[Arm-netbook] asus eeepc 7inch, modifying it to accept a pc card

[Christopher Havel]

Quick post from my phone -- existing PCMCIA card cages from random laptops
are a dime-a-dozen on fleaBay, if you want to go that route. They would
likely need minor modifications to the keying, but that's hardly a
showstopper.

Ron, did you see my previous email? I have an LCD panel that may work for
you, to replace the original in the Eee - but I won't know if it's
compatible, without that part number. If it *is* compatible, I'll ask you
to cover shipping costs and that's all.

I know /almost/ for a fact that my display will work with an EOMA68 card,
as it takes a parallel TTL input -- somewhere I think I have the datasheet
-- I just need your part number to know if they are physically
interchangeable without getting out the craft knife... I suspect the aspect
ratios are different, though -- mine is straight SVGA (800x600), and IIRC,
Eee PC netbooks were always widescreen -- either 800x480 or 1024x600...

On Feb 11, 2018 4:40 PM, "Pičugins Arsenijs" <crimier at yandex.ru> wrote:

> > This post is about modifying an asus eeepc 7inch notebook into accepting
> > a pc card. You are invite to contribute.
>
> Following up on the "RK3399" email:
>
> > For your information, I am in a censorship dispute with lkcl. I do
> > not know what he will come up with. Maybe some or all of my
> > posts will be stopped.
>
> I'm going to get an EEEoma Wiki up in the following week and start
> documenting everything there; if you end up losing posting privileges, feel
> free to email me directly.
>
> > I do not follow lkcl's opposition on this.
>
> He's trying to make sure that the resulting design is safe and 1) won't
> ruin reputation of EOMA68 2) will be a good reference design for other
> designers that want to make EOMA68-compatible things, so that their designs
> won't ruin the EOMA68 reputation.
>
> > It is a weller sp 40l 40w.
>
> It seems to have a wide tip, so I'm wondering if it's suitable for
> soldering things like a 0.8-pitch connector... We'll see. At worst, you can
> get a working soldering iron for $5 from China, and a set of good tips for
> $5 more.
>
> > In case I did not mention it before. I have a raspberry pi 0 and
> > a beaglebone black revision c if that could be useful.
>
> Those could be useful for testing, I think.
>
> > I still have the asus eeepc's mainboard.
>
> That's great =) So we likely can harvest a couple of chips from it if
> necessary.
>
> > The pocketchip's keyboard is an i2c keyboard. Is the asus
> > eeepc's keyboard also an i2c keyboard?
>
> The pocketchip's keyboard, just like the EEE PC keyboard, is not I2C by
> itself - it's a key matrix, and there's usually a controller that connects
> to this key matrix. In PocketCHIP's case, it talks I2C - in case of EEE PC,
> that controller is a part of Embedded Controller on the EEE PC mainboard
> (which controls a whole load of  functions), so we're making our own
> controller by taking a microcontroller, putting it on a board with a 28-pin
> connector and writing a firmware for it.
>
> > Instead of
> > modifying the asus eeepc's keyboard into an usb
> > keyboard, what about i2c connecting the keyboard to
> > the pc card?
>
> Either that, or use PS2 - since we likely will have a PS2-USB chip anyway
> (for the touchpad). The benefit of using PS/2 is that we won't need to
> write our own kernel driver - however, we will need to find a way to
> reliably source PS2-UAB converter chips, or converter boards.
>
> > To my knowledge you can use the
> > beaglebone black revision c to test i2c devices.
>
> You can also use the Pi Zero for the same task, if I understand you
> correctly (just FYI).
>
> > I have this forestalled remark. I would prefer not to cut
> > in the asus eeepc's cabinet. If I do it wrongly, I do not have
> > another cabinet.
>
> Hmm. That's tricky - I was planning to suggest the "cutting" approach, but
> I don't know of a good way to cut into the cabinet so that it's easy and
> mistake-proof. Thankfully, I have 2 spare cases to experiment with, and I
> have some ideas =)
>
> > Instead at the bottom of the asus eeepc there is a removable
> > plate. There is a balk which likely can be removed. I would
> > prefer to insert the pc card by that plate.
>
> I'll measure it and see if it's suitable - that is, if we can even insert
> the card. I can't yet imagine how it would work, but I will think about it.
> (the space inside the EEE case is quite limited, so there's only so many
> ways to keep the card in).
>
> > I have not been able to find something like the pcmcia/eoma
> > 68 breakout board. Should we not find a shop to buy
> > one?
>
> I haven't yet found PCMCIA breakouts (or EOMA68 breakouts, for that
> matter), so it's not a commodity item, and I'm guessing that places that
> have them will have it at high prices, just because it's not that popular.
> Lkcl has breakouts listed on Crowdsupply, but I imagine there's some time
> until they will be manufactured and available. Until that, we can either
> work on other tasks - and, later on, we can design our own breakouts if it
> proves necessary.
>
> Cheers!
> Arsenijs
>
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