Hi
I have been looking for a way to remove the guts of a Psion Netbook and repurpose it into a Raspberry Pi unit.
I have all the guts removed including the screen… The 8 inch Pimoroni screen is the same size as the Netbook excluding the side touchpads [see pic]. The screen looks great but the flexible pcb to the display driver is short and covers most of the display driver. So I can’t put the display driver in the base because the flex is too short and I can’t put it behind the screen because the HDMI socket is too big. If it had been a mini HDMI socket, I might have got away with it behind the screen.
Removing the HDMI socket is not a goer because it’s 19 connexions and the micro surface mount dimensions are different plus we need it!
So, my only options are to extend the flexible PCB into the base or not use the Psion case [and I do want to use the Psion case]
So what do I need to extend the ribbon, a length of suitable flexible PCB.
There aren’t any identifying numbers on the ZIF on the display driver and I need to know the pitch and number of lines on both the ZIF and the flex.
CPC have a range of flat flex that may do
Someone here has had the same problem
I see that the new pi4 will serve 2 screens, so it will be cool to show on the netbook screen and a large telly at the same time.
I have ideas on how I am going to use the various socket holes in the case but solving the ribbon problem comes first. I want to use the keyboard which is very good for typing, but I need to work out the matrix and how I am going to present that to the Pi
I was ecstatic when I found the 8inch screen. There are plenty of screens out there, but I think what was in the Psion was a special. There were some clever people that worked at Psion, some of the applications are brilliant, fancy having a calendar that doesn’t link to Google? EricLindsay has a list of applications here : http://www.ericlindsay.com/epoc/psion7.htm
Should be a very interesting project.
Pictures here
New users allowed one picture in a post so
Ribbon over display driver
I hope I can follow on with the other two later
There was no paperwork in the box just the display, the display driver and the button strip
So any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
PsiHack
