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Homemade MP2000 Case |
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Ingredients: Case Logic 24 CD carrying case, eraser, appropriately cut stip of cloth. Total cost: free, since I already owned the CD case. Maybe $10 otherwise? Don't know! Pictures? None: I don't have a digital camera, nor a scanner, so I'm trying to do all of this in words. If you create this case and can take pictures, send them to me and I'll post them (or a link to them) here on my site. DESIGNTaking a bit of inspiration from a few things I saw on the web and have talked to folks about (thanks, Kiran Wagle!), I've finally gone and created my own, perfectly decent, really nice carrying case. It holds both the keyboard and the Newton, fits the dongle and the eraser that I need to build it up completely, and does a fine job of it all. For the original inspiration astthe use of an eraser, check out this page. I'm using the Case Logic 24 CD booklet, which happens to be exactly the right size for the keyboard, as long as the keys aren't in their lightly padded bag (this bag is what I use for carrying the Newton around by itself, I should point out, providing a perfect fit for Newton, dongle, and extra batteries). By taking out the actual CD pages (or sleeves) and the hard plastic shell they are sandwiched between, I get just the plastic mesh material case, empty and waiting for the Newton. The keyboard goes on one side, the Newton on the other, where the Newton is placed in such a way to make typing easiest. Using the door as a base, tilt up the Newton, and place an eraser between the door and the Newton to hold it at the desired angle. I've found that it's best to shove the door into the side slip-pocket, so that the rubber eraser is actually between the plastic mesh material and the Newton. It improves the friction and allows me to keep the Newton in its opened state when I close the case. That means less set-up time when I next open the machine, right? To close the case, unplug the keyboard from the Newton, and rotate it 180 degrees. (You don't need to unplug the keys if you keep the Newton off center above your right hand, so that there's space to close the case with the dongle still attached.) Then, push the thick end (the "top" of the keyboard, now facing you) toward the very edge of the case. Then, with the Newton restricted in its motion due to its door being inside the slip-pocket, when you fold things over, the thick part of the keyboard isn't overlapping with the Newton. It makes things a bit thinner. To protect the (as I said above) open screen from scratches from the keyboard, I use a piece of cloth, cut to the right width and folded as needed to fit into the case. This is thin enough to keep the two apart with no scratches. Plus, when I'm actually typing, I can place it between my wrists and the zipper, making things a bit more comfortable. In a sense, it's a convertible wrist-pad and keyboard cover. USEFULNESSThis summer, I'll be on a lot of long plane flights, and I need something that is compact, easy to open and close, yet still fits easily on one of those stupid seat tables, while that idiot in front of me is ignoring the knees in his back (I'm 6 foot 4 (193 cm), my legs simply don't fit comfortably) and tilting his seat back AAAAAAALLLL the way. How does this case stack up? I haven't tried it yet, but here's what I think. The whole package is almost exactly the size of the Newton-plus-keybaord, wasting nearly no space. My ideal situation would be to have the case be nothing more than the keyboard folded over onto the Newton, and covered, but that would require more money than this solution. My improvised set-up is easy to set-up, absolutely compact (thickness of this thing is barely more than Newton and keyboard placed on top of each other), and very convenient. You can adjust the screen angle easily, you can adjust where the keyboard sits as you like, etc. Maybe you can use the design - if you do, and find any improvements, fill me in! (wittmann@physics.umd.edu). In other words, it's going to do just fine, thank you very much! |