Modder aims to turn Eee PC into e-book reader
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jul 7th 2008 12:09PM
posted Jul 7th 2008 12:09PM
Eee PC mods are already nearly as plentiful as actual Eee PC variations these days, and it looks like you can now add one more fairly ambitious one to the mix, with Australian modder Bismar aiming to turn the humble netbook into an e-book reader that he's dubbed the Tabeee MK 1. While it's still far from finished, as you can see from the pics available at the read link below, he is making some steady progress, and he's even going so far as to incorporate a touchscreen mod. Of course, the screen itself still won't exactly stand up to a dedicated e-book reader, but Bismar seems to think the cost savings will be worth the trade-off. Also, you can ignore the date stamp above -- while Bismar seems to know his way around a heat gun, it seems he's yet to master the ins and outs of digital camera settings.
[Via GottaBeMobile]
[Via GottaBeMobile]
april fools 2005 eh? it should be done by now.
Beat me to it.
Actually I think that is January 4th, so it should be even more done...
No the modder is Australian so he would use the day/month/year format... and it is obvious that he set it as January 4th, 2005 to commemorate the 45th birthday of Michael Stipe that year. Either that or the 44th anniversary of the death of Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger for his amazing contribution to the world of quantum mechanics.
Lloyd: "Austria! Well, then. G'day mate! Let's put another shrimp on the barbie!"
contrary to popular belief, we actually dont say that...
Better than purchasing Kindle, always out of stock!
i hope he's not inspired by eee bezels and making that yellow part the only screen area ;)
why does EVERYONE complain about bezels?
ok, so they have no bezels and keep the same screen size then what? your keyboard would be even more uncomfortable.
or they could increase the screen size, but by doing that the decrease batterylife, and increase the price of unit.
then you would be complaining about how expensive it is.
bezels are NECESSARY
To me bezels are just wasted real estate. I don't see why they're necessary. How much battery life are you going to lose with an extra inch of screen, 10 min? I'll take the extra inch.
@ddub
but then the price is going to be higher.
sure a lot of things would be nice, but the main point of it is to be a very cheap laptop.
@ddub
That's what she said...
Damn "Setting VCR's Clock" technology
Clearly, in an attempt to make an ebook, he has discovered time travel.
Buy a kindle for less money?
Modding is, of course, a great hobby, but tearing apart a beloved Eee to make it into a lesser seeming ebook reader? Come on...
Good thing the pics are from 2005 cause Mr. Blurry cam wasnt born yet
The iPhone didn't come out till 2007.
wow...
reporting news about someone attempting to do something... so interesting.
maybe if he actually got it done it would be freaking sweet.
but this is about saying the same thing as "hey look at me i am going to try to make my Eee 30x more powerful and add a dedicated gfx card! wooooooo do a story since i am attempting it"
talk is talk, from the looks of it this guy is an amateur fabricator, and it already looks very very DIY. sure i probably couldnt do it myself, but it it worth a story? no. now if it was an actual pro/semi pro then i would be interested.
"hey look at me i am going to try to make my Eee 30x more powerful and add a dedicated gfx card! wooooooo do a story since i am attempting it"
comments like that make you seem very unintelligent just so you know
Sgreed. I have a few unfinished projects lying around, and ideas for a few more with fantastic potential. Do you want to feature them, engadget?
Agreed
Damn I didn't know there was a Back to the Future 4. Doc helps Marty build a Kindle.
And according to this picture, the modder is the Zodiac Killer.
OMG!! He killed me Sagittarius
man, was this necessary?
Until the DRM disease is eradicated and I can get everything in digital form, I have no interest in ebook readers. I don't read for pleasure. I read tech books. If I can't get the book I need, I can't just "choose from our selection of thousands of titles". eBook = Fail!
Agreed;
Proprietary file formats, file containers, DRM, etc. all = auto-FAIL!
I already have the EE an the Kindle. Nice cases here for both: http://www.sfbags.com/index.htm .
I don't think I'd like to use my EE for reading, but he can go ahead and try. Good luck to him.
So for more than the cost of a Kindle, he'll have a half-assed version of the Kindle.
Yeah--- Uhh--- Good luck, Aussie dude.
Put an eInk screen on the Eee and then I'll consider it an ebook reader. My eyes hurt just reading on my 19inch LCD.
I can't sgree more. If the EEE & Kindle are roughly the same price, why pay for the EEE and end up with a reader that "still won't exactly stand up to a dedicated e-book reader"...? Can we all sgree that something's missing from this story?
(Apologies to ScooterDe) :P
By the look of those fingers and nails, the modder is a SHE.
Bismar has said that the date keeps resetting itself on his camera so he just gave up on that one.
Here : http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showpost.php?p=9071177&postcount=21
Full thread here : http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=693962
Why would you do this...?
Just because you can...doesn't mean you should.