[Arm-netbook] Crowd Sourcing Proposal

[Paul Kench]

> How about a nice little box that makes it connect to an Atrix Mk1
> lapdock? That way you can get a lapdock for ~$70 and have a nice
> modular laptop that doesn't look like a horrible bodge.
> 
> The thing is - we've discussed this at some length here before. And
> since all the "box" would do is essentially break out USB and HDMI.
> Whatever happened to this idea? It's bound to be cheaper in terms of
> development and manufacturing costs than doing a complete laptop
> chassis.
> 
This is a good idea, I don't say this just cause I own one (it's a nice
piece of hardware). The main problem to work around is power:
		
		-The USB connector is a bit weird, it connects to the USB of
the phone, with the phone as host (or otg), but can feed power
back to charge the phone. I have broken the power wires out of this (using a
lego connector) and used it to power a mele, which 		it can do
until you plug a SATA drive in. The keyboard/mouse still work in this
configuration.

		-When you close the lid all the power from USB is cut off.
(Just found this:
http://www.element14.com/community/groups/raspberry-pi/blog/2012/09/11/raspb
erry-pi-lapdock-tricks)
		
There are quite a lot of people out there with these now, if you could offer
some sort of adapter, I think they'd snap them up. Also there is a lot
information out there to make it easier to develop.
 
Regards

Paul