Ultimte Geek Scooter
While working for a former employer I had the opportunity to use my 20th level geek skills to produce an extremely high density mobile computing platform in a scooter for a promotional campaign we created for a client we had at the time Plaza Cycles. The end result was a rolling system capable of long distance war driving, GPS navigation, Skype calls on the road, an internet hot spot, a low power pir8 radio station, as well as recording your favorite TV program so you don’t miss Lost because you are lost. If that’s not over the top enough you can actually drive your scooter to say the Grand Canyon, plug in your electric guitar and perform live over the web at a whim!
Sadly the Plaza Cycles Invested in the project and never actualy used the artical on there site… So my former employer published it in there blog…
The Brain:
We needed to use what space we had as carefully as possible while maximizing our airflow. The logical solution was a vertically mounted system of mounting plates with all the major components stripped out of there plastic shells. We used some extra motherboard mounting posts we had laying around so we could simply screw the components onto the frame. This not only created a very modular system but a afforded us the ability to have a lot of features in a small space.
First Light:
Of course the most celebrated part of any build is the first light test. We had just connected the main components of the system to the scooter and hadn’t bothered with all the antennas yet when we needed to “test the power supplies connection” to make sure it had survived being installed into the scooter. Of course it went off without a problem, but boy is it satisfying to see it hum to life. Well not really hum, this thing is dead silent… but the screen turned on! Yay!
Promo Flyer with all the Bells and Whistles:
So here is a copy of the promo flyer that accompanied this scooter at some trade shows that it went to during a brief period of touring. You can see all the lists and features of this baddie in all its glory.
Tools that we used: ( I.E. you may want to use as well )
One note on power tools: use them at your own risk. Be sure to read and understand any and all documentation on the tools you use. No amount of documentation can make up for experience, but there are many people with serious eye injuries at the school of hard knocks. If you don’t know what you are doing, don’t do it and find some one that can help.
Screwdrivers
Pliers
Drill
Heat Shrink Gun
Hammer
Razor
Drill
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