Toy laptop with a view. I have been creating visuals for various dj, band, and electronic music gigs since late 2003. I always bring various different video, data, and USB devices to play with and interact with the software. But I tend to have a few regulars. One very useful device is a video preview monitor. You can plug this in to your video mixer to see either the final product if you can't see the screen easily from where you are located, or you can preview the different feeds before you mix them in with or from whatever is currently playing. 
Another thing I bring with me is a MIDI controller with a bunch of dials on it. I use this to control the software that I use. I can use it to change the hue and saturation of the clips, I can use it to mix between the different effects that I currently have available to me. I find more uses for this thing all of the time. This plugs in either via MIDI or through USB. 
Another thing that most visual programs can do is take triggers from either music keyboards or standard computer keyboards. Laptop keyboards, and even normal desktop keyboards have pretty small keys to randomly tap on to trigger a clip. It would be nice to have a bigger key to hit. 
So I think what I need is a custom device that includes these features and others down the
road. And I just happened to have a little kids laptop sitting around waiting to be circuit
bent that would be the perfect donor vehicle. I could create something and fit it into a
plain metal box, but what would the fun be in that? And besides, it would be somewhat
difficult to create my own keyboard, or take a while to find some large buttons to mount on
the box in some useful and logical way.
2) Figure out where all of the various wires lead to inside of the toy. Do this also for the USB keyboard. Below are also a chart and a visual representation of where all these leads need to connect to for my specific devices.
3) Realize that instead of just being able to connect points together, what you are really going to have to do is create your own board like in figure 2, but instead, match the wires to what the USB keyboard is expecting. Oy!
4) Finish the LCD monitor part as this is easy compared to the rest and you can at least
have something useful while you work on the new circuit board.
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