Monster-Mod: How To Wear Your Computer, Part 2
- The Expansion Sleeve
- The Portable Printer
- Extra Battery Power
- The Portable Keyboard
- More To Come...
Editor's Note: Jumping into this article series late? Read Part 1 of this series first to get essential background info.
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
The pressure is on: We have less than two weeks to order parts and finish building our wearable office. We've already ditched our laptop on eBay. But our PowerPoint presentation is just around the corner, and we're running out of money fast.
The Expansion Sleeve
Our biggest expense is behind us, but it has taken most of our precious funds. The venerable old iPAQ 5555 will be worth every penny, as we'll soon see. According to HP, future iPAQs won't support the so called "expansion sleeve." This is a shame, since these sleeves can form the core of many cool mods. But our iPAQ 5555 definitely supports the sleeve. In this case, we're looking for the deluxe sleeve version. Like its more basic predecessor, the Expansion Pack Plus (see Figure 1) adds a much-needed extra battery for the iPAQ. It also adds plenty of room for accessories. It retails for $150; luckily, we immediately found a refurbished one, with warranty, for one-third the price.
)
Figure
1 The expansion sleeve allows more battery power—and greater
connectivity—for our iPAQ.
The sleeve includes an extra battery and a PCMCIA slot. To use the CF card, you'll need to purchase any generic CF-to-PCMCIA adapter (which you can get for $5 on eBay).
Expansion Pack Plus: $49 on eBay