Waiting for the Pyra like....

[Sircrisp]

(Alternative Title: Ghetto Pandora)

With no Pandora's available in the shop and the Pyra still a few months away at least, I decided I needed that handheld form factor ASAP so I started throwing this together.

It will be powered by a Raspberry Pi 2 but really you could throw any SoC in there as long as it has composite video output available. The wing-like hinges will allow a lot of different screen positions. I plan on using 2 parallel batteries for either 8,000 or 10,0000mah.

Currently I am just waiting on some parts in the mail to finish it but here is what I have so far, just wanted to share.

Before Hinges

(After hinges, keyboard "stuffed" in)

 

[levi]

Nice! Left-aligned keyboard, check!

How much have to spent on this so far? Done a tally?

 

[Sircrisp]

Nice! Left-aligned keyboard, check!

How much have to spent on this so far? Done a tally?

Most of the stuff I already had like the screen, rpi, charging circuit, 3d printer

I did buy the keyboard and a battery though. If I were to estimate if would be

$35 - rpi 2
$18 - screen for vehicle back up camera
$16 - keyboard/mouse
$5 - usb snes controller
$20 - rechargable batteries
$10 - extension wires + composite 3.5mm rpi audio/vis cable (hdmi and microusb need extensions to be routed through the back)
$30 - charging circuit (this came out of a battery bank which also has wifi hotspot/sd card reader built in so you can broadcast the contents of the sdcard) i may try and salvage the sd card reader by soldering a usb cable to it.

So about $130-140 if you were to go out and buy everything.

 

[comradekingu]

Take the front bezel off the display, you can save on looks and space.

Edit: if you mix superglue and artic silver you can bend copper to get both cooling and a mounting plate.

Edit2: i forgot the rpi has mounting holes.

 

[Klumpen]

Awesome and I really like the hinge!

 

[levi]

Nice, I wasn't aware those screens had got that cheap these days. Just bought one for myself for use with my LCD-less Pandora.

 

[Sircrisp]

Here are some more screen positions available with the hinge I went with, Though it's not a touchscreen so folding it all the way back is probably pretty pointless

 

[drock]

I like it. You could a touch screen overlay to it.

 

[Mr_Loon]

Loving the look of the Ghetto Pandora, would love to hear / see how you get on with this

 

[benoitb]

What is the size of that screen ?

 

[Sircrisp]

What is the size of that screen ?

7" inch. I need 7 volts to power the screen as opposed to the 3.7 for powering the rpi so I'm currently waiting on some smd resistors for my boost converter.

I also need to look into a controller I can use above the keyboard. I have a usb powered snes controller maybe I can cut up and use.

 

[benoitb]

That will be a big baby
Quite interested in this project. I've been dreaming of a dock like this to turn smartphones into usefull production devices for a long time (a slightly different approach).

 

[rygD]

@benoitb, you mean like some of the stuff shown in the OMAP5 video?

 

[benoitb]

@benoitb, you mean like some of the stuff shown in the OMAP5 video?

I was thinking a similar device to the Pyra but designed to hold a smartphone connected by its microUSB port (like an iCP2 but designed to provide a form-factor closer to the Pandora/Pyra and additional battery and ports):

(unrelated to the topic, but this quick and dirty sketch was possible thanks to my phone's camera)

 

[FaeMinx]

Awesome!

My only worry is those hinges snapping off..

Sent from my GT-S7580 using Tapatalk

 

[elw3]

Yea, that hinge is pretty ghetto....
Is the picture quality good enough to be used as a computer monitor? Composite does not sound promising.
I also wonder how long the battery will run.

 

[Sircrisp]

Yea, that hinge is pretty ghetto....
Is the picture quality good enough to be used as a computer monitor? Composite does not sound promising.
I also wonder how long the battery will run.

Video isn't that bad but it isn't HD of course. Text is totally readable and it's great for games.

The hinges aren't great and once I'm done with the internals I may look for a different design for them, but on the plus side, I can always 3d print a couple new hinges pretty easily if they were to break.

 

[levi]

I've used my Pandora connected to a TV using composite, and yes, white-on-black text is readable, but the smudging is a bit annoying on a full-sized TV. Hopefully it's better on a smaller screen, and I can use s-video on my big TV anyway.

 

[elw3]

My pandora delivers a terrible picture on all TVs here, hence the question.
Not a problem of composite in general but all my TVs suck on analogue input.

 

[levi]

Ah, I'm using an old Trinitron, so the soft picture is perhaps expected, but I have heard they they've skimped on analogue hardware on newer digital TVs. Given the panel here only has composite inputs, perhaps it will be not too bad also, although I wouldn't expect high-end stuff for the money.