Thread
Engadget: Custom-Built Apple IIgs Laptop
Engadget has a story about Ben Heck who has built an Apple IIgs laptop using an Apple IIgs logic board and some other parts for the chassis.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/14/ben-heck-outdoes-himself-again-with-the-iigs-laptop/
Looks really nice IMO. :b&w:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/14/ben-heck-outdoes-himself-again-with-the-iigs-laptop/
Looks really nice IMO. :b&w:
I was just on my way over here to post that.It is very cool. I also don't get the blue LEDs though, surely a green or red one would be more appropriate for a machine of that era... Although, absolutely everything electronic seems to feature blue LEDs these days, even my electric toothbrush has a blue LED on it bright enough to guide aircraft in with.
The IIgs had most of the common options built-in (it's not like a IIe). Besides, they added two cards to this machine if you look at the pictures. One for memory, and the second I forget (CF adapter?). They also left the drive connector open, so that you could access media.
I wouldn't mind knowing how he hooked the monitor up to the motherboard. From the looks of those photos it looks like he used the composite video output instead of the analog RGB, because it looks really bad.... though that could just as easily be the camera doing that.
Otherwise, that's a pretty hot looking case.
Otherwise, that's a pretty hot looking case.
Yeah, SCART is a european thing...
But there are TV's in North America(and other countries) that do accept analog and digital RGB... they're just not as common.
I've got one, but the TV uses a weird connector... looks like an internal SCSI or IDE hard drive connector. I need to get some cables made so I can take advantage of the Analog RGB signals from several of my older game systems as well as the IIgs and Amiga....
My TV is a Sony XBR that was made in the late 80's. I picked it up broken for $5 at a thrift and shelled out about $150 to get it repaired. Big honking 25" Trinitron set.
But there are TV's in North America(and other countries) that do accept analog and digital RGB... they're just not as common.
I've got one, but the TV uses a weird connector... looks like an internal SCSI or IDE hard drive connector. I need to get some cables made so I can take advantage of the Analog RGB signals from several of my older game systems as well as the IIgs and Amiga....
My TV is a Sony XBR that was made in the late 80's. I picked it up broken for $5 at a thrift and shelled out about $150 to get it repaired. Big honking 25" Trinitron set.
I have an SCSI card and a 1MB Apple RAM card in my IIgs, it works just fine for me as is (mostly just play games, the SCSI just makes it easier to dump images to it to convert to floppies).
That laptop looks very nice, the only thing I would be worried about is how the keyboard actually works. Is it a real laptop I didn't notice a battery there anywhere?
That laptop looks very nice, the only thing I would be worried about is how the keyboard actually works. Is it a real laptop I didn't notice a battery there anywhere?
he does not use many batteries in his bigger projects can you imagine how big of a battery it would take to power his xbox 360 laptop. im sure the power supply is external just like the 360 ones he has made. I think he used a main board from a regular keyboard and wired each key individually, having to do this before I can tell you it is no fun.
Check this out! http://8bitsystem.com/?page_id=56 , James Littlejohn is building his own GS laptop and documenting the whole thing so that anyone else that wants to can do the same thing.
It might not turn out as fancy as Ben's but on the other hand it will probably be more practical and anyone with the skill to do it can follow his lead and make their own.
Dean
It might not turn out as fancy as Ben's but on the other hand it will probably be more practical and anyone with the skill to do it can follow his lead and make their own.
Dean
The one big difference, to me, between John's site and the one you posted is that there is no step by step instructions on how Tony, if he's the one that did it, put this together. So there's no way I can build a GS portable myself using his page. On the other hand John is documenting it so anyone can follow his lead, if they want to.
Dean
Apple II Forever!