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323 Chapter 22: Top Ten Internet Netbook Resources ✓ My Dell Mini: (http://mydellmini.com) The source of all things related to Dell’s Mini line of netbooks. ✓ MSI Wind: (http://msiwind.net) News and information on MSI netbooks. ✓ NetbookTech: (www.netbooktech.com) More netbook news and commentary. ✓ Netbook User: (http://netbookuser.com) Netbook User is a news aggregator that pulls headlines from many popular netbook sites. No photos or frills; just the facts, ma’am. ✓ Portable Monkey: (http://portablemonkey.com) This blog’s author lives in Tokyo, Japan, so you find out what’s happening in Asia. Most net- books debut in Taiwan and Japan before appearing in the United States and Europe, so you get a sneak peek. ✓ Sammy Netbook: (www.sammynetbook.com) If you’re into Samsung netbooks, this site has everything you need. ✓ Trusted Reviews: (www.trustedreviews.com/laptops) This is a British computer review site that provides some of the best, no-holds barred reviews of netbooks on the Web. As you can see, there are a whole lot of Web sites devoted to netbook news and reviews — and I haven’t even come close to listing them all. For any netbook blog, check whether the author offers an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed or Twitter tweet. That way you can easily check whether new content has been added without visiting the full Web site. 30 521236-ch22.indd 32330 521236-ch22.indd 323 9/18/09 11:00:13 PM9/18/09 11:00:13 PM 324 Part V: The Part of Tens 30 521236-ch22.indd 32430 521236-ch22.indd 324 9/18/09 11:00:13 PM9/18/09 11:00:13 PM Chapter 23 Ten Cool Hardware Hacks In This Chapter ▶ Backlighting a keyboard ▶ Adding an internal GPS receiver ▶ Swapping in a touch screen ▶ Making an extended battery ▶ Modifying the case ▶ Hacking hardware without solder ▶ Adding a second memory card reader ▶ Turning a netbook into a picture frame ▶ Installing an external Wi-Fi antenna jack G ood, Igor. You’re just in time. (Cue high voltage electricity arcing through the air in a dark, dank, evil scientist’s dungeon lair.) The sub- ject is on the table, and I’m about ready to begin. Yes, I’m going to turn this mild mannered netbook into a . . . Bwah, ha, ha, ha! If you’re one of those mad scientist types who’s never happy with things as they originally came from the manufacturer, because you just know you can make them better, this chapter is for you. Here I supply the inveterate tin- kerer with ten (actually a few more than that, but who’s counting) hardware projects for modifying various models of netbooks. I absolutely have to throw one of those little bomb icons in here. Be fore- warned: Many of these projects require a steady soldering hand and a rudi- mentary knowledge of electronics. There’s a good chance you can turn your netbook into a brick if you mess up — and forget about a manufacturer honor- ing your warranty. With the disclaimers out of the way, please follow me down to the laboratory. Walk this way. (Even if you’re not planning on modding your netbook, it’s still fun to see what other people have done.) 31 521236-ch23.indd 32531 521236-ch23.indd 325 9/18/09 11:00:54 PM9/18/09 11:00:54 PM 326 Part V: The Part of Tens Add a Keyboard Backlight If you’re a touch typist who’s used to normal-size keys, using a netbook with a small keyboard can be a bit challenging — enough to make you look down at the keys every now and then. When the lights go out, it’s even worse — especially for hunt-and-peck typists. If you can’t see what you’re pressing, the typo count will be sky high. The first hardware hack in this chapter is installing a keyboard backlight inside the case. This provides a soothing glow between the key spaces, softly illuminating the keyboard (as shown in Figure 23-1) — kind of like having a nightlight inside your netbook. Popular Science has step-by-step instructions, using an Eee PC. The cost is under $15, and the work takes just a couple hours of your time. Check it out at www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-05/eee-pc-school-add- keyboard-backlight-under-15 Figure 23-1: Light shines up through the spaces between keys, back- lighting the keyboard. Add Internal GPS In Chapter 11, I tell you about using an external GPS receiver to turn your netbook into a nifty, nimble navigator. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could dis- pense with the cables or Bluetooth connections and forget about yet another accessory to carry around? Although a few netbooks are available with built-in GPS chips, most aren’t. However, with a little bit of hardware hacking, you can add GPS functionality to just about any netbook. 31 521236-ch23.indd 32631 521236-ch23.indd 326 9/18/09 11:00:54 PM9/18/09 11:00:54 PM 327 Chapter 23: Ten Cool Hardware Hacks Thanks to folks like Tom Beauchamp, adding GPS isn’t as hard as you might think. Tom bought a USB GPS receiver (shown in Figure 23-2) and engineered a way to fit it into his Dell Mini’s case. Tom shares instructions and photos with you in this informative forum post: http://mydellmini.com/forum/integrated-gps-on-my-mini- 9-t167.html Figure 23-2: This GPS receiver is ready to be installed in a Dell Mini. Swap in a Touch Screen When netbooks first came out, a lot of users were clamoring for touch screen models. About two years later, manufacturers are finally starting to release little laptops that give you a tablet computing experience. But in the mean- time, hardware hackers have been modifying existing netbooks right and left with touch panels — and if you’re a bit of a geek, you can too. A good place to start is with netbook guru and blogger JKKMobile. He’s been building touch screen Eee PCs since a few months after they first hit the streets. Check out this URL for video instructions: 31 521236-ch23.indd 32731 521236-ch23.indd 327 9/18/09 11:00:54 PM9/18/09 11:00:54 PM 328 Part V: The Part of Tens http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2007/12/asus-eee-pc-with- touch-screen.html From an engineering standpoint, it’s not that difficult to swap a default net- book screen with a touch panel. With a little searching through Google or through Web forums devoted to your netbook make and model, you should be able to find hacking instructions — or people offering customized models. Or you could just wait and buy a new touch screen netbook. Make Your Own Extended Battery Do you want to power your netbook with an extended-life battery but don’t want to shell out the bucks to purchase a new one? No worries, because those crazy French hackers over at www.blogeee.net show you how — using an MSI Wind netbook as shown in Figure 23-3. Here’s the URL: www.blogeee.net/2008/07/31/une-batterie-9-cellules-pour- msi-wind-u100-faite-maison Oops, I forgot to mention the tutorial is in French. There are enough photos to give you a pretty good idea of what the process is, but understanding the words that go with the pictures is always nice. If your French is as bad as mine (or even worse), head over to Google’s free translation service at http://translate.google.com. Type in the Web address and specify to translate from French to English. Mon dieu! The transla- tion is a bit fractured, but quite usable. Figure 23-3: A do-it- yourself extended battery. 31 521236-ch23.indd 32831 521236-ch23.indd 328 9/18/09 11:00:54 PM9/18/09 11:00:54 PM 329 Chapter 23: Ten Cool Hardware Hacks The original article on this how-to came from an MSI Web forum and is in English (but is missing the photos). Check it out at http://forums.msiwind.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1245 Mod the Case An interesting subculture of hardware hackers known as case modders has cropped up. These artistic hackers hack the outside of a computer — and sometimes the insides, too. In a nutshell, they swap the original computer case for something infinitely cooler. Modders have put computers in man- nequins, old radios, movie props, and just about anything you can possibly think of — do a Google search for case mods to see what I mean. The popularity of netbooks is focusing modders’ attention on the little lap- tops. For example, Figure 23-4 shows a sleek Eee PC crafted by a Japanese modder who ditched the original case and keyboard and turned it into a tablet PC. You can check out more photos at http://dvice.com/archives/2009/02/gutted_eee_pc_d.php Hack your Dell Mini I have to hand it to Dell. Whereas other manu- facturers treat the internals of their netbooks like state secrets, Dell happily provides the ser- vice manual online for free. If you’re a hardware hacker, you know how much easier it is to have the service manual available to find out about all the components and how they’re connected. For example, say you have a Mini 910 and want to swap out the built-in digital camera for something a bit better. No problem; just point your browser at http://support.dell.com/ support/edocs/systems/ins910/ en/sm/index.htm You get step-by-step instructions, includ- ing color photos. That’s what I call hardware hacker friendly — yet another reason why the Dell Minis are turning into a favorite of geeks. 31 521236-ch23.indd 32931 521236-ch23.indd 329 9/18/09 11:00:55 PM9/18/09 11:00:55 PM 330 Part V: The Part of Tens Figure 23-4: An Eee PC modded and transformed into a tablet PC. 166.957 No-Soldering Hardware Mods I’ve always thought that if you’re going to hack hardware, you need a cool hand with a hot soldering iron. Touching the wrong component with the sol- dering iron tip or blobbing solder in the wrong place is a recipe for disaster. I was pretty amazed when I saw the following tutorial on installing a touch screen in an Eee PC with no soldering involved — and for under $50, mind you. www.instructables.com/id/how_to_touchscreen_EEE_without_ soldering_/ The secret to holding everything together without the silver melty stuff is simply pieces of high-temperature tape. Wow, that opens up all sorts of pos- sibilities for soldering-phobics. Add a Second Memory Card Reader One of the defining features of a netbook is a built-in SD memory card reader. The reader allows you to boot different operating systems and transfer photos from digital cameras — on first-generation netbooks, it was essential for expanding storage on models that came with low-capacity solid state drives. 31 521236-ch23.indd 33031 521236-ch23.indd 330 9/18/09 11:00:55 PM9/18/09 11:00:55 PM 331 Chapter 23: Ten Cool Hardware Hacks But more is always better, so why not add another memory card reader? After all, you do have two or more USB slots. Your friends at Popular Science were so enamored with modding the Eee PC they ran a series of hardware hacking how-to articles. This article shows you how to install a microSD card reader (shown in Figure 23-5): www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-05/eee-pc-school-2-add- second-microsd-card-reader Figure 23-5: A netbook with a second memory card reader installed. There’s also another set of instructions for adding an old-school, Compact Flash (CF) card reader to another netbook brand at www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-05/add-versatile-compact- flash-boot-drive-inexpensive-laptop Turn a Netbook into a Picture Frame Digital picture frames were a big hit a few Christmases ago. The novelty has since worn off, and the prices have dropped, but that hasn’t stopped the hardware-hacking community from continuing to play around with the idea. There’s an old saying that if you give a bored hacker some old hardware, you’ll probably be surprised at what that hacker comes up with. A case in point is a hacker who goes by the name of Q, who took a cheap, first-generation Eee PC and turned it into a digital picture. His meticulously documented how-to is here: 31 521236-ch23.indd 33131 521236-ch23.indd 331 9/18/09 11:00:55 PM9/18/09 11:00:55 PM 332 Part V: The Part of Tens http://awooga.nl/the-eee-pc-digital-picture-frame Q also has some detailed information on hacking Dell Minis elsewhere on his site. Add an External Wi-Fi Antenna Jack For a tiny PC, most netbooks get surprisingly good Wi-Fi reception — especially considering the space available for an internal antenna is much less compared to a full-size laptop. However, there may be times when you want to boost reception with an external antenna — for example when war-driving, er, I mean, performing wireless security audits. Unfortunately, netbooks don’t come with PC card slots where the simple solution would be to purchase a Wi-Fi card that sup- ported plugging in an external antenna. But a hardware limitation can’t stop a determined hacker. In an excellent tutorial, Terry Porter shows you how to install an SMA jack into the back of an Eee PC (shown in Figure 23-6). When attached to an external antenna, signal strength for the built-in Wi-Fi card is considerably increased. Here’s the Web address for more information: http://wiki.portertech.org/doku.php?id=eeepc900-ext- antenna Swiss Army Knife Mod an Eee PC I love Swiss Army Knives — they feature tools of every manner and are ready for any job. And I have to give a tip of the hat to Torsten Lyngaas, who per- formed one big Swiss Army Knife of a modification to an Eee PC. He stuffed over $400 of additional hardware into the little laptop, including a USB hub, GPS with antenna, Bluetooth, card reader, flash drive, new power switch, FM transmitter, modem, touch screen, temperature sensor, and heat sink. The cool thing is that he provides detailed information about the parts he used and how he added them — complete with close-up photos. Check out his wiki at http://beta.ivancover.com/wiki/index.php/Eee_PC_Internal_ Upgrades 31 521236-ch23.indd 33231 521236-ch23.indd 332 9/18/09 11:00:55 PM9/18/09 11:00:55 PM [...]... Mail, 102 free e-mail, 101 102 Gmail, 101 Hotmail, 101 Thunderbird, 101 Web e-mail services, 102 Yahoo! 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