Challenge: Raspberry PI tablet

Yeah! Throw in a camera too

I plan on doing this once I get my Pi.  I snagged a broken touch screen industrial computer, just waiting for it to come in.  The screen is an 800x600 resistive screen that uses USB for control (and I think dvi or vga as the video).  I plan on using this (although its pretty low tech) as the screen for the tablet for proof of concept.  I'll post more info on my build when I start getting parts in.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with - sounds like a cool project!

The screen connects to the motherboard using lvds and the 4 wire touchpanel connects to the mobo to.  Meaning I'll have to get an lvds to dvi controller and a 4wire to usb controller to :-(

http://www.chalk-elec.com/

Maybe there you find what you need.

Yeah I saw that, can't wait for the Raspberry Pi version.  Hopefully that comes out before I get my Pi.

Me too.

But the point of my post is, I was looking for a Raspberry-Pi "shield" - see http://shieldlist.org/ (it's an Arduino term for an add-on) - something a moderately skilled DIYer could attempt to build from a kit, the advantage being that they could decide on the screen size and resolution based on their budget or whatever they already had lying around.

Wifi is easy - that's a dongle.

The screen is a tricky part - it would probably need more batterys.

According to http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-43484/l/raspberry-pi-gpio-expansion--low-level-peripherals, there's a way to connect a LVDS display - it's called a "MIPI CSI-2" on that page although a pin diagram would help here.

This thing could really be a camera interface - the document isn't clear.

The alternative - carrying around a HDMI display + petrol generator doesn't really appeal to me as an iPad alternative.

The chalk-elec board would be a shield.  I imagine it would connect to the DSI interface pins and output LVDS for LCD displays, that way you can choose whatever LCD monitor you want.  Chalk-elec even sells 10.1" capacitive touch screen kits for $134 which connect to the panda/beagle boards, I imagine once they get their hands on some Pi's they will finish the Pi version up and you can either buy their kit, or buy just the controller for $34 and choose whatever screen fits your specs and their max/min resolution specs.

All you need is a touch screen display and you would pretty much be done. The pi costs about $30 anyway and the screen would cost the same. That's a $60 tablet. Pretty damn impressive if you ask me

It's the details that make the difference - schematics, battery, wifi, touch-screen, display, driver software, desktop integration etc have to all "just work" for a RasPi to do what you take for granted with a mobile phone.

Then there are those connectors - they have to come off if you want to reduce the thickness.

Sometimes things should work but it turns out they don't - not without a lot more work than it looked like at the start.

I've got one myself - http://philipashmore.blogspot.ie/2012/06/wifi-bargain-hunting.html.

I'm sure Ben Heck has some horror stories himeself - I know I'd like to hear them!