Lenovo Fanboi #
Lenovo is a fantastic company. Not only do they make great computers, they look like they come straight out of an episode of Knight Rider, and to be honest, that’s not a bad thing. There is something timeless and futuristic about angular design with flashing lights and silver trim that really engages my inner kid.
Speaking of being a big kid, you may or may not know that I have some big love for the fantastic Lenovo M720q Tiny form-factor computers. It turns out that Lenovo made a touchscreen for the little PCs to live in! So, being a good lover, I bought my sweetheart a new home.
That home is the TIO22 Gen 4 monitor. It is a fantastic, crystal-clear touchscreen that I originally bought as a till (cash register) project, but now use as the kitchen hub.
Kitt-chan Computer #
In 2026, no self-respecting geek can call themselves a l33t-geek without some sort of tech in the kitchen. That’s where Kitt-chan comes in.
Kitt-chan is a mashup of KITT from Knight Rider and the Japanese suffix -chan, implying that Kitt is my little love.
Not only has Kitt-chan got the perfect name, Kitt also has a flashy red light in the form of a barcode scanner. This magical device is used for barcode input into my Nextcloud pantry app. It’s also really convenient for scanning lottery tickets.
But unlike the 1980s car, Kitt-chan has a fast-charging point for our phones, thanks to Lenovo’s foresight. Just look for the battery symbol on the front of the m720q.
80s Stereo Style #
To complete Kitt-chan, I connected the “Tiny-In-One” 22 Gen 4 screen to a pair of great little DAC-enabled AZATOM CX2 bookshelf speakers I got from Amazon, using a USB cable to the M720q I put inside. The audio is piped through EasyEffects’ graphic equliser. This is the now legendary linux audio managment tool.
These speakers come with a remote control that controls the media playing on the device. It works with Firefox and YouTube Music, although sometimes Firefox needs a little persuasion before it will respond to the media keys.
If you have the same problem, just do this:
- Type
about:configinto the Firefox address bar and press Enter. - Accept the warning if Firefox shows one.
- Search for
media.hardwaremediakeys.enabled. - Double-click it to toggle it off.
That’s it. The media keys should now work properly with Firefox.
For some reason, Firefox seems to forget this setting when the computer is rebooted, so you may have to repeat this little ritual every time you turn the computer back on. Because apparently even Kitt needs a reboot ceremony.
Final Polish. #
I got found a deal on a Corsair K70 CORE TKL RGB Mechanical Tenkeyless Gaming Keyboard. I really like the ’ten key less’ format on this device and this keyboard looks fantastic with the rest of the setup, it fits with the theme perfectly and considdering no one is doing accounting in the kitchen the numpad isn’t needed, and frees up space for my coffee.
I spent way too long on this project earlier this year. I even made my own custom wallpaper. Feel free to ‘change your think’ and download it for your own project, or look at the blender file to see how I made it.
I also bought a desk mat, mouse mat from temu.
Over all this project was a good one and I know it was a success because my partner actually uses it when she’s in the kitchen and it finaly feels good to listen to music on a decent speaker setup.
