PowerPortable/G3 - 17" TPD Graphics Workstation circa 1997 - it all fits!

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

The short of it: tested some previz in the real world today.







Kinda reminds me of A1 pics? CD is a must have, likely fixed in place. Next step is to see jus how low I can take the angle. It's lower profile than the Luggable already, but it can go lower yet. If I can rig the Trackball to run upside down or sideways that'll help lower the profile quite a bit.

PCMCIA Card Cage is easily relocated. PB100 trackball fits nicely. Felt all along like using the OEM KBD, but if I'm gonna do a controller, it'll be for this wider layout with the four PageNav keys I love so much. Embedded NumPad and NavPad work for me too. With the Pi infusion, this'll be a fun machine for online use. Not to mention the color schemes of the different components wouldn't come together. Front bezel of the 17" panel's housing is PERFECT as is in silver, but could paint that charcoal. The colors on that ancient PC Laptop KBD will pull everything together either way.

The long of it: Tagged one of my two 17" KDS/Radius panels for an alternate timeline build based on one of the frog design studies for a Portable that Dana re-interpreted so nicely. I can do without the handle, per frog spec.

The panel's native resolution is 1280x1024, but it'll take a Raspberry infusion to take it that high, such is the push goal. A more pedestrian 1152x870@8bit still beats all comers for several years. At 1280x1024 in QEMU 68040 emulation of a running under Ubuntu on Raspbery Pi CM 4, things might get very interesting indeed. Nothing touches that resolution in something Luggable until the 17" TiBook, not by a lot and in an annoying wide screen format. 3:4 rules for graphic arts production. The VIEWpowr 1400/16 will do 16 bit at 16" resolution as well. I'll bet the Pi CM 4 will do full res in 24bit.

Can't afford the controller board for HDMI/VGA input right now. The rest of the Pi stuff is a long way off, co I can make do with what I've got on hand in the meantime.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Graphite it is! Couldn't test this one last night. Needed to pull one of my 1400 KBDs and surprisingly, worked out as planned, if just barely.





Cable twist installs as is, but lowering the case profile will help a lot in the final version.

KBDuino controller is on the back burner with the Raspberry Pi injection. I can proceed with hinge development and LCD housing for the time being, no need to spend money on the HDMI/VGA controller for now. I doubt the display's stock controller will fit inside the lid, but who's looking at that from the backside . . . ever? moving its Power Supply to the base might just work for now?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dis some more fitting today. By moving the 1400 board back an inch I can drop the hinge from its current position by about an inch. Right now it almost exactly matches the height of the Portable' rear cover as does the front edge. Given this additional clearance for the PowerBook 100 Trackball assembly, thinning it down appreciably now presents no real problems.



When I raise the front edge a quarter of an inch to match the palmrest height of the PowerBook 100 I can drop the hinge considerably more, by a tad more than an inch and a quarter, about half the height of the wooden sidepanel as it now stands.

I have to work out the thickness of the lid with its raised, slightly angled sidebars. That's next as that will determine how to best complement the height of the front edge of the palmrest when closed.

@Danamania we're slowly getting there.



I wanted to do the hinges using traditional fabrication methods, but I may finally resort to 3D Printing custom bushings and if I do that, the center bar cover(s) comes into play.



That feels a lot like cheating though.