weird application?

Hello,
I would like to have DVD play, WiFi internet access and TV reception in my small travel trailer. I thought of attaching a laptop upside down under the cabinet and connecting it to one of the new USB TV tuners. So I will need a lighter weight laptop, 16:9 display with wireless internet and bluetooth keyboard/mouse. Problem: when I flip the screen down, the image will be upside down. I'd rather not hinge an entire tablet type or depend on 3rd party image rotating software. I've heard that certain display chips are capable of image rotation and that when you have the right one, a rotate command appears in the display menu. Does anyone know of a laptop that has this kind of chip?
Thanks!
Jacque

 

Sorry, forgot to also ask if a laptop will run ok in the upside down position; will it shorten the life of any drives etc?
Thanks!

 

I think most Ati and Nvidia drivers have screen rotation built-in (at least i know Forceware, and Ati Tray tools have it).

 

Just seems a little Rube-Goldbergian to me... don't see why you'd want to attach it to the ceiling. Laptops are made so the heat escapes up... upside down, it could cause problems depending on the model, cheap ones are very sensitive to excessive vibrations which I'm assuming your travel trailer will encounter... I vote that it's a bad idea all around, and I'd suggest a secondary LCD monitor with inputs you can plug a laptop or whatever into when you're stopped, or just getting the laptop and having a padded carrying case for it and then unpacking it when you want to use those functions. Besides, it's a travel trailer... go enjoy what you're gonna go travel to see, don't hibernate inside

 

Thanks for the responses...already planning to unpack it when needed but need to put it in a bracket under cabinet because no counter top space. This is a small travel trailer. It's for use at night when I'm "hibernating" anyway. The heat escape concern seems legit though...I can look for one built for severe environments; may have more efficient cooling. So the question remains...is there a laptop that already has the Nvidia or ATI driver for display rotation, or one that will accept installation of these?
Thanks!

 

ALL ATI or NVIDIA drivers pretty much have some sort of feature within them to rotate. i would do what your planning to do and use the drivers for rotation, it doesnt get any easier than that!

hope this helps!

 

Thanks mtrivs,
So your machine can rotate the display? Since you've posted your machine specs, I could just get one of those (or as close as I can come). Thanks! It was helpful...

 

just install a normal LCD monitor that are available for cars, get a notebook and use the LCD as an external monitor.

your proposed solution is a little silly

 

Yes my machine can rotate displays all within the settings, if you wanted it to stay that way all you have to do is change the display, then later down the road if you wanted to rotate it back to normal, you would only have to change that setting back.....basically fool-proof...

And as always: Good Luck!!!

 

You probably didn't catch that I have no counter space to set a laptop..to mount an LCD and a laptop under the cabinet would be overkill and redundant but thanks for your thoughts...

 

This is a screenshot i just took of the rotation settings on my laptop running the omega drivers....I believe the default ATI drivers are the same if not very similar...

 

Thanks! This shows exactly what I need and I've now found that you can "build a computer" at the Dell site and select a custom video card (& ATI Radeon is one of the choices). So it looks like the problem is solved as long as ventilation and drive operation are still ok in the inverted position.
I'll let you know how it works out...
Jacque