I'm writing this in my lunch break, so hopefully this Log Entry will make sense to you all :).

At this point in the project, I am raiding retailers for parts, so ordering a lot of stuff on AliExpress that might come in handy such as OLED displays, teeny tiny LIPO batteries etc. (see components list).

The most important part in making the PipBoy work, is the screen. The kit comes with a nice PipBoy decal, but that just didn't cut it for me. In an interview from Tested with the creator of the kit, Chris Barnardo explains that he would have loved to have a working screen, but that it's hard to find small screens with "old-style"/square aspect ratios.

Thankfully, the host of YourGeekFix found out that the BlackBerry Passport (BBP) is an excellent fit for the PipBoy kit's screen. He had some issues getting the Fallout 4 PipBoy Companion App to rotate, so he did a hardware hack to rotate the screen physically. Since the BBP has a 1:1 screen ratio, the BB operating system and/or the way Android is emulated(?) doesn't seem to differentiate between "Portrait" and "Landscape" mode. Figures.

Buying stuff.... a lot of stuff...

I ordered my own BBPassport on eBay from a lot that had about 26 other BlackBerry phones in it, all in varying working order. Still, it was only 70GBP for the whole lot, which is cheaper than a single 2nd hand BBP!

Most of them are in pretty decent shape, so I instantly scored myself a 20+ drop-in-place touchscreens with internet functionality, basically. Not a bad deal!

Rotation, Schmotation!

First, I tried some forced rotation apps to no avail. Then I decided to reverse-engineer the PipBoy Companion APK file and set it to Landscape mode using the APK Easy Tool and editing the AnrdoidManifest.xml file. It took me a while to get the gist of it, but after a very professional proof of concept to see if the recompiled APK was actually modified, recompiled and signed....
The app still did not rotate. So, after some trial and error, I found out this APK will force rotate the screen based on the sensor; any other options in that app simply did not work. Below the proof!

That alleviates the whole ordeal of fidgetty ribbon cables and such, which cost YourGeekFix a lot of BlackBerry Passports. Hopefully this will help future VaultTec/Robco employees in making their own!

In the next Project Logs, I will cover the ideas I have for the separate modules of the PipBoy, the painting and the mounting of the BBP in the PipBoy case proper. The update interval is pretty much depending on whether or not I get the parts in the mail, but feel free to comment if you're curious about a certain part of the process!