I had an old 5" B&W portable TV set that I wasn't using. While I was waiting for other RPi related parts to come in the mail, I decided to see if the 5" TV would be a suitable monitor for the RPi. Most of the time I plan to run headless so colour vs B&W isn't a big issue to me, nor is size really as long as it is readable.
As it turns out, the TV worked just fine.
Since I had some time to waste, I ripped out unecessary parts from the TV. The tuner board can go since everything is digital now, the radio components could go, and the battery components too. The battery compartment was quite large but easy enough to make a bit larger with a rotary tool.
I installed a USB port on the back, wired a composite video connector to the motherboard and voila! Space for the RPi and all the basic connections! A wireless lan adapter, a USB keyboard from a 7" tablet and it was done. I even added a reset button just above the USB extension on the back.
The TV needs a 12V supply and the RPi a 5V suipply and until my power conversion board arrives I simply will use 2 power cords.
Here are some pics of my project.
