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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teraflop122
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Battery

Post by teraflop122 » Wed May 25, 2005 9:13 am

I've found my battery, though I still haven't purchased anything yet. It will be a fair amount of time before I have the funds to begin this project.

This is a 12v 4000 mAh rechargable NiMH pack:

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?P ... ProdID=172

The price and capacity are ideal for my purposes. It is a little large, but hopefully I can get quite a bit of time out of it. One problem I still face is powering the PSone LCD, which supposedly requires 7.2 volts. Will that run off of the 12v from this battery?

I tore open a USB joystick, and found that it has a two perfect sets of four buttons. One set will become a D-pad, while the other will become the A B etc buttons. I don't plan to include a keyboard at this time.

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Unidentified Assilant
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Post by Unidentified Assilant » Wed May 25, 2005 9:20 am

Sorry for using your thread tom61, but I'm now actually looking at some Mini-ITX mobos, and the best one costs only $59.99, thats Mini PS2 unit, and the 512MB Memory in my bedroom, nice.

I will be using a PS2 controller for buttons, the PS2 Mini-Keyboard built in, and a Trackball (which I shall build myself :)) with some mouse buttons, also, the Joypad can become a mouse at the touch of a button (using software, not hardware), It may also include a Wireless Modem, but I can't get my hopes up about that (Q3A Online Portable!!!)
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Somebody please buy my Dreamcast >_> £20+shipping :)

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Trv
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Post by Trv » Wed May 25, 2005 1:58 pm

Basicly the only thing im not sure about is the power. Specificlly how do you have a battery be the PSU for the entire system...


Ive looked for hours and i cannot seem to find an answer to my question
dead

tom61
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Post by tom61 » Wed May 25, 2005 2:27 pm

teraflop122: Looks like a nice battery for your project. The PSOne Screen reportedly has a 7805 inside, so it should run off 12Volts. However, at least one person has reported troubles with running one off a 9.5Volt NiMH.

Unidentified Assilant: Sounds like a plan. Keep in mind, however, that using a non-analog device for pointing is a pain for navigation. Even semi-analog (like PS2 buttons) isn't very easy to use. So, try to get the software to work with analog thumbsticks, if possible.

Noob: It depends.

On mine I run the battery through a 7805 to take it down to 5 Volts, which the motherboard converts to what it needs to run the CPU, and the notebook harddrive only needs 5 volts to run.

On teraflop's planed system, his board takes 12 volts directly and converts it to what the drives and CPU need.

On Unidentified Assilant's planed system, he'll likely use a Mini-ITX PSU designed for in-car use, to take 12Volts from a battery and then the PSU will convert it to all the voltages needed.

teraflop122
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Low priced Mini-ITX???

Post by teraflop122 » Wed May 25, 2005 3:46 pm

A mini-ITX mobo for only 59.99!? Is that in US dollars, because it sounds like a fantastic deal. What are the specs on that board, if you don't mind me asking?

I switched my desktop monitor to 640x480 just to see what it was like. It really isn't that bad, and if the PSone screen truly has 640x480 pixels, it should look fantastic.

That battery I picked should offer many hours of battery life- especially to a driveless system booting from a CompactFlash card- but I'm wondering whether I could get by on just eight 1.5v AAs (or 10 1.2v NiMH's). (ponders) My size reference for what my PCp may look like is one of those retail PC game boxes- the small ones. AAs would fit inside of that along with the mobo.

tom61: still waiting on that cable? Will we soon see you unvail what must be this Forum's first PCp? (I read the all of Forum 42 one night, but I may have missed some stuff. Just let me know if I did).

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Post by tom61 » Wed May 25, 2005 11:27 pm

I got the wiring kit today, however, the wiring kit is not 100% compatable with my board. I'll still have to build some things. It certainly helps me out though, as it has a compatable VGA breakout and USB breakouts, which was a surprise! USB is not part of the official kit, but Advantech (literally) threw a couple in the box.

That's the problem with comparing pin-outs of embedded boards, the pin-outs may be the same, but the physical pins may not be. Stuff like the audio cable and keyboard/mouse breakout being the wrong pitch (2mm instead of .1").

Testing out the board will have to wait until tommorow, as the only USB keyboard I have is the PS2 mini one, and I have to get it into the BIOS to boot it past the intial screen. (I've booted the system before with just a PCI video card plugged into it) The mini board lacks keys like Esc. Should be able to bum a USB keyboard off a friend. Hopefully, the board will let me navigate the BIOS with a USB keyboard.

I'll need to stop by Radio Shack to pick up some connectors for the battery hook-ups, tommorow, as well.

That was an interesting idea that just crammed itself in my head writing the above sentence: There's plenty of room up front for a lot of things, including my Pocket PC PDA. There's software to let you use a Pocket PC as a touchpad, or a limited touch screen. 8) I'll have to look into it further.

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The Joker
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Portable PC

Post by The Joker » Wed May 25, 2005 11:48 pm

Check out my portable pc. It might not be as fast or as portable as your's, but I'm going to hack it up to eithier serve as an onboard vehical computer equipted with navigational capabilities, hack the LCD monitor for a oversized portable, or run emulators on it. It is not a fast computer, CPU only 200 MHZ. Netpliance sold them for $99. a few years ago only to surf the net with their internet service. Some guy figured a way to hack it and turn it into a fully funtional $99. pc. Company went out of business...end of story. With a few spare parts...which I have, I will have a computer that runs linux or windows. The computer is located in the screen. It's like that Apple Imac , but sqwished. Here is a link and some pictures. Why go through all the trouble, you might ask? Only for eduactional reasons, and for fun.

http://www.linux-hacker.net/imod/images/inside.jpg

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"Where does he get those wonderful toys???"
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KANDYMAN-IAC
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New parts choice...

Post by KANDYMAN-IAC » Thu May 26, 2005 2:07 am

I am currently looking into getting the MS 12000 mini - itx motherboard I can pick one up for $229 dollars australian, great thing is it takes sodimm ram si it will be nice and flat... downside is its 17cm square which is not that large. 1.2 GHz C3 processor from memory intergrated video and audio equivilant of AGP 32MB (shared).......

awwwwww fudge it I've just gone and found the Epia - N board... No price yet, but its a BUTTLOAD smaller 12cm square and still sodimm.... i hate haveing choices now i just gotta wait till this comes out cheaper...
http://www.bwi.com/product/13783

fine fine sod it...

by the way my preferential LCD is kinda like this... http://www.mp3playerstore.com/stuff_you ... -740VT.htm

but if i could just find an LCD panel that was 800 x 600 and supported by the main board (6.4 to 8 inches in size max) OR if I could find an lcd 7inches that had a controller within that spec for no more than 200 I would be happy... if any one sees one PLEASE tell me... (or if you know how i can find out what panels would be compatible with the MS 12000 or EPIA N , if any)


I would go the usb touch screen... but i think for the money i could prolly go for the thinkpad like mouse pointer thingy :D:D:D:D:D

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Post by KANDYMAN-IAC » Thu May 26, 2005 2:18 am

okay just found prices for the nano epia N boards at lunaeast http://www.eastluna.com/hardware/detail ... uctID=0654

its cheaper to buy (currently they are waiting for them to arrive and price may change) and its fecking smaller, more up to date and has speed stepping on the processor for battery saving. my money is on one of these babies...

I would love to make a micro laptop out of one of these puppies and a 6.4 inch screen and run XP on it... not some silly little windows CE device... and I could do the whole bloody thing for under a grand :D

(it still needs a powersuply though, as in an ITX power supply...)

teraflop122
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''@_@

Post by teraflop122 » Thu May 26, 2005 10:28 am

:shock:

Those prices are amazing! 115 for an Epia-N with 533Mhz Eden CPU!? Even less for 800Mhz Eden!? (drools)

Let us not forget that pesky thing known as a "heat sink". The- "Heat Sink" - on the Epia N boards are practically as large as the boards themselves. The Epia N10000 would also have a small fan built in (if memory serves). I bet you could shave quite a bit off the- "Heat Sink" -if you bought the ultra-low-power Epia N with 533Mhz Eden CPU.

Here is the heatsink of the Epia N8000: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/ho ... pian8.html

You also need to factor in room for a hdd or CF drive (I like CF drives :D ).

In the end, I think I'll just stick with my overpriced 330 dollar 3.5 inch mobo ~_~

EDIT:

This is a message I posted on FDSMAN's thread, but you guys may find it interesting as well:

Just some things to think about:

-------------------------------------------------------------

Food for thought, or thoughts to be eaten

FDSMAN, this is something you may find interesting. This motherboard costs quite a bit (338 dollars), but look at those incredible features! It takes the newest Pentium 4 gaming CPU's, has a PCI-Express slot for the newest video cards available, and supports DDR2- the newest type of memory available! It even supports Serial ATA! On top of all that, it is just 17cm x 17cm!
http://www.bwi.com/proot/10805

Here's a much less expensive P4 socket 478 version:
http://www.bwi.com/product/6049

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Post by KANDYMAN-IAC » Thu May 26, 2005 6:50 pm

mmmm... what if I cut down the heatsink and add a "fan" and ventilation inside the case??? I had plans to just blow air all the way across the board in the first place....



Mmmmmm...

any idea from anyone??

teraflop122
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Post by teraflop122 » Thu May 26, 2005 6:57 pm

I'm sure the Epia N8000 wouldn't mind to much, and you could probably shave quite a bit off the Epia N5000's heatsink. According to websites, however, the Epia N10000 uses a C3 instead of an Eden CPU. The Eden takes around 5-8 watts of power to run, while the C3 takes from 10-12 (if memory serves), so it probably needs to retain all of its sink.

I got the Intel ITX board today; the one which I no longer plan to use. I had it hooked up to a bunch of spare parts and loaded Windows 2000 onto it. The thing runs pretty well, and unfortunately outperforms all of the Via chips by quite a bit. It probably just takes more energy to operate. Besides, Mini-ITX boards are just to large for my purposes.

tom61
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Post by tom61 » Thu May 26, 2005 7:53 pm

Tried out the system today with a friend's usb keyboard, it doesn't let you enter the BIOS with one. :( Tried to take pics if it hitting the 'keyboard not found, hit F1 to continue' screen, but the pictures were fuzzy and hard to make out of anything in the picture.

At least the good news is that the board still works, and VGA adapter at the very least works.

I'll have to wire up the PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors to get it going. :/

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Post by KANDYMAN-IAC » Thu May 26, 2005 7:54 pm

I could always make a portable mac... macmini's are micro tiny and don't require massive amounts of cooling...

not a bad plan, plus for 499 i'd have all the parts i'd need minus an lcd and some sort of input device.... it could work...

then i would just have to run emulators for all my windows gear... or partition it and dual boot linux and run all windows games through wine...

mmmmmmm decisions decisions

teraflop122
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Post by teraflop122 » Sat May 28, 2005 11:12 am

I am once again looking over my plan and checking it for feasability. It is going to be very difficult to build up the amount of funds to purchase that 3.5" industrial motherboard, so I am now looking into traditional Mini-ITX boards. What will this do? It will mean my machine is more square then ractangle, which I do not like very much. Oh well.

These links could be helpful to all of you:

A power simulator which tells you the exact requirements for a variaty of Mini-ITX boards and configurations: http://resources.mini-box.com/online/po ... lator.html

Scroll down this page to see what happens when you try to run Quake 3 on Via processors: http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/nehemia ... sp?page=11

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EDIT: I don't know why- perhaps those people are clinically retarded (no offense to those who know clinically retarded people) - but they were using Windows XP on those Via Epia Mini-ITX motherboards. Who KNOWS why they choose to run the most demanding and convoluted OS in existence for those tests, but that is what they did. You can most DEFINITELY count on FAR SUPERIOR results using an OS that makes more sense, such as Windows 2000 or even Windows 98.
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I may end up using the mobo that started it all- the Epia 5000. 19.6 FPS in Quake 3 with everything turned down is not the best, but that is with the resolution all the way up at 1024x768, and I will be using 640x480. I'd go with the ME6000, but it requires almost double the wattage to run.

We shall see what happens...

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