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A project log for Mini rpi2 laptop

Small form factor laptop in the style of old HPC's like the Jornada.

pdrift86pdrift86 01/20/2016 at 06:535 Comments

I've been working on this project in my spare time and I'm happy with the way its coming together. Its not perfect, but I'm happy and that’s all that counts since I’m making it for me. I had to wait for some parts I ordered. The fpc connector I got fit the

ribbon cable on the keyboard but I wasn't about to solder to that connectors fine pitch so I found this neat board on ebay that would make the job easier. So another 3 week wait and I was ready to move on.

I didn't need the whole board so I trimmed it to save space.

This is after trimming and soldering. It was tricky to solder the 1mm spaced pins. I used a big blob of solder on the end of my iron and I just rolled it back and forth over the pins slowly. That worked, I tested it and I managed to reverse engineer the pin out of the keyboard.

This is the keymap I got.

Then I worked on the case a little more. I had to route a space for the joystick so it would go through the 3mm board.

I used my dremel with a small drill bit to do it. First I tested it out an a scrap piece I had so I wouldn't make a mistake on

the case.

Once I was happy I did it for real.

I had to notch the front panel so that it would fully close.

I made a bracket to keep the batteries in place and I mounted the powerboost.

I wanted to be able to easily access the inside so I mounted to top panel on hinges.

I removed the pin from the hinges and spread them open a little so I could fit M4 screws instead. With a lock washer on both sides I can adjust the resistance so that the screen stays open wherever I open it to.

Now I just need to wire the joystick, 2 buttons, and keyboard up to the teensy and program it. I could use some advice with the wiring. The joystick has 4 wires, the 2 buttons have 4 wires and the keyboard has 23 which are split 14 and 9.

I will work on tgis tomorrow, I think it shouldn't be too confusing lol.

Discussions

jusTSean wrote 01/23/2016 at 17:41 point

Well done!

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polishplaya wrote 01/22/2016 at 15:04 point

forgiveness

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polishplaya wrote 01/22/2016 at 14:59 point

it's all biblical

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pdrift86 wrote 01/20/2016 at 22:25 point

Thank you.  I thought it came out good. I will order some M2 screws that way i won't have to pry open the hinges next time.

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RasmusB wrote 01/20/2016 at 22:09 point

very nice progress! I really liked the hack with the hinges, very simple and clever solution :)

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