I have no experience with electronic repair, but I would like to get into building electronic boards as a hobby. I'll start with a simple stripboard, and hopefully start working on more advanced chips within a few months. (I had to learn Diagnostic Microbiology - specifically, Bacteriology - in less than a month, so I think I can handle the BASICS of this hobby fairly well.)
Please note that I won't be cluttering up this forum with trivial questions, as I'm more than happy to search online for questions that I may have. I posted to the Hardware Hacking forum so that I might directly inquire as to how to best start off in this hobby, by ensuring that this thread had the maximum chance of being reviewed by a knowledgeable source.
My question is how I might go about putting together a suitable KIT to get me going. I'd like input before I go off buying various kits, only to become more knowledgeable in the field and realize that I should have spent my money more wisely. My first project would be to build a POGO pin to OTG host cable, but I hope to progress far beyond that in the upcoming months.
I've found a couple of kits at makershedDOTcom. Should I invest in them, or build my own? I'd just search for what I'd need in a kit, but I have no idea if my finding would be accurate or just a waste of time.
Thank you for any information you are willing to provide.
Regards,
POPE3909
If you want to just master basic electronic assembly skills, get a Velleman kit and do some soldering.
If you want to learn more experimenter analog electronics, get a protoboard and $20 of parts to play with.
Radio Shack still sells their "Engineer's Mini Notebooks".
For playing with digital interfacing and programming an Arduino is not bad.
Maybe a Raspberry Pi is more your thing.
I've had fun with theTeensy.
POPE3909 said:
I have no experience with electronic repair, but I would like to get into building electronic boards as a hobby. I'll start with a simple stripboard, and hopefully start working on more advanced chips within a few months. (I had to learn Diagnostic Microbiology - specifically, Bacteriology - in less than a month, so I think I can handle the BASICS of this hobby fairly well.)
Regards,
POPE3909
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear POPE3909
To get better direction you need to tell what is prior experience. Can you program? Do you know basics of electrical and electronic circuits?
In any case I would advise to buy a kit with variety of components and possibly Arduino board. It's fun and gives quick gratification.
Radio Shack has a few. It does not matter where to buy it matters how good is support or availability of information.
Good luck!
Hello. As an alternative to getting just some kit, you can also get a cheap, damaged android phone to play around with on some certain auction site. For example, you can get an HTC myTouch 3G Slide (a.k.a. Espresso) with a cracked screen for about $30 or less. This device is very easy to disassemble & reassemble, & just to play around with in general. If you really want to get into electronics, you should consider this as well. There are plenty of damaged, but still working phones that you can get for very cheap.
Modern technology tends to be so highly integrated that it's not a great place to start learning - for example, while identifying the chips in a phone can be an interesting exercise, you're very limited in terms of what you can actually do with a soldering iron.
You're going to want some tools, no matter what you do.
Get a decent soldering iron - if not the cheapest then at least the second cheapest! You can solder with anything but some are a lot easier to use than others. Make sure to get an electronic soldering iron - there are some that look similar but put out way too much heat, which can damage components, especially if you're new to this stuff. Bigger is not necessarily better.
I don't know if you can solder already, but if you can't - practise! Remember you want to heat the materials you want to join, then melt the solder on to them; if you just melt solder on top it'll blob and not make a good connection.
Good side cutters are invaluable. Get some that you use for wire, and never use them for anything else (like coat hangers, tin can lids, etc) - you need straight sharp edges to cut fine wires and you'll be very frustrated if they're not. This style of flush cutter is pretty good: http://dx.com/p/rewin-5-electronic-wire-cutter-yellow-black-116062
Side cutters also make great wire strippers. Nibble around the edges of the insulation, then use the flat side to grab and yank it off. Takes some practise but it's very fast - I find it easier than using dedicated strippers.
You also want a multimeter. Doesn't have to be anything fancy - a $10 one will do. Make sure it has a resistance or continuity setting because one of the main things you'll want it for is checking connections.
As for what you start out with making - it really depends what interests you. If you're totally new then kits can be great - can be good for delivering encouraging results, making something that actually does a thing.
On a more basic level, you can do a lot of things with resistors, capacitors, LEDs, and transistors. Your local electronics shop will probably have mixed bags of all those 4 categories and they are really good to keep around.
Thanks.
So.. u r up2 it. In my case i started as an electronics hobbyist b4 15 years. And now i am an electronics & electrical engineer. What that matters is not your interest. But your passion. Give it a try only if you are willing to make it your passion, i said it becoz, electronics is always practical and less theory, in many cases theory wont help u to solve ur tasks, but a solid practical knowledge will do. And believe me, it will eat up ur patience and brain. So it must be a passion more than interest. I am not discouraging you, but i am telling the fact. The best thing about it is " that mighty feeling" u get when u do complete some thing u started ( and when it works!).
So start it with basic tools. A decent soldering iron, a 16-18 swg 60/40 lead,soldering flux,a set of screwdrivers, knife,pliers,tweezers, etc.
Start doing simple circuits like led blinkers,melody generators,light chasers,etc.. then do what developers called as analysis and debugging, ie try changing component values( mostly try experiments with passive components like resistors,capacitors etc).
My story started with LEDs ,bulbs,dc motors, then i started building disco lights with LEDs, then tried melody generators, then i stepped to transmitters, then amplifiers, microcontroller, etc..
knowing about components and its effects is the basic of every thing.
Sent from my NexusHD2 using xda premium
I agree with showlyshah, get all the basic electronic components and work your way up. The two "Make: Electronics" kits and the book on MakerShed are a good start and aren't bad value for money. I built my own kit by buying the individual parts but it's not much cheaper and some parts used in the book might be difficult to find.
Arduino (or similar) is a great way to transition to electronics from programming and is probably the best path if you want to keep in the digital/programming side. All the electronic components you buy can be used in some way with an Arduino.
There are so many resources out there that can help guide you. My favourite electronics forum is eevblog, from there you can branch out and find many other great resources.
You can find like minded people at a hackerspace in your area. Google is your friend.
I'd strongly suggest getting started with Arduino hardware - possibly, if you want to learn a bit more about wiring things up instead of just plugging in shields, an Adafruit Boarduino.
Another thing I personally suggest - Arduinos are pretty much just AVR ATMega dev boards. Rather than use the Arduino IDE, get an AVR ISP programmer (like the USBTinyISP) and start with AVR-GCC. The initial learning curve is a bit steeper, but you learn a lot more about how to efficiently use the underlying hardware, and you'll be able to retarget the stuff you write (for example, down into a Tiny85) much more easily.
As i said earlier, it is better to work around some small components b4 burning expensive ic's. The reason is to build up the knowledge of how components work in real time, even to know the specs of components is a great knowledge, eg:- u cant just use any pnp/ npn transistor in any circuits which need them, gain,current,voltage,temperature values are some basic.
Let me get into another serious example:- most microcontroller boards contains direct drive for some analog devices like leds, small motors etc.. some of those boards use direct o/p from microcontroller ( most pic ic's have it), others use ic/transistor drivers. And when u play with it, for instance , u programmed a stepper motor driver circuit, and is connecting the o/p to a heavy current stepper with out a proper driver circuit.. the story ends!!! The moral knowledge( aka technical knowledge) microcontroller's are not "Thor" to pass lighting through it! Of course u need his hammer ( in this case, the driver) to do that kind of s##t.
So my point is burn the hell out of some analog ic( LM 2030 dual power audio ic is a good option to see how an ic explodes in case of o/p short( with out protection diodes) )power imbalance etc) , explode some filter capacitors ( works great with dual supplies), barbeque some transistors and resistors( motors are ur companion), see what colours a 3.2 v led can produce when run at 6v( yellow light from red, blue light from white are my fav) or if u are smart u can burn the pcb also( high current dc( lead acid batteries can do the trick with out much personal damage)., get used with these stuffs for a while, ask pardon to family members, shout at friends, electrify pets, make holes on ur fav dress.. and become a hobbiest.. then step into developer world with that base, and then u will never miss valuable hits.
Sent from my NexusHD2 using xda premium
Related
Has anyone ever done a teardown on the recent phones like Desire or Desire HD.
Would it be theoretically possible to carefully disassemble it and replace the low quality speaker with some equally sized component from radio shack or a similar electronic parts dealer or is the entire build much too restricted/crammed/impossible to dis- and reassemble?
I assume it would require soldering and I would leave that to a skilled technician, but generally speaking - is it a pipe dream or a possibility?
Comments (except for that it would void the warranty)...?
Well i'm guessing that the speaker would already be jammed up in there. Considering that there is not much space around the screen and the phone is quite thin, I dont think it will be possible. If it was as you say you would have to be a skilled technician and know all about how much power goes to the speaker etc to be able to find out which one is the right one to buy.
Hi,could anyone with knowledge confirm what component is it?
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
It fall off pcb,and i could not find it
Refreshing post
b.u.m.p #2
how do u know something is missing? maybe there was nothing there to begin with.... does the phone not work when u put it back together?
edit: after searching a bit i found a couple pictures that shows the HD2's motherboard and some show a black component there and some dont. see attached pics. so maybe yours didnt have anything there to begin with. these components are soldiered onto the board, components dont just fall off...
maybe it depends if your phone is a US or EURO model?
rlee
here you can buy a new one
go on cgi.ebay.de and put this following link behind
/Mainboard-Motherboard-For-HTC-hd2-leo-T8585-/260819122167?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cba07f7f7[/url]
tamerkilinc said:
here you can buy a new one
go on cgi.ebay.de and put this following link behind
/Mainboard-Motherboard-For-HTC-hd2-leo-T8585-/260819122167?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cba07f7f7[/url]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does it has to be cgi.ebay.de?or can i use .com? bwwwwahaha,price is awesome
Well,component was stripped with screwdriver,not by me.
Btw,it is US version
Empty places on boards are not unusual. Have a look on your PC's mainboard, I bet you'll find several of them there, too.
The reasons vary. At times it is because some feature originally was planned, but didn't make it into production. Redesigning the board costs much more than simply letting out some parts.
But most of the times it is due to variations of the hardware. Some chips need external parts while other, doing the same job, don't.
When you have to produce millions of a device, you have to consider that occasionally you can't use the exact chip types in all devices and partially have to use other compatible chips. So most boards are designed to cover several variants of equipment - where chip A needs this specific external piece, while chip B, which is soldered to your board, doesn't.
If your phone works flawlessly, then the empty space is ok, no reason to change anything.
If there really has been a chip on the empty place, there are explicit marks on the soldering pads. Are their surfaces clean and shiny? Then there has never been anything soldered to it, otherwise they have a rough surface, clearly showing that something was ripped off. This can happen if the soldering process was bad. But this happens really rarely, especially in upper class smartphones.
(Had this on a PC RAM some years ago, the EEPROM simply fell off the board... and some of the good old Nokia 6210 had problems with bad soldering, but this affected only a few pins of a single chip.)
So if you can post a macro pic of the empty place, I can have a look and tell you if there has been anything on it or not.
justmeandmyphone said:
Empty places on boards are not unusual. Have a look on your PC's mainboard, I bet you'll find several of them there, too.
The reasons vary. At times it is because some feature originally was planned, but didn't make it into production. Redesigning the board costs much more than simply letting out some parts.
But most of the times it is due to variations of the hardware. Some chips need external parts while other, doing the same job, don't.
When you have to produce millions of a device, you have to consider that occasionally you can't use the exact chip types in all devices and partially have to use other compatible chips. So most boards are designed to cover several variants of equipment - where chip A needs this specific external piece, while chip B, which is soldered to your board, doesn't.
If your phone works flawlessly, then the empty space is ok, no reason to change anything.
If there really has been a chip on the empty place, there are explicit marks on the soldering pads. Are their surfaces clean and shiny? Then there has never been anything soldered to it, otherwise they have a rough surface, clearly showing that something was ripped off. This can happen if the soldering process was bad. But this happens really rarely, especially in upper class smartphones.
(Had this on a PC RAM some years ago, the EEPROM simply fell off the board... and some of the good old Nokia 6210 had problems with bad soldering, but this affected only a few pins of a single chip.)
So if you can post a macro pic of the empty place, I can have a look and tell you if there has been anything on it or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here,i added best macro i could get
Looks to me as if the pads are virgins, have never seen any solder. So if your phone doesn't have any malfunction, everything should be fine.
This component is smd female plug for led power thanks everyone for comments,maybe someone will have use of this...
Sent from my Milestone using XDA App
Are the PA for HTC Touch HD2 from Avago?
I miss my girlfriend and am going to be away from her until maybe march of 2012. i am hoping i'll be able to make it back to her by valentines day, but i don't think i can so i'm making her a gift. she was talking about how she wanted to buy a tablet, but someone broke into her car and she had to spend the money on parts to fix her car. i'm just a broke college student with a smartphone i don't use and would like to take that apart and add a few parts then put it inside of a custom case and add an ipad 2 touch screen digitizer. i simply plan on taking my hd2 apart and extending the receiver and speakers and making a few minor adjustments. i then plan on adding larger speakers and converting the software in the hd2 into android and adjusting the resolution size to fit the ipad. i also have a few questions about increasing the memory size with multiple micro sd cards. i really want help from you guys on this please. give me all the info i need! i'm just getting info this month and building it next month, and thank you all in advance for your help.
Post pic's when you're done)
thank you i will. i'm currently just doing the research because i'm not too sure how to connect the digitizer to the HD2 but i am trying to find out how and if i would need any special parts.
As for the UI, this is brilliant and there's a tutorial on how to do this if you search the uploader's channel.
Unfortunately, I have no hardware-related experience at all, being only 14 And as stated, please post pics when done
just here to update you guys on my current progress. i've been having trouble figuring out how to connect the lcd display and digitizer to the HD2 so i'm current THINKING about the possibility of removing the small cell phone connections to the lcd display and digitizer and just soldering normal ones on so they can connect properly but then i wonder if the power output would also need to be switched out? i've also been THINKING about just removing all parts from cellphone motherboard that i need and mounting them onto a standard sized motherboard so i can easily and properly mount any adjustments that i make, but this is the first time i'd be doing any of this or anything like this. i do have an extra smartphone that i can try this out with first and let you know the results. i'll post pictures and videos when i finally start building this thing. again, i am gathering all the information i can for this month and i'll start building towards the end of december or beginning of january. sorry to take so long to do this all but i have to save up and research is always a good way not waste money. i appreciate all tips and i think i'll be using the software in that youtube video that was posted above. it looks absolutely amazing, plus i'll be increasing the memory size for this along with an attempt at upgrading the original parts if possible while still going the cheapest route possible.
I wish you the best of luck!
thanks man. i've figured out that either it would be incredibly difficult to do it with the ipad screen but, the motorola xoom or blackberry playbook screens are more compatible. the xoom screen in particular looks very promising because of its small connection and i'm currently trying to figure out if i'll need a more powerful power supply or not. i think that i will so i'm also weighing my options to see if i can just can a broken tablet or two from craigs list for free or if i'll need to buy one and if i do which one should i look for. any and all help i really do appreciate from you guys and when i start building i'll post pictures and videos.
Dude u r taking a nearly impossible task. U cant fit a big screen to the mother board. Coz an lcd consists of not only a pannel, it have a display ram embedded in it, for that u need correct pin outs and drivers in ur mother board which are made 100 percent for the default display only. U can switch display in smaller phones like old nokia 1110 , etc, in that case 2... the displays are not 100 % compatible. Also u have drivers and circuits in the mother board even 2 Control the led backlight. And are done with proper voltage output control. So better u dont crap up ur phone. If she is in such a need, give the phone 2 her. And buy a new 1 for yourself. Its not simple as u change ur speakers. If you are so advanced, i may help u with these tips.
U have to find a display with 100 similar specifications..
U have to modify ur display driver and backlight driver.
U have 2 make changes in circuits in motherboard.
If u success in all, u r done.
Better buy her a cheep netbook/ tablet...
send from my hd2 @ miui 1.12.2
I just want to point out that at the end of all this, you may have spent enough on parts to just get a cheaper tablet, like an HP Touchpad or something.
Also, it's extremely difficult to fit a lcd/digitizer from a device onto another device because of several issues:
1. difference in physical connector shape / size
2. difference in connector pinouts (pin1 may be 5V on 1 screen, but may be GND on another)
3. difference in voltage/amp requirements for screens (not sure on this one, but I'd say a bigger screen uses more power, but the circuitry of the HD2 may not provide it)
Search e bay. U can get several tabs at lo cost.
send from my hd2 @ miui 1.12.2
Hi everyone,
As said on tittle, I'm looking for a smart watch with the following requisites:
- Android complete 4.2 or higher
- Cell phone itself (gsm/wcdma)
- IP68?
I need it for swimming/surfing/similar, due to my work, I need to be contactable (calls/email) everytime, and sometimes I go swimming/surfing.
I bought an Imacwear M7, but the people said it's not ip67 and that it will die if I use it on the sea.
Does anyone tried this? Any other smartwatch? Any other options?
I'm a little bit lost, need your opinion and/or experience
Thanks a lot
none of the standalone (phone) watches will be fully water proof, because of microphone/speaker, if ever there will be one
some of them might claim water resistance but i wouldn't wear them not in shallow water, let alone the sea
the Sony Smartwatch 2 for example, claims to be ip57, but can't survive a shower. that watch doesn't even have a microphone or speaker
might be build quality related though
Swimming and surfing plus speaker and mic? That's 1 ATM (10m/30ft) rating at a minimum. No such creature exists, yet. It is possible to do, but companies would rather sell fashion smartwatches with laughable IP ratings instead.
Send it away and have it Liquipelled. http://www.liquipel.com/
SerialKilla said:
Send it away and have it Liquipelled. http://www.liquipel.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't waste your money. Tried that on three smartwatches, as well as a fourth project smartwatch of my own. It doesn't work. The treatment wears off when it comes in contact with pretty much anything. Oil deposits in the air from cooking, your skin, cloth, sand, dirt.
airtemisa said:
Hi everyone,
As said on tittle, I'm looking for a smart watch with the following requisites:
- Android complete 4.2 or higher
- Cell phone itself (gsm/wcdma)
- IP68?
I need it for swimming/surfing/similar, due to my work, I need to be contactable (calls/email) everytime, and sometimes I go swimming/surfing.
I bought an Imacwear M7, but the people said it's not ip67 and that it will die if I use it on the sea.
Does anyone tried this? Any other smartwatch? Any other options?
I'm a little bit lost, need your opinion and/or experience
Thanks a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Tempo Trainer Pro watch. U can find it here http://www.proswimwear.co.uk/ . It's includes a clip for dry land exercise. I am sure you will find it better then apple watch or Garmin.
I still havent found what im looking for...
Like I said before, no such creature exists. The best you can hope for is a regular smartwatch and then have somebody like me mod it to get it to a 1ATM (33ft) WR rating.
Hi lokifish Marz.... I´ve been thinking about doing that in my M7 smartwatch, but finally never tried it.
If finally doesnt appear that desired model, i will try to mod it for submersing
The M7 is like the Omate and is a serious pain to get IP67, much less anything better than that. About the only sort of easy way to get past a useless IP rating is fill the entire case with RTV silicone sealant, otherwise you are looking at a complete teardown and machine work.
I've been trying with liquid neoprene. It seals perfectly, very fluid, very good handling and also cheap!
Now I need to identify all the holes of the watch and work then properly.... It should work!
List of ingress points that need to be addressed to reach a minimum of 1 ATM water resistance needed for swimming/surfing;
Case back (requires complete redesign of seals or permanent sealing of back to case)
Case back screws and screw holes (requires complete redesign of seals or permanent sealing of screws into the case)
Buttons (requires complete redesign of button seals)
Camera (requires removal and filling of camera housing of replacement of housing glass)
Speaker (requires secondary sealing layer between speaker and outside)
Mic (requires secondary sealing layer between MIC and outside)
SIM Slot Door (requires sealing of screw holes and better gasket)
Charging contacts (requires the contact assembly in the case back be remounted and sealed using marine epoxy)
Display (requires the case be redesigned or pressure injecting sealant or marine epoxy from the backside)
Antenna ports (requires the bands be removed, the ports cleaned out. The bands then need remounting and a stiff silicone sealant be injected into the ports)
MIC and speaker secondary seal will negatively affect audio performance. This is however required as MIC and speaker damage will occur otherwise.
Display sealing issues are due to the lack of a large enough lip for the display to be mounted on to provide a proper seal
*Alternative approach (Untested)
Completely seal the display,PCB, SD Card, SIM Card, and battery in one solid block of silicone or some other water resistant material. Drawback is this seriously affects usability of the buttons, camera, MIC, and speaker. This also makes SIM, SDCard and battery swapping impossible.
(I've had over two years to think about this as well as attempt to get the TS and it's clones to pass a proper 24hr immersion test at 10m/33ft/1ATM. To date, I have not succeeded.)
Uffff.... so... you need to do a master.... its a marathon!
Thanks Lokifish... i think maybe i wont try...
i95,android 4.3,ip65,dial/answer phone call,you can know more from tinydeal.but i think Lokifish is right,no smartwatch can survive after a long time in the sea.
jack5847 said:
i think Lokifish is right,no smartwatch can survive after a long time in the sea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly true. If he wanted a companion smartwatch it's not the hard at all. The issue is with him wanting to be able to do that with a standalone, or otherwise known as a watchphone. That requires far more engineering. The closest he could get to any out of the box solution would be the massive Timex Ironman ONE GPS+ and all that would give him is something similar to SMS texts and that's it. The other option is a decently made standalone then seal it completely with a SIM inside. He would lose the mic and speaker function but would at least be able to send/receive texts and know who's trying to call him. Not a pretty solution but it would work.
I think i´ve got it!
Doodgee S1.
I dont link to any shop, but you can find it very easy. I´m waiting for some reviews...
airtemisa said:
I think i´ve got it!
Doodgee S1.
I dont link to any shop, but you can find it very easy. I´m waiting for some reviews...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, ignore any IP67 rated. IP67 is 1m/3ft immersion with absolutely no moving allowed.
I agree with Lokifish - I don't think that animal exists. I just bought the No 1 A10 to evaluate it for workouts, including swimming...
http://www.gearbest.com/smart-watches/pp_286212.html
...and am looking at the D5 for "office wear". I have to admit that I'm more attracted to the idea of "one watch to rule them all" - but - I'm also looking at $56 for the A10 (I bought it when it was on sale) and $130 or so for the D5 (or similar) so for the total outlay it's a pretty compelling use case. I was an original Omate TrueSmart backer and was profoundly disappointed. After spending $360++ for a watch that *wasn't* waterproof I went the "dedicated exercise computer as a watch" route - in the form of the Polar V800. I had to wait another year or so for smart notifications to show up (for Android) and Polar *still* hasn't done some basic data integration with 3rd parties like MyFitnessPal and the like. That was another $500+ and it *still* doesn't collect accurate heart rate data in the water. So - there's that... and of course there's no *real* smartwatch functionality to speak of.
I had considered the Garmin fenix 3 - and the recent addition of on-device HRM is interesting - but I'm mostly a swimmer so I'm going to be using a chest-worn device if I go that route. But *if* I did that it would be another $600-800 plus the cost of their data-recording HRM strap. As it stands now - I'm done with dropping multiple C-notes onto one-off projects and half baked tech from "the big companies". I'm going to nickel-and-dime my way through and figure out a way to make it work with multiple devices (with a LOT of help from my friends at XDA). I have the Bragi Dash coming in (sometime in February at last count) which I'm hoping will give me accurate HRM/oximetry data while swimming - and I'll be working to merge that data with the stroke/SWOLF data I gather from the wrist-worn device.
Side note: One of the advantages of the dual-device theory just occurred to me - in that I *can* carry a portable battery-pack charger and have one on charge when the other is on my wrist. So there's some element of continuity/back-up, should something go sideways with one device or another. When my TrueSmart would go dead I felt pretty naked, when it worked and was relatively performant from a battery perspective.
Anyway, I think this class of device will take some time to sort out as the companies figure out what the market(s) will bear in terms of durability and cost.
Hi everyone,
I own a Priv and can't do without a keyboard. Seeing that (as of today) no new portrait slider has been announced, and modding the motherboard itself is unrealisitic, I've decided to find a motherboard and screen off a newer phone and sort-of slap them on a spare chassis I've got lying around.
Feel free to add suggestions and comments below, I need all the expertise I can get. Hit the like button if you're interested, so i can get a head-count. If you guys and gals are interested, I'll post pics as I go along.
Keyboard & Interface:
In an ideal world, I'd be using the priv's existing (and exquisite) PKB which also has touch capabilities for scrolling and moving the cursor. Unfortunately I've not yet found the pinouts for that (and is more complex to interface). I have however found a website where a good soul published info and diagrams for a Q10's Keyboard and then connected those to an IC using a board with a Hirose connector (which he then connected to a raspberry pi project). My plan is similar. Since I don't know at which point in the motherboard I can make an input for a keyboard, the best strategy is to wire the keyboard's interface chip into the USB connections, as Android natively supports USB keyboards and mice. I can then use a microswitch (mechanical or magnetic) to disconnect the keyboard's signal when the slider closes.
If someone does know the pinouts of the Priv's connector, do let me know, it would be great to be able to use it!
Motherboard & Screen:
First thing that springs to mind, is that since the screen will be sliding a couple of inches, the phone off which I'll take the screen and motherboard needs to have a long flex-ribbon, usually found when a motherboard is on the top, and the screen connects on the bottom (such as the oneplus 5). This also means the charging port would also be nice to be a separate unit. I'm not too worried about cooling as there's a nice big metal slider frame to which all this will stick on, but failing that, i could also make a metal back with shallow fins to dissipate heat. The less features there are directly on the screen, the less things are likely to fail.
Requirements:
So the basic point of all this is to have the keyboard hooked up to the motherboard of a rootable system which can be easily modified. Phones like Xiaomi, Oneplus ... fit this bill well. First thing that springs to mind is a Snapdragon 8xx as performance is of course, vital. The camera also needs to work although the resolution is not critical. NFC, Fingerprint sensor, SD card slot, GPS with Galileo, Wireless charging and other niceities are highly desireable, but I might give some of them up to accomodate other things depending on how critical they are. Unfortunately not many flagships have 5.4" screens or less, so the metal slider will be modified to accomodate this.
I'll choose a nice, big battery and place it in the bottom, right below the keyboard as the CoG needs to be really low to make the phone comfy to type on without letting it tip over.
Finally, a plastic or metal cover can be modelled to fit all this, and will probably be cheap to make. If the screen is bigger than the frame, i'll also have to make a second cover around the border, secured to the main slider frame.
The Q10's keyboard has arrived. The connector seen in the middle with a black ribbon has 24 contacts (plus 4 contacts in the extremities which are not counted, probably used for grounding). By comparison, the Priv connectors (male on top, female on motherboard) has 20 contacts despite the priv's trackpad function.
For those of you curious about the BB Passport, I've had a quick look inside and the connector is identical to the Q10's keyboard, although it works like the Priv. Rather confusing.
I'll be mapping the pinouts once the PCB and connectors arrive, unfortunately that's gonna be a long wait as they have to come to Germany from the U.S.
I finally have enough parts to start putting the encoder together. It is an SK5126 keyboard encoder from Sprintek. At just 7 x 7mm with 0.5mm pitch, it was not easy to solder on, but definitely doable with a bit of practice and common sense. The chip itself is not expensive (15usd a pop) but being in Germany, I had to pay through the nose for shipping and shameless customs. Sprintek's sales dept. have been very helpful though. Once I wired the PCB to an old USB cable (and a couple of resistors & capacitors), it was very much plug & play. I'm pleased.
Now it's time to wait again for the next bit of PCB and female connectors for the keyboards... It's at times like these that I regret the EU not having a trade agreement with the US.
The adapter PCB and Hirose female connector for the keyboard finally arrived today, but that's where the good news ends. Unfortunately the seller did not solder them together so I had to do it myself. That's when an obvious fact hit me in the face: the connector's melting point is lower than the solder paste's melting point. The first connector simply folded in a mess of molten plastic under the hot air. I tried the reballing method on the second (and last) connector, which simply pulled the individual legs of the connector apart.
Upon putting the PCB of the Encoder and the connector next to each other, it's clear that part of the success i had with soldering the encoder chip lied in having a footprint with nice long exposed contacts which allowed the surface tension of the solder to pull everything in place. That could not work on the much shorter footprint of the connector PCV. I've ordered some more connectors, it's gonna be a long wait, though I've yet to think of a proper way to solder without melting the connector.
So I've finally had a breakthrough. Some new PCBs arrived from Hong Kong and after a few molten connectors, I've managed to perfect the technique enough to not get any shorts. From there on, it was pretty straightforward. I mapped the keyboard's pinouts (red pcb) to the correct Row/Coloumn inputs of the encoder (green pcb) using the thin wires. It looks a bit messy until i figure out in which position the PCBs will sit inside the chassis.
I'm tempted to also try mapping the Priv's original keyboard, unfortunately, that's tricky, as there's no info about it online. It has a 20-pin connector (as opposed to 24 on the Q10) which also transmits touch input via a Synaptics microchip. I'll try going through it with a multimeter, if i can at least map out the button-matrix, then finding out the synaptics output will be a tad easier.
In the meantime, another issue is on my mind. I've been looking at teardowns of various snapdragon 7xx and 8xx phones and it's clear that some components (mostly the prox sensors) on most, if not all models, are soldered directly on the motherboard, which makes it difficult if I plan on putting the screen on the sliding portion of the chassis and the motherboard on the fixed portion of the chassis. I'm going to have to rethink the whole idea. If i put a lot of components on the sliding part of the chassis, then i risk making the phone top-heavy and thick. Unfortunately I do not have the technology to change this.
There is probably going to be a compromise somewhere, and I need to decide where to draw that line before I order more expensive parts.
very (!) interesting idea(-s) !!
I am incredibly curious to see the outcome, afraid I cannot really provide any help.
it is a real shame that blackberry didnt even provide some use-at-your-own-risk stuff to boot unsigned code...
maybe you want to try shopping for parts in china directly, I almost never pay customs (value below ~€20) for stuff.
cheers!
elchmartin said:
very (!) interesting idea(-s) !!
I am incredibly curious to see the outcome, afraid I cannot really provide any help.
it is a real shame that blackberry didnt even provide some use-at-your-own-risk stuff to boot unsigned code...
maybe you want to try shopping for parts in china directly, I almost never pay customs (value below ~€20) for stuff.
cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate.
I already buy a lot of parts from China, however 1 thing I couldn't find online from there was an easy-to-use, low power encoder. I had to get it from Sprintek in California. Their products are really good and the price is also good. Unfortunately i had to pay a lot of money for customs (which of course is not Sprintek's fault). The encoder chips themselves cost me around $15 each, the programming software is free and the chip responds right away as soon as you plug it into the pc. They also have a good after-sale assistance.
Kyle M. said:
Thanks mate.
I already buy a lot of parts from China, however 1 thing I couldn't find online from there was an easy-to-use, low power encoder. I had to get it from Sprintek in California. Their products are really good and the price is also good. Unfortunately i had to pay a lot of money for customs (which of course is not Sprintek's fault). The encoder chips themselves cost me around $15 each, the programming software is free and the chip responds right away as soon as you plug it into the pc. They also have a good after-sale assistance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are living in Hamburg, Germany?
Maybe try looking for parts at pollin.de
They served rather rare items for me some times...
Project continued on https://hackaday.io/project/168387-physical-keyboard-for-any-android-phone
I can finally update with some good news. After ironing out all the issues (most of which concern the pesky Hirose connector which connects the keyboard to the PCB), I took the 2 boards off the metal frame and made myself a little box from PVC sheets which I then glued to an old Xiaomi phone cover. The reason I am testing it this way rather than just building the slider I wanted to build is to prevent having to mod the Xiaomi phone while testing (I've grown quite attached to this phone despite having bought it cheap).
I have also put a small switch on the side which directly cuts off the power to the chip (this way it saves power and seems to work pretty fine).