Worklog DIY Concept UFO

[Dmcke5]

What tablet are you using? Maybe I could pick one up with the excuse of trying to find a way to charge the battery while registering the charge in Windows and still using USB?

It's a Pipo W2Pro.
Don't do it just for me though! I've worked out what I think is my best bet. Basically I'm going to settle for charge OR play, but I don't want to have to flick a switch or something to charge so I need to come up with a circuit that disconnects the ID pin from ground when voltage is detected at the charger input and also disconnects power to the USB side (so the controller lights aren't on the whole time it's charging). It's not something you'd really need a device to test it with. The part I'm stuck on is I need the ID pin grounded and the USB power connected when the charger isn't powered. If it was the other way round I could just use a mosfet or a transistor. I've looked into using a jfet but I'm not sure I fully understand how they work.

 

[ttsgeb]

Good to know my google-fu is on point, that's what I was thinking it was. Looks like a pretty solid machine at a rather decent pricepoint. If I get one, I'm definitely looking into a RAM upgrade, though, but that's probably going to require custom firmware, which is way beyond me.
EDIT: The processor itself only supports 2gb of RAM.
EDIT2: That's the best processor for that pinout.

 

[Dmcke5]

Good to know my google-fu is on point, that's what I was thinking it was. Looks like a pretty solid machine at a rather decent pricepoint. If I get one, I'm definitely looking into a RAM upgrade, though, but that's probably going to require custom firmware, which is way beyond me.

Yeah I haven't seen any that have more ram than this. Not sure how you'd go about adding more ram, it would definitely be a solder job. Not even sure there's any spare pads for another chip.
I'd be considering something more like a latte panda next time. I've got my fingers crossed for a small ryzen based sbc that I might be able to jam into this or something similar at some point in the future.

 

[Dmcke5]

Just found these, I reckon this would be the way I would go next time. https://shop.udoo.org/udoo-x86-ii-ultra.html

 

[ttsgeb]

That's a cool trinket, but man, you'd be looking at probably 5 times the cost for electronics if you went with that.
I looked a bit at the latte panda, and it seems to have the same processor as the tablet with twice the RAM, so a ram upgrade might actually be possible. I'm gonna sleep on the idea, though. It's tempting to jump right into it for the opportunity to hack stuff, but do I really need another project right now?

 

[wudopecker]

you can't upgrade the ram because the intel atom in that tablet doesnt have support for more, hence why you wont find any. I've looked at a whole lot of sbc for a project i want to do, here is a list if you interested in SBC:

 

[ttsgeb]

I see 4 SBCs in your spreadsheet with the same Z8350 processor and 4gb of ram. I'm thinking the Intel ARK page was made before the appropriate chips were created.

 

[wudopecker]

I see 4 SBCs in your spreadsheet with the same Z8350 processor and 4gb of ram. I'm thinking the Intel ARK page was made before the appropriate chips were created.

ah i have looked a bit deeper on the ARK site, look at the Intel® Atom™ Processor Z8000 Series Datasheet (Page 17) , they mention that LPDDR3 memory is supported from 2-8 gigabytes of memory, and DDR3L is supported from 1-2 gigabytes of memory. Perhaps if you swap to different memory its possible?

 

[Dmcke5]

I wish they would release lower profile versions of a lot of those boards, they would have been perfect for this sort of thing. I could probably squeeze a UDOO Ultra in there, but its performance isn't that much greater than the z8350 and cost would have been much higher. The board alone would have cost almost twice what the tablet cost, and that wouldn't obviously wouldn't include the need to purchase a screen as well. I also considered buying a GPD win 2 and stripping it and fitting it in here, but I just couldn't justify the cost plus I would hate to ruin an already perfectly functional device in the process.

I've solved the issues I was having with my top shoulder buttons. I stupidly tried to make sliding buttons but after many nights of messing around with them this week I've decided that it just isn't a practical solution. Getting the tolerance close enough to get a sliding fit but not allow any sideways movement is proving to be far too difficult. I started attempting to make a pivoting button instead using one of the pins that is already machined into the housing but because its pivot point is so close to the button it meant that I needed far more travel than I could easily achieve to press the button completely. I could change the PCB if I really had to, but I will avoid it if possible.

Here's the solution I've come up with, and I like the feel of it better than any of my previous attempts at shoulder buttons. Obviously the layout of the case didn't exactly lend itself to this button design since I wasn't planning to do this from the beginning but I managed to just squeeze it in. Even as a 3D print the springy arm seems to be fairly resilient and really does help ensure the button returns to the full upright position after being pressed, instead of relying on the spring of the rubber to push it back. I've got some Acetal here which I will use to make the springy parts. I may even use it for the buttons as it machines really nicely and the paint will stick to it no problems.

I'm working on the lower triggers now as they are even worse than the top ones, but I think I have just enough room to turn them into a swinging button with a top pivot. Fingers crossed!

Oh yeah and still waiting on my replacement switch joystick. The postal service in Australia at the moment is ridiculously slow which isn't helping.

 

[wudopecker]

I wish they would release lower profile versions of a lot of those boards, they would have been perfect for this sort of thing. I could probably squeeze a UDOO Ultra in there, but its performance isn't that much greater than the z8350 and cost would have been much higher. The board alone would have cost almost twice what the tablet cost, and that wouldn't obviously wouldn't include the need to purchase a screen as well. I also considered buying a GPD win 2 and stripping it and fitting it in here, but I just couldn't justify the cost plus I would hate to ruin an already perfectly functional device in the process.

I've solved the issues I was having with my top shoulder buttons. I stupidly tried to make sliding buttons but after many nights of messing around with them this week I've decided that it just isn't a practical solution. Getting the tolerance close enough to get a sliding fit but not allow any sideways movement is proving to be far too difficult. I started attempting to make a pivoting button instead using one of the pins that is already machined into the housing but because its pivot point is so close to the button it meant that I needed far more travel than I could easily achieve to press the button completely. I could change the PCB if I really had to, but I will avoid it if possible.

Here's the solution I've come up with, and I like the feel of it better than any of my previous attempts at shoulder buttons. Obviously the layout of the case didn't exactly lend itself to this button design since I wasn't planning to do this from the beginning but I managed to just squeeze it in. Even as a 3D print the springy arm seems to be fairly resilient and really does help ensure the button returns to the full upright position after being pressed, instead of relying on the spring of the rubber to push it back. I've got some Acetal here which I will use to make the springy parts. I may even use it for the buttons as it machines really nicely and the paint will stick to it no problems.

I'm working on the lower triggers now as they are even worse than the top ones, but I think I have just enough room to turn them into a swinging button with a top pivot. Fingers crossed!

View attachment 12892

Oh yeah and still waiting on my replacement switch joystick. The postal service in Australia at the moment is ridiculously slow which isn't helping.

The solution I have found for smaller boards are Intel compute sticks, they are incredibly small for it's perfomance but really pricy, I have looked at ton of sbc for my smach z I want to make, but anything really powerful is expensive or big

 

[Dmcke5]

The solution I have found for smaller boards are Intel compute sticks, they are incredibly small for it's perfomance but really pricy, I have looked at ton of sbc for my smach z I want to make, but anything really powerful is expensive or big

Yeah I looked at the compute sticks too, definitely Mega expensive for the more powerful ones. The m3-6Y30 4gb version is about $679 AUD compared to the roughly $200 AUD of the tablet. I'm still watching the local used listings in the hopes one might come up second hand. Its a shame the x86 platform seems to be a bit of a niche in the handhelds scene as a lot of the games I want to re-live from when I was young are on PC. I've never played a real gamecube or n64, didn't really get into the nintendo scene until the days of the wii. Never even owned a gameboy until I had a job and was able to buy myself one (although I played plenty of gameboy games through emulation on PC so I didn't completely miss out). So besides playstation, all of my gaming memories are on pc.

I'm hoping that steam link may provide a reasonable experience for the games that this machine just isn't going to be capable of running. I'm yet to try it, but once I have these buttons sorted and my replacement joystick I will give it a go and see if the lag is manageable. I'm not planning on any competitive gaming on this thing (besides, I absolutely suck at shooters on a gamepad) so hopefully I can deal with a bit of latency.

 

[wudopecker]

Yeah I looked at the compute sticks too, definitely Mega expensive for the more powerful ones. The m3-6Y30 4gb version is about $679 AUD compared to the roughly $200 AUD of the tablet. I'm still watching the local used listings in the hopes one might come up second hand. Its a shame the x86 platform seems to be a bit of a niche in the handhelds scene as a lot of the games I want to re-live from when I was young are on PC. I've never played a real gamecube or n64, didn't really get into the nintendo scene until the days of the wii. Never even owned a gameboy until I had a job and was able to buy myself one (although I played plenty of gameboy games through emulation on PC so I didn't completely miss out). So besides playstation, all of my gaming memories are on pc.

I'm hoping that steam link may provide a reasonable experience for the games that this machine just isn't going to be capable of running. I'm yet to try it, but once I have these buttons sorted and my replacement joystick I will give it a go and see if the lag is manageable. I'm not planning on any competitive gaming on this thing (besides, I absolutely suck at shooters on a gamepad) so hopefully I can deal with a bit of latency.

I got the m3-6Y30 4gb of Amazon for 295€ without an os, which would still convert to 490 aud I think

 

[Dmcke5]

I got the m3-6Y30 4gb of Amazon for 295€ without an os, which would still convert to 490 aud I think

Slightly better on Amazon, $617 AUD. I could probably order from the overseas Amazon through one of those international shipping companies and avoid paying that tax on it but it's a lot of hassle. Just noticed there's also a m5-6Y57 which would be more worthwhile, but it's more like $800. Still, at least it would fit in the housing so it is a possibility if I get fed up with the lack of power.

 

[wudopecker]

Slightly better on Amazon, $617 AUD. I could probably order from the overseas Amazon through one of those international shipping companies and avoid paying that tax on it but it's a lot of hassle. Just noticed there's also a m5-6Y57 which would be more worthwhile, but it's more like $800. Still, at least it would fit in the housing so it is a possibility if I get fed up with the lack of power.

there is also one with the m7 model i think, but perfomance between the m3 and m5 edition where only like in 10% of each other so i didnt think the price jump is worth it

 

[Dmcke5]

there is also one with the m7 model i think, but perfomance between the m3 and m5 edition where only like in 10% of each other so i didnt think the price jump is worth it

You're right, just looked at the specs and that's not much of a jump in performance at all. Could have sworn it was a bigger difference but it had been a little while since I last looked at the data.

 

[Dmcke5]

Another quick update.

Top shoulder buttons are all sorted, still working on the design for the lower ones but think I'll have them figured out soon.

In the process of testing different trigger designs I decided to move the lower trigger contact point a bit lower which meant making a new PCB. I decided to try a different design of copper contact instead of the single straight break between the two halves of the pad I was previously doing. It seems obvious now but this works so much better than the simpler version as the contact pad doesn't have to be perfectly flat to trigger the button. This makes the buttons much more reliable and doesn't require the button to be pushed hard to ensure a flat connection. Just thought I'd share in case anyone else is designing their own pcb contacts.

 

[Dmcke5]

Trigger buttons finally sorted!
Not much left on the list of stuff to complete now!

 

[Noah]

Trigger buttons finally sorted!
Not much left on the list of stuff to complete now!

Damn man, this looks SO good. Honestly any kind of compliment I can give it is such an understatement to how well done it is. The entire project is so amazing from start to finish.

 

[Shank]

Can you leave some sex appeal for the rest of us? You are hogging it all.

 

[printsmith3d]

that trigger design is awesome. Great use of a 3d printed spring mechanism, you're making me rethink my whole trigger design