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XE Book Development

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

73 comments

73 Comments

Sideburn

Oct 01

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!

Sideburn

Oct 02

Replying to

Lesson learned unique connectors for all things crucial... I even told my self this is gonna bit me in the ass.... Whats amaing is everything is passing. I am pulling every chio off and socketing them.. Sally, Freddie, ANTIC, Fujinet, All passing tests. The rams are testing bad and i dont know what I can get to replace them.. its two two LH2464's and only a couple un hungary are on ebay and $22 shipping like $50 for two. I think i can get some other 32K drams or srams though. I still dont know the state of the U1MB until i can hook it up to somehting working. Also theres no signwaves off the oscillators so not sure whats up with that I might get the 800xl out i think everything is socketed on that and really tes tthe atari chips. I am testing them with my Retro chip tester right now and that is passing them.