Project Logs Update 9

Lil' Pirate

by HeZ
Worklog

Many of you have already been pointed to HeZ's great little laptop project through Hack-a-day. However, if you missed the memo, we're glad to present this little gem from our forums. Lil' Pirate is the only "traditional" mod on our list this month, but we think you'll agree it's a great one.

HeZ dreamed up the project as a basic internet setup for on-the-go downloading and browsing. He set a few basic goals, the main one simply being "cost effective." Laptop mods themselves are not really a common-place thing. The electronics in a laptop are usually very sensitive and are difficult to work around or with - and with the cost of a laptop, it often isn't worth the risk to damage them.

However, none of this really slowed down either HeZ or his ideas - the Lil' Pirate not only features a great paint job, but a small LCD swiped from a mobile phone. The modding itself has been carefully done and shows off what a laptop mod really can contain if you exercise a little bit of caution and common sense.


Lil' Pirate started off as an old Compaq laptop. But it didn't live long in the hands of HeZ, who quickly disassembled it and started to bondo the cover to conceal deep scratches and the old logo.


HeZ wanted a small LCD for his new creation, but the laptop's form-factor prevented displays like a PC can use. Therefore, HeZ swiped his from an old Nokia mobile and wired that up to work with the system. His worklog points out guides to the wiring diagrams.


Painting the outer cover of Lil' Pirate wasn't an easy task. HeZ admits freely that he is far from the world's best spray-painter, but the results on this yellow could put that point up for debate.


The chosen skull and cross-bones theme ended up with a little bit of overspray, which HeZ says he'd like to fix. However, several of our forumites have said that it adds a bit of character to the mod - do you agree?

Make sure you stop by HeZ's worklog and let him know your thoughts on it.