Project: Macbook Tablet

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

Kinwa91; the shorting of the pins is to do with the connector for the keyboard/trackpad/powerbutton:

Where the green pins are for the power button and the red pins for the usb host connection (for the keyboard and trackpad), you would short the two pins using a low-value resistor (100-470 Ohm, having a multimeter would come in handy here). I opted for a quick and nasty option myself. Basically I checked the option to reboot on power failure (as a backup) and I created a "sleep switch", that outs the Maclet into sleep mode when I insert a headphone jack into the socket. What I found was that the sleep sensor magnet was positioned within the casing just beside the headphone jack and after finding that out, I plastic welded the one from the top case into the side of a headphone jack. Plug it in and presto the maclet goes into sleep mode and if it ever runs out of power I simply plug it in and the power recovery mode turns on :)

[MacG1110]

Perhaps this?

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/294856290/FUJITSU_13_3_inch_7_wire.html

[kinwa91]

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/306194550/4_Wire_Resistive_Touch_Screen_13.html

This one seems to have the correct aspect ratio and the right size. Could this work?

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

Okay, looking at the first one (the 7 wire) I don't think the aspect ratio is correct on that one. The second one however the 13.3" 16:10 screen, those dimensions look just about damn perfect and I think they're probably almost exactly the dimensions I have (give or take a few mm). The MOQ looks to be one piece as well, but email the supplier and check the MOQ and if they have mac OSX drivers (if you're working with a mac).

Nice find and I think you might beat my price too :)

[MacG1110]

Okay, looking at the first one (the 7 wire) I don't think the aspect ratio is correct on that one. The second one however the 13.3" 16:10 screen, those dimensions look just about damn perfect and I think they're probably almost exactly the dimensions I have (give or take a few mm). The MOQ looks to be one piece as well, but email the supplier and check the MOQ and if they have mac OSX drivers (if you're working with a mac).

Nice find and I think you might beat my price too :)

Well the drivers may not be too important

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/drivers/itmtouchbridge.html

[kinwa91]

man, you totally owned Axiotron's Modbook! :laugh:

[MarcO-TAB]

Hi, I've seen your project on your blog and I was verry inteerested in what you are doing.

I would like to know if you think it is possible to do the same on a MacBook Pro Unibody 15" ?

I had already seen Axiotron's Modbook but it is so expensive that's why I am verry interested by your work.

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

It's perfectly possible to do on a larger macbook, but you would need to find a larger touchscreen. I would how ever note that the larger touchscreen panel might add a considerable amount of weight to the macbook given the glass. You would probably have more room to house the usb touch driver however, I currently use the vacant DVD drive bay as I wouldn't have a great deal of room otherwise.

You'd certainly need a decent cutting disk to get through the macbook pro top case and you may need to account for how thin the material is compared to the plastic unibody housing.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I know I commented in IRC, but just wanted to say again, congrats on the success of this mod & the recognition you've received Enigma.

I'm surprised Neowin didn't put it on front page themselves.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I'm surprised Neowin didn't put it on front page themselves.

I thought they did at some point, back when it was nearing completion?

EDIT: Yup, they did.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Oh nice, must have missed it with my exams at the time

[swimkid]

i had this crazy idea while i was reading the part when u were having trouble with the sleep option. i kno that uve already solved this for urself, but would taking the sleep button out of an ipod/iphone and sumhow routing it into the thing work?

just a question i thought id ask n see wut u think.

[nerdman]

It's perfectly possible to do on a larger macbook, but you would need to find a larger touchscreen. I would how ever note that the larger touchscreen panel might add a considerable amount of weight to the macbook given the glass. You would probably have more room to house the usb touch driver however, I currently use the vacant DVD drive bay as I wouldn't have a great deal of room otherwise.

You'd certainly need a decent cutting disk to get through the macbook pro top case and you may need to account for how thin the material is compared to the plastic unibody housing.

Can you provide me with some information or a link on where I can purchase a touchscreen overlay? This is assuming you are using an overlay, but if you are bought a new screen then I would still like a link. I am thinking of trying this myself.

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

Well the drivers may not be too important

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/drivers/itmtouchbridge.html

Let me know how you go with those ones, I only ever used my manufacturer drivers. If they work well enough I might give them a crack and see if they can work with this screen :)

I know I commented in IRC, but just wanted to say again, congrats on the success of this mod & the recognition you've received Enigma.

I'm surprised Neowin didn't put it on front page themselves.

Thanks man, really appreciated :D I was really shocked at the number of hits my page got over this whole thing, I'll have to pick my next project carefully.

i had this crazy idea while i was reading the part when u were having trouble with the sleep option. i kno that uve already solved this for urself, but would taking the sleep button out of an ipod/iphone and sumhow routing it into the thing work?

just a question i thought id ask n see wut u think.

Well the sleep/on/off option is fairly complicated, but you have given me an idea of what I can do about a power button. I'm going to try and get hold of the Home button "([])" from a white iphone and drill a hole in the top case for it and then wire it up to the on/off switch with a 100ohm resistor. It's not really a necessity but I think I like the way it looks in my minds eye, so we'll see how I get on with that after exams are over. Thanks for the idea swimkid.

Can you provide me with some information or a link on where I can purchase a touchscreen overlay? This is assuming you are using an overlay, but if you are bought a new screen then I would still like a link. I am thinking of trying this myself.

The information can be found here:

The touch screen itself was purchased from the ebay user Race-Buy, at the time they were regularly selling touch screen products. At this time it appears they are no longer selling the items, but they do still come up from time to time on ebay for the same kind of price I paid with other sellers. The item in question is a 13" 16:9 touch screen overlay with a USB host controller, I did a quick search of ebay and I didn't see any touch screens of that size right now (a few larger ones though).

EDIT: haha! I found the old auction..

http://cgi.ebay.com/13-16-9-USB-Panel-Kit-Set-add-Touch-Screen-Function-/320583074097?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item4aa43d8131

Hopefully you guys can see that too! It looks like they only stopped selling in late September, damn.

The screens are sold by online stores, but at higher cost though. EETI is one of them, but I too never found a way to buy from them. Top Touch was another, but I couldn't find one in the size I needed.

I wish you luck in finding a new provider or using the ones listed above and let me know how you get on with the project :)

[nerdman]

I did find a USB screen overlay for a dell mini, but since I have a 14.1"screen that will not work. Finding the screen might be the hardest part of it.

[nerdman]

I can't thank you enough for that ebay link. I was that close to giving up completely.

[nerdman]

Posting again... Do you think a touch overlay bigger than my screen could be calibrated to work with the smaller screen aside from the fact that it might not fit into the existing computer frame? They don't make one for a 16:10 14.1" screen.

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

There is a link for Alibaba a few pages back, they might have the size you're looking for. You can use a larger screen as long as you calibrate it I'm sure, but I'd still say make sure it fits the frame.

[gtrnaisf]

do you know if the screen you bought will fit a macbook air?

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

I honestly couldn't say sorry, but I highly doubt it. The Macbook air is simply too thin, you might end up having to mate the screen flush with the edges and that's not a fun prospect. In the end you'll have to do some measurements when you find a glass/film screen or simply find a film/film touch panel.

[xthakila]

I am actually building something similar to yours but trying to make it even thinner. Hopefully slim it down by a cm maybe more.

Also I am going to try and not use any of apples housing. Going to try and custom make the whole thing.

1. I was very curious about the reasons behind your choice of a resistive screen instead of a capacitive screen.

2. Why not use a capacitive screen instead of a resistive one? Was the price difference between them that much?

3. Won't a capacitive screen allow for better touch sensitivity? I understand that resistive screens are in some ways better but for a touch only tablet won't a capacitive screen make for better on screen typing?

4. Also what did you use to make the housing for the screen?

[xthakila]

Sorry about the double post

I was also wondering if this would be a good fit as a touch screen in terms of size?

I think the Aspect Ratio is 16:9 as it is wide screen.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/TouchSystems/TouchScreen/Solutions/ProductCatalog/?PC_7_RJH9U52308F8102RKCHBJT2831_nid=1HN58Z36PMgsVH30Q8PS7XglDV3HLNZV6Mbl

Also what are your thoughts on a carbon fiber housing vs a Plexiglass housing

[edocronian]

Kinwa91; the shorting of the pins is to do with the connector for the keyboard/trackpad/powerbutton:

Do you have the full pin out for this socket? I don't have the equipment to properly check beyond which one is +5v. I'm at early planning on a digital DJ flight case with the macbook board built in and having the extra 2 usb ports available without an external hub would be beyond fantastic.

Thanks

PS Love the tablet. The sleep magnet trick is absolute genius.

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

I am actually building something similar to yours but trying to make it even thinner. Hopefully slim it down by a cm maybe more.

Also I am going to try and not use any of apples housing. Going to try and custom make the whole thing.

1. I was very curious about the reasons behind your choice of a resistive screen instead of a capacitive screen.

2. Why not use a capacitive screen instead of a resistive one? Was the price difference between them that much?

3. Won't a capacitive screen allow for better touch sensitivity? I understand that resistive screens are in some ways better but for a touch only tablet won't a capacitive screen make for better on screen typing?

4. Also what did you use to make the housing for the screen?

...

Sorry about the double post

I was also wondering if this would be a good fit as a touch screen in terms of size?

I think the Aspect Ratio is 16:9 as it is wide screen.

http://solutions.3m....XglDV3HLNZV6Mbl

Also what are your thoughts on a carbon fiber housing vs a Plexiglass housing

1) The reasoning behind the resistive screen was to see just how cheaply the alteration could be done in this case A$50, I may upgrade later if I find a screen with mac drivers

2) It really all came down to price and the fact that I'm a uni student :p a capacitive screen was up to $100-150 and I just didn't have that money to throw around at that point

3) Capacitive will certainly make things easier for typing, but probably not for drawing without a capacitive stylus or digitiser

4) The housing for the screen is the normal macbook parts (brackets/screws), the only extra material in there is the door stop material that stops the screen rubbing on the casing.

As to the screen, the one you have found is:

(Outer Dimensions)

W: 298.50mm x H: 194.70 mm

(Viewable)

W: 284.53 mm x H: 180.98 mm

And the one I have is:

(Outer Dimensions)

W: 299mm x H: 195mm mm

(Viewable)

W: 288.88mm x H: 181.6 mm

So they are pretty close, your active and viewable margins will be smaller than mine, I had some minor overlap to use at the edges. Using Cf has a housing would work, but unless you can law CF or Fibreglass yourself, I don't suggest it.

Do you have the full pin out for this socket? I don't have the equipment to properly check beyond which one is +5v. I'm at early planning on a digital DJ flight case with the macbook board built in and having the extra 2 usb ports available without an external hub would be beyond fantastic.

Thanks

PS Love the tablet. The sleep magnet trick is absolute genius.

Unfortunately I don't have the full pin out for the plug, I would have done if I had gone through with the original plan. You can probably trace it from the keypad to the cable:

Let me know how you get on :)

[6502]

this link contains the link for the pinout of the topcase (male that plugs to this)

http://pinoutsguide.com/Inputs/apple_macbook_keyboard_pinout.shtml click here

I know the power on pin is different from the picture above with green and red dots but it works for me