XE Book Development
see comments below for most recent status of this project.
Project website: XEBook.sideburn.com
Videos: YouTube.com/sideburn
—————————————————
Hey allll,
FInally gaining some momentum with the "XE Book" project. Took a whilel to get the video situation sorted out.
I am using a 12" 4:3 aspect ratio (no wide screen) 800x600 flat panel display along with the LumaCode+RGB2HDMI Pi mod and the picture looks great.
This is that Aabic PAL board I found on eBay and made a USA ASCII ROm for it so only the keycaps will have the funky Arabic symbols :)
I found some pretty decent speakers and a cool little amp with volume up/down buttons so I dont have to have an alalog pot sticking out tof the enclosure. The only thing I don't like about it is on a power cycle the volume goes back to its default but that should only be a minor annoyance. I am now debating wether or not to embed the fujinet inside or just have it plug into the SIO on the back. My initial plan was to embed it and have some softkey buttons and OLED display to be able to toggle it on and off but maybe thats overkill...
Next thing to tackle is th epower management wich will be either one or two lipos, a charging circuit etc, Thinking about making it so the original DIN power jack remains as an external power source as well as the cherging input to keep it old skool. If I leave the Fujinet as an external then I will probably put a USB out on the back so you can plug it directly into the laptop. Heres some photos and a video: Video: http://sideburn.com/vid/xebook1.mov
XEBook has been through several rounds of revisions now and about to do some new builds and a round of upgrades to the 3 out in the wild.
Top new features:
No more split down the middle. Larger 3d printer and so now it’s one piece solid.
Dual tension hinges. Lid tilts at steep angles and holds
Custom power and sound management board. Removed hodgepodge of aftermarket components and consolidated into a single board. Power regulation, stereo audio amplification and battery status all on one board. The heart of the “laptop” part of the project.
Custom designed internal Fujinet. No more having to hack standard fujinets, remove buttons, switches, change SIO connector out, and feed long lightpipes to the onboard LEDs. The new internal board also has a full size sd card for flush mounted easy access on the side. This board can be used for other projects like a standalone Fujinet “pro” or a custom internal Fujinet for stock Atari 8 computers.
I’ve got a dedicated website where I will keep latest info, offer purchasing and hopefully a DIY kit option in the future. That site is here: XEBook.sideburn.com
Also on my website in the lab section: https://sideburn.com/lab/xebook/
Here’s a quick YouTube video showing the brand new internal Fujinet: https://youtu.be/PxKaq-MUbUc?is=Gy3i1BIW41XOaceX
And a photo (or two or three)
Or 4