Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee PC

Well, today's my last day in Bangkok before I fly back home to San Francisco tomorrow, and hopefully I'll make it there safely.

Concerning the central unit of the NetWear device, I narrowed it down to two options:

A custom made unit

or

A laptop.

The pros of a Custom unit would be designing my own form factor. Using the newest micro computer tech I could probably design something the size of a few cigarette packs. However, designing and building a computer, especially that small, has it's own set of unique challenges to be overcome.

So I have decided to go with the Laptop option, and will relegate a custom computer to Stage III. I believe getting a proof of concept up and running is the main goal.

With that decided, the choice of laptop was fairly easy. An Asus EEE PC is currently one of the smallest, cheapest units available and I believe that, with some slight modifications, it will fit this application rather well. The EEE has a large, active modding community, which I believe will also be useful.