SuperDuoHack Brainstorming Session =8-D

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I just saw on HPs site that, under Linux, HP_Mini may support 2 GB of RAM!

http://hpshopping.edgesuite.net/www.shopping.hp.com/shopping/html/popup/more_about_netbooks.html

I'd just read in a review of HP_BigMini, that the 1 GB limit was an artificial WIN XP H3 limitation.

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who do they think they are at HP, Apple? They put the same freakin' 92% of a real KBD on the 311 as on my precious HP_Mini! Methinks they're all in cahoots to protect "real laptop" sales from the NetBook onslaught.

Hobble the low end to "protect" the high end! Bleh!!!

[Bunsen]

Or it's because two lines of keyboards would be more expensive, and this is just to keep costs down.

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Now it's time for you to stop reading my mind! Well . . . almost . . . . . . I was just going to post that; with product cycles pushing the one year limit, it makes good sense to me to use the same KBD/tooling in at least two incremental product revs. Then "upgrade" the KBD for the next cycle, getting more product revisions out quickly with all the latest doo-dads, gizmos, and whatever else each mfr. can crib from their competitor's last successful intro.

It's a FINE time to be saving $, while waiting for the intro of the "perfect" NetBook!

[Bunsen]

I realise you are now heading in a different direction, but I stumbled across another candidate MiniITX motherboard with some interesting features. Posting it here mostly for my own future reference.

COMMELL LV-67

Specification

CPU
Intel Core Duo / Core 2 Duo Merom with Socket M @ 533/677 MHz FSB.

Chipset
Intel 945GME & ICH7M

Power Management
ACPI 1.0 compliant, supports power saving mode

1 x Ultra ATA/33 IDE channel up to 2 ATAPI devices
2 x Serial ATA Interface with 150 MB/s transfer rate.
IDE1 supports 44-pin DiskOnModule SSD +5V power supply
CompactFlash Type-II on the rear

VGA Interface
Intel 945GM integrated GMA(Graphic Media Accelerator) 950 Technology

Onboard programmable 8-bit digital I/O interface

1 x Onboard x16 PCI-Express slot ( x1 mode compatible)
2 x Mini-PCI socket

External I/O

RJ45 LAN, VGA, PS/2, IEEE 1394, 2 x USB 2.0, Audio, SPDIF

Internal I/O

RS232 & RS232/422/485, FDD, IrDA, 4 x USB 2.0, 8-bit GPIO, Audio, CDIN, LVDS and LCD inverter

Apparently it's hackintoshable. Out of the box, it supports one LCD (LVDS) and (/or?) one VGA display, which is nice. Firewire (IEEE 1394). The real treat is the pair of Mini-PCI slots, which would make the docking hack mentioned earlier possible.

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I realise you are now heading in a different direction, but I stumbled across another candidate MiniITX motherboard with some interesting features. Posting it here mostly for my own future reference.

COMMELL LV-67

Apparently it's hackintoshable. Out of the box, it supports one LCD (LVDS) and (/or?) one VGA display, which is nice. Firewire (IEEE 1394). The real treat is the pair of Mini-PCI slots, which would make the docking hack mentioned earlier possible.

Great site! Don't forget the other two hacks that've only been mentioned in passing!

When the prices on some of those Microscopic/Slot Equipped Boards become affordable, one of them is definitely going to discover a tidy little home prepared for it within the cavernous interior of my CPQP2™ "peripheral hack" for HP_Mini and a wide aspect HD LVDS Screen to replace the 17" normal aspect HP VGA LCD that's fitted in there now!

. . . and let's not forget my evil intents re: a Certified DOA Macintosh Luggable and Numeric Keypad for said cadaver!

[Bunsen]

Ah, that'd be the same Portable you were once planning to gut and fill with Duo/Duo Dock parts?

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Ah, that'd be the same Portable you were once planning to gut and fill with Duo/Duo Dock parts?

Nope, that was my NASA Property Plated Working Unit, which I've subsequently put on a, custom made, prominent display shelf in the living room 68k/PPC/9.2DA/HP_Mini/ubuntuPlayStation™ and will likely never feel the bite of the RYOBA. The Duo Hackage wouldn't have altered any of the plastics save what was needed to fit the display. All other mods would have been done to a "Carrier Board" replacement MoBo, leaving that Luggable Restorable.

My Duo-centric hacking is on the back burner again until it's time to disassemble HP_Mini or if I decide to finish up my PB100/2300c/1400KBD equipped hybrid . . . or push the Intel/ubuntu/LCD limits on my Very FIRST NoteBook/LapTop!

[Bunsen]

http://gizmodo.com/5383463/netbooks-wha ... t-6-months

[Bunsen]

How about seven TI OMAPs on one board?

Not cheap - $229 + $149-$219 per CPU board

[Bunsen]

Another couple of suggestions that came up in IRC (thanks ulterior_modem)
http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/ ... tails.aspx
http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/ ... splay.aspx

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I've just come up with the latest and greatest candidate for the SuperDuoHack™ to end all DuoHacks! The iPad 2!

Hack an iPad 2 into the lid of a Trackball upgraded 2300c or other Color/Thick-Lid Duo who's opening might be better enlarged to the iPad spec. Whomp up a USB Controller interface for the spherically correct pointing device and key-travel correct Real KBD (OK! decent rev Duo type KBD) with a USB2 Tray Loader DVD Player Replacing the Docking Door and sundry other goodies housed in teh empty expansion bay beneath the reinforced KBD!
Handy TouchScreen UI upgrade thrown in for free!
Just gotta get an OS 9.2.2 emulator past the Apple Store's knuckle draggin' Gestapo Guards!
HEH!

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I've gone over the estimated sizes of HP_Mini's components and the 210/230 Duo's added cubic for expansion.
I think I've figured a way to mod a 1400 KBD and the Duo's plastics to juuuuuust fit as a replacement for the Duo's SpongeBoard and HP_Mini's Chickletesque KBD.

Hack requirements:
__Adapt the ADB Trackball to HP-Mini friendly PS2->USB interface - I've got an extra converter cable, but it's a tad large.
__Figure out if I can wedge HP_Mini's MoBo between the TrackBall and a compatible slot or tray loading DVD
______ along with an I/O Panel to replace the Duo's Tap Door jammies!

We'll see!

[techknight]

you could use a brick of a 5300? enough room for china in there. lol.

Of course, it isnt a duo.....

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nope, the 5300ce is slated for the Super5300ce™ - 180 MHz ProcSwap-n-Clock Chip Hack.

Because it's better suited to a "Semi-Stock" MacHack than is the 2300c: the PCMCIA Card Cage is already present on board, the more browsable LCD real estate, better KBD and some cool accessory conquests were enough to give the nod to my 5300ce pair for the proc-swap candidates.

HP_Mini has a very thin LCD Lid, as do the non-color Duos, as well as their being 68030 based and spherically correct in their pointing devices.

I've been stuck on the notion of creating a "killer" 2300c for ten years now, but an ATOM powered, 4GB RAM, 16GB SSD COLORhack of the bottom of the barrel Duo 210 booting ubuntu, OS-X, and running OS 9/whatever under emulation . . .
. . . sounds like a winning combo to me!

Besides, it'll keep the Duo/G3 hackin' dream alive and kickin' in the ole noggin' for a while yet!

[Bunsen]

Why ADB->PS2->USB, rather than simply ADB->USB?

Or alternatively, tap the pulses directly off the trackball's rotary encoders and use a USB HID IC or kit?

[techknight]

ya, you have a point. Then you can create a scan matrix MCU that scans the original keyboard and outputs PS/2 or USB interface.

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

The 1400's KBD is a simple switch matrix output, not ADB or anything else. That'll likely be connected to a USB KBD's Controller with a ROM in between to translate the output of the KeySwitch Matrix to match the expected input of the KBD Controller. The EVIL"Caps Lock" setting will be mapped to my embedded TAB/PageNav/NumPad Cursor Key Hack layout.

ISTR some circuit design available online, somewhere or other, for converting Mac Mouse/TrackBall blips to PS2 output, but I could be mistaken.

I could use one of my ADB -> USB cables for the mouse, but they're HUGE as compared to some of my PS2 -> USB converters and I'd still have the same KeySwitch Matrix output problem to deal with.

Could you guys flesh out what your suggestions might entail?

I've been mulling over a universal KeySwitch Matrix Converter for about 15 years now, the first rev would have used LEDs (as opposed to the simple diodes Lancaster suggested in one of the "Cookbooks." set on an X-Y matrix, they'd light up when any given input combination was pressed and then the ROM(s) would convert that to whatever I wanted for hacking any given KBD Controller. It was going to sit under the clear plexi desktop in one of the odd shaped sections created by the "Erector Set" structure of the rolling workstation.

[Bunsen]

Could you guys flesh out what your suggestions might entail?

The actual ball of the trackball assembly rests on two rotary encoders, one each for X and Y. Each encoder outputs a raw pulse signal to indicate movement forwards or backwards. If you can tap those signals directly, there are plenty of ICs or kits out there which will convert those signals directly to a USB mouse output.

BTW, I briefly checked the dimensions of the 12" iBook G3 (white poly) and 12" Powerbook on everymac - the keyboard off one of those might just fit a Duo YMMV

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Project update:

The SuperDuoHack project just received an infusion of Raspberry Jam.

As an aside:

Methinks the BabyPB reverse picture frame hack might be changing direction, but putting the rest of the 2300c into my first PB will likely prevail. The LCD is already in the PowerBook 100 lid. That hack is in the slow cooker, well behind the back-burner projects.

BabyPB already has the 1400 KBD upgrade in place, I've been looking at using one for the SuperDuo as well. Now that I've got extra (extra-nasty) 2300c plastics I've been looking at it on and off. It's a real possibility, requiring some key cap filing, but well worth a shot.

[Bunsen]

BabyPB already has the 1400 KBD upgrade in place

And working?

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nope, need to make a general purpose keyboard controller for several projects.

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Gratuitous piccie-bump!

edit: I needed to get this shot to mcdermd for comparisons, but this project is still very much alive. I'll likely be upgrading PowerDuo with the faster processor instead of the 5300ce, dunno, still thinking on it.

But for now, I do have DOA 2300 and 1400 boards on hand to start tearing down and buzzing. I need to determine the trace routing from PBX to the T-REX/PCMCIA Card Cage interconnects on the 1400 MoBo in order to map them to the Duo's Docking Connector. I'm guessing the other 16 of the 32 bits of the 1400's Data/Addres Bus lead to the Video Card Slot.

On the Duo, I'll be looking to find where the processor's clock multiplier pads meet up with resistors wherever it turns out that Apple hid them.

[Bunsen]

Moved to Hack & Dev forum.

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Where the heck was it all this time?