[Arm-netbook] modifying a 7 inch notebook cabinet to accept a pc card

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

hi ron please can you read and follow standard netiquette
by using line-breaks at around 70 characters per line, or
using a mailer that does this automatically for you.  the
easiest way is to set "plain text mode" when composing
or replying to arm-netbook at lists.phcomp.co.uk.

i am forced to edit the text below to add a line-break
every 70 characters and to add the inline reply ">"s
manually.  it is a lot of work.

thanks.

On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 10:33 PM,  <ronwirring at safe-mail.net> wrote:

> On another forum I asked about the practicability
> of modifying a 7 inch notebook cabinet to become
> pc card compatible.

 why would you make a 7 in notebook PC-CARD (PCMCIA)
 compatible? are you confusing PC-CARD with EOMA68?

> Lkcl rejected my suggestion.

 i would never have entered into a discussion about converting
 a netbook to PCMCIA (ake PC-CARD).

 i _would_ however have highlighted the strong mis-match between
 spending time on taking *any* pre-existing mass-volume casework
 and attemtping to shoe-horn PCBs or other components into it
 when the goal is *eco-conscious* mass-volume computing.

 the ted talk on "How I made a $3 for $1800" illustrates this futility
 beautifully:

 https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toaster_from_scratch/transcript?language=en

 so if the goal is to convert an entire industry over to responsible
 eco-conscious computing, starting from the labour-intensive
 exercise of *disassembling* a pre-existing computer that was
 never designed *to* be disassembled is not a good way to go.

 on the other hand, if you simply wish to have a learning experience
 (with a very sharp learning curve) then yes, go ahead.

>  He argued, that keyboard, sound, batteri etc would require custom pcbs.

 correct.

> Expenses worth thousand of eus.

 correct.

> Doing it wrong and the computer could catch fire.

 it would.

 you also forgot to mention the huge difficulty of sourcing
 the right connectors.  many of the originals (which were likely
 custom-designed) will simply be .... end-of-life.

 you also forgot to mention the reverse-engineering needed
 for any parts/components you intend to re-use.


> touchpad -> many synaptic touchpads are usb compatible.
> I do not know what to do about the left and right buttons.

 you will need to reverse-engineer the touchpad buttons.
 try disassembling the touchpad, looking for ICs then
 searching for their datasheets online.

 also you will need a multimeter.

> keyboard -> that will be difficult.

 indeed.  i spent several weeks on reverse-engineering one: in
 the end i had to get a duplicate, smash it open, and then
 trace the tracks from the connector, by hand.  that alone took
 about two hours.

> battery -> likely difficult.

 yes.  and dangerous to get wrong.

> At least if you want to be able to charge and have
> the computer turned on at the same time.

 no... just dangerous, period.  get things wrong with a
 lithium battery and, well, you can google "lithium
 battery fire" just as easily as anyone.


> display -> either get a lvds to hdmi converter or get a hdmi display.

 if you are looking to replace the existing LCD you will
 need to know the exact dimensions of the existing LCD.

 get them wrong and you will be looking at modifying the
 casework.


> I do not now if a 7 inch hdmi display requires separate power.

 all displays will require power.  you will need to know -
 in advance - the current and voltage.  then organise the
 PCB to provide that.

> It appears the keyboard is the biggest difficulty.

 no.... it's just one of the dozens of big difficulties.
 designing a laptop from scratch didn't take 18 months
 to create a first prototype, for no good reason.


> On his website one person wrote about modifying a
> notebook keyboard to an usb keyboard.
> He wrote it is about getting a controller which will fit
> the keyboard's wiring.

 yep.  sounds like he knew what he was doing.

> Then it is a matter of mapping the keys correctly.

 ... which you will have to reverse-engineer.

> I do not know about powering the keyboard or rather the controller.

 well, you look up the datasheet on the controller and
 it will tell you.

l.