Starting my ultra-portable PC project (PCp?) update Nov 26th

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 9:53 pm

just find someone with a broken laptop...

rob the screen...

be happy...

Or eb games has a 7" TFT LCD screen made by mad catz with s-video input for 50 ...
yes ...
50 dollars

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:10 pm

But those screens dont take VGA.
And a laptop isnt a cool PCp.
And laptop screens dont work on non-laptop stuff.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:28 pm

soundwave wrote:But those screens dont take VGA.
And a laptop isnt a cool PCp.
And laptop screens dont work on non-laptop stuff.

Right
Right
Not so right

Most embedded boards (what me and terraflop are using) have built-in LCD controllers, which means they can run laptop displays. However, they typically use mutant 'Hirose' connectors, which are a pain to work with, which why I haven't already hooked up an old 12" color TFT from an old laptop to one of mine.

Krepticor wrote:Or eb games has a 7" TFT LCD screen made by mad catz with s-video input for 50 ...
yes ...
50 dollars

The link isn't working from your other thread.

teraflop122 wrote:My 3.5" motherboard doesn't support C-sync, and it refuses to drop below 30 or 40 khz scan rate, coming way short of the 15khz needed by PSone LCD.

You can build a circuit to combine H and V sync. Very simple actually, just run H and V through a XOR gate, and you get C Sync.

You might see if DOS utilities (such as ArcMon or ArcadeOS) can actually drop it low enough. Though you'll be limited just run DOS games and emulators.

Update on my progress:
I seem to have gotten the wrong RAM, at least according to the auction. Even though the RAM fits, it could potentially fry it self and the board.

I'll be ordering a DDR2 stick soon.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:15 pm

I'll be ordering a DDR2 stick soon.

Is that for your newer, 3.5" motherboard?

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:14 pm

Sorry i think they are out of stock or something on the LCD screen they must of had it on clearance

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:39 pm

teraflop122 wrote:
I'll be ordering a DDR2 stick soon.
Is that for your newer, 3.5" motherboard?

Yep. None of my other SBCs take DDR or DDR2. My SFF board and my desktop take DDR.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:10 pm

Sorry for neglecting this thread update:

It seems the DDR2 was just a typo on the website and the auction, I should of read it closer, as it says DDR twice after that, and even lists DDR200/266 as what it takes.

Vida Linux transfered with only a small X.org config hiccup after being installed using my main system to the 2.5" drive. I couldn't get my IDE to USB adapter to work with the CDROM drive I had, the 40-pin to 44-pin adapter was blocked from being used by the SATA ports, and I don't have any SATA opticals, so I had to install in this round-about way.

I tried it out, and it crashed hard while I was lauching FireFox. Looking at things, it seems that the RAM overheated. I had it just sitting on a box with no cooling other than the processor fan. After removing the excess stickers on the RAM (evil used Compaq RAM) and placing it on a hollow hole in the top of a box, so it'd have some air flow, I fired it back up, and crashed at almost the same point, RAM was still pretty hot, though. Not the end of the world, but problem causing when I want to be able to have it handheld, since it makes good ventilation critical.

I think I have some RAM chip heatsinks around. Pending they fit on both sides of the SODIMM (which is luckly fairly far away from the board), that might help things.

xriverfalconx · Post by **xriverfalconx** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:52 am

My question is what kind of battery are you using for this and how are you connecting it to the mb?

cennar · Post by **cennar** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:06 pm

one with a positive and negitive
and second, vary corectly

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:51 pm

Looking at things, it seems that the RAM overheated.

I'd be hesitant to attribute the crashes to overheated ram, as no ram has ever overheated in any of the dozens of small and large PC's I've built. I've never even had trouble with super-budget ram, either. Can you run other, similarly taxing programs? Is it possible that your power circuit is not supplying enough for the system to remain stable?

Well, my PCp project is virtually dead in the water. In the end, I'll probably end up getting a GP2X.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:44 pm

teraflop122 wrote:
Looking at things, it seems that the RAM overheated.
I'd be hesitant to attribute the crashes to overheated ram, as no ram has ever overheated in any of the dozens of small and large PC's I've built. I've never even had trouble with super-budget ram, either.

Wow, you're incredibly lucky to never have encountered either. I concede that I'm not one hundred percent positive that it's the RAM overheating, as I only based it on the fact that the SODIMM was damned hot when I got near it. I'll have to address the cooling issue, anyways, so we'll see if that's the trouble

Can you run other, similarly taxing programs? Is it possible that your power circuit is not supplying enough for the system to remain stable?

I'm using Vida Linux, of the applications that are installed by default, very few come close to RAM access needed to launch Firefox. It's a very stripped down distro, that you're supposed to add what you want to it.

I doubt that the power supply is the problem, as I'm using a known-good AT power supply that's capable of outputing 25 Amps on the 5 Volt rail.

xriverfalconx wrote:My question is what kind of battery are you using for this and how are you connecting it to the mb?

It's the same battery Ben used in his PS2p. and it will be hooked up through a MAX787 PWM circuit to power the motherboard (which only requires 5 Volts)

xriverfalconx · Post by **xriverfalconx** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:46 am

tom61 wrote:
xriverfalconx wrote:My question is what kind of battery are you using for this and how are you connecting it to the mb?
It's the same battery Ben used in his PS2p. and it will be hooked up through a MAX787 PWM circuit to power the motherboard (which only requires 5 Volts)

Gotcha! I appreciate the tip on that. One more question...where did you purchase yours from? I only ask because I've seen a few different prices for this item and I don't wanna get screwed out by purchasing the wrong one.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:28 pm

xriverfalconx wrote:
tom61 wrote:
xriverfalconx wrote:My question is what kind of battery are you using for this and how are you connecting it to the mb?
It's the same battery Ben used in his PS2p. and it will be hooked up through a MAX787 PWM circuit to power the motherboard (which only requires 5 Volts)
Gotcha! I appreciate the tip on that. One more question...where did you purchase yours from? I only ask because I've seen a few different prices for this item and I don't wanna get screwed out by purchasing the wrong one.

I got it at Wal-Mart, on clearance. I doubt you'll find it there anymore. Radio Shack has one that looks the same, but has a higher capacity. Might be worthwhile for you to look into.

paul4990 · Post by **paul4990** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:35 pm

cool man, and i have lost track of what u r using? what are you using?

xriverfalconx · Post by **xriverfalconx** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 3:08 pm

tom61 wrote:
xriverfalconx wrote:
tom61 wrote:
xriverfalconx wrote:My question is what kind of battery are you using for this and how are you connecting it to the mb?
It's the same battery Ben used in his PS2p. and it will be hooked up through a MAX787 PWM circuit to power the motherboard (which only requires 5 Volts)
Gotcha! I appreciate the tip on that. One more question...where did you purchase yours from? I only ask because I've seen a few different prices for this item and I don't wanna get screwed out by purchasing the wrong one.
I got it at Wal-Mart, on clearance. I doubt you'll find it there anymore. Radio Shack has one that looks the same, but has a higher capacity. Might be worthwhile for you to look into.

I appreciate it! Thanks again!