A few weeks back some Grid Laptops found there way on the evilbay. The correct model 1139 Compass 2 proved to rich for my blood, so I settled for a broken Grid 3 that was 1/3rd the price. They are damn near the same anyways. The 3 has a wider screen and a built-in floppy drive, but same layout. It also has a different color screen than the 1139, but it is broken anyways, so who cares, eh? I wasn't going to use the screen regardless.

The plan: I am no computer wiz. Faaaar from it. But I can drill holes and glue things places. I decided to Pop a tablet in that sucker!

-Step 1: Take it apart and remove the default screen. Make some room in there.
-Step 2: Find a dirt cheap 9" tablet. I ended up getting a random brand of an older model for $21 shipped. You can get older Amazon Fire 8.9" for $30 all over the place. I suspect they would have worked too, but keep in mind they don't play .avi files (if that matters to you. I converted the video I used to mp4 anyways).
-Step 3: Get an extension so we can charge the tablet from outside the grid case.
-Step 4: Build the bracket for the tablet, route the wires (the drilling and gluing!)

For the button extension, I used a super glue cap, a bit of plastic straw, and this random part in my plastic parts bin. You can really use anything, but it helps if one side is bigger so the button doesn't slide out.


Running the charger/data cable required a bit bigger of a hole be drilled, but epoxying it into place was pretty simple. Just had to maneuver the wires around the aluminum bracket I glued down to hold it.


Now to clean it all up, I needed to actually make the screen size in the laptop smaller. I used some 3/4" aluminum strip on the edges of the screen hole. This not only covered the gap between the housing and the tablet, but it also made it more accurate. Double duty!


So when I slapped it all back together, I ended up with this guy.

Now the FUN PART!
Step 6- Add files. I believe these are all Mike Rush originals. Once they are loaded up (see below) you are ready to rock.

This is the video: https://youtu.be/m0Kno6vKgFI

This has been something of a grail prop for me for a while. I am extremely happy with how it turned out.



*File notes*
-I modified his .avi file by using a freebie 'app' from the google play store and converted it to MP4, changed the screen ratio to 16:9 and cropped it so that it can be closer to a 'full screen' effect. Unfortunately the file is too large to post here. I hate to be that guy, but if you want it, PM me and I'll email it to you. If someone wants me to email it to them so THEY can host it for download somewhere, I welcome that.

-I used 2 x jpg images that I found as a single image which I then split into two so you can have different static screens.



-I used 1x gif file of the 'critical' flashing in case you want something happening, but not the full movie.

This is awesome. I am just afraid to gut mine as it still functions.

Thanks!

Greg

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CPL A08/TQ0.0.12146E1
Newell, Greg A aka Gman
Illinois - USA
UKCM
Shoot first, think never.
Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun.
SMMFD
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist.

That's a great and clean conversion, now I wish those broken Grids weren't as expensive. As far as file hosting goes, you could upload the video file to a google drive and link to it.

Great idea! Now all's we need is...to find a GRID too!

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Profoundly upset by this thread! You’ve only gone and removed 99% of the complexity [/expense] of this project, and in doing so, removed my main reasons for procrastination! GRRR!

And so, with that out of the way , I’ve disassembled my 1750 Gridcase with a view to doing the same. Just off this morning to window-shop for 9” tablets.



I think I’d still look (as some point) to do the TinyLC keyboard-to-USB mod (to plug into the tablet), and probably gut the power supply to be repurposed to power the tablet/arduino bits, but all that stuff is just nice-to-haves.


P.s. Big cheers for sharing this simple idea/hack

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Cpl Aron "septic" Williams
A10/TQ0.0.82146E1