PS3 Briefcase Idea

Hardware Other Hardware
1

Wazzup, tek syndicate?! I was inspired by Qain's computer briefcase idea, I thought I should turn my PS3 slim into a portable system for a summer project. I don't plan on making it battery powered (yet), so it will have to be plugged in.

So far I have only put a lot of thinking and google searching, and have some questions ya'll might be able to answer.

1. I cant find a 16:9 monitor (either 720p or 1080p) that is under 20in and has a digital input. I don't know if hdmi to vga converters work with PS3 (the internet says no, but my friend got it to work with his). 

Are there any cheaper ways to convert a laptop screen to hdmi?(I know Wendell and Logan did it with an iPad screen, but the converter pcb is $100). I don't want to spend more then $100 on the monitor, as I shouldn't have to.

 2. I didn't find any good, simple briefcases I could use, so I've decided to make the case myself. I think plastic sheeting with angled aluminum to add rigidity and hold it together is my best option, but I have no idea what type of plastic would be best. Oviously, something strong and shock resistant. Would this work?: http://www.amazon.com/ABS-Sheet-Thick-Black-Nominal/dp/B00DCKGXKG

My plan is to have the Blu-ray drive go out the left side, the power and eject buttons on the top inside, and the usb and headphone jack on the right. I don't want to spend over $300 for the whole thing. 

What do y'all think? I'm pretty excited to get this thing started, and I'll probably make a build log blog soon.

 

 

2

How are you gonna use the cd drive with out the touch button?

3

The PS3 slim doesn't use the old PS3's touch buttons, they have regular buttons for the power and eject buttons, so my plan was to either solder new buttons on to the pins on the mother board where the power/eject connect, or just extend the existing wires for the buttons to place them on the outside of the briefcase. 

I don't know if that made any sense, thanks though.

4

I'd say that your best bet would be to find a 1366x768 laptop panel (you could get an old/broken laptop of ebay to salvage the display panel from that or get one new from a laptop parts site), then connect it via a hdmi to ldvs controller board (which you should be able to find for quite a bit less that $100, if you import from china - usually they'll program it with the specific firmware for a display panel of your choosing).

5

In fact, there's an instructables on re-purposing laptop displays as small monitors here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Old-laptop-screen-into-Monitor/?ALLSTEPS

6

Thanks! Just what I was looking for!