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Integrated Systems

A project log for X60s (2020) ThinkPad

X60s is a near-perfect laptop chassis for mobility. I will be retrofitting a modern laptop motherboard to modernize this machine

seanSean 01/30/2020 at 15:440 Comments

Within this project, there are some parts which will not simply "plug in" to the laptop motherboard and so will require a combination of adapters, connectors and some custom PCB work to enable the desired features of the system. 

System

      USB Hub board from E590

      LED status lights and thinklight

      Keyboard and trackpoint to USB / conversion

      Retrofitted WIndows Hello IR Webcam (maybe)

      Internal battery (if time / space / everything allows it to work with a secondary battery)

USB Hub board from E590

The original plan was to simply not use this board as removing it would allow the motherboard to roughly fit within the X60 chassis. This required me to test whether the system would flag the board as missing when booted up. It was discovered that the power button was also within that assembly. This was realised after attempting to start the computer with said button after disconnecting the board. When the board was disconnected after startup the laptop was fine to restart etc on it's own without any immediate issues. This happens to be ideal as the pin out of the on switch can be found and wired into the ned system using a simple board connector. Similarly if the other pins on the connector can be mapped out (potentially a pci slot or similar, or even USB). This would allow for custom IO depended on a replacement board design, expanding flexibility of the mods.

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