hmc
Active Member
Hi guys,
don't throw away cracked cases or slightly broken mainboards!
Even broken display cables and screens might still be useful.
They can be used to build an external spare battery charger for the Pandora.
Here are the details of my idea:
Take a Pandora case and a mainboard, as well as an AC adapter. Nothing else is required. No screen, speakers, buttons and keyboard mat.
Assemble mainboard and case, shut the case, turn the thing upside-down, connect the AC adapter.
Instead of a regular battery compartment cover, apply a small plate of metal or plastic in the range of the battery contacts, which holds the battery down, connected to the contacts, but allows easy insertion / removal of the battery, similar to the usual camera battery chargers.
I guess, the mainboard needs to have working CPU and RAM and Flash, because charging is controlled by software, right?
But if something else is broken, such as WiFi, keyboard contacts, SD slots, graphics chip or something like that, the mainboard may still be suitable for this purpose.
The firmware does not need to (or should not, because it needs so long to boot) be a full Zaxxon firmware, but some stripped-down Linux, just with suitable charging control, optimized for a short boot time and - maybe - for fast charging (5..10 sec boot time could be realistic).
As a bonus, the charging LED could be moved to the other side of the Pandora, facing up when the Pandora is turned upside-down.
In order to make firware updates possible without taking apart the entire thing, the firmware and bootloader might contain the ability to be controlled via serial port through the EXT connector (or via USB, and a working SD card slot may also be favorable then).
Alternatively, the thing could contain a keyboard mat and a screen, which is still able to display (but touchscreen ability may be broken; even the older broken display cables might be used, which cause the colors not to appear correctly; I had such cables myself, it's annoying for regular use, but here it wouldn't matter).
Comments?
If anyone is willing to donate such broken parts to me, I will be willing to invest some time to design such a thing and to document it.
For owners of multiple batteries, an external charger could be a great benefit.
And it can be a good playground for developers, interested in adding some fancy features to the charger, e.g. the ability to emitting funny noises, reflecting the battery charging state, or letting the thing speak the remaining time until the battery is full (but then a speaker will be needed) ;-)
Daniel
don't throw away cracked cases or slightly broken mainboards!
Even broken display cables and screens might still be useful.
They can be used to build an external spare battery charger for the Pandora.
Here are the details of my idea:
Take a Pandora case and a mainboard, as well as an AC adapter. Nothing else is required. No screen, speakers, buttons and keyboard mat.
Assemble mainboard and case, shut the case, turn the thing upside-down, connect the AC adapter.
Instead of a regular battery compartment cover, apply a small plate of metal or plastic in the range of the battery contacts, which holds the battery down, connected to the contacts, but allows easy insertion / removal of the battery, similar to the usual camera battery chargers.
I guess, the mainboard needs to have working CPU and RAM and Flash, because charging is controlled by software, right?
But if something else is broken, such as WiFi, keyboard contacts, SD slots, graphics chip or something like that, the mainboard may still be suitable for this purpose.
The firmware does not need to (or should not, because it needs so long to boot) be a full Zaxxon firmware, but some stripped-down Linux, just with suitable charging control, optimized for a short boot time and - maybe - for fast charging (5..10 sec boot time could be realistic).
As a bonus, the charging LED could be moved to the other side of the Pandora, facing up when the Pandora is turned upside-down.
In order to make firware updates possible without taking apart the entire thing, the firmware and bootloader might contain the ability to be controlled via serial port through the EXT connector (or via USB, and a working SD card slot may also be favorable then).
Alternatively, the thing could contain a keyboard mat and a screen, which is still able to display (but touchscreen ability may be broken; even the older broken display cables might be used, which cause the colors not to appear correctly; I had such cables myself, it's annoying for regular use, but here it wouldn't matter).
Comments?
If anyone is willing to donate such broken parts to me, I will be willing to invest some time to design such a thing and to document it.
For owners of multiple batteries, an external charger could be a great benefit.
And it can be a good playground for developers, interested in adding some fancy features to the charger, e.g. the ability to emitting funny noises, reflecting the battery charging state, or letting the thing speak the remaining time until the battery is full (but then a speaker will be needed) ;-)
Daniel