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Forum Old laptop for a single-board computer cover
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Related

Old laptop for a single-board computer cover

sadlymad
sadlymad over 8 years ago

Hi,

Recently I became a fan of your show and love how clearly this show explains all kinds of builds.

 

My dell "studio" laptop (powerful but awful poor quality model) died not long ago and I was thinking of ways to repurpose it.

Most of the suggestions on the net were single part haks (like back-light box) or just plain boring projects.

Plus I tried to find how to add usb to keyboard (but there's only few diy)

And most of the comments on forums are "its easier to just buy a new thing, why bother" which helps no one..

Dunno maybe I just don't know the right keyword to find what I want.. anyway.

 

So my idea is simple - to put a single board computer in laptop.

 

Goals:

1) To maintain the original form, get rid of all unneeded parts moterboard, cdrom.

(But if needed more space inside a 3d printed spacer would be alright)

2) usb and other ports should be in original places.

3) I really like slim keyboards in laptops so I would like to see how you would connect it to a single board computer.

(usb keyboards have chips with similar connections in them so i think its possible to use them, maybe?).

The same goes with lcd and camera.

 

If you did this project, It would give me courage to take apart my own laptop, which at this point is just an expensive garbage.

I'm not handy in electronics and I can only do small fixes,so guidelines on what is actually possible and/or worth doing is a must to me.

 

Thanks for the inspiration.

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  • william_hoffer
    william_hoffer over 8 years ago +1
    I am not ben but this is a doable project, but it would really have to do with what single board computer you use affect allot of things. Like if you use a Razberry Pi or a Pi close like a banna Pi there…
  • sadlymad
    sadlymad over 8 years ago in reply to william_hoffer +1
    My laptop is studio 1558 . And as to powering monitor and SBC, couldn't I just use my original dell ac/dc adapter (output 19.5V, 4.62A) and just distribute the power where needed? I would love to use battery…
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  • william_hoffer
    william_hoffer over 8 years ago

    I am not ben but this is a doable project, but it would really have to do with what single board computer you use affect allot of things. Like if you use a Razberry Pi or a Pi close like a banna Pi there come a problem with using the usb ports. On both the usb ports are two in a single metal case. You would need to separate them and create a new enclouse to fit in the orgnial usp ports on the computer. Now you can buy single usb ports and cretae the enclouser and solder them to the SBC after you remove the USB ports there. If the SBC has a connector here the wifi antennas connect you can use the ones that the laptop already has. You will need a driver board so you can use the exsiting LCD screen but you can plug the hdmi cord from the SBC to the driver board. Powering it with out the machine being teethered to a wall out let is where the problem comes in I couldn't help with since both the SBC computer and the driver board needs to be powered.

     

    To the SBC I would suggest not the Pi since it would be more of a glorified netbook with only 1 gig of ram and no manuel switch to turn the pie off after shutting down the Operating system.

     

    What Dell studio is it a XPS or one of the number ones like the 1555 (it will say on the service tag either on the bottom of the computer or in the battery compartment.

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  • sadlymad
    sadlymad over 8 years ago in reply to william_hoffer

    My laptop is studio 1558.

    And as to powering monitor and SBC, couldn't I just use my original dell ac/dc adapter (output 19.5V, 4.62A) and just distribute the power where needed?

    I would love to use battery as well.

     

    I think my dell has ports in convenient places.

    I plan to put SBC to the left side and modify it a bit leaving only HDMI, Ethernet, USB and a jack port.

    image

    sd/mmc-ms/pro slot has its own board so I think it would be quite easy(for someone who knows what they do) to make it work.

    I am glad my dell had internal cd-rom in 2010 I already though of cds as garbage and later used that space for SSD and it looks clean.

    In HDD place I plan to add a SSD using SATA III to USB adapter

     

    As for what sbc to use- I think it depends on the price.

    I would feel better if this project didn't cost as much as new motherboard...

    Plus later I could upgrade to a better SBC If I needed.

     

    I just accidentally found some good projects on raspberry forum:

    pi to laptop

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=100143 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=100143

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=97080&p=681340#p681340

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  • sadlymad
    sadlymad over 8 years ago in reply to william_hoffer

    My laptop is studio 1558.

    And as to powering monitor and SBC, couldn't I just use my original dell ac/dc adapter (output 19.5V, 4.62A) and just distribute the power where needed?

    I would love to use battery as well.

     

    I think my dell has ports in convenient places.

    I plan to put SBC to the left side and modify it a bit leaving only HDMI, Ethernet, USB and a jack port.

    image

    sd/mmc-ms/pro slot has its own board so I think it would be quite easy(for someone who knows what they do) to make it work.

    I am glad my dell had internal cd-rom in 2010 I already though of cds as garbage and later used that space for SSD and it looks clean.

    In HDD place I plan to add a SSD using SATA III to USB adapter

     

    As for what sbc to use- I think it depends on the price.

    I would feel better if this project didn't cost as much as new motherboard...

    Plus later I could upgrade to a better SBC If I needed.

     

    I just accidentally found some good projects on raspberry forum:

    pi to laptop

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=100143 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=100143

    https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=97080&p=681340#p681340

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