It's time... To mod a PSION Series 7

Charlie

.. . Mouse . ..
Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Posts
690
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UK
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Wirral
Hello all, I'm back once again from wherever I seem to go... Lovely new AmiBay by the way.

What's a PSION Series 7 (or NetBook)?
5-close-relativ-5.jpg
-This Is!-

Pretty well the most perfect portable computer ever made.., unless you wanted something a little more compact, then a PSION 5MX would be the most perfect portable ever made.
Lot's of people still use these things even though they came out in the mid-late 90's. I happen to own a functioning Series 7 that's been upgraded to NetBook spec. (do some googling if you're at all interested)

Now, anyone who knows me knows my main retro-love is all things RiscOS. (I admit to regular and wide infidelities) I would love a portable RiscOS machine but Acorn A4's are going for stupid money these days. Also given my love of hacking things, and the march of technology, I'm pretty sure I can do better than Acorn did. :p

Hmm: Series 7 + hacks = a 'new' portable RiscOS machine. A modern OS plus functionality wouldn't go amiss for times when I'm trying to be 'normal'.

So there you have it. It's been ages since I did some proper hacking/modding. Who knows if I'll get it done, does anybody care? Well I shall inflict a blow-by-blow account on you all anyway!

PS
Bear and Porridge may make a guest appearance, but Bear is a very busy mammal and there's the eating children (again) charges he's currently facing.

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Initial thoughts / requirements:

A PSION 7/NetBook
Yep, got one. Mine works fine and I've umm'd and arr'd about killing a working one for some time. If anyone had a dead one in good physical condition do let me know.

New Hardware
It's got to be small enough to fit inside the Series 7 shell, be powerful/modern enough to be worth the effort, and support a decent screen that will fit nicely...
Gutting a modern Android tablet would be an absolute no-brainer, especially as I really like Android. This is absolutely the way I want to go but it's not going to happen as there are no such devices that RiscOS runs on natively and no RiscOS emulators for Android...

Ohhh developers Pleeeeaaaasssee hear my plea!

I guess I could get a tablet that also supports Linux for the emulation option. But as I'd rather suck the droppings from my cat's posterior than sully myself with that nonsense again. So that's not going to happen.
(It's a personal thing, you don't have to agree with me)​

I'll have to do it the hard way. For now that's likely to be a Raspberry Pi with the larger components desoldered, an after-market LCD, and I will have to give some thought to a pointing device...
...as the primary goal is RiscOS it's got to behave like a mouse. My current thoughts are to track down a touch panel that thinks it's a mouse, so not requiring drivers, or hacking an IBM-alike pointing-nipple in to the keyboard. I don't think the former exist, and the latter will be a lot of work to do properly. There's no room in the shell for a track pad and whoever heard of a portable device that needed a mouse to be usable? (*cough* A4)

I'm open to suggestions. I have the Pi, the panel is on it's way... but better ideas would be most welcome.

Software
If I'm running hardware designed for Android I'm laughing on the functionality front, but no RiscOS.

Ohhh developers Pleeeeaaaasssee hear my plea!

If I'm basing this on a Raspberry Pi then RiscOS is easy, but there are no other useful OS's for this device. Android is on the way but given the Pi's low specs that may never be a good option.
 

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Beagleboard? That runs ubuntu and android plus there is a riscos port for it :)

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http://beagleboard.org/project/riscos/
http://beagleboard.org
 
:) Thanks for that - A Beagleboard XM isn't a bad idea at all. Having checked there's a fair bit to desolder, but at least Android would run ok as a second OS. I had considered the Panda but that's a bit big for the job in hand.
 
I so loved these days :)
I have an ultra nice working Psion 5MX and a Palm m505 that I used back then. Really l33t products for the time.
 
Came across this from adafruit this morning and thought it might be of some use.. http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/blu...-82449797&mc_cid=af2b56fb00&mc_eid=ddc635199a

Thank you very much for that, really helpful.

Finding the right components for a project like this can be quite tricky, doing a neat job trickier, but the real issue is getting the various components to talk to each other properly... Especially with an OS like RiscOS that will only work with a limited number of standard devices.

Having done projects like this in the past the keyboard is always the most tricky and frustrating part. Two options:
-Rewire the existing keyboard for the USB controller nabbed from a standard USB keyboard. Fiddly, tedious , messy, not guaranteed to work.
-Use some programmable logic. Much neater, but but writing the software brings it's own problems.

I'm therefore always on the lookout for devices such as the one you linked to, thank you again. :)

PS
Two of my favorites:
AIKON keyboard controller - Very useful, but DIY only these days.
Sprintek SK5102 - I have a couple of these fantastic little chips for really tight installations, but they are a real misery to solder.
 
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And so it begins... :D
Begin.jpg
-Booting to RiscOS-

That was easier than I expected - A Beagleboard-xM all connected up to a USB keyboard, three button mouse and monitor. Of course the tricky stuff now begins.
The little PCB in a poly-bag is an ATMega32 development board - a little experiment to see if one of these can be 'bent' to AIKON duties. That will save a little faffing with making up one from scratch.

Hmm, Trackpoint. I think one of these (possibly nabbed from an IBM or HP laptop) will the best way to go for 'mouse' input, especially as the IBM version(s) come with three buttons...
...does anyone know how these are wired? If any are known to behave electrically like a USB mouse that would be VERY helpful.

Edit
It seems IBM Trackpoints a basically PS2 (I'd be glad to hear otherwise) so that's a bit of a pain but not a show-stopper. Of course there's the small matter of seeing if it's even possible to drill a hole through the keyboard fit the nipple - I may be forced to invent a more groovy place to put it.
'Happily' my Wife's Lenovo (IBM) laptop died, she's not happy, but every cloud... So I'll have a donor for parts to test. :shhh:
 
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Another day, another part for this project:

P5110173.JPGP5110174.JPG
-Proposed IBM TrackPoint Locations-

Here's the TrackPoint salvaged from my wife's dead Lenovo X32 - shame, it was a really nice laptop. It doesn't look very PS2'y to me but it's the electrical behavior I'm interested in. The image to the left is roughly the traditional position but that's going to take some VERY careful work with the old dremmel. Also where do I put the three mouse buttons?

Options:
Under the front lip of the shell might be quite groovy,discrete, and I could probably recycle the X32's mouse buttons. But how ergonomic might that be? Could be good or bad... Or maybe I do without the 'Adjust' button (I must experiment with a real machine to see how much I actually use adjust) and use the currently redundant 'Menu' and 'Fn' keys to the left of the space bar. The downside with that is I loose an obvious key to recycle the numbers a function keys.
The much easier option would be to place the nipple as shown in the second picture (left or right) and make the three mouse buttons to go on the opposite side. That might be great, or terrible.

RiscOS has a genuinely brilliant GUI even if it is rather old but it's very heavily dependent on good mouse control to feel 'right' so I need to give this a lot of thought - possibly the hardest part of the whole project. Opinions would be gratefully received.
 
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nice to see u still modding charly :) just 1 question will amithlon work on it ;) all power to the mighty blue cube and may u never see the majic smoke
 
nice to see u still modding charly :) just 1 question will amithlon work on it ;) all power to the mighty blue cube and may u never see the majic smoke

Thank you very much for the kind words. No Amithlon for this I'm afraid but in principle it could run UAE on top of Linux. Speaking of blue smoke I fried my trackpoint board trying to sus-out the pinout. As I can't seem to find these boards on their own that's another ThinkPad keyboard on order to butcher... I *think* I know what I did wrong...
...The Qube has undergone a through upgrade over the last few months: Hardware, software, HTML. Not a lot to show for it but it's given me lots of options for the future.


Back to the project:
P5170173.jpg
-It Lives!!!-

So that's all the primary (easy - sigh) bits sorted and working. The screen is lovely, 8" of 1920x1200 if I want. The driver board has no instructions so I still have some way to go to suss it out - turning up the brightness would be nice.

The AV board and screen need 12v, which is a bit of a pain as the Beagle, etc, want 5v. Thankfully none of the components need much (any) current so portability is still a goer. I'll have to faff about with converting the power supply...
...happily the OEM power brick (and battery) are 12v so I'll only have to make one conversion. I don't suppose anyone can point me in the direction of a schematic for a really efficient voltage conversion circuit?

Getting close to having to cut stuff - and seeing if the keyboard is going to be easy (software) or hard (rat's nest of Kynar).
 
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Damn, didn't see your replies to this thread on my email for some reason :( see you went for the Beagleboard afterall :)

If you're after a compact a neat solution for a powersupply then you can use an external hard drive Psu as they have 12v + 5v outputs .... Like this one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400542796410?redirect=mobile
 
Yes, I found a Beagle-xM going cheap (funny, do Beagles generally go cheap?) on the other bay. It would be unfair to say they seem nicer than the Pi as (new) they are rather more expensive. The Beagle will give me more options for running alternate OS's.

Thanks for the suggestion. :)

I have an alternate plan after a little creative thought:
brick.jpg
+
Charger.jpg

Why???
Well the traditional view is to use a LM7085 regulator with a few caps to convert voltages. Nothing wrong if you need a bit of current but the heat-sink points to the main problem - horribly inefficient. Not good for a battery-powered portable device.
Mr Babbage says 'Ba-Baaaa' xXx

The quick 'n dirty way would be to use a voltage divider (two resistors) to do the job. Easy but again very ineffiecient, and depending what you're driving the voltage you think you're getting may not be to one delivered - not so funny for a delecate Beagle.
Mr Babbage says 'Ba-Baaaa' xXx

Then it struck me. Those little car ligher to USB adaptors generally use a much more efficient device (I forget the name for now). They are designed to start with 12v and give 5v, not much ampage but for the application that's fine. Also they are dirt cheap and are ready made. All I have to to is buy one and introduce a brick to it and job's a good'n.
Mr Babbage says 'Bing'


As an aside I got hold of another thinkpad keyboard and properly buzzed-out the connections with aid of a schematic so I didn't fry this one. :blased:
The down side is one of my few PC's that has a PS2 connector doesn't recognise the device connected through it's PS2 port... Ho-hum, not unexpected and I understand a PS2 to USB converter will sort that for some electonically-magical reason (needed for the Beagle anyway). It's just it would be nice to check my wiring so far...
...and getting a 'proper' PS2->USB converter with some actual gubbins in them rather than the cr*ppy ones that just rely on the device itself being USB-aware can be a bit hit and miss.
 
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Those 12-to-5V power converter are cheap as chips, have up to 1.5A of capacity (are 1.5A enough?) and thanks to digital modulation of the power source they don't dissipate a lot of heat. Go for that.

You can even arrange a pair of those puppies if adding a pair of high current Schottky diodes. But then you must play with the boards to achieve 5.2V as schottky diodes have .2V of voltage drop. The chip in those converters is an off the shelf MC33063A that you can play with the output voltage. :)
 
Thanks rkauer. :) I'll keep that in mind if I find the Beagle is drawing too much juice.
 
Here's another small triumph:

HDMI%20Connector.jpg
-Hackable HDMI Connector-

I finally found some of these (good ones) at seeedio.com. In a nutshell the Beagle connects to the AV board (via an HDMI connector), the AV board connects to the TFT panel (via a ribbon cable)... Now hear the word of the Lord!
Hmm.. Posibly not as catchy as the orignal.

The basic issue (up to now) has been one of getting all the parts to fit in the Series 7's rather svelte shell. I'll need to desolder the larger components from both boards, partly to make room and partly to reconnect some on the ends of bits of ribbon cable to get the external ports in the right places... Desoldering the two HDMI connectors and then soldering them directly together is just too much for my skills and equipment. But very short, flexible, and flat, HDMI cables don't exist and in general they are too fiddly to make at home. The above is a connector designed for home-brewers and their dodgy soldering irons. :cool:
...a bit of my old favorite (recycled HDD ribbon cable) and another hurdle has been crossed.


Oh, and another bit of good news:
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-MicroSD to SD Extender-

I was wondering how I was going to manage to install everything in such a way that the 'HDD' would be accessable. As a bonus this also allows some flexibility with the media I use - nothing to stop me using a SD to MicroSD adapter. :)




 
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:) Thank you!

PS
Just finished properly setting up RiscOS 5 on the Beagle + Aemulator + my Classic RiscOS running under ArcEm... Lovely.
 
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Might be worth reading this if you are going to be going down that route.. http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Generic+1A+USB+Car+Charger+Teardown/10108

Ah, just had a look @ your kind linkie. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the poor quality, I'll check carefully when mine arrives to see how bad it is. At the end of the day if I have to upgrade a few components butchering such a device will still save a bit of work.

Hmm, much of the ground work is now done. I really want to get on and do the big bit but must be patient and wait for all the parts to arrive. This machine is going to be my main portable retro box when it's done so I don't want too many "Oh why didn't I do it the other way?" moments.


Getting close to the final call:
If anyone out there has a dead Netbook / Series 7 that's otherwise in excellent condition I will gladly swap it for my 100% working near-perfect Series 7 (with Netbook personality upgrade) and all the nice goodies I have with it.

I'd much rather not perform this surgery on a functioning machine... But I shall do.
 
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