OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: coolass on April 19, 2004, 05:34:14 pm
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This might belong in the hardware forum but it\'s something to share with every one. As I stated eons ago back in the days of ZaurusZone/DevNet I\'m a big hardware/gadget freak. I recently used a Creative labs 40 gig hard drive from the Nomad jukebox and a pcmcia to cf adapter and mounted it on the sl-6000 [mp3 drives are thinner by nature than regular laptop drives and better partitioned]..Now for the good part ,,,I had a chance to take a serious look at the sled for the sl-6000 and I think there is a way to mount the HD unit internally without compromising the battery, at the least a microdrive wouldn\'t be too bad or a high capacity cf for that matter because they are more sturdy. Anyhow I figuer if I can do that for the sl-6k then I\'m sure i can make mods for other units and let users decide what size HD they want to use. The benefit to having an internal HD(in the sled), is that you will still be able to use the usb connection for other things instead of plugging in an external drive. I\'ll also start taking notes of proceedures and ect... cause I usually don\'t.
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Cool! I wonder if you could solder a USB bluetooth chip too.
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dood! I want a 40G cf-adapted drive on my 5600! (panting, shaking) tell me more.
BTW, what about the additional power draw? When thinking along these lines, I wondered what the drive was going to cost the user in terms of battery life if you ran if off of the internal battery, or what options you\'d have if you wanted to add external hd-only power. Just random thoughts from a guy who\'s not nearly as qualified as you.
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BTW, I\'m exceedingly interested in this for use with a digital camera as well. I would love to have a 20-80G external drive on my Canon 10D. I know there are lots of other issues that may impeed success, but I\'m still interested.
.... and I would be deleriously happy to carry a HD with it\'s own powersupply on my belt if I could do this.
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As far as the battry drain goes it will be powered by the additional battery in the sled. Even mp3 players with weaker batteries do a pretty good job at power consumption, plus the only power spike is when you start the drive the rest is constant ie \"objects in motion tend to stay in motion\" and thus the power shouldn\'t be to much of a problem. Also when you have a cf card inserted you are not always using it and you can mount/unmount it. The starting and stopping process is what drains the battery faster.Just think of it like a car city vs. highway mpg. The Bluetooth issue is that adding a chip on the board is a better choice since the 6000 comes prewired. All the 6k\'s boards are the same only the factory mods make them different. The sl-6000L\'s even have a slot for the Bluetooth LED if you look closely enough
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coolass: you are obviously more talented or connected (or both) than most of us. How serious are you about the possibility of adding BT to a 6000L?
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Very, if it\'s worth the time & cost I plan on doing it.I\'m tired of getting the watered down models from Japan. Just look at the M series of the 5500s , they have a built in camera.I\'m going to post all my progress so everyone can benefit and if possible help others with upgrades.
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have you got a website where we can read your diary? :-)
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*bump* I\'m super curious about this. Any progress?
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Yes, work had me out of town for a while so now I\'m just waiting on a few parts...I\'ll keep you all posted.
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I have a bluetooth module in my Toshiba E740 which just presses into what must be a 20 way (roughly) socket and has a short wire for an antenna - I wonder if there is anyway it could be added to a C860 - having said this the wifi version must also have a similar setup. If they make a version of the device that does have wifi or bluetooth I would think that it\'s a relativly easy task to add this functionality to one that does not have it - you just need to get hold of the parts - which is the tricky bit - does anyone know if the 6000 and the C860 share the same motherboard so to speak?
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The 6000 seems to use the USB bus for it\'s internal wireless devices, so you shold only have to make 4 connections. It might even be possible to install any old off-the-shelf USB bluetooth module from CompUSA, if the circuitry can fit inside the case.
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*Bump* Any progress on the HD-in-the-sleeve project?