My R600 "internet tablet" and 12.1 inch digital photo frame
(I picked up the thin-client for R250 and the monitor for R300).

Read the story behind it here.

What you'll need:

Itona Thin Client:

This baby is just 5cm high

Posiflex 12.1 inch swivel and tilt LCD Monitor:

Monitor and thin client together:

You can stick them together using double sided tape as a band-aid solution.

I have removed the 256MB IDE flash hard drive that ran XP Embedded. XPe is ok to run on thieving machines such as casino slot machines and bank ATM's, and added a normal IDE hard drive as we want to run Windows XP Professional.

For the uninitiated, this is what a flash IDE hard drive looks like: it looks like a RAM chip with a IDE adapter attached and comes in small format and compact systems it is very small only a few cm high. The Itona came with a 256MB which is fine as Windows XP embedded needs only about 40MB space: Here are pics of the Itona's IDE hard drive I removed:

I know, I know, we are kind of moving backwards we should be making it thinner and not fatter. But let us just get to this thing to boot first. Thin clients are not meant to be standalone machines.

POWER - Get yourself a 2in1 cable to prevent clutter.

OPERASIE KOBRA - Installing Windows, The Itona only has one power plug. So we need another, here I'm using a Coolermaster USB external hardrive enclosure, if you can't get it to boot from USB, only use the enclosure as a powerplug and plug the hard drive into the Itona's other IDE port. And don't forget to set boot from CD-ROM in BIOS.

SUCCESS! - Windows XP smoothly and successfully installed, no extra drivers needed - sound, everything working 100%. Whatever may be said in praise of Linux, whatever may be said to discredit Microsoft - they know how to make operating systems.

You can now remove the CD-ROM, you will not be needing it again. But before you remove it, install the essential software you have on disc that you'll need, install some nice movies and PowerDVD as well, this 800MHz baby plays smoothly. Afterwards you'll just be using USB.

SPECS - The Itona's system specs. Powered by a VIA Samuel 800MHz CPU with 256MB RAM (still has a empty slot). I have blocked out the licence number as you are not allowed to install a normal copy Windows on more than one PC, and this licence number is already used on another PC and I don't want the BSA (Business Software Alliance), SAFACT (South African Federation Against Copyright Theft) to come knocking.

CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET:

Internet connectivity is provided via a Vodafone branded Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem running a prepaid Vodacom sim card. The Itona has four USB ports - two at the front, two at the back.

ONLINE! - When your modem has auto installed click on the "Connect" button to connect to the internet.

Internet Explorer is a Windows application used to download Firefox. Double click on the Internet Explorer icon and "browse" over to www.firefox.org

You have arrived safely at your destination. Download Firefox.

Use Firefox to browse your favourite websites.

SUCCESS! In just a few hours you are online.

SETTING UP THE DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME
The digital photo frame will simply be your "My Pictures" folder set as a screen saver.

Copy all the photos you want to show on your photo frame into the "My Pictures" folder. The My Pictures screen saver has some nice blend effects so the frame will look nice.

Right click on your Windows wallpaper on your desktop and select "properties", and then "settings". You are doing this simply to see what your monitor's resolution is set at. You will be resizing all the photos in your "My Pictures" folder to this size. So when the screen saver plays the photos will be full screen and look stunning. My resolution is currently set at 1024 by 768.

Open your favourite graphics application and resize your image to fit your monitors's resolution (mine is 1024x768). Resize it out of proportion if you have to. it will be worth it.

Now right click again on your Windows wallpaper on your desktop and this time choose "Screen Saver" and My Pictures Slideshow". All the photos you have stored in the "My Pictures" folder will show up on your digital photo frame. You can choose setting to change the speed of the photos blend in and out. Select preview to view, you can also select preview to start your photo frame immediately. If you don't want to wait a minute. Just don't move the mouse.

Click on "preview" and SUCCESS:
(Please note these are actual photos taken with a 3.1 mega pixel camera in shitty lighting conditions with no flash. They have not been altered in any way. This is why I said resize them out of proportion if you have to. If the photo takes up the whole screen. It just looks nicer.)

I am taking these photos as the screen saver is running:

TE PRAGTAG

TE DUURBAAR!

OOH FOK!

ALL YOUR INTERWEBZ R BELONG 2 US! BWAHAHAHAHAH!

__________________________________________

Please note this is the result after a few hours work. Ideally what is still needed:

* Put a laptop hard drive in so I can properly close the unit.
* Try to thin it down, by stripping the LCD from its casing and attach it to the thin-client. * I wanted to attach the LCD to the bottom. And on the top I wanted to put a laptop cooling station. But then if I use it on my lap I have to use it upside-down. The Itona is super silent it does not make a sound so I can read myBB while “watching” TV. If you are going to use it on your lap, put it on a plastic tray.
*I have been using it without a keyboard, but one of those flexible rollup keyboards will be nice. And a cordless mouse.

DISCLAIMER - Made for the entertainment value, I will not be held liable for any consequences of anyone following these steps. The photos of the minister of communications and Telkom CEO I used are copyrighted to their respective owners.