PowerBook 1xx Wireless "Modem"

[sutekh]

Hello! I just wrapped up a project over in the Hacks & Development forum that I though might be of particular interest to this crowd, so I'm cross-posting.

TL;DR, I've developed a serial wifi module that directly replaces the internal Global Village modem. It only offers modem speed, but that's adequate for most tasks that these devices are capable of.

Anyway, I'm happy to help anyone build their own, or might offer a few for purchase if there's interest...
 

 

[ronan]

Cool project ! I hope to design such a thing when I finished a wired (ethernet) version for the 68k machines.

I don't own such a machine as your powerbook but I had a quick look at your design. Be careful with the traces going under the antenna, you should avoid that. Maybe try to move the ESP near a border and keep traces far away.

Good luck with your projects  

 

[sutekh]

I don't own such a machine as your powerbook but I had a quick look at your design. Be careful with the traces going under the antenna, you should avoid that. Maybe try to move the ESP near a border and keep traces far away.

Thanks for the advise. The only trace routing near the antenna (and note, I'm using an external u.FL connected ant, not the on-board ceramic) is +5v topside and an unnecessary CTS pin headed to the RJ-11 underneath. The ESP module itself is also surrounded by a grounded copper layer on the top side of the board as well.

 

[ronan]

Oh ok my bad, if you're using an external antenna that should be find  But why not use the onboard ceramic ?

 

[ronan]

Also why did you choose not to make the ground plane fill the whole board ?

 

[sutekh]

Oh ok my bad, if you're using an external antenna that should be find  But why not use the onboard ceramic ?

Take a read through the other thread: "Of the numerous available ESP8266 boards out there, I chose the ESP-07 for its u.Fl connector. Reason being, the interior of the PB plastics are coated in a metallic RF blocking film and I wanted to route a higher dBi antenna up behind the display. Here's the part I'm using, which has plenty of cable length and the signal strength is great!"

More generally, with this thread in this PowerBook forum, I'm really just trying to provide awareness to and gauge interest level from Powerbook owners / users. Certainly happy to continue discussing specific hardware considerations in the other thread.