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Ben Heck’s Lunch Box Dev Kit Episode -- Episode 231

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In this episode Ben sets out to build a all in one development kit. This includes a screen, a key board, mouse and a few power options all in one convenient package.

  • I am not an enginer in any respect but i think this was a pretty awsome idea

  • That project actually turned out very nicely. Well done. Actually wouldn't mind doing that myself in the future when my other projects thin out.

  • Great episode and likely to result in me tearing apart one of my two Atrix lapdocks soon.

     

    One suggestion for those like myself who lack Ben's soldering skills and confidence to cut and resolder HDMI connections to a new connector is microHDMI female to HDMI male adapters are available on various Chinese electronics websites like banggood or mini-in-the-box if you are willing to wait several weeks for delivery.

     

    My recommendation for Lunchbox Dev Kit V2.0 would be to incorporate the battery packs and charge circuit from the Atrix lapdock to run the display and use one of the beefier smart phone battery banks to run the Dev boards on battery.  I use a smartphone/tablet battery bank measuring 3/8"x3"x6" and claiming 20000 mAh capacity (for whatever that is worth) to power an Odroid U3 connected to an Atrix lapdock using a USB cable with no Vcc connection. I don't know what the full battery life is because I've never gotten below half capacity (as shown by the indicator leds on the battery bank) after 5-6 hours of use. You could make a connection from the 5V power bus for dev boards to the input of the battery bank to charge it when you are plugged in to AC.  2A from the battery bank would probably run up to a Pi3 if you were careful not to plug in multiple power hungry USB peripherals.

     

    V2.5 could be doing your own 2.5A+ 5V power supply that would switch from the 19V laptop supply when plugged in to a tablet Li battery or bank of 18650 Li ion cells.

  • Depends upon the intended use, however some people may find some sort of a prototyping layer useful to have available.

     

    Most of my dev boards (Intel Galileo, Atmel Xplained mini/pro, Arduino, etc) are headless and require a host machine, so I would have perhaps have kept the display and keyboard in the original dock allowing either it or a laptop to be connected to the lunchbox depending on the dev board in use.

     

    Inside the lunchbox there would be a PSU, a breadboard area, a digital voltmeter module, some sort of I2C LCD or OLED display, a LED gooseneck (to shine some light on the matter), perhaps some form of peg-board around the edge of the box for 'helping hands' to be inserted into, then compartment storage areas to hold various components and cables.

     

    However this could be contained in a separate lunchbox to the one made in this episode.

  • Another great episode.

     

    Making a universal development board support system is a really great idea.

    Especially if you want to compare different architectures before you commit to a purchase for a larger project.

     

    Well done, Ben, Karen and Felix.

     

    DAB

  • At around 7m34 makes a statement 'so an HDMI signal is LVDS'.

     

    Doesn't HDMI use TMDS over CML (current mode logic) as a physical layer as opposed to LVDS ?