When traveling with a laptop, we frequently discover that the listing of peripherals that we have to connect can get quite long. particularly if it is an older laptop without wireless developed in. [Dawning] has taken steps to consolidate a few of his peripherals(registration required)by cramming a USB hub as well as a wireless card into his mouse.

He started by dismantling a USB hub. After putting the board in the mouse to see exactly how it fit, he realized that he was going to have to minimize the size. To do this, he eliminated the USB slots themselves. This forces him to cable things directly to the board, however saves a ton of space. Next, he took the digestive tracts from a USB wireless adapter as well as wired them up. The decorative LED in the mouse was then transferred to the wireless card. This method he might see light flicker with his network traffic. At this point, that’s all he’s added, though there’s still lots of area for other items. He notes that he’ll most likely add some storage or a CF reader. The only issue he has encountered is that his mouse has a tendency to get warm during use. What peripherals would you put in there?

Update: [Dawning] let us understand that he didn’t really eliminate the LED from its original location. He linked a cable from the wireless adapter that triggers the LED to short when web traffic is going through. Also, there’s a video which you can now see after the break.