Build Your Own Linux Powered Pda

[Da_Blitz]

mm the idea of upgardable seems to be thrown around quite a bit with the people i have talked too. in my opinion it will not be upgardable apart from whatever you can chuck on USB, CF or SD

when you buy the unit you will be able to chose to a limited extent what you want on the thing, eg ram and flash then thats it. it is set. while you could upgarde anything that has a pad left over you would be violting the warentee  hence i would actually like you to try that as i most likly wont be offering one    (smiles are for me)

yes the jas jar is what i took my inspiration from

keep in mind between me and my father we have had over 8 PDAs in 2 years as well as have seen most pdas on the market first hand. i keep up to date with the processor on every PDA avalible and try and dig up as much info on each design as i can so most things i suggest will be from somewhere else that someone has implemented (for example video out is from the toshiba e800 (ati video card, x5[0v,1] 2700g and supprisingly the XDA 2 (which i have right next to me, bet you didnt know it can do vga out  ATI)

sticking the keys on can seems to be the way to go but i would like to see your response to larger keys

when i said there was no gap i didnt meen they would be touching, think more like the nokias which have a lsight gap but also remeber that we can shape the plastic key stick ons to have an edge to them for feed back (looks like /------\, note the sloped sides, on the cx000 its more (------) or curved on the edges)

[Ferret-Simpson]

Larger keys is good. .  I'm used to a 5600, remember? TINY keys!

One thing that we seem to have forgotten about the screen panel. . . a second D-Pad? There's a Dpad below the screen on pretty much every PDA ever built. . Even palms have an up/down switch. . . Would this be hard to implement, or not?

Camera above the screen, Dpad below the screen. . . XD

EDIT: I still say there's not enough new hardware for the CF slot to make it worthwhile. EVERY current CF device is integral to the PPZ current design, apart from a barcode scanner. Better to have a faster internal slot for a CF card.

Anyway, we can always wait till we have benchmarks of the two modes from tests, and decide finally then.

Phone, BT, Serial, USB host, Wifi, VGA-Out, Audio, Camera.

[stampsm]

ok long time no see. i had a break from this due to personal issues plus loss of internet access for a few day. LOL i think i spent like an hour just skimming through the new pages.

[Ferret-Simpson]

Only an hour?

Quick reader.

[stampsm]

key word "skim" plus i read 700 words per minute.

here is a pcb supplier worth looking at.
http://www.goldphoenixpcb.biz/special_price.php

[Da_Blitz]

I have had alot of fun watching who has been reading this fourm form time to time (its also hand because it tells me when someone is typing a reply, hello ***** and ****** )

back on topic:

yes i like usb however removable CF does have advotages for some people. if its easy to implement and you dont care but someone else does then i am inclined to include it to please the crowd its not the hardware but the meory aspect of it. that said we are half expecting to boot of the thing making removal an intresting thing (can anyone say "linux live CF)

as far as i am concerned the only thing going in the screen amniford is the speakers (one ethier side of the screen) and the camera. i belive we are sticking to the c3000 style as much as posible

if we go with the "wing" style that i like then when you turn the screen around you would have both the trackball and dpad sitting at ethier end of the screen (i am thinking like tom's gpx pictures only the screen goes flush with the case or as i call  it  the "sidekick" design)

after thinking about it we should try and get qemu emulating this thing while we are developind the final design so the software guys can get thier feet wet. anyone want to do this (i am expecting a No)

[Da_Blitz]

haha, did you know that so far we have posted over 120 A4 pages worth of content (see the print layout then click print and see how many pages it wants to print)

[stampsm]

here is a quick cost layout for my guess at what this board would cost for prototype.

Layer Number     Setup Fee     Unit Price/Board     Number Of Boards     Price
 4                  269.74192             7.74192               10             347.16112
 
     
 
 

Quantity  10

Layer of the PCB  4

Size of the PCB 96.774cm2

PCB Thickness   2mm

Copper Thickness   1oz/35um

Minimum hole size    20mil

Minimum Clearance   10mil

Inner Cut   No

Blind or bury holes    Yes            Price+30%  (trust me we need these)

Base Material   FR4

Legend Silkscreen   Both Side

Solder Mask Sides   Both Side

Color of the solder mask   Green

Put solder mask on Via   Yes

Finish Plating  Solder

Gold Fingers   None

Number of Gold Fingers  0
   
 
     

Final Price

 451.309456


as you can see setup is a big part of the cost as the boards are less than 8 USD each  on top of the setup fee.

[Da_Blitz]

from my suppliers page: http://www.ezpcb.com/

they solder and buy the parts, thats why i like them. i just tell them to keep the design for refrence and you guys buy it from them direct, that way i dont deal with any cash transacitoins

only problem is that you load the firmware however it looks like all you will need is a program and a usb port

[stampsm]

baaaaa it erased all my nice space's i put in to make it look good

[stampsm]

do you think 4 layer would be enough or would we ave to go 6 layer? it adds a big chunk to the price when you go 6 layer

"Final Price  642.4093"

[Da_Blitz]

ahhh to many people replying, its like irc on a slow medium

anyway, yes set up cost are expensive thats why you ask if they can keep everything on file to make the costs less

i guess you guys are starting to calculate howe much the prototypes are going to be, i think we will have to get the boards made from scratch at least twice, first time to test it and the second to fix the mistakes, then repeat

at the moment there is enough in the war chest for 2 fully built prototypes with all parts soldered on by the EZPCB people

the link to my site is current and i dont know how long it will work for, i recomend you go there ASAP and add any info you want while its still up. it will be slow as i broke my 40GB cap a couple of days early and should be up to full speed tommorrow if my IP hasent changed (256Kbps up 1.5Mbps down you need to sign up to upload))

[Da_Blitz]

perhaps 6 layer, to keep formatting use the [ CODE] [ /CODE] statments

must compare prices to my link, from what i have heard they are the best for hobiest, however i need to double check thier tollerences and minimum track widths

[Ferret-Simpson]

I won't disappoint.


No.

Still aganst the sidekick desing because of the issues I have with when it's in my pocket, and also the fact that it will then no longer fit in my PDA case. And as I said before, it's not actually a comfortable design.

[Da_Blitz]

i still dont see what the issues are. if need be then like on the c3000 you can detect when the lcd is ace down and enable a key lock preventeing input to those devices

look at http://www.pcbonline.org/whatcanuorder.php for an idea of waht ezpcb offer and why i like them

i expect no matter what you do this will require a new case unless ou have a sutibly generic one. i am simply proposing we make the boader around the LCD as small as posible and extend the sides of the case to contain the dpad, a few buttons and the trackball. the keyboard would be under the screen when closed

i do like the extra sideways width that i gives me as i have fairly large hands. how about we come up with some common placments of connectors such as the keyboard so we can chose between cases

i expect that the keyboard connector will be at the top of the pcb, tracball at the left side and dpad on the right hand side, LCD at the top center for easy connection to the screen

i would find some pics of the c3000 and take a close look, i will do the same with the 5500 as we are both trying to overcome issues with our own device that are not present in the other.

for ekample with the 5500 keyboard you are used to gripping somthing and having your thumbs pointed upwards, with the c3000 its diffrent you grip form the sides and have your thumbs pointing inwards (this is what causes my hand lock up problems) you also dont grip the c3000 you let it rest on your bottom fingers and move the thumbs in and out

when using the dpad i let my index fingers press against ethier side and move the thing upwards with my thumb barly reaching the dpad (similar to the 5500) however i dont have anything to grip with the base of my palm there (with the 5500 the keyboacd cower would be resting there)