Hey allll,
FInally gaining some momentum with the "XE Book" project. Took a whilel to get the video situation sorted out.
I am using a 12" 4:3 aspect ratio (no wide screen) 800x600 flat panel display along with the LumaCode+RGB2HDMI Pi mod and the picture looks great.
This is that Aabic PAL board I found on eBay and made a USA ASCII ROm for it so only the keycaps will have the funky Arabic symbols :)
I found some pretty decent speakers and a cool little amp with volume up/down buttons so I dont have to have an alalog pot sticking out tof the enclosure. The only thing I don't like about it is on a power cycle the volume goes back to its default but that should only be a minor annoyance. I am now debating wether or not to embed the fujinet inside or just have it plug into the SIO on the back. My initial plan was to embed it and have some softkey buttons and OLED display to be able to toggle it on and off but maybe thats overkill...
Next thing to tackle is th epower management wich will be either one or two lipos, a charging circuit etc, Thinking about making it so the original DIN power jack remains as an external power source as well as the cherging input to keep it old skool. If I leave the Fujinet as an external then I will probably put a USB out on the back so you can plug it directly into the laptop. Heres some photos and a video: Video: http://sideburn.com/vid/xebook1.mov
Another "glamor shot" now that a few more kinks have been ironed out.. FIxed some warping issues, Improved the hinge tension with a TPU washer, and reworked the lid so it can take larger more powerful magnets to suck the display down better when closed. I am going to try to quit while I am ahead so i dont "fix it til its broke" before VCF Socal! 🤣
** final testing the battery, We're down to one green dot here in the photo and its been 5 hours! Once it shuts down I am going to time how long it takes to recharge while powered on.
--- If enough people were to want a kit version of this that would include the LCD panel, plastics, wire harness, battery pack, audio and power management board, nuts n' bolts, and you BYO motherboard and upgrades I think around 300 backers would cover the cost if it were to sell for $300 or so... Thats just a rough estimate But you could assume the plastic molding and production would be in the high $30K plus everything else.
Thanks it was a long haul. A few issues having to split it down the middle causing it to warp a bit. The hinge could be better it needs to be tighter will have to see how well it holds up. It needs to be injection molded plastics but that’s crazy expensive. Maybe if there’s enough interest it could be polished into a real product
It's Done!
Youtube Vid: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYGtY7DnrUk
Alrighty I think it's done! Now for 100Hrs of final printing...
Back left hinge closup:
it really is... Best printer ive ever had in the last 15 years. And that is at .2 res... my final print will be at .08 but it can go down to .04 or somthing crazy.
Gotta love the Bambu Carbon’s color 3d printing 😁
All in its gonna be the SAME SIZE as a stock XE! Ahh yeah!
starting to mockup the display. This is where I am heading so far... a little ST Book inspiration but got to deal with the constraints / limitations i have. I switched to a micro hdmi and then cut off all of the housing on the cable to get it as this as possible so I can fish it through the hinge section.. That parts still an unknown but should end up pretty close to what i have going on so far.
Still lots of refining to do on the case but heres a few shots of it so far now with the surface buttons for volume/fujinet and both speakers installed.,
Ever since I added the speaker grill I can't unsee the face looking back at me 😵💫
Heres a crosee section of the side. Everything bolts together and I was able to use all of the existing holes already in the PCB.. No glue hacks here!
Some screenshots of the case so far... Its gonna be one chunky laptop!
Unfortunately that dange button bar left side came right into the centerline where I have to split the case in half so I had to offset the seam to the left a little bit. I hpoe that doesnt bug the heck out of me or look too weird. The right half will be slightly wider than the left half. It was also coming it ad a bad spot on the cartrige slots on the back.
Got to do the two speakers and hinge next and then onto the display.
Haha I did know that. Tearing up a 1200xl might cause a riot though lol. I wanted to keep it as authentic as possible vs using one of those modern boards, emulators, etc. have you seen Ben heck’s handheld he did years ago? His is a custom board he made but all the chips are original pulled out of an XEGS.
Well I wasn't expecting this but I think it is going to end up being about the same size as a stock XE, U1MB, Sofia, battery pack, Fujinet, speakers LCD display and all! Mabe a liiiitle bit thicker with the lcd panel, yet to be determined, but not much. Right now it sits a bit lower leaving room for the LCD panel.... It should definitely be the same size with the lid up!
The other cool discovery is itis smal enough to print in two halves only. My other one had to be split into quarters but the depth of this one is a around 9" so it fits on my build platform so there will only be one seam down the middle. and shouldn't be that noticeable with the keyboard and lcd. It will come out a lot smoother than it is now also when i print it at .08 layer height.
Bottom case almost done, then onto the lid, and then the lcd display and it should be ready to roll :)
Hey Yallll'z, finally got all the mounting hardware done and just made a quick update video :) Its starting to take shape now!
heres a link to the video if you wana check it out: https://youtu.be/LkJYq-NjRVo?si=WM5oNUCoBOVZ4hBQ
So the final damage report: Freddie - no more clock generation, but it does pass on my Backbit Chip Tester. Evie, the creator of it even made firmware updates to be more agressive.. She thinks that it may be good if you were to use an oscillator on the borad insteasd of a crystal. So I will hang on to it U1MB - its dead.. BUt maybe can repair it later... But not sure what died yet. Sohpia 2 - the voltage regulator and a couple of 1uf caps blew.. Could be repaired but will be tedias because they are tiny sirface mount parts and the PCB is burned to hell where they were so will take some rewiring. Another one to put on the project list for another day. Ram - both rams were bad Thats it... For future reference when you over volt your boards :) So all the hardware is pretty much done and now I am onto the plastics! Clock is ticking...
Looks like it's fixed! No video hooked up yet but the fujinet is booting and I have all the expected boot sounds.
The verdict: bad Freddie and two blown RAMS...
So much for the chip tester telling me the Freddie was good. Got to notify them that their test has issues...Now to test the U1MB and try to fix the Sophia (I bought a new one anyway)...
I wonder if Best had them
Well I just killed the boar dnad the sophia 2 (it caught on fire) and who knows what else... Hopfully not the U1MB and the fujinet is powering on and leds light up so it may be alive. I was making all of the 3d printed mounts and made the battery pack bracket and accidently plugged the batter directly inot the damn mother board and not the 5v regulator circuit and sent 11.1v to the board.. Dammit. the board is dead. no clock or anything. Now i need to seek out schematics and try to assess the damage i guess. but right now I am feeling pretty discuraged UHHG!!! and so much stuff is soldered on the board and parts removed to shave the size down etc. WHat a nightmre. I should have used a unigue connector at the batter pack level dammit!
a quicky video where I am at now.. Mostly re-hashed but you can see the sweet new display :) https://youtu.be/GHwUODBzoko