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’ve found yet another lcd panel that’s even sharper and thinner and lighter. But it’s 10” so now I’ve ordered a 13” of the same hopefully. The one I’m using now is a 12” old skool LG and it’s thick and heavy and a power hog. The new one I’ve got is AliExpress Chinese but it’s wafer thin and the picture is amazing so I’m testing it out to see if it’s going to hold up.
Here’s some more pics of the progress if any are interested 🤷♂️ almost ready to start doing the dreaded CAD work….
Added an ultimate 1MB. Pretty sweet!
Embedded Fujinet faith as card access on the right (I’ll properly mount it later…). The button turns Fujinet on and off. It will be hidden and I’ll make a custom button on the outside.
I made a bracket to feed fiber bricks pipes too the front under the keyboard for the status LEDs
Same for battery level:
Various buttons for access to the rgbtohdmi settings, Fujinet, and audio volume controls will run across the top of the keyboard:
New display is even more awesome! (Camera doesn’t do it justice)