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Tuesday Mac Mods

Posted by pudge on from the all-i-have-is-a-roll-of-duct-tape dept.

Jeff Paradiso writes "If you want a Mac tablet make it! Using an original iBook, a touch screen from Troll Touch Touchscreen, a bigger Hammer, and a heat gun you can make it. Kids don't try this at home." Will this work with Inkwell? And Riscx writes "Thought a few of you would like to see puter modifications I did to a Mac G4. Enjoy." Mmmm, blue.

30 comments

  1. Black on Grey by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 3, Funny


    Friends don't let friends use black text on a grey blackground. Sure it looks cool, but you have to read it, too. Reminds me of the spaceship from one the HitchHiker's books with black text on black labels on a black surface! Cool! Undriveable!

    --

    --
    $tar -xvf .sig.tar
    1. Re:Black on Grey by mkelley · · Score: 1

      according to the source:

      BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF"

      --

      m.kelley
      life is like a freeway, if you don't look you could miss it.
    2. Re:Black on Grey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He means the Blue Ice G4 mod page, not the iBook-to-tablet mod page.

    3. Re:Black on Grey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you need new glasses, I can read it fine . . .

  2. USB Cable on the Tablet by big_oaf · · Score: 1

    He needs to hide it. Go internal and solder it to the MB. It just looks fugly sticking out there.

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    -- My hovercraft is full of eels.
    1. Re:USB Cable on the Tablet by Jeff+paradiso · · Score: 1

      the usb is hard to get to with a cable and i did not want to kill the mother BM yet . :)

  3. nice by tuanjim_2001 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I have to admint that this is very nice. Some ideas on improvement. First on the velcro, plastic welding. Obviously once you get this finished od the welding. Hopefully it wouldn't completly trash everything. Second and previously mentioned the ugly USB cable. Yes soldering it to the MB would work. That should take care of that. Third, a paint job to get rid of those unsightly plazstic welds and make it less obvious on what you did. Totally useless but it would make it quasi-professional looking. Keep up the good work.

    --
    "If a quarter is two bits, then a dollar's a byte." -R Deric Miller
    1. Re:nice by JabberWokky · · Score: 3, Insightful
      If you read a little bit of the text, the velcro is there because he is still working on it - doing things like routing the USB cable inside the case. He says when he is done, the velcro will disappear, and the case will be sealed.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    2. Re:nice by Jeff+paradiso · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I am woriking on cleening it all up. I dont know if i have the skill to put the usb to the MB kinda hard to get to the pins with a cable.

    3. Re:nice by tuanjim_2001 · · Score: 1

      Ok I'll be the first to say that I don't know anything about iBooks. But if it is straight pin A to socket A on USB, you could just hack off the connectors and solder it down real good. Yes google would be good with this but I'm at work now and can't justify more time on the net.

      --
      "If a quarter is two bits, then a dollar's a byte." -R Deric Miller
    4. Re:nice by Jeff+paradiso · · Score: 1

      I still need the usb port for other stuff so i hv eto keep it

  4. Sweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Both are totally kewl ideas, really sweet looking and ingenious they would take there systems to the next/higher level. Really like the iBook tablet idea, how much would you charge to do my new 14" iBook!?

    1. Re:Sweet by Jeff+paradiso · · Score: 1

      email me and we can talk about it ... jeffp@thefreaks.com

  5. apple ghetto by brarrr · · Score: 3, Funny

    my favorite thing about the little apple ghetto we have here, is that there is little/no slashdot effect for sites like these.... finally i can read the news the day it comes up

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    to email me: take my /. handle and append .net preceded by charter.
  6. this looks like a job for... by zephc · · Score: 2

    InkWell!

    This guy needs to upgrade to OS X and try InkWell tech on there =D

    --
    "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
    1. Re:this looks like a job for... by Jeff+paradiso · · Score: 2, Informative

      I am getting a rom for the touch screen soon so I can use it with OSX but Ink well only work with a Wacom tablet.

    2. Re:this looks like a job for... by RevAaron · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I wish InkWell would work with more. :( There's no reason that it wouldn't work with *all* Macs running OS X, I'm very disapointed in Apple's restrictions on InkWell. One more step pushing me away from Apple and toward a better future. After all, InkWell is derived from the Newton OS 2.x handwriting recognizer, which ran on 20 MHz ARM610, 25 MHz ARM710 and 162 MHz SA110 CPUs at a very good speed.

      I'd probably attempt to convert my iBook2 into a tablet like one of the authors of one of those links did, but without InkWell, there's really no motivation for me to do so. I don't think there is any other usable HWR for OS X, OS 9, or even Linux/PPC. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to stick with my original plan- to sell my ibook and Jornada 720 and buy an OQO when they come out!

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    3. Re:this looks like a job for... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blame moronic developers. InkWell should work with everything, if the program developer's followed Apple's guide on such things.

  7. prices?? by EccentricAnomaly · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm too lazy to call.... does anyone have any pricing information on any of the touchscreen macs or add on kits... how much does the price of a mac go up to add a touchscreen?

    If it's more than $99 I think I'll just stick to a graphics tablet..

    --
    There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
    1. Re:prices?? by EccentricAnomaly · · Score: 2

      jeesh... I'm a troll for wondering how much touch screesn cost? the web site doesn't have any prices and I can't call from work...

      I though someone is slashdot land would have called and found out..

      --
      There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
  8. What would bug me... by stoney27 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From the pictures I see finger prints all over the screen. I don't know if you can see them when you are using the tablet. But that is one thing I can't stand is finger prints on a screen that I am trying to read from.

    So I would need a screen that would not pick up the finger prints as easily.

    -S

    --

    It is said that a child learns wisdom from the parent,
    but the truly wise parent learns joy from the child
    1. Re:What would bug me... by Jeff+paradiso · · Score: 1

      the prints are from the flash when you use it you can't see them

  9. Predicting the future by ethersalamander · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wait for the cease and desist letter from Apple. If it comes, then we all know that the iSlate is due for imminent release.

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    --
    Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Given enough time, I'll become either very strong or very dead.
  10. Nice But... by beswicks · · Score: 1

    I really wish that apple would build this...

    Its a shame that technology isn't as cutting edge as peoples dreams...

  11. Re:Tuesday Nads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are truly a shining example and a tribute to the human race. God Bless You.

    Absorbeo abutor bardus!

  12. Pretty Nice. . . alot cheaper than the Gemini. . . by DansnBear · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I work for United Cerebral Palsy and I have the oppurtunity to see the latest in augmentative technology first hand. The ironry of this article right now is that i am writing this response from a modified iBook right now that a company sent me to demo. This project is extremely similar to this Gemini made by AssistiveTech. (http://www.assistivetech.com/p-gemini.htm) Basicly, they take a revision 2 or 1 iBook, and retrofit it with a touch screen, completely contained inside of the original case. . . I was suprised, because mosst augmentative devices are speciality products, designed to preform the task (i.e. - verbal comunication, speech therapy. . . ) where as the Gemini contains all the software to do this, plus, it's a full blown mac. It looks like it was ment to have the touchscreen in it from the begining. The only thing I dont like about it is the $6,500.00 price tag. . . oh well, at least I have a week more with it before I have to send it back to them.

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    -= Who are The Headlocks? =-
  13. Re:Pretty Nice. . . alot cheaper than the Gemini. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Awesome! Thanks for the link. Send it back? That sucks, maybe it could get lost in the mail(?) ;-) Ohh well wish you the best, thanks again for sharing the info!