document updated 15 years ago, on Feb 19, 2009
The key inspiration for this work came from Ivan Cover's Eee PC work (summary, details). He:
- bought a bunch of off-the-shelf USB perhipherals
- stripped their plastic shells
- connected them via high-gauge wire and found a way to physically mount them
- did the same with a USB hub, to give him the extra USB ports needed to plug all this together
- amazingly managed to get the lid shut
His work is really pretty astonishing. But it rests on a fundamental principle: The only reason most devices have external shells is for 1) physical rigidity and 2) damage resistance. Modern electronics require very little space. Worse yet, sometimes exterior shells are made MUCH larger than the guts require, just so the device is big enough that you don't lose it in your pocket.
So, if you can find a way to fit the guts of product-A inside product-B's shell, then there's no reason to retain product-A's shell. Voila, huge space savings. Wash, rinse, repeat, and you have an amazingly customized bit of dense geekery.