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
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 :)