Starting my ultra-portable PC project (PCp?) update Nov 26th
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Finally a lucky break.
A friend came into possesion of a laptop that had coffee spilled into it. A nice Turion 64 one, too bad it's mostly useless as a laptop (LCD out no longer works), and probably won't last much longer.
Anyways, it has two 512MB DDR SODIMMs. I grab the one that doesn't have coffee on it, and try in my 3.5" board. Works great! Fairly stable with the Live CD distros I tried it with. Still not sure if I'll be able to keep the RAM, but I at least know that was the primary issue. Each of the Live distros I tried had some issues(not seeing mouse in DSL, not seeing NICs in Vida Linux, odd graphical currupts in Suse), but most of them were older distros. I'm downloading the latest Knoppix now.
A friend came into possesion of a laptop that had coffee spilled into it. A nice Turion 64 one, too bad it's mostly useless as a laptop (LCD out no longer works), and probably won't last much longer.
Anyways, it has two 512MB DDR SODIMMs. I grab the one that doesn't have coffee on it, and try in my 3.5" board. Works great! Fairly stable with the Live CD distros I tried it with. Still not sure if I'll be able to keep the RAM, but I at least know that was the primary issue. Each of the Live distros I tried had some issues(not seeing mouse in DSL, not seeing NICs in Vida Linux, odd graphical currupts in Suse), but most of them were older distros. I'm downloading the latest Knoppix now.
It might get finished. If some other problem with this board comes up, I might ask for a nice Pentium M 3.5" board for my birthday, which was what I was considering before I got access to this stick of RAM. Mom offered to get me a laptop, and the Pentium M board costs less than most laptops.
About the only way I'd for-sure kill off the project without completing it is that if I got a UMPC, which means they'd have to be below $500. Until then, I still desire a device in this size, but can't afford one pre-made.
About the only way I'd for-sure kill off the project without completing it is that if I got a UMPC, which means they'd have to be below $500. Until then, I still desire a device in this size, but can't afford one pre-made.
Well, a bit of good news. The crashing issues were mostly caused by the via xorg drivers, setting it to vesa cleared most of the crashing, until it gets hot anyway. The problem with the vesa drivers is that there is no acceleration for video, which means the poor Via Eden 1GHz has to do everything. The speed gained by having accelerated drivers was great, and it is a bummer to have to see it gone. Being able to boot up fully is more important, as the via drivers would sometimes crash at X11 boot up.
I have bought a USB soundcard, since I have no idea where the header for the onboard sound is and don't really want to go poking around(literally) on such a small board to find it. I finally got it configured properly today, only problem is that Flash belches garbage out of the headphones.
The trackpoint-like pointer is now working with the board. I had to do some playing with xorg.conf to get it going (mostly remembering to change "CorePointer" to "SendCoreEvents" for the serial mouse).
Other than being really slow, it's fairly stable until it gets hot. I can probably rig up something better for cooling, as right now it's pretty much passively cooled.
Hardware wise, I need to find the parts again to make the PWM circuit. After that gets up, I'll probably start to integrate things into the CD case I was orginally going to use for the 5.25" board. It should be fairly easy to cram things into the case, as the motherboard is quite a bit smaller than the 5.25" board.
I have bought a USB soundcard, since I have no idea where the header for the onboard sound is and don't really want to go poking around(literally) on such a small board to find it. I finally got it configured properly today, only problem is that Flash belches garbage out of the headphones.
The trackpoint-like pointer is now working with the board. I had to do some playing with xorg.conf to get it going (mostly remembering to change "CorePointer" to "SendCoreEvents" for the serial mouse).
Other than being really slow, it's fairly stable until it gets hot. I can probably rig up something better for cooling, as right now it's pretty much passively cooled.
Hardware wise, I need to find the parts again to make the PWM circuit. After that gets up, I'll probably start to integrate things into the CD case I was orginally going to use for the 5.25" board. It should be fairly easy to cram things into the case, as the motherboard is quite a bit smaller than the 5.25" board.
Aw man!, I was gonna make a PCp for playing games on... Mine was going to be based on the Nano-Itx mobos that Via make though.
This one is looking pretty cool, and like most good ideas its taking some time. But you clearly know what you want!
One thing though, in all my searchings I've never come across a usuable 3.5" Pentium M based mobo, do you have a link for it?
Thanks in advance!
Yay first post! ^^
This one is looking pretty cool, and like most good ideas its taking some time. But you clearly know what you want!
One thing though, in all my searchings I've never come across a usuable 3.5" Pentium M based mobo, do you have a link for it?
Thanks in advance!
Yay first post! ^^
Current status: Mad. The current board is rebooting randomly now. I thought some remaining rebooting troubles were extra power drain across USB, but removing the USB hub and sound card didn't help. It has even gotten worse, as it just rebooted while booting. 
I found an OK replacement on eBay, but missed bidding on it. The board looked larger than 3.5" due to an odd daughter card, so I didn't bid immediately. The auction also ended on Tue, when I didn't have private internet access. I don't login to eBay from school computers, as I have previously had my dial-up internet taken over briefly by logining into my email account on a school computer, so, I'm a bit paranoid. It ended up going for a little over $40.
(the previous two of his don't count as PCps as they weren't x86 (Intel) based)
http://www.ibase-i.com.tw/ib881.htm
I found an OK replacement on eBay, but missed bidding on it.
The board looked larger than 3.5" due to an odd daughter card, so I didn't bid immediately. The auction also ended on Tue, when I didn't have private internet access. I don't login to eBay from school computers, as I have previously had my dial-up internet taken over briefly by logining into my email account on a school computer, so, I'm a bit paranoid. It ended up going for a little over $40. I'm not going to stop you, go right on ahead and make a PCp. Though, the Mac Mini Portable mkIII guy beat us both: http://homepage.mac.com/peter_green/MMP ... index.htmlAw man!, I was gonna make a PCp for playing games on... Mine was going to be based on the Nano-Itx mobos that Via make though.
(the previous two of his don't count as PCps as they weren't x86 (Intel) based)
http://www.neutronexpress.com/prod.cfm/464952/One thing though, in all my searchings I've never come across a usuable 3.5" Pentium M based mobo, do you have a link for it?
http://www.ibase-i.com.tw/ib881.htm
Most of mine I still have, as there didn't seem to be any interest in other people purchasing them on the forums I post on.
There's a couple of project ideas I might use the other boards for. There's also the possibility of going back to one of the larger boards and using it for a PCp now that the 3.5" board is being even more troublesome than usual.
There's a couple of project ideas I might use the other boards for. There's also the possibility of going back to one of the larger boards and using it for a PCp now that the 3.5" board is being even more troublesome than usual.
Throwing the gauntlet
Ok I'm gonna join in on trying to create a portable pc. It's gonna be rough considering any EE stuff I'm real new to. But it ought to be a learning experience. So. I picked up a EvalueTech ECM-3610 SBC Single Board Computer (667MHz) on the bay to piddle around with. I just want something that will.
1. Be able to run my own software
2. Play Quake 2 (I don't care much for 3 and 2 is my favorite)
3. Run for at least 4 hours.
I don't wanna watch movies or play MP3s on it (But I'm sure I'll be able to). I'm gonna go vertical instead of horizontal ala old school Gameboy. Since it's my first portable I want to kinda mock up that.
I have a gamepad that I'm using that's exactly like the PS2 (cept numbers for buttons instead of shapes) via USB. I want to do everything I possibly can to NOT need a keyboard or mouse. I'm going to dump the rumble motors cause I don't wanna do anything more that'll kill battery life.
I'm writing my own front end for it and ditching explorer all together. So I'll end up using Windows 98.
Maybe in a later version I will have learned Linux and can just ditch Windows all together. I just don't like the idea of switching EVERYTHING over to linux.
What else? Um... I don't want to use a PS1 screen cause I think they're still too big. I want this thing to be roughly the size of a 3.5 inch drive only thicker(The mother board takes up TOO much space in height.) So I'm trying to figure out a way to convert VGA to composite. I don't care much about keeping Quality of picture if I can just cram everything into that thin space. (I found a chip that I may have to build a pcb around I'll update and use that link when I get home)
And I don't know what I'm really gonna do for Hard Drive space. I'm not using a CD drive at all. I may just go along with 2 CF drives. A 1-2 gig one for system files, and I'll buy seperate CFs to hold games and stuff like that.
Teraflop come back. We could use another guy making a PCp.
1. Be able to run my own software
2. Play Quake 2 (I don't care much for 3 and 2 is my favorite)
3. Run for at least 4 hours.
I don't wanna watch movies or play MP3s on it (But I'm sure I'll be able to). I'm gonna go vertical instead of horizontal ala old school Gameboy. Since it's my first portable I want to kinda mock up that.
I have a gamepad that I'm using that's exactly like the PS2 (cept numbers for buttons instead of shapes) via USB. I want to do everything I possibly can to NOT need a keyboard or mouse. I'm going to dump the rumble motors cause I don't wanna do anything more that'll kill battery life.
I'm writing my own front end for it and ditching explorer all together. So I'll end up using Windows 98.
Maybe in a later version I will have learned Linux and can just ditch Windows all together. I just don't like the idea of switching EVERYTHING over to linux.
What else? Um... I don't want to use a PS1 screen cause I think they're still too big. I want this thing to be roughly the size of a 3.5 inch drive only thicker(The mother board takes up TOO much space in height.) So I'm trying to figure out a way to convert VGA to composite. I don't care much about keeping Quality of picture if I can just cram everything into that thin space. (I found a chip that I may have to build a pcb around I'll update and use that link when I get home)
And I don't know what I'm really gonna do for Hard Drive space. I'm not using a CD drive at all. I may just go along with 2 CF drives. A 1-2 gig one for system files, and I'll buy seperate CFs to hold games and stuff like that.
Teraflop come back. We could use another guy making a PCp.
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teraflop122
- Posts: 1212
- Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 9:06 pm
Come back to where? I left? (/farnsworth) 
I have spent too much time and money on PCportable projects already. I always have to ask myself, "for such an investment, will I use this much?" and the answer usually tends to be "no." That might change with my involvement with Portagame, though.
Your plan looks good for the most part, though your target size is unrealistic, at least for your first attempt. I'm sure you'll be able to squeeze it pretty small, but only after you pick up some major soldering voodoo. You managed to snag what appears to be an awesome motherboard.
Another thing to consider is power. No batteries I know provide 5 volts, and 6 volts is annoyingly just outside of these motherboards' safe operating range. Linear regulators like the 7805's work great, but your battery has to be at least 7+ volts, and the wattage difference is just shed as heat.
I have spent too much time and money on PCportable projects already. I always have to ask myself, "for such an investment, will I use this much?" and the answer usually tends to be "no." That might change with my involvement with Portagame, though.
Your plan looks good for the most part, though your target size is unrealistic, at least for your first attempt. I'm sure you'll be able to squeeze it pretty small, but only after you pick up some major soldering voodoo. You managed to snag what appears to be an awesome motherboard.
Another thing to consider is power. No batteries I know provide 5 volts, and 6 volts is annoyingly just outside of these motherboards' safe operating range. Linear regulators like the 7805's work great, but your battery has to be at least 7+ volts, and the wattage difference is just shed as heat.
Hmm... It looks like you need 5 Volts and 12 Volts, though 12V may be just the fan.+5 V @ 2.31 A, +12 V @ 0.07 A (with VIA Eden ESP4000 400 MHz & 128 MB DDR SDRAM)
definitely look into picoPSU 60W Wide Input, as it runs off 6 to 26Volts and supplies both voltages you need and is very small. If it had been out when I started, I very likely would have one myself. If I ever get a decent board, I'll grab one.