OK, i dont know if any of you guys have my post's of hacks in other areas off the bbs in the past but here are 2 of them:
from:
http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=technical&Post=950&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=4&Session=mp3boombox.96536404546619
Welp I'v dont it again!!!
My roomate and I have been working on this for a while but have added a multi port to the iopener for use with MULTI DEVICES!!!!! Like zipdrives, cdrom's, supperdisk's ect....
How did I acheave this you ask? Ok got to let you in on the secret.
Step #1
Remove the base from the Iopener, holding arms as well. Now get ahold of a dremal (in a drill press kit) or a nice drill press with a mobial clap table under it. Next you need to have a tecra laptop muti bay drive. I'v got the cdrom but am waiting on a supper disk comming to me. You need to mesure out the size of the drive then mark it out on the base unit in the middle (trying to center it). The next part is a pain in the ass.
Step #2
OK you need to have a very thin thin routing bit. The thinner the better, though the cutting blade must be around 5mm long or so. Now you need to make 2 long swipes on the sides and one long swip on the front of the base unit to match out the size of the drive units (5" wide X 5.25"). dont cut 2 deep into the base because you want to keep the cross brase's in tact on the under side. The under side you'll have the hardest time with using a dremal to seperate the cross brases from the top of the base. The top sheet of plastic will act ad your drive cover. Now that you have done all of this the cross brases need to be be even. Wip out the old routing bit gain. this time size matters! They just need to be flush with the front of the io's base which is about 7mm high. Once you'v made the cross brases all at an even hight, and about 7mm high. Add a VERY thin piece of plastic to the top there for making a sliding serface for drive units. Welp if its been done good it will look something like this a rather large centerd squar has been cut. any tecra drive unit will fit in it nice and snug, yet the connector will pose a problem.
step #3
So the lid is now nice and flat on the inside. The drive is nice and flat with nothing obstructing the front so things can open or be incerted. Well that wasn't so bad was it? Or was it........
Now for the next fun part. I got a mini din 50pin scsi external connector cable from a local computer junk store of sorts and proceded to do some soldering. The wires from the IDE cable on the inside of the IO has been hardwired to the connector. The external cable now plugs onto this nicely or unplugs. As for placement, pick a place cut a hole and glue or screw it in.
So the base unit is done almost, we'v got are IDE made external. but are missing the connector between the drive and cable inside the base. The interface between the drive units and the main unit, are done easly. Take the base drill a whole in the back of the base for the cable. next you need to make a PCB board and get a female 2.5" ide style connector (a 50pin female SMT OR THEW HOLE solder connector would be ideal) the connector can be gotten from www.fciconnect.com model# 57202. As for the rest the web site isn't up so i cant give you the exact number but its a 25x2 for 50pins SMT. Its 50pins becaue of the AUDIO connector. Well seeing as how the laptop cdrom has the standerd 44pin for IDE the extra 6 pins on the side are for audio. Left, right, and 2 are ground. the base unit is hardwired to slave.
Now provided that you have made a nice small pcb with this long set of ide pins that has been solderd to pcb you need to place it just right. If you don't, when you slide the drive in it may miss the pins. i just pluged the adapter in. THEN just placed the CDROM in and broke out the good old trusty HOT glue gun and gave her hell so that the pcb wont go anywheres. Now i can put any ide device in that follows the same IDE header style.
The only problem i have currently is i need a LINE in hack for my io but dont know what pins and or what parts are needed to do audioin. for the time being i'm using an IDE hack driver which makes audio CD'S look like pc cd's so i can just play the audio thew the ribbon cable just fine, i can even rip them thew the audio cable just drag and drop.
This may not be hot swapable but having the ablity to use multi devices in an IO makes it a great appliance. The cdrom I'm using is a XM-1402B 6x speed. It's just a straight ATAPI ide device so any drive unit from a tecra laptop SHOULD work. Including a hard drive caddy to use any hard drive that will fit ect... Or you could go so far as to use DVD or CDR(W) oooOOOOOoooooo....... The best thing is that its powerd VIA the I-OPENER!!
my seccond io i'm making an external bay box unit. It'll also house a battery pack for thous times when i'm running my seccond io OFF battery power i drain less on the system power :) 12batterys low voltage 5volt regulator 1capasiter and a resister is all it takes. Oh and a switch to go between system or bat. power.
want a parts list give me an email maby i'll post it or build a web page some time with a collection of my hacks
When I get a digi cam or something I'll post some pictures!!
ENJOY AN OTHER GREAT MP3BOOMBOX MOD!!!
AND THE SECCOND ONE:
Ok, :) I'v got your problem solver and this is more likly the best cooling mod yet. I must say even I didnt think of that one. GOOD job doc, but my fix does involv a fan. DONT start hissing yet :). This fix requires only a little cutting of the RF shield, yet the area thats cut is on the edge of the io and NON EXPOSED. Now you all rember them fun loving 1"x1" fan's in laptop's on the side???
WELL I'v done this, the only cut is on the side of the RF shield by the cpu, then i ran a big tube on the INSIDE of the IO on that 1" boarder where the mother board ends. This tube runs from the cpu down to the very bottem and then across and opens upto the vent cuts at the bottem. I'v placed the fan in the middle of the tube between the cpu and the serial port, which cuts down on noise due to it being totaly internal. last but not least i'v coverd the heat synk with a thin foil to keep the cool moving air IN the heat synk only.
Ok to sum this up, I'v made a speical tube across the inside of the io by the cpu going from the cpu to the bottem then it runs across the bottem for a little bit. The fan is in the middle of the io kind of close to the cpu and serial port but its not mounted on the cpu at all. The cool air runs in from the bottem and out over the heat synk and will also help cool the HARD DRIVE.
i'v got an other setup like this already and my CPU runs at about 86f-94f degreese. (just for a little teaser the 94f was after about a half hour of running the windows GL maze screen saver.
The reason why this mod works so well is that there is a NICE boarder on the inside around the entire IO with plenty of space to do a lot of things. Though this mini fan is a low power user and doesnt suck as much air as a standerd fan does. It's out doing its self as far as I can tell. When I get a cam. I'll post some pictures.
I do have other hacks like a PLUG on serial port adapter using a max235 adapter which you just plug on to the MB and cut a hole in the case and your done. these go for $30 each hand made, it makes it so that you can use ANY serial device, but if a device requires a power source i can't be shure if it will work or work properly. Now all data line are there so ablity wise it's 100% usable for all devices. some examples that i'v tested mouse, laplink,irda, external modem ect.. plus you do have a 5volt line.
if you need a 12v line you need a 12volt regulator and a cap, tapping power off the main source where you plug in the power supply of the io. That is risky becuase the power level may be to much!! its 1.83amps 19volts brake that down, a serial port doesnt output that many amps :)
intrested in a serial adapter email me
berinc@acadia.net
