Raspberry Pi in Pandora case? (defective board)

[darkborn]

I am referring to this:
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15296-2014-a-sneak-peek-2014-01-02/?p=302322/URL]
 

4. More partly defective Classic Pandoras
 
We still got over 100 defective boards from CC and will now focus on finding out if they are still usable in some way.
They will all be at the Pandora-Section at the DragonBox Shop, so be sure to check it out every once in a while to see if there's one that is of interest to you.
They're all units with brand new cases (most of them had some small scratches from the very beginning though) and PCBs which have one or more issues.

1. How much one unit cost? I found data only for "Signed, fully populated Pandora PCB (defective)" that cost 29,41 € (~$40.59) - is it with case?
2. Is it possible to put (somehow) Raspberry Pi in Pandora case?
3. What modifications are needed?
4. How much will it cost?

I am mostly interested at LCD, battery, speakers, usb port, nubs/gaming controls (All of that I am using at RPi@Motorola Atrix Lapdock, including keyboard and touchpad but excluding nubs).
- SDHC card slots, Wi-Fi/BT are desirable; anything more will be great.

I allready did something like this with my 2nd RPi, dimensions of case are identical to Altoids lid 95mm x 60mm x 20mm, (inner is probably 1mm less):

Spoiler

It looks cool but I still need power, keyboard & mouse, LCD... :-(

RPi is up to 20mm "fat", Pandora is 27mm, so this could be a problem. But this 20mm is only because of USB & UTP jacks, rest is much thinner.

I am aware that I will probably have to sacrifice keyboard (which is pity), but I am OK with that as long as some other parts are working.
External Wi-Fi / BT remote mini-keyboard could be attached to USB (tested, it works) instead of it.
I have some ideas:
- nubs/gaming controls may work as a mouse replacement - especially if touch feature of lcd screen does not work (?)
- sd card could mimic usb-stick for RPi (through mini usb card reader) so that .pnd's work as on Pandora (somebody already asked for this)
 
Any hope for that project? Suggestions?
(edit: btw I am one of those unlucky Craig's customers from 2009., still waiting for some kind of compensation)

 

[elw3]

Oh no what you are looking at is only the pcb, so exactly the part that the pi should replace.

Screen might be very hard to connect yet i dont know for sure. You better buy a cheap car screen.

Since all other parts are part of the pcb the only thing you could use is the battery and the case, which is as useful as a brick without nubs and keyboard.

I dont think you can accomplish something with that.

 

[kingoddball]

Speaking of the case, will ED ever release a model of the 3D Pandora case which we can print?

I'd like to print a customised case...

 

[leathco]

Speaking of the case, will ED ever release a model of the 3D Pandora case which we can print?

I'd like to print a customised case...

Now this would be a cool idea.

 

[mcobit]

Pnds will also not work as Pandora has a softfp os and the pi doesn't have neon support.

 

[darkborn]

Oh no what you are looking at is only the pcb, so exactly the part that the pi should replace.

Screen might be very hard to connect yet i dont know for sure. You better buy a cheap car screen.

Since all other parts are part of the pcb the only thing you could use is the battery and the case, which is as useful as a brick without nubs and keyboard.

I dont think you can accomplish something with that.

Ok, let's see one by one.

Forget pcb.

• Screen might be very hard to connect? But how many wires it has? Without touch features? I doubt more then 4. RPi has av connector (beside hdmi), it could be a problem but solvable. I could even use 3,5" car screen (I do have one), just it is a bit smaller then Pandora's screen.
• Speakers, battery, case, probably some connectors should work for sure.
• Nubs - mechanical part - should work too imo. Find a way to connect them - should be a challenge. I thought about connect them through some part of cheap mouse, to act like a mouse. And hide it in the case.
• Other parts: like usb-hub, micro wifi usb dongle, wifi/bt part of keyboard, usb-memory card reader (or just plain usb-stick, or even ssd)... all of them fit inside.

Whatever I do, I'm sure that it will cost less and will look much more prettier then this:

or

http://www.instructables.com/id/LapPi-A-Raspberry-Pi-Netbook/


http://blog.parts-people.com/2012/12/20/mobile-raspberry-pi-computer-build-your-own-portable-rpi-to-go/


So, I need Pandora's case, battery and screen (if feasible).

 

[leathco]

Another major issue is what to do about your keyboard and buttons.  The contacts are not on a seperate board, but on the Pandora PCB.  Without it, you have nothing but a rubber keymat.

Honestly I think you would be better off designing your own case and 3-D printing it.  Something that could use an off the shelf 3.5 or 4 inch screen and you could integrate in one of those mini keyboard with a trackpad to the side.

 

[N3Cr0]

Even when you leave out the keyboard, there is not enough space for the Raspberry Pi AND the gaming controls. 

The display will be a problem as well. You would need a monitor of the same size as the original, but with composite input. Also the electronics must not sit on the back of the display because there is not enough space in the lid.

 

[ExquisiteCorpse]

The stupidity of this thread is hurting my head.


The PCB is the most important (and expensive) part.


Without it you have nothing

 

[thatgui]

Speaking of the case, will ED ever release a model of the 3D Pandora case which we can print?

I'd like to print a customised case...

Do you mean Pandora or Pyra ? If Pyra then yes. If Pandora, its a big No, as the Pandoras case design is only licensed, not owned by Ed (afaik it belongs to DaveC)

 

[elw3]

• Screen might be very hard to connect? But how many wires it has? Without touch features? I doubt more then 4. RPi has av connector (beside hdmi), it could be a problem but solvable. I could even use 3,5" car screen (I do have one), just it is a bit smaller then Pandora's screen.
• Speakers, battery, case, probably some connectors should work for sure.
• Nubs - mechanical part - should work too imo. Find a way to connect them - should be a challenge. I thought about connect them through some part of cheap mouse, to act like a mouse. And hide it in the case.
• Other parts: like usb-hub, micro wifi usb dongle, wifi/bt part of keyboard, usb-memory card reader (or just plain usb-stick, or even ssd)... all of them fit inside.

Jea hardly more than four:

Spoiler

The speakers are generic ones, just use big headphones instead.

Ehm combining the nubs with a mouse? Now that is something that i want to see! 

 

[darkborn]

Another major issue is what to do about your keyboard and buttons.  The contacts are not on a seperate board, but on the Pandora PCB.  Without it, you have nothing but a rubber keymat.

Honestly I think you would be better off designing your own case and 3-D printing it.  Something that could use an off the shelf 3.5 or 4 inch screen and you could integrate in one of those mini keyboard with a trackpad to the side.

Thank you for your opinion.


Pandora's keyboard is not an option, it is impossible. Nubs and gaming controls are parts I am interested at. Mechanical etc parts of defective PCB should be "recycled" IMHO. Some of those mini keyboard is needed for sure.

Even when you leave out the keyboard, there is not enough space for the Raspberry Pi AND the gaming controls. 

The display will be a problem as well. You would need a monitor of the same size as the original, but with composite input. Also the electronics must not sit on the back of the display because there is not enough space in the lid.

Thank you. If you exclude connectors etc, RPi is 55 x 85 x (up to) 12mm. It could fit (with gaming controls) but with heavy modifications of case/Rpi.


Display is a major problem, I am still with idea of using original Pandora display; how to connect it with Pi should be possible, but I don't have idea how to do it. LCD car diplays are 18+ mm thick, it leads to "brick" solution I post before.

 

Jea hardly more than four:

The speakers are generic ones, just use big headphones instead.

Ehm combining the nubs with a mouse? Now that is something that i want to see! 

I said I am not interested at digitizer, those wires are probably for digitizer and other touch components. I did change GBA, Palm, Dingoo etc parts before. I thought about "classic" RGB + H,V sync wires (5 not 4 wires - my mistake); those of LCD should be used with some kind of controller, of course. For example, HDMI has less then 20 wires, including audio, ground etc.

@Nubs: any analog controller could be converted to digital, it is not a nuclear science. We did it at C64, I can't see why it is not possible here - beside lack of space.


Lack of imagination is not a thing you should be proud to share. Please, do not waste mine or your valuable time.

 

[darkborn]

The stupidity of this thread is hurting my head.


The PCB is the most important (and expensive) part.


Without it you have nothing

The thread is about using Pandora's case for RPi, not RAPING Pandora with RPi.


So PCB is NOT the most important part, especially because it is expensive.


This is why it is all about using (or recycling) DEFECTIVE PCB.


Your head will not be hurt if you manage to read what is written.

 

[darkborn]

Right now, I am interested at buying just a case and put Craig's picture instead of LCD. As a reminder of great games that could be play with people in rl.
Seriously, what is the price of case? At ED's shop (replacements parts) it should be 10-20€ (with nubs). I'm not even sure what parts I need.

Battery is 23,53€ on top of that.

 

[ExquisiteCorpse]

If you believe that there's even a remote chance of this working I have a bridge in London to sell you.

 

[frefol]

In case you haven't seen it, this is the pinout of the LCD cable according to the Pandora Hackers Manual:

Spoiler

1 – GND (Digital)

2 – GND (Digital)

3 – Right speaker +

4 – Left speaker +

5 – GND (Speakers only)

6 – GND (Speakers only)

7 – Vertical Sync

8 – Horizontal Sync

9 – Data Enable

10 – Pixel Clock

11 – Data0 (Blue0)

12 – Data1 (Blue1)

13 – Data2 (Blue2)

14 – Data3 (Blue3)

15 – Data4 (Blue4)

16 – Data5 (Blue5)

17 – Data6 (Blue6)

18 – Data7 (Blue7)

19 – Data8 (Green0)

20 – Data9 (Green1)

21 – Data10 (Green2)

22 – Data11 (Green3)

23 – Data12 (Green4)

24 – Data13 (Green5)

25 – Data14 (Green6)

26 – Data15 (Green7)

27 – 3V Power

28 – Data16 (Red0)

29 – Data17 (Red1)

30 – Data18 (Red2)

31 – Data19 (Red3)

32 – Data20 (Red4)

33 – Data21 (Red5)

34 – Data22 (Red6)

35 – Data23 (Red7)

36 – 5V Power

37 – -5V Power

38 – LCD_nRESET

39 – GPIO 95 (Spare signal,1.8V)

40 – SPI_CS0

41 – SPI_CLK

42 – SPI_DATA_OUT (in to LCD)

43 – 3V Power

44 – Touch screen Y+

45 – Touch screen X+

46 – Touch screen Y-

47 – Touch screen X-

48 – LED Backlight –

49 – LED Backlight +

50 – GND (Digital)

51 – GND (Digital)

 

[FBnil]

I allready did something like this with my 2nd RPi

Dude, that is legendary!

 

[elw3]

Lack of imagination is not a thing you should be proud to share. Please, do not waste mine or your valuable time.

You where asking for input yet you complain when i gave input? Dude that is rude. 

Thing is, yes i cannot imagine how you want to connect an all digital mouse with an analog part. What kind of output shall this give? 

Using something that actually accepts analog input would make far more sense. 

 

[Exophase]

Okay, so overall:

1) That signed defective PCB is just that, no it doesn't come with all the other parts of the Pandora, I doubt ED would sell the case + LCD + battery and so on for so little, LCD alone probably costs more than that

2) Screen is impossible without some active converter and custom cabling, there's no way you will be able to go from an HDMI out to parallel RGB, it's totally different. And this has nothing to do with the touchscreen, the pixel data signal alone is 24 lines, plus there's a bunch of other control stuff, backlight, speakers, power, etc.

3) I don't think RPi puts analog audio out on a header so your best bet is to hack something on the leads of the headphone port I guess. But AFAIK RPi's analog audio is generated by PWMs and is of pretty poor quality

4) I think you have the wrong idea of how the buttons and especially nubs work, there's no mechanical part you can separate from the PCB. The button membranes contact the PCB to triggera switch. The nubs are outright soldered to the PCB, and even if you removed them they're useless without the controllers that are on the PCB.

5) You can't power RPi with 3.7V, so the Pandora's battery is also useless

6) Pandora's SD and wifi/BT obviously don't work without the PCB and you'd have no way to access them anyway even with the PCB

Basically anything you want besides just putting it inside an empty Pandora shell won't work..

 

[ExquisiteCorpse]

Like I said I have a Bridge in Bristol to sell to Darkborn.

It's a pretty bridge and yours for only £10,000. Please wire me the money.