Pandora Tablet Mod

[nubie]

Illuminerdi - good luck and if you pave the way for a feasible tablet mod I'll pitch in with some funds for defraying your costs. I agree with you that a "fold all the way back" design is better than a rotating hinge - actually having the keys available on the back might lend itself to some interesting possibilities.

Be sure to keep us posted.

(nubie - who p*ssed in your soup? get over yourself. There was nothing at all snarky in the initial question until you introduced some weird "holier than thou" ethic about modding.)

OK, lets all chill. B) (PS, tons of people pissed in my soup this week, I am sorry for taking it out here.)

I didn't know he had a friend with access to a 3D printer, that sounds awesome

 

[beljam]

Is anyone familiar with the old Sharp Telios 7000 (aka the Intermec 6651)? It was an old Windows HPC, and had a screen that folded all the way around. Anyone know how the hinge on that one worked? I have not been able to get a good look at the hinge from the pics I have found online.

beljam

 

[nubie]

Is anyone familiar with the old Sharp Telios 7000 (aka the Intermec 6651)? It was an old Windows HPC, and had a screen that folded all the way around. Anyone know how the hinge on that one worked? I have not been able to get a good look at the hinge from the pics I have found online.

beljam

This one?

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/art...1117/sharp1.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...ficial%26sa%3DN

This is similar to the IBM lappy I have, but it looks simpler with less moving pieces.

 

[Polossatik]

This one?

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/art...1117/sharp1.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...ficial%26sa%3DN

This is similar to the IBM lappy I have, but it looks simpler with less moving pieces.



Hey, that's cool, makes it a bit wider seen it has "arms around", but solves the pivot stuff quite nicely...
Of course, would imply you find a way to replace the screen cable with something that can bear beeing rotated 180°.....

 

[Lorkile]

Trooper, that is pretty sweet looking. If the Pandora ever got a redesign like that I think I would have to preorder yet another toy and this time see no obvious need beyond what I call the shiny factor (not in terms of how shiny a device is, but rather a calculation based solely on how cool it would be).

 

[Illuminerdi]

I didn't know he had a friend with access to a 3D printer, that sounds awesome

Well bear in mind that a 3d printer can probably only make prototypes - the only kind of 3d lithography suitable for even semi-permanent deployment would probably cost hundreds (maybe thousands) per unit. Whereas a more low level 3d printer can make a working prototype, but not something that would last very long under repeated stress. I'm also investigating beyond just my friend's 3d printer - there's apparently a pretty dedicated RepRap scene here, and so far the results from it have been a bit beyond what my friend's 3d printer can do.

And that becomes one of the central cruxes of the issue - 3d printing is unlikely to produce something as durable as injection mold/die cast/etc. So I myself can create a prototype and prove the theory and execution sound, but at that point things would probably pan out eerily similar to the Pandora itself: I'd need to break down the cost and take preorders to cover the initial creation costs of having a mold cast and getting a production run of actual cases made.

And the Pandora team just makes it all seem so easy, don't they

This is also based on the assumption that enough people would want to rip apart their Pandora and re-house it, which as someone previously pointed out, is unlikely. But, as I'm rather fond of saying: that's a bridge to be crossed when we get there. Right now there are a lot of steps and pitfalls well beyond that step. Right now I just want to focus on getting the Pandora case schematics and seeing if I can create a working design drawing. Once that's completed, then I'll start more hardcore investigation of prototyping and die casting.

Besides, I don't even have my Pandora yet - I might get my hands on it and disappear from the face of the earth when I discover that I can hold an entire library of SNES, PSX, NES, Arcade, Neogeo, Genesis, PC, ETC in my hand, and decide to go camping in the forest with a portable generator. FOREVER.

 

[j.pickens]

One option would be to do like the cell phone clamshells.
Just mount another LCD on the backside of the main LCD, on top of the unit (when closed)
You'd have to double up the cable, and switch off the appropriate backlight when each screen is used.
You'd either have to drive both displays simultaneously, or work up a switching circuit for the flex cable(s).
The LCD's are very thin, and you'd only need to fab up a new case top with window for the LCD.
Probably would only add 4mm to the case height.
Hey, if you run both at the same time, you could play Battleship with someone!

 

[bitz_dv]

If you do make headway on this, you can count on my support, I would love to be able to make this a tablet for drawing.

I like the idea of the Sharp tablet, only instead of two arms supporting it on the sides, I would think that two or three rods set into the back of the display with the back of the display being grooved so that the rods could fall flush when closed, and when the display is swung around to tablet mode, maybe the rods could click into the display further so that everything could be flush. You would of course have to have a bevel on both sides of the screen to make this work....

Saying that, and thinking about the arms on either side, what if the outer "frame" of the casing for the screen was left intact, and just the screen would flip around inside it. This would solve the issue of things pressing up against the keys as you could keep the screen or back of the screen the same distance from the keys, and the bevel would remain stationary. But both of there would require really robust bendable cable for the screen, and quite a length of since it would have to travel further to reach the screen.

Anyways, don't mind me, I've probably drank too much, and it's way to late for me to be thinking clearly, good luck with your efforts!

 

[kin]

theres no point to change the casing with their limited funds.


I'm trying to find a similar sized casings actually intended for like pda's, pencil or cigar boxes etc.. to do some modding in the future.

I found this ds casing... I doubt it's deep enough for the batteryand board. http://www.consoleshop.com/product.php?productid=16880


Btw, how much does it cost to stamp the lower and upper part of the body out of sheetmetal
that fits/wraps nicely around the original body?

 

[benjymous]

Hey, that's cool, makes it a bit wider seen it has "arms around", but solves the pivot stuff quite nicely...
Of course, would imply you find a way to replace the screen cable with something that can bear beeing rotated 180°.....

Jack plugs/sockets could work, if you could find one with enough pins (anyone know how many lines you need to drive an LCD screen?) - it'd also make the screen easily removable

 

[Karel Jansens]

I don't know if this has been brought up before, and I'm sure it's far from an easy mod, but how about this: Instead of a folding or swiveling screen, how about a reversible one? You would physically unplug the screen from its hinge (preferrably one central hinge with a sturdy connector), plug in an intermediary connector (one as small as possible) and plug the screen back in backwards. If you now close the screen, it will sit on the keyboard, displayside out. The connector would ensure that reversing the screen keeps the connections correct.

I'm pretty certain of two things: This hasn't been patented before (at least I've never seen anything even remotely like it), and it can't be done with the current case (two hinges).

You mean like the link i posted to DaveC render on the previous page, Quoted below.

I managed to find the render that DaveC posted.

Here

I must admit, I did say identical, Though it obviously isn`t. But is was the only clam-shell design posted, Oh and it also has a hint of what you want to achieve. :rolleyes:

Trooper



Trooper


Nifty, but not exactly what I had in mind. I only considered the screen as it is now to be detachable, not mod it with controls or put the entire motherboard behind the screen. Although I can see how DaveC's mod could be a gamer's wet dream, I was only thinking about how to transform the Pandora into a tablet MID.

Obviously, my way would require some smart connector to deal with the mirrored video output, but I think it might be feasible (more or less) with the current hardware.

 

[beljam]

Is anyone familiar with the old Sharp Telios 7000 (aka the Intermec 6651)? It was an old Windows HPC, and had a screen that folded all the way around. Anyone know how the hinge on that one worked? I have not been able to get a good look at the hinge from the pics I have found online.

beljam

This one?

Nope, this one: www.usedhandhelds.com/usedhh_reviews_intermec.asp

About half way down the page there are a few good shots of it folding under the keyboard.

beljam

 

[Illuminerdi]

Nifty, but not exactly what I had in mind. I only considered the screen as it is now to be detachable, not mod it with controls or put the entire motherboard behind the screen. Although I can see how DaveC's mod could be a gamer's wet dream, I was only thinking about how to transform the Pandora into a tablet MID.

Obviously, my way would require some smart connector to deal with the mirrored video output, but I think it might be feasible (more or less) with the current hardware.

The more I think about it, the more I think your method is probably the best - I didn't realize until now that your intention wasn't to put the mobo/PCB behind the screen. Outside of designing custom sockets for the two display connectors (the "forward" and "back" ones that would theoretically be part of the lower shell) I can see this working very well. But getting over that specific challenge won't be easy...

 

[Karel Jansens]

The more I think about it, the more I think your method is probably the best - I didn't realize until now that your intention wasn't to put the mobo/PCB behind the screen. Outside of designing custom sockets for the two display connectors (the "forward" and "back" ones that would theoretically be part of the lower shell) I can see this working very well. But getting over that specific challenge won't be easy...

Basically (hah! how easily that runs from my fingertips) it's just a connector/connectors that mirror(s) the video, audio and touchscreen cables. The biggest problem I see is how to keep it compact enough to allow the screen to sit more or less flush with the keyboard.

Well, that and the hinge problem, of course. B)

Edit: I have no idea how the connections run in Pandora's hinge, but maybe it would be possible to keep the hinge as is and make a pair of connectors that go into a recess bottom center of the screen. One connector would be for "regular" use, while the other would mirror the leads to the screen for tablet mode. Not the most portable of uses (extra connector to carry), but maybe the easiest to accomplish.

 

[Illuminerdi]

Basically (hah! how easily that runs from my fingertips) it's just a connector/connectors that mirror(s) the video, audio and touchscreen cables. The biggest problem I see is how to keep it compact enough to allow the screen to sit more or less flush with the keyboard.

Well in theory, doing a mod like this would require the user to take apart most of the Pandora anyway, so getting them to replace the bottom part of the housing wouldn't be too much more work than the replacing just the top, so making it sit flush is less of an issue since you would just have two pieces to replace, both the top and bottom housing, with matching dimensions.

 

[nubie]

So basically it would look as now, but after the hinge the lid could be detached and plugged in backwards?

I like it. Way to think outside the box .

I will post a picture of what I think you mean.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kIWvvvvfDc1unZHj1Hw21A

That is an excellent idea, and in fact might be possible with milled parts (for a small run milled would likely be cheaper, even in aluminum )

The trade-offs are excellent, keeping the original hinge as designed, and only adding the small flimsiness of the straight connection afterward. Which could be engineered around, or reverted to the original lid, or have thumbscrews or such.

If unconcerned about looks when using it in tablet mode you wouldn't even need to make a new screen, just cut the lid, mill to fit a connector, and epoxy the new connection into the lid B).

I like the new lid idea as well, if you could add 4-6 face buttons it would be usable as a standard gaming format system too.

Another option would be software to mirror the LCD output, then making the backlight able to flip sides , make the new lid with a removable panel in the top so that you can use the pen. (I guess you would have to choose which side the touchscreen was on, or add another touch panel.)

 

[Karel Jansens]

Nubie, that's almost exactly what I meant. Like I said, the only big problem I see is that, if you reverse the screen, you'll need a way to mirror the wires and contacts and I can only see that happen with a loose adapter (you're going to need two: one for the screen in the "normal" configuration and one for tablet mode).

I think that for reasons of sturdiness some sort of screwing implement (har har har) would indeed be best (thumbscrews with regular and reversed threads seem like the obvious way to go for easy operation).

A further mod could indeed add a few buttons to the screen lid, although the Newton in its days got away with just one on/off button, and the shoulder buttons are still accessible anyway (they'd make for nice page turning buttons for FBReader of pause/stop buttons for Mplayer.

This could be fun; I'm almost regretting I never went for that engineering degree. As it stands, my construction skills are a bit too clumsy to endeavour such a mod. Now, if the Pandora were made of bricks and mortar, or timber and steel, I'd certainly have a stab at it.

 

[Kimundi]

QUOTE
Nubie, that's almost exactly what I meant. Like I said, the only big problem I see is that, if you reverse the screen, you'll need a way to mirror the wires and contacts and I can only see that happen with a loose adapter (you're going to need two: one for the screen in the "normal" configuration and one for tablet mode).


Why an adapter? You could make the pin layout of the connector this way:

0-1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1-0

 

[mali]

QUOTE
Nubie, that's almost exactly what I meant. Like I said, the only big problem I see is that, if you reverse the screen, you'll need a way to mirror the wires and contacts and I can only see that happen with a loose adapter (you're going to need two: one for the screen in the "normal" configuration and one for tablet mode).

Why an adapter? You could make the pin layout of the connector this way:

0-1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1-0


Look at the pic in the top right corner, that's the display connector and now start counting

http://openpandora.org/pandora-boardv2.jpg

 

[Karel Jansens]

QUOTE
Nubie, that's almost exactly what I meant. Like I said, the only big problem I see is that, if you reverse the screen, you'll need a way to mirror the wires and contacts and I can only see that happen with a loose adapter (you're going to need two: one for the screen in the "normal" configuration and one for tablet mode).

Why an adapter? You could make the pin layout of the connector this way:

0-1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1-0

Didn't think of that one. Let me know when I can order mine. :lol: