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

Want to just shoot the breeze? Forum 42 is the place!

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Unidentified Assilant
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Post by Unidentified Assilant » Sun May 22, 2005 3:25 am

This might be a bit off-topic, but I've just stumbled across a program called Voice Commander that allows you to map voice messages through a microphone into keystrokes :D
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Somebody please buy my Dreamcast >_> £20+shipping :)

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*o*
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Post by *o* » Sun May 22, 2005 3:29 am

thats cool!!! link?
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Post by Unidentified Assilant » Sun May 22, 2005 3:42 am

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Somebody please buy my Dreamcast >_> £20+shipping :)

teraflop122
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Hello All

Post by teraflop122 » Sun May 22, 2005 2:30 pm

This is my first post to anywhere on this forum, but there will definitely be more to come. I've been following this thread for quite a while now (ok, so I just read it all last night) and I thought 'well, heck, I might as well join in'.

I, too, am working on a portable system, though I haven't exactly made any real progress yet. The only part I've purchased as of now is an Intel (almost)mini-ITX motherboard with an Ultra-Low-Voltage fanless Celeron at 1.0Ghz (soldered on), integrated Intel Extreme graphics, sound, etc. All I need to buy now is the power supply, PSOne screen, enclosure, battery holders, laptop hard drive, hard drive adaptor, DDR memory, and miscellaneous electrical components.

The intel mobo is 170x190 mm. You can get them on eBay for about 89 bucks (plus 10 shipping) each. The CPU is based on the new Pentium M architecture, so you've got all the modern busses to work with.

Perhaps there should be a new forum section devoted to portable PC's...

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Post by tom61 » Sun May 22, 2005 2:38 pm

Pic of the cardboard prototype in all it's cardboard cut with a pocket knife glory:
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Color enhanced picture of the intended layout of controls (made before the see-able pic above was taken):
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The green dots are mouse buttons, left and right are the top buttons, middle is the bottom button (for invoking the scroll circle/auto-scroll in Firefox for web browsing).

Red dot is where the track point will go.

Black plus is the D-Pad.

Darkish blue square is about where the screen is

Blue dots are the buttons for the D-Pad, though I may only put 4 on the front, and then have shoulder or side buttons.

I should be getting the wire harness Tuesday, so this may be finishing up soon.

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Post by *o* » Mon May 23, 2005 2:32 am

nice work

if that works that will be REALLY cool

whats the spec on the mobo?
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Post by Trv » Mon May 23, 2005 2:53 pm

do you plan on making an indepth tutorial on how to make this.... im sure it would be very appreciated
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teraflop122
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Ditto

Post by teraflop122 » Mon May 23, 2005 3:29 pm

Ditto. I'd really like to know how you plan to wire in that track point, and where you got ahold of it (laptop, some other electrical component?).

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Post by tom61 » Mon May 23, 2005 8:33 pm

I'll try to whip up a tutorial.

As far as the trackpoint, I'll be getting it from here. LMK if you want one, as there's a minimum order that has to be met when ordering from that site. $10 + shipping to you. Takes 3, or 2+filler to make the minimum order, IIRC.

More info on the unit

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Post by tom61 » Mon May 23, 2005 9:11 pm

Kind of hard to keep multiple threads balanced when replies give you new ideas or revise your ideas.

From my post on a another forum:
[QUOTE=altec]If i was you i would just put a power&reset button on it then just have ports for the other stuff.[/QUOTE]

I'd have to store anything I wanted in the unit itself, otherwise I'd likely not bring it with me, like I often do with my PDA accessories. Not a bad idea for at least one of the stages, though.

I likely won't cut everything into the case all at once, instead modding it closer to the prototype in stages. Doing it in stages will let me modify things easier. First stage will just be fitting everything in the case, without cutting holes and just opening it to use it, kind of like a mini-laptop. Probably will have that up in a week, as I'll have all parts needed to run the board about Tuesday. Second stage will probably just be the PSOne screen cutout.

I'm still not decided on what to use for gamepad and buttons, so that's definitely not going to be carved into the case until the last. I'm re-thinking the CPU heatsink. I was playing with watching videos on the prototype (DVD player providing video), and had a tendency to set the unit down on my lap. That wouldn't work well with a fan or warm heatsink on the bottom. I may go with a 'tunnel' from the bottom, when holding the unit up, to the top with a fan running directly off the 9V from the battery either pushing or pulling the air to the top. The CPU placement would work OK for gaming, which is what the prototype was really set to test the layout of, and why I didn't notice the problem until now. Having the fan and heatsink stick out was kind of a kludge anyway.

Now I'll have to figure out whether to have the board facing up or down (relative to the box being laid flat).

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Post by Trv » Tue May 24, 2005 5:04 pm

What type of keyboard was that in the origional parts picture. I cannot find it anywhere. And also, are you still planning on using it?
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Post by tom61 » Tue May 24, 2005 5:42 pm

Where I bought it: http://www.gameexpress.com/product_deta ... 7742005709

I probably won't integrate it with the layout, but I'm very likely to put it in the case and bring it with me all the time. Mounting it directly to the case wasn't practical. I may replace it eventually with a bigger keyboard, maybe a roll-up keyboard.

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Post by gamer2 » Tue May 24, 2005 5:53 pm

imagine one of those for a PSone portable it would slim the case a bit
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teraflop122
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PCp's dream

Post by teraflop122 » Tue May 24, 2005 6:43 pm

Ha! I like how they show the retail price for the track-points as 200 dollars :P

I'm new to this forum, and all forums in general, so I'm not perfectly sure what KMP and PM mean. The track-point would certainly be useful to me, but I've been rethinking my entire PCp project, and new plans are pushing the completion date back quite a bit.

I've decided that Mini-ITX is to large for my purposes (we can agree to disagree on that point), so I'll be slapping a bunch of normal desktop parts to that Intel ITX I bought and selling it is a silent mini-desktop media center type thing.

My new plan calls for one of these:

http://www.bwi.com/product/13529

At only 3.9 by 5.7 inches, my finished PCp would be easily smaller than a Game Gear. An integrated CF connector means you can use a compactflash card or Microdrive instead of a hard drive, and therefor cut back on space requirements. On top of that, it only requires a +12v input to run, instead of some cumbersome ATX PSU. The 800Mhz Eden CPU will do wonders for battery life.

The only ENORMOUS downsize? I need to cough up 324 dollars just to get ahold of the motherboard, not to mention a CF card for storage and an LCD display...

Anyone have a few spare 100's on hand? :lol:

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Post by tom61 » Tue May 24, 2005 8:30 pm

Looks like a nice motherboard, pretty close to the specs of the board in my uPC. A fair bit smaller and pricier than what I got mine for (which was an extremely good deal)

I have another board about that size, but its very low-end (Pentium class processor, 1MB of RAM, 32MB Disk On Chip). It might in up in a 'DOS Gear' project.

LMK means 'Let Me Know'.

PM means 'Private Message'. Click on the button at the bottom of a person's post, with the two heads and the letters 'PM' to do so on this forum.

IIRC means 'If I Remember Correctly'.

Project Update:
New UPS driver for the area, and he didn't know the street I live on existed. :roll: UPS called to make sure and were given directions to here, so I should be getting the wireing kit tommorow. Forgivable, I suppose, as the street is only two blocks long and oddly named.

Another update:
Will probably be doing the retractable cord on the mini-keyboard mod here: http://leeland.net/dreamps2keyr.html

Looks like a nice mod to do to mine, consdiering I'm going to be carrying it inside my uPC.

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