First came the Lego-built desktop cases. Now we have a laptop, of sorts, made from the ever popular little plastic bricks. Peter Howkins has managed to pack an aging A7000 into what resembles a portable case, complete with a 10" LCD screen.Boasting an impressive 4MB of RAM, RISC OS 3.60 and an ARM7500 processor with integrated video and audio electronics, the laptop also includes a 2GB 2.5" hard disc, an EtherH network card and a PS2 keyboard. The display can stretch to 640x480.
Peter admits his design isn't overly portable at the moment - no battery and you can't detach it from the PSU - but it's early days. He has produced a website detailing his work for fellow Lego and RISC OS enthusiasts.
Peter said: "I'd been scouting around for a suitably small and flat monitor with which to build a laptop design. Luckily I found a suitable one at a computer fair and then another of the same type off eBay when I broke the first.
"The laptop is not that practical, uses rubbish 10-year-old hardware, has no battery, and at the moment you can't detach the PSU from the back for carrying it.
"But it's still a work in progress and I might be tempted to rebuild it once I can find some more sensible hardware."
• Meanwhile, Drobe contributor Paul Stewart has set himself the mission of building his own RISC OS laptop out of more conventional materials.
Links
Peter's Lego A7000 laptop
More DIY laptop cases