Raspberry Pi laptop

First off, if you have the Photon, and you can get the lapdock for the Bionic, this mod is not needed.  At the time I purchased my Atrix lapdock, it was about $30 cheaper, thus the mod.  I have yet to try the lapdock 100 or 500.  Searching the Internet is how I learned about this mod.

I opened the connection port of the of lapdock, and if you look closely you will see two round stickers.

I used a box cutter to carefully remove the round stickers that cover the screws, and was able to pry it open.  I remember there was an extra piece of plastic that I discarded.  Once opened, I removed the metal bracket holding the connectors.  I then removed the connectors.  To reverse and reinsert the connectors, I used a drill.  I don't remember which size bit I used, but it was just a little "bit" bigger than the opening for the connector.  I drilled in the opening (moving from side to side of the opening) to make it larger.  It didn't take much of this, before I was able to push the connector through the opening.  In fact I didn't think I was finished, but the connector went through.  So on to the next one.  Now this part was a little tricky for me, but I took my time and positioned the connectors and the "spacer" in place.  Replaced the metal bracket, reinserted the housing.  Using the box cutter was able to pick up and replace the stickers. 

Have fun, and I hope this has helped some.

"I modded the connectors to face the other way so I could plug in my Motorola Photon 4G Android phone."

I would be interested to hear how you accomplished this.  I too, own a Photon and it would be great to use it with the Lapdock along with the Raspberry Pi.

Several members of the Makerspace, Arch Reactor, in St. Louis, Missouri are currently working on this mod.  I know two other members besides myself that have already purchased Lapdocks online.  We appreciate all the information that has been shared in this forum. 

Thanks! We are putting the information to good use!

Interesting to hear your feedback on shaving the sides of: http://www.ebay.com/itm/170875544143?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I ordered a similar item from Deal Extreme to cut down on the HDMI cabling clutter of my current setup but wasn't sure if it would fit (http://www.dealextreme.com/p/hdmi-male-to-micro-hdmi-female-adapter-66079?item=4)

After further review, I realised that I didn't need this cable.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/micro-usb-female-to-micro-male-female-adapter-cable-for-blackberry-9900-black-30cm-107901#open

but, instead your cable

female micro type B to female USB type A USB cable

and a male to male usb cable with the red power cord clipped.

For power, I used a usb male to micro usb plugged in the back of the lapdock.

Now when I close the lapdock, the power is completely shut off.  In my previous configuration the power would remain on (but not do anything), and it would reboot when I reopened the lapdock.

Thank you for your posts, as I enjoy learning all I can about this setup, As well as the RPi itself.

Cheers

Rich

Nice blog.

I am doing just about the same as you.

This lapdock is working great for my use. I ordered one about a month ago, but had to wait for all the cables. In the meantime I modded the connectors to face the other way so I could plug in my Motorola Photon 4G Android phone.

Overall I am very pleased, it charges my phone while using it.

Has Firefox browser built in, although you cannot update it or install plugins.

I can use it at home with WiFi, or on the road with 3G. (no 4G in my area yet).

I think part of it's demise was that some cellphone carriers were charging a monthly fee as if it were a real laptop. Fortunately for me, mine doesn't. So even if I didn't have a RPi it would have been a good deal for me.

But alas, I do have a RPi, and this is what I've done with mine so far.

For HDMI I used theese

http://www.ebay.com/itm/170875544143?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Had to shave one of the sides for it to fit.

For my USB connections I'm using this

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/micro-usb-female-to-micro-male-female-adapter-cable-for-blackberry-9900-black-30cm-107901#open

and the two usb connectors you are using. Unfortunately, I have an old version of the Pi. So I cut the red power cord on the male to male usb cable. I can power the Pi from the lapdock, or as you demonstrated, another power source. It all seems to work pretty well, but I still have bugs to work out.

I just ordered a powered usb hub, as one avilable usb port isn't going to cut it. I tried connecting a usb mouse to the back of the lapdock, but it didn't work for me.

I'm also trying to get this WiFi dongle to work, but so far without success.

http://www.amazon.com/Esky-150Mbps-WIRELESS-ADAPTER-802-11/dp/B0058XSZGU/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1347428977&sr=8-5&keywords=wifi+dongle

I was impressed with the quality of the HD videos with Raspbmc displayed on this lapdock, and haven't even overclocked it yet.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with this, and best wishes to all that try this project.