The GB X1200 and Eee PC LED hack

Posted by rsanchez Published in Electronics, Gadgets

Ultraportable netbooks are all the rage right now, so we’d like to focus on that subject today and provide you with articles that you may find interesting.

Chinese MacBook Air? GB X1200

Chinese products have mostly been looked upon in the West because of quality control and piracy issues, however that may change slowly thanks to the GB X1200. It’s seen as MacBook Air lookalike only cheaper and runs on Windows.

… it offers 1280 x 800 resolution, while the 24mm thick casing and overall 1.35kg weight make for a decidedly portable machine.

There’s also a 1.3-megapixel webcam, two USB 2.0 ports and the usual wireless options. It’s currently being touted as an OEM product, hence the price (which would inevitably see an increase if it were to actually hit the retail market): 2,200 yuan, which works out to around $322.

Less on the weight and pocket but heavy on the features–something to look forward to.

Eee PC LED Mod

Next on our list is a hack for the Eee PC. If you’re a social network services/Instant Messenger addict (Twitter, pidgin, Gmail), then you would love this particular hack. A small LED lights up in different colors depending on what message you receive.

Here’s the list of parts to buy:

An Atmel AtTiny45 Microprocessor
A 5mm RGB (Red, Green and Blue) LED
2 diodes (almost any kind will do, but I used MK96 5B410 Diodes as they were the first out my spares box)
5x 68R 1/4w resistors
1x 1.8K 1/4w resistor

This is an interesting little modification that i have completed on my EeePC901. Based on an Atmel aTiny45 processor it’s function is relatively simple, but as it is built from scratch, the build took some interesting twists and turns.

For the step to step guide it, go here. Just a little reminder though, this is not for the faint of heart. If you do this the following may happen:

You fail and now you have an Eee PC with a few holes in it
You fail and your Eee PC goes kaput!
You succeed and show off to your friends how cool it is to have a modified Eee PC

Whatever happens, good luck because you’re going to need lots of it.

Source for GB X1200
Source for the Eee PC LED mod hack

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