Develop Bugs

Turning a netbook into a tablet

I was reading through lifehacker.com the other day (my SECOND favorite website ) when I came across a link to an instructables guide on turning a netbook into a tablet and it got me thinking. Why should I have to buy a $500+ tablet every year or two, or settle for a crappy $200 one when I can buy a used netbook and make it new again for half the price of the high end ones and probably better performing than the low end? Plus I'd have upgradability when it starts being sluggish in the future.
Here's the thing: I'm not content with essentially making a netbook into a slate that runs WinXP and calling it a day. I want it to run Android and have (most of) the bells and whistles. All on a budget of $250. What I'm thinking of so far is this:
10.1" Intel-Atom tablet, ebay ~$70
CAPACITIVE touchscreen overlay ~$110
SSD ~$60
Which leaves me with about 10 bucks for stuff to make it look good.
There is an x86 android port floating around on the internet that I plan on using and I've seen netbooks with built in GPS/gyro/accelerometer/etc. Although, I'm not so sure if just booting Android will get all of that to work of if I'll have to somehow write my own drivers... Honestly, I would have no idea where to start on that. Does anyone have any insight into how that might/might not work?
I don't have any of the parts yet, but have begun bidding on some stuff on ebay. If anyone would like to sell me something that might help, PM me. If you all are interested, I'll post updates and pictures as I'm working on it, however if not, then I'll probably just post something of the finished product. Functioning hardware or not.
Whether or not any of you take an interest in this project, I would appreciate any comments or advice that you can offer. I'm sure that as I go along I'll have questions to ask and hopefully one of you will be able to help.

I read the same thing and I would interested in how you go about it. I was not impressed with the lifehacker.com instructions or any of the other ones I found on line.

Thanks for the interest, glsooter. I still plan on completing this project sometime this summer probably and will update with pictures and what I am doing, but unfortunately I've had to make a few changes. It won't primarily run Android, although I could dual boot. My main reasoning behind this is that it would be impossible for me with my skill set to add the required hardware and then get it to work (such as accelerometer and gyroscope). Also, the capacitive touch screen I want to get is apparently Windows only. I'm thinking of using the Windows 8 preview or alternatively loading Win7 and using Rainmeter or something similar to give it a touchscreen functional layout. I also want to take a Bluetooth keyboard and make some sort of dock, like the Transformer Prime. My newest goals for the project is to have a portable tablet-esque gadget that I will use for retro gaming with a BT controller or mobile (android) gaming and productivity using BlueStacks. If I need laptop functionality I can use the BT keyboard/mouse combo for word processing or note taking. There are obviously some details to be hammered out, but I'm now thinking it will be closer to $350, which I feel is reasonable for something like this.

I was thinking about installing android on my 12.1" asus eepc with intel atom but i cant do it now (i get it in next month). I want to try how it works with android (maybe there are no need for drivers or only some of them?). If i get it earlier i try it and i can write here results how it works for me.
PS.
Could u give me link to android x86 and installing market on it (i heard that it must be installed other way). thanks
PS2.
I will be using it without touchscreen

that sound like a really good idea, but maybe not as a tablet alone but as a laptop+tablet, like the Thinkpad X Tablet series.

So i tried and installed android-x86 on my eeepc 1201nl and only froyo is working I wanted ics but i take what i can.
Working on it is very easy (even without touchscreen). I have problems only with wifi (cant connect to router). I found that some other people have similar problems.
However i will be trying it again and again. I want ics
Sent using r800i with DoomKernel v11 (1.21ghz)

[Q] [IDEA] HDMI-out on AOSP rom?

Hello, I am not a developer and I am just looking for an answer to my question.
I know that there was released a google-edition of the S4 some time ago, which has the same HMDI-out (MHL2.0) as the Note 2 has. From what I have read about the google play-edition of the S4 you are still able to mirror your screen to the TV with the HDMI-out, which you are unable to do on the Note II if you use AOSP-roms. Since the Google Play Edition-phones are supposed to be open source just like google, I thought maybe the MHL2.0 driver was possible to port to other AOSP-roms on phones that uses the same MHL2.0-port as the S4... Which is the same Note II use!
This got me thinking and leads to my question:
(tl;dr)
Is there a way to use or port the HDMI-out driver from the S4 Google Play-edition and onto the Galaxy Note II's AOSP-Roms?
Please correct me if I've understood something wrong. I would be happy to get a proper answer.
(Currently using Paranoid Android-rom on Note II, and the only big flaw about this and every other AOSP-rom for the Note II is the lack of HDMI-out and Miracast.)

bump

Obviously Samsung gave Google the drivers. The *only* way we will ever see HDMI/MHL working on a non Samsung rom is one of three ways:
1) Someone with a sword of +10 to Autism Intensifies is able to reverse engineer every single protocol related to the signal coming out of the micro-USB port, and I am talking about someone with the ability to touch their tongue to the actual bared wires of a working MHL cable and from the taste tell you whether the movie being played is using AAC or 5.1 sound kinda thing. If there are a precious handful of clues in HOW various apps access and control this system, it is *possible* that a driver could be cobbled together to emulate the real thing. Will this happen? Probably not, there simply isn't enough interest.
2) A grass roots campaign is organized to beg, plead, threaten, abduct children of Samsung CEO's, do whatever it takes to get them to release the code for the drivers. This is unlikely but Samsung has begrudgingly helped with things like this before. Of course, we are also talking about a company that cheerfully has started putting e-fuses into their bootloader tripwires, so... Don't count on it.
3) A specialized unit of combined Ninjas and Belarus mercs storms the Samsung heaquarters and steals the source code for the drivers. There could be hostage situations, some mild torture to extract the pass-key to the RSA 32768 bit encrypted data center, military intervention and possibly airstrikes from American interests, North Korean EMP attacks when they get caught up in it... Still - doable.
Your other option is to simply keep a nicely fleshed out Touchwiz based rom nandroided away and just reload that for when you want to use your HDMI out the odd time.

I like #3 lol
But yeah... best to use a sammy based rom if you want that feature (can look here for them: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Apatc-TEE7sNdHVUbXBkOHI2X1FhTlBRb1BmTUdBQmc&output=html)

Done with it.
HTC is also guilty of this. My Sensation also has MHL out, but it won't work on AOSP (which frankly infuriates me). http://piloty.eu/samsung.html
Reflashing Touchwiz-based rom every time.. this would be a nightmare. I... I can't. No. Whole pile of nope.
Things like that make me sick of Samsung. I had pleasure of playing with Note 3 for few days, and now I'm done. My next device will be any open phone.

[Q] Link Multiple Nexus 7's Car Install

So I am about to start my install in a 08 Chrysler Aspen. I have everything I need to swap the stock radio for a Nexus 7, I have been messing around with all the software and hardware for a week or so and think that most issues are worked out. I am running CM12 nightlies just because I am a bleeding edge type of guy and I like Cyangoenmod's implementation of extra features. They run on the ElementalX Kernel so that OTG charging and deep sleep are possible. Now the fun part that I have not seen anyone else do, that I can find anyway. I have two outdated, barely working, please replace me 7" no name linked DVD players in the headrests. Honestly, the market for those is utterly pitiful and overpriced, full of hardware that is practically obsolete, and runs on proprietary software. No thank you. Luckily I have two Nexus 7's, soon to be three.
I am software engineering student, so I have skills in that department, and I dabble in all things electronic. I can usually find a way to make anything work. So far on first thought I have successfully set up Nexus2 to wake from deep sleep when power connects, then via Tasker open Allcast Receiver. Which I can then cast media from Nexus1 to be viewed on Nexus2, then to Nexus3 via Koush's Mirror Beta. The great thing about Allcast and Allcast Receiver is that only a WiFi connection is needed, no need to have internet access. This setup works better than I expected, with very minimal lag on the Mirror( I tested this using my Gs3 as the third device). Ultimately I would like to pass video through hardware instead of software. Herein lies my question. I can accept a video stream, but I have been unable to find any examples of sending media to essentially a second monitor through hardware alone. I am sure there is a way through SSH, similar to this, but I would like 2 and 3 to be able to be used independently as I am going to make them easily removable. For example if my kids want to play a game , they can just take it out and it is back to normal tablet form.
If there is nothing available, the casting/mirroring route will suffice for the time being. I would just like something a little less vulnerable. Casting/Mirroring are relatively new and there are occasional crashes. Anyone who has young children knows that patience is not a word in their vocabulary. Plug and play, no crashes is my optimal goal.
Sorry for the essay, I hope that someone can help. I will post pictures of the install process here, and I'll start a new thread for a complete DIY.
One more thing, has anyone seen headrests made specifically to mount a Nexus 7? I can modify my current ones, but a prefabbed like this for iPad mini would be ideal.

I can't advise on the mirroring of the screens, but mounting the nexus in the headrests is something I can help with. Head over to my website www.rtafabrication.com
If your fabrication is up to scratch you could get a few Dash Panels and mount them yourself or I could do the fabrication for you. Location doesn't matter as I ship worldwide.
Just thought it might be something you're looking for.

Question Dex mode on inner screen

Hi all,
I wondered, the fold is the biggest Samsung phone in terms of screen size.
Is there way to force 'dex mode' to the big display?
Thank you all

Someone else asked about a week ago, with no replies. It wasn't an available feature on earlier models, and doesn't appear to be one now. While it could be possible someone will figure out how to work around it, it probably would have happened by now.

I can't understand why limit device if it can work as dex station.
Thanks for your reply.

izbr1234 said:
I can't understand why limit device if it can work as dex station.
Thanks for your reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get that the screen is larger than a regular phone and having the option wouldn't hurt us any. However, the tablets have larger screens, larger batteries, and keyboard/touchpad cases to bring them closer to a laptop. My best guess is that it's mostly the screen size and battery. It's either that, or they're restricting it as tablet exclusive to drive extra sales. Maybe all of the above.

i couln't agree more.

it is not working. but samsung is pushing dex updates with major versions of OneUI, so maybe with end of year we would be able to run dex without external monitor

lapeno022 said:
it is not working. but samsung is pushing dex updates with major versions of OneUI, so maybe with end of year we would be able to run dex without external monitor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope u are right, Looking forward for it.

Question If i was to root my Z Fold 3, can you trick Android to thinking you have a different phone

So I've had a z fold 3 since release, when it first come out I read about rooting and it can mess up the Camera, I belive that's been addressed? however one of the biggest flaws with this phone is not bring able to create YouTube shorts!
As a content creator I need access to audio library via the YouTube app but foldong phones aren't supported for creating them.
If I decided to root, Is it possible to trick Android into thinking I have a different phone, to allow shorts to work? Or does it not work like this?
Just really need YouTube shorts to work otherwise might have to get rid of the phone. I imagine no1s figured out any work around to get it working legitimately yet, you can view shorts but not edit / upload them whilst using the audio library etc.

The short answer is no. The hardware will tell any software the model.

dirtybudha said:
The short answer is no. The hardware will tell any software the model.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thanks shame.
Really need to be able to create shorts, so might actually need to leave.
US samsung offering 1k trade in atm which is great for a s22 ultra.
Yet uk offering 600, not even close, so I'll wait.
Would love the fold 4, but if it doesn't work on the 3, it won't work on the 4 either lol

Do you mean, you can't install the Youtube Shorts App or does the app not support all functions as on non foldables phones?