Ben Jackson wrote:
I'd rather avoid a laptop or even a full tablet PC (stuff with 10"+ screens)
in favor of an ebook/pda sort of form factor.


EarthLCD (www.earthlcd.com) is offering a 6.3" 640x480 grayscale
LCD display panel for the bargain price of $29 (search for EG9013FNZ1)
From the spec sheet, it doesn't look all that difficult to drive. If your
gizmo doesn't have to *do* anything other than display GIFs from a CF card,
you could probably run it using fairly simple FPGA. How's your Verilog? ;-)
Sure would be a lot less power-hungry (and therefore cooler) than a
tablet PC. The only wrinkle would be getting the +40 volt driver voltage.

If you're not into hacking hardware, EarthLCD also sells its mARMmalade [sic]
kit: Modular ARM Application LCD Appliance Device Electronics. This
is an ARM-based single-board computer running Linux, and a 7.8" color
LCD touch-screen display, all for $299. Just add power.


Happy hacking,
Ross Oliver