Bacteria - Ipaq 3600 PDA resurrected, improved! *DONE*

illustriouschin · Post by **illustriouschin** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:06 am

yes multiple button presses is an issue, unless he made a completely new input method he is going to be stuck with that problem.

bacteria, you claim one-handed use so what hand are you? the thing was designed to be used by either left or right handed people but you probably just have the one so putting all the buttons on one side would be more logical.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:46 am

tom61 - Adding buttons on the side is ok, it would add just over 6mm as that is the size of the small tact switches. The only games I would play on the system are maybe some old Lucasarts adventure games (portrait but use touchscreen), card games (portrait) and old style shooters (Galaga, Pacman, etc) (portrait). Bear in mind this PDA is only about half as powerful and newer ones so won't be able to play a great deal of games at fullspeed. When I want to play other games, I will use a normal games system. This is more of a case of "quick games".

I have no idea if the Ipaq had issues with multiple button presses, I think it did; it has literally been years (probably about 4) since I last used it, so I can't remember much about how the PDA performed.

illustriouschin - I am right handed, so would hold the PDA in my left hand and use the stylus in my right. (Why out of interest do you think I only have one hand, as per your reply??!).

There is no logic in putting the buttons on one side of a PDA as they would be harder to press when you are holding the unit with your other hand - your fingertips or palm are there! - if you have the buttons on the side then you need to make the case extra wide, and would then not be easy to hold in one hand securely. This is no doubt why the PDA's do it this way.

The bottom of the system is the best place for the buttons, after all I need the length in the case anyway for the mobos, so this is a good place for the buttons and D-pad. As stated before, the prime use of this PDA is to be a PDA, games are an "extra".

I have updated the pic for the case front.

This is why I said before that this is tight. Everything has just enough space. I will have to use a 6mm tact switch for the power on/standby button and I have only just enough space for 12mm tact switches for the bottom buttons.

The black centre is the touchscreen. The magenta area is the surrounding part of the screen which needs to be flat with the top of the case (ie this is the part which actually has to be cut out from the perspex, not the black inside). The yellow button at the top is the power on/standaby switch, the red buttons at the bottom are the PDA buttons, which I have sloped two of them so they may be useful to play basic shooter games.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:15 am

Found this site: http://www.usedhandhelds.com/usedhh_reviews_h3600.asp

It pointed out an extra feature of the "D-pad", the press, which in effect is a fifth button. This meant I needed to amend my diagram to allow it.

The pic below is my final draft before using it as a template. The orange shapes are the outlines for the 12mm tact switches. Everything is very tight!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:53 am

Cutting in progress.

Cut out the holes, placed the paper onto perspex (on reverse side) and stuck it down with paper masking tape.

The important thing is to cut out the areas which are going to be the weakest, first. This means the perimeter will be done last, after the screen hole is done, and after the buttons are cut out.

I cut out the bulk of the outside and inside with my side cutter.

Next, onto the buttons.

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:55 am

This is so awesome, I always thought it would be good if these PDA companies would make some decent controls, instead of the crap you usually get. I also think it's cool someone is making a portable that's useful for something other than playing games! I mean, some of these portables are big and burly enough you could stun animals with them, and thus be used as a hunting weapon, but other than that...

Sweet design, I like your creativity! Great way to recycle your old technology!

EDIT: One thing you might want to consider- a Neo Geo pocket joystick. It's small, and I think it's my favorite handheld joystick. It could be very nice with a PDA.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:12 am

Mostly done now, just have the outer sides left. You can see from the posting times how quick progress has been doing this cutting. I have got rather good at it now. The D-pad cross took a little while.

More updates soon...

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:21 am

arfink - Thanks for your posting, nice to hear from you. Yes, gaming portables need to be fairly large, if you want a large decent screen (PSone screen for example), mind you, the commercial ones like PSP are very awkward to play if you have adult hands, even my previous boss who likes his PSP can only play on it for a short while before his hands hurt; ditto for the GBA, GBA SP, GBA Micro, GP2x, etc. There are good positives for larger portables.

Yes, the NeoGeo Pocket has a nice joystick, however the Nintendo D-pads are truly excellent, hence I bought a few a while back (I still have about 2 or 3 spare for other projects).

I am pleased you like my design and the fact I am recycling old technology, in fact, apart from the speed of the PDA (only 200 Mhz), this mod will make it in line with new systems, except my system has more battery life and better controls.

Back to perspex grinding!...

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:35 am

Bacteria, I just wanted to comment that you are very talented at documenting interesting projects. You always seem to come up with a neat idea to try out and I always look forward to reading your posts.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:00 am

Finished. The slightly jagged edges inside the case don't matter as items will be put in there and hot glued in place. The D-pad cross is the perfect size. Happy so far!

Life of Brian - Thank you so much for your kind comments. I am pleased you find this project interesting.

After this project, I have two in mind more to do: One of my lights is on a nice bendy arm; anyway, the bulb blew a few days ago, so rather than bin it, I thought I would make it into a large (good sized, handy to use) soldering helper. Commercial ones are tiny; this will be about a foot tall! Project two will be modding a GP2x, and using the S-video mod in the Portable Screens forum.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:26 am

Hot glued the tact switches in place. Two views below, front and back.

I have had enough project work today, should have a little time tomorrow afternoon and Thursday (again, a little time in afternoon, hour or so), and I then I have all Friday morning!

Purely for illustrative purposes, I put the D-pad in place and through its hole and speaker in place (speaker will have a grill on it of course). This is just to show how it all fits.

illustriouschin · Post by **illustriouschin** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:51 am

ouch those are some rough cuts, i hope you did not hurt your good hand in the process. nice to see you put the dpad off to one side as per my suggestion.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:55 pm

illustriouschin wrote:ouch those are some rough cuts, i hope you did not hurt your good hand in the process. nice to see you put the dpad off to one side as per my suggestion.

The outer cuts are smooth and I smoothed the D-pad holes anyway, the D-pad fits in snugly but moves freely; the other cuts don't matter as they hold the components which will be hot glued in place (as with the tact switches in the pics). A further, very thin, sheet of PVC will hide all the ills anyway, so the "rough cuts" are deliberate. The final product will look very considerably better than this of course!

What are your references to "good hand" and "just the one" about? That is the second such remark - is it a vague attempt at humour perhaps?

illustriouschin · Post by **illustriouschin** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:31 pm

oh see, your hands are fine but you were riding the bus when you cut that out. what is that notch on the bottom right part of the screen for?

benol · Post by **benol** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:38 pm

Leave it clear and don't paint the inside the way you did with your GBA64. Trust me, it will look a lot better.

Post by **Skyone** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:28 pm

You're not gonna bondo anything or sand much of anything?

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Bacteria - Ipaq 3600 PDA resurrected, improved! DONE