to do it hard way (including "touch" screen etc). I personaly did it the hard way about half way and run out of materials and  i decided to finish it the easy way.


In this project you will need: 

1.Old laptop
2. Soldering iron
3.some wires
4. Basic tools to open up the laptop

And if you are doing the hard way you will also need:

6.Lots of straight plastic
7.Something to melt down the plastic
8. And for the touch screen i would have used device called Minio Xi (look from google)(and buy from Ebay)  . It is mostly used to make projektor sceen "touch" screen. This device uses infrared to map out where the pen is moving on the screen. I will talk about it later in the quide.

The skils you will need to make this are:

1. Soldering
2. Plastic soldering
3. Basic knowledge how things work
4. Lots of patience

And of course for the hard way you will also need:

5.Problem solving skills
6.Serious knowledge how things work
7.Way to know how to make "special" tools
8. Huge amount of patience :D

And sorry for my English its not my main language but i will try to make it readable :D

Step 1: Tearing up the laptop

This is just basic demolition of the laptop.
Decide wich parts you will use in your project and wich you will modify.

Comments

[mkarvonen]

if you would like to do this but dont want windows or apple software try this http://www.android-x86.org/
it is android made for pc. you can install it from cd or via usb.
this works best and its light to use

[epicawesomeeli]

My panosonic toughbook has a touchscreen built in. It doesn't have fans though, it is supposed to radiate heat through the keyboard( which now would be the screen). If a screen was there would it get in the way of the heat radiating out?

[mkarvonen]

i think it should be fine, but the screen might get very hot. i suggest that you find some free spots from the side panel of the computer and drill small holes to allow the air to escape from inside the computer.

[epicawesomeeli]

Should I install anew fan?

[mkarvonen]

If there is room. but if not, hope for the best.

[epicawesomeeli]

Nice my panosonic toughbook Hawaii touchscreen function built in, but it is like2" thick

[wombat_boy]

Is it possible to make it a touchscreen tablet?

[mkarvonen]

yes it is. check the links above.

[jlawrie]

I found 14.1" Capacitive touch screen kit here:

http://kingtouch.en.made-in-china.com/product-group/LMVmWwobnARS/-HOT-Capacitive-Touch-Screen-catalog-1.html

It is however a Chinese supplier but after exhausting all of the USA Suppliers I was refereed to them by a company called North American Semiconductor.

I will be posting my Tablet build after i get all of the other components collected. Am having a hard time finding a way to Encase it all after.

Like how this guy did his, but i just don't know...

http://carbontablet.blogspot.ca/

[mkarvonen]

you could also make the casing out of fiber class. its easy to mold and easy to use and very light.

[instructamaker]

Could I use a 2009 dell computer

[mkarvonen]

yes.

[jkirby3]

Great

[Super Cronk]

I've started planning recently to try this out with an old laptop of mine. I've been trying to figure out how i would make the case for it. Where did you get the plastic that you were going to use?

[Super Cronk]

I also have a question for anyone with extensive knowledge of computer hardware and networking. one idea I'm curious about is linking two laptops together to share processing power. I've heard in the past about using old computers to build a "super computer" by linking them together and using software so that they pool their processing abilities. One thought I had on this is to use a second laptop to connect to the tablet to be used as an external keyboard that would also increase the processing power and file storage. Any ideas?

[mkarvonen]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_cluster maeby this link will explain something... i once saw a one post that some dude had something like 10 ps3 wired together to be somekind of supercomputer.... i have to try myself.
The plastic is from old computer lcd monitors back panel. nothing too classy but it does the job. But i suggest to make the case from fiber class. its very easy to use and its solid.

[pantherman14]

I was looking into doing this project and was wondering how to integrate an accelerometer into this and use it similar to how it is used on tablets and cells phones.
I have been trying to look into this and there seems to not only be a lot of options with accelerometers so what type would work the best

[Markie BOYY 15]

so were does the the Minio Xi come into play here..that's the only thing i have a question about

[GameNox]

Really cool! It would be cool if you made a custom OS so whenever you touch a textbox, an on-screen keyboard pops up like a IPad. But, I guess that ruins the idea of a tablet PC!

[ghmagm]

Damn it, haha i took apart a old laptop, and was useless afterwards... I COULD HAVE DONE THIS :'S

[static]

I understand you said English isn't your first language, but for future reference you dismantle donor equipment to be used in a project, not demolish them, but we understood what you meant.

Nothing more than something fun to with what you own, and evidently aren't using for it's original purpose. There will always be those who don't understand that. and question why your have done something.

[Burnsides]

Hello Christmas break project! :D

[The Wheeler]

Why not just leave it a friggin laptop??

[arempert]

When you have really old, outdated laptops that have literally 0 resell value and are essentially worthless, this looks a bit more attractive than you'd think. <:

[mkarvonen]

old school

[The Wheeler]

Seems like a waste of time unless the laptop is thrashed.

[Noahtoyou]

if i asked you to make me one how much would one be about?

[NefyA]

How do we add touch Screen to the Easy way? :) x

[BlueSuneLIght]

Very nice!

I have a plan to do basically the same once my laptops screen dies,

(my laptops screen is almost dead it is only working thanks to a ice-cream stick)

I plan to just strip it down and mount it on the back of one of my monitors (might do it to my touchscreen), and extend the power and volume buttons to the front.

[mkarvonen]

that is a good idea. i once build whole computer inside my old lcd screen. i used the same kind parts as i used in xbox hackingtosh casemod

[BlueSuneLIght]

Ah nice, I had a look at your Xbox hackintosh it makes me want to make my own

[Brad I.]

Nice instructable. I did this a few years ago with an old Dell d600.

Here are a few tips that might help:

1. Since it is an old laptop, it's going to be slow. I recommend running Linux for speed. If you need windows, load virtual box or vmware player on top of Linux and run it there. Far far faster!

2. The thing is going to be heavy, so ditch your old dead battery. - also, I dont recommend prying open a battery, those things can explode if you puncture one of the cells.

3. Make sure things work BEFORE you start. If wifi doesn't work before, it definitely won't work once you convert to tablet.

[mkarvonen]

That linux build would be good but the laptop runs xp just fine.

2. dead battery wont explode. AND i think i know how to use my tools safely

3. i try things BEFORE and try to fix them in the process so they will work AFTER.

[LeelaKrishna]

try android

[Brad I.]

I think you took my post as directed toward you and possibly critical of your method. That wasn't my intention. It was just a few of my findings for OTHERS who may try it.

[efdat]

thanks, yr info was very important to us

[JordanPrime]

Instead of using the on screen keyboard you could use a blue-tooth mouse and keyboard build into 1. These are very small and i think they would work great

[mkarvonen]

http://www.mytrendyphone.fi/shop/eastar-elive-kb250-47899p.html i was thinking about this but its expensive. that could also be very good with media computer

[LeelaKrishna]

You could acutally get some for as cheap as 10 dollars
just gotta search

[JordanPrime]

This one is a bit cheaper, http://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-CANDYBOARD-Wireless-Keyboard-900319/dp/B0041JTH7I.

But they are still expensive.