# Grand Combination - Possible Or Not...?????



## sunandoghosh (May 20, 2005)

GRAND COMBINATION - POSSIBLE OR NOT...?????

LAPTOP - USING ONLY MONITOR + KEYBOARD + MOUSE (SEPARATELY USB ATTACHED)

PLUS

DESKTOP COMPUTER CASE/CABINET ONLY - CONSISTING OF MOTHERBOARD, HARD DISK, RAM

Respected Tech gurus nerds and dear friends

Well I am having a desktop presently with 2 GB of RAM. (I am very soon upgrading to 4 GB of RAM) Also I have 400 GB hard disk with certain heavy applications like SAP, Oracle, CRM, XI, Netweaver etc on it. Also I use 915 Intel cheapset.

Now I am habituated to this high end machine.

However the laptop has just 40 Gb of hard disk and 256 MB of Ram.

WHAT I AM PLANNING:

I want to just carry in my suitcase the cabinet (consisting of 915 Intel Motherboard + 4 GB RAM + 400 GB HDD).

AND i want to use my laptop's monitor, keyboard and mouse (usb attached)....along with the above cabinet

MY QUESTION:

CAN I REPLACE DESKTOP'S MONITOR/KEYBOARD WITH LAPTOP....?????????

Hope i have been able to express my requirements...??

Plz reply with suggestions/ ideas/ways................

regards

sunando

sunandoghosh (at) rediffmail (dot) com


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## Sarge (Nov 3, 2004)

I'm sorry, but this is the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard. Why on earth would you wanna lug around a laptop AND a desktop unit at the same time?

Oh, and: No, it can't be done. You can't connect the laptop's LCD to the DVI or VGA connectors on your desktop so even if you somehow got everything else to work you'd have a very expensive paperweight since you could't see anything the computer was trying to display. 
Meanwhile, LCD flat-panel displays are widely available for desktop use. And they come with either DVI or VGA conectors. Why you'd want to use the laptop's LCD display is beyond me.
As for why the keyboard couldn't be used: There's no way you could connect that thing to a desktop PC and have it be recognised by the PC as a keyboard. The BIOS will look at it (assuming you sodder in a keyboard adapter you built yourself) and say "Huh? That's not a keyboard. I'd better generate a NOKEYBRD error." at which point your system halts. Why? Becasue the BIOS relies on the keyboard controler to tell it if a valid keyboard is plugged in or not. The Keyboard controler is a little chip that sits on the motherboard or is integrated into the Northbridge. It's only programed to recognise a finite variety of keyboards. Anything you plug into it that the keyboard controler doesn't have support for is *NOT* a keyboard as far as it can tell. Doesn't matter if it is, in fact, a type of keyboard. Nothing you do will convince it otherwise. You can't reprogram it (It's an IC chip, not a ROM chip), you can't replace it (It's soddered right into the PCB, and besides that you cant get a replacement chip), and you can't trick it (It knows what it does becasue the keyboard tells it so). 

As for routing the mouse through the Laptop's USB port when the PC already has perfectly serviceable USB ports... well, that's just silly. Did you even think about that when you came up with this idea? Look, since you don't bother to tell us what the model number of your motherboard is, I'm gonna assume it has at least two USB ports. (If you're using an old Mobo from before the USB era, your idea is dumber than advertised). Why the hell don't you just plug the USB mouse in to one of the USB ports on the motherboard? Why are you insisting on using the USB port on the laptop? That's just stupid.

Do yourself a favor: Go buy yourself a desktop-replacement type laptop and throw this silly idea of yours in the trash can.
:sayyes: 

I'm not trying to be mean, but honestly: You need to think things through a little more before you try and come up with something like this, alright?


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

Wow, that was harsh. And unnecessary. A simple, "Sorry, but it won't work because XYZ" would have sufficed.

Now then, my opinion... While it is true that it won't work I can give some suggestion. There are devices available like what you want that are designed to control rack units. They are 1U in size and VERY expensive.


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## w00t (Jun 30, 2004)

!. Hell yeah this is an awesome idea
2: you dont need to use laptop stuff
2a. There are usb qwerty stuff to buy maybe a travel mouse
links
http://www.microanvika.com/product.asp?TXT=INFO&PNO=SON59105
http://www.fentek-ind.com/program.htm
http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-IBM_USB_Keyboard_with_UltraNav_31P8950

you can take a mountable LCD and take it and stick it in the top of the case.

To conserve space you could solder the monitor to the PSU (the back of the power plug in the PSU so it can pull power from the PSU power cable

That reminds me you need a small psu
you can find it all here
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/c...LaN0Tb3qPax0T8Oexo6XHngbynknvrkLOlQzNp65In0__

Have fun this sounds like a cool mod. Keep it cool!


Oh yeah
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/briefcasepc/
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/attacheserver/


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

After readin w00t's description I can see this actually happening. It's on helluva mod I must say! www.viaarena.com also has some cool things on custom/unusual mod jobs.


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## Sarge (Nov 3, 2004)

"To conserve space you could solder the monitor to the PSU (the back of the power plug in the PSU so it can pull power from the PSU power cable"

Say what? Are you suggesting that he use soder to attach an LCD to a PSU?
Look, you can play with fire all you want, but I highly recomend that you do not soder anything to the PSU. It's a power supply, not a weight-bearing stucture. It is not designed to support addional weight, ok? That's what the case is for. :sayno: 

Then there's the problem of EMI: Electromagnetic Interference. A PSU, when active, generates it's own magnetic interference feild. How large of a feild depends on how inefiecient the PSU is, and how much Wattage it's rated for. However, I garantie you that if you place an LCD monitor in direct contact with the surface of a PSU, you will see undesiable results. LCD monitors are subceptable to EMI, just like CRT monitors are. I can't say exactly what will happen if you attach an LCD monitor to a PSU and then turn both of them on, but I'll bet you dollars to dougnuts that you will not like what happens next.

If you're still hell-bent on attaching an LCD to a PSU, then for criminy's sake don't use soder: That won't work. Soder is too soft to take the weight of an LCD monitor (well, perhaps a 3 or 4 inch one... but that's about it). You could weld it on if you opened up the PSU first and then reasembled the PSU after your welding was done... but a bolt will do the job just as easily. Sure, a weld would be super-strong, but what if yiou have to take the LCD off later? Ever tried to un-do a weld? Well, let me put it this way: It's not a zipper. Save yourself some agrivation and use a set of nuts and bolts.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy a 120mm hole saw. :grin:


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## Stu_computer (Jul 7, 2005)

here's a nifty super flat, flexible, near indestructable portable keyboard... http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/brando_usb_flexible_keyboard_review

and here's a Transportable Internet Broadband Satellite so you can stay in touch from anywhere... http://shop.infosat.com/

it's a bit on the expensive side, so you might want to just hang around the burger king's because they have free internet access.

.


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

word i done this with the lcd in the case its sexy looking and very usefull good luck.

for the screen i recommend 15inch MAG screens as they are 1 cheap 2 good quality 3 very thin

for the keyboard im using a virtually indistructible one from www.microcenter.com and its very nice and works quite well and i have a mini usb optical mouse i got as a company advertising thing lol.

sounds sweet if u need some info leme kno as i have done this before

and u could actually take ur laptop apart lol and use the screen from there just get a vga to svga/xvga converter or solder/make one yourself  thats what im doing now i got some spare laptop screens hehe

good luck may the geek mod force be with u


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## RZA (Sep 24, 2002)

Its been done before.

I came accross a website. I will look for it and post it back here. Basically the entire contents of a pc were installed and connected inside a aluminum briefcase with an LCD attach to the outside of the briefcase. This allows you to litterally carry around your pc. In terms of the keyboard and mouse, those were connected externally via usb. 

Sorta looked something like this and this 

I have seen one on ebay but I cant find it.


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## w00t (Jun 30, 2004)

> Look, you can play with fire all you want, but I highly recomend that you do not soder anything to the PSU. It's a power supply, not a weight-bearing stucture. It is not designed to support addional weight, ok? That's what the case is for.



Dude just the power (you know, the LCD needs power) so to conserve space (instaed of two power cables running out) just have one cable running out from the psu. Its a simple mod 3 wires from LCD to PSU.

Duhhhhhhh!!!
Of course the psu is not a wheight bearing sturcture. The LCD would be screwed to the top of the suitcase dude!!!!!!!!!


And for you info it's Solder with an L not soder.


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## RZA (Sep 24, 2002)

That would be soo cool! Kinda goofy looking...but no one else would have one!!


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## 95five-0 (Dec 7, 2004)

I built a computer using a tool box that does kind of what you are thinking about. All you would have to do is attach an lcd screen to it.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=56998


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## RZA (Sep 24, 2002)

LOL!! OMG that sooo sweet! Awesome!! I have an old P3 board around...I think I am gona try and mod something unusual and make it a pc? Any ideas?


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

I wanna get some mini ATX boards or those micro boards from VIA and make something ultra compact but still powerful.

I saw one person who built a PC inside of a Windows XP Pro software box.


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## RZA (Sep 24, 2002)

Did you see that one where he put an entire pc inside a Mac Monitor? It looked soo sweet. I gota find those pics and post em here.


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

RZA said:


> Did you see that one where he put an entire pc inside a Mac Monitor? It looked soo sweet. I gota find those pics and post em here.


Isn't that called an apple macantosh ?  :laugh: the one and only apple I worked on was that way. We don't want to say how long ago. :sayno: :sayno: :grin:


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## w00t (Jun 30, 2004)

Hey sarge you still out there!!!!!!!

Yeah I want to take one of those mini-itx (the one with one pci port) and make a mini wieless webserver/wardriving box.


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## RZA (Sep 24, 2002)

You know how they have multi function all in one printers...? How about making a real all in one with a PC in it?


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## Terrister (Apr 18, 2005)

Check out this site. This guy has some wild mods. He used to be on the Screensavers on TechTV before G4 screwed up the show.

http://www.yoshi.us/forums/


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## DeFcOn (Aug 20, 2005)

Nice idea....good luck i tried doing that with a mac(looks at electrical burns) didn't turn out so good


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## kempt (Dec 14, 2005)

*Here's part of your solution, already manufactured*

http://www.acnodes.com/ebproductdetail.asp?id=63


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