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Home / Web Pads / Epods One General Post Docking Base for the ePods

Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) Glitch Profile I am working on a docking base for my ePods. I have pictures of the prototype up on the ePods32 website. Click here to go to the webpage. I have lots of ideas for the final version of the base. I plan to have these at various locations at home and work. This way I'll be able to just drop the ePods onto a base and be connected. Let me know of any unusual ideas for using a base like this. Some that come to mind are coffee table, wall or car mounting. I would also like to hear any ideas for base construction or materials. My plan is to build the bases out of hardwood with either a wire or Plexiglass back support. In general, I plan on having the base match the decor of the room that it will be in. I'm sure that the permutations for the design are endless. I would love to hear your ideas. Glitch Electronics run on smoke, if you let the smoke out they won't work 03-17-2001 15:12:40

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) busdepot Not absolutely crucial to have, but a great idea nonetheless. Besides an easy way to charge it allows the epods to take up a much smaller footprint in the kitchen or living room. 03-17-2001 15:29:25

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) JamesW Profile I was thinking, it might be useful to build a docking connector - as long as you don't have a wireless network card, of course. The connector would be a thin strip attached semi-permanently to the top of the epods, plugged into all the ports - if you had a wired ethernet card it could even plug into your PCMCIA card.. It'd be perhaps 1cm thick. It would collect all the ports together into a single (custom) port. The custom port would then plug into an appropriate socket on the base. The socket could then break out all the cabling again to repeat the ports on the back of the epods on the base itself, and the epods would plug into the wired ethernet that way. The biggest problem would obviously be that it would be quite a clump of wiring, so you'd need quite a big connector - 40 pin perhaps? This is 'way beyond my meagre skills - I'm more of an idea rat - but perhaps it's useful as a start. 03-21-2001 17:38:32

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) JamesW Profile To clarify, it's similar to what you've done here, Glitch, but you wouldn't need to run cables over the back of the epods - and it should look tidier. You'd just need a series of connectors down the side of the unit - perhaps the power plug side. 03-21-2001 17:42:46

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) Glitch Profile JamesW: My plan is to have all the wiring internal to the ePods. The FrankenPod on the website is a just prototype to see if the connectors work. The cool thing about the connectors is that the "alignment" is not critical when the ePods is placed on the base. They are like what is on a cordless phone, only a bit bigger. There is room on the bottom of the ePods for 6 or 7 of the 6 pin connectors. This is more than enough to transfer all the "stock" signals on the ePods. 2 - Power 4 - USB1 4 - USB2 9 - Serial (8 are used) 4 - Phone (2 are used) 2 - Headphones 2 - Microphone 27 - Total (24 used) I am waiting for the 6 pin male connectors to arrive from backorder at Digikey. They aren't scheduled to arrive until the end of May :(. I have the female connectors which will be flush mounted in the ePods. I hope to have the time to install these this weekend. The only other thing I still need to figure out is how to make sure the ePods doesn't get "off by one" when it is placed on the base. Glitch Electronics run on smoke, if you let the smoke out they won't work 03-21-2001 18:27:50

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) RUSTY Glitch I see what youre after in youre docking station. I have a IBM think pad docking station and they used spring loaded pins in the base to ensure alighnement. Home depot used to or still does carry spring pins for screen doors,I may actualy have some. any way the idea is that you put two indentations on the epod that corospond with the spring pins in the base the spring pins intern lighnup as well as soften the impact of docking, sorry didnt mean to get so long winded RGK 03-21-2001 20:25:44

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) JamesW Profile Glitch : Cool. My less than l33t hacking skills leads me to solutions that involve a minimum of potential damage to the expensive bits. Hence my desire to stay clear of waving something hot around the innards of my epods. I'm in Australia, so my chances of being able to replace an epods I screw up are basically nil. Say, am I the only Australian epodder? :) I wish I could get one more epods at a ~US$199 price and not the ~US$310 price they are on eBay - assuming I could actually find one willing to ship internationally. 03-21-2001 21:08:15

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) Glitch Profile JamesW: Strange, you don't seem to have an accent <g>. I know their is at least one other Australian ePodder out there. I assume that it wasn't you that I sold a few memory kits to. Glitch Electronics run on smoke, if you let the smoke out they won't work 03-21-2001 21:29:46

RE:Docking Base for the ePods (modified 0 times) JamesW Profile No, that wasn't me. Dammit, I'm not unique! *cries* At the moment I'm mainly working on getting my epods to control my HTPC. Harder than you'd think! Once I've done that I'll be seeing what options I have to build an angled base for the epods to sit in on my coffee table. 03-22-2001 17:03:36

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