Netbook To Chartplotter Project

IQ Pro VFO, R2 Pro and LNA/Filter Board Set

2011-11-10T20:05:00.000-06:00

IQ VFO tested and calibrated R2 Pro assembled and tested LNA Filter Board set partially assembled, BPF boards and all toroid cores

Conversion Details and Final Specs

2010-08-20T09:35:00.004-05:00

The base unit is an Acer one AO531h netbook with WWAN modem and the 6 cell extended battery. This is the same unit sold with a data contract at AT&T although this particular unit was a refurb that most likely only had a bad webcam which is why they were returned to AT&T and Acer. So the basic specs are the same except for a few subtractions and additions. Items Removed: 1. Webcam assembly 2.

Netbook To Chartplotter V 1.0

2010-08-19T14:02:00.001-05:00

First a few pictures then I'll go into the final details They don't make a touchscreen kit for this particular Acer One model (AO531h) and it is so slim there was really no place to put the touchscreen controller. Since the keyboard was essentially worthless now with the screen flipped like a Tablet PC I removed it and put the touchscreen controller in there. I got a 3-in-1 screen protector

MAJOR UPDATES COMING SOON

2010-08-10T16:25:00.000-05:00

Both projects have been completed since late June, I've just been too busy with other projects and trying to enjoy the summer (despite the record levels of rainfall and heat) to gather everything together and do an update. But since all this rain has kept me off the river lately I've had a chance to catch up and get my home improvement projects done. Here's a couple of quick pictures of the

Update To Livewell Timer Circuit

2010-04-26T09:20:00.002-05:00

A slight update to the livewell timer circuit. I changed the value and way I switched the On Time resistors. The other way it was 32 and 64 seconds, this way it will be 30 and 60 seconds. I couldn't split 150K because they don't make a 75K resistor and it didn't dawn on me until this morning to just put another 150K in parallel to get my 75K ohms. I also moved the motor on indicator LED so it

Livewell Timer Circuit - Simple Recycle Timer

2010-04-26T02:55:00.001-05:00

I updated my livewell timer design originally made in 2004 for my previous boat. I have yet to find another livewell timer circuit on the internet so I figured I'd put mine up on the blog. All the parts should be available at any Radio Shack. The circuit features a manual fill override, 30 or 60 second switched On Time and 1-8 Minutes infinitely variable Off Time. The 555 timer must be a CMOS low

Touchscreen Controller Problems But Back In Business Now

2010-04-04T03:56:00.001-05:00

Sorry about no posts lately. The controller board for my touchscreen kit was bad and I had to spend several days trying to get a warranty replacement. Actually I damaged the controller board by hooking it up to 5V instead of the 3.3V that's at the camera port. For most of the kits for computers other than Acer Ones they grab 5V from a USB port but the internal ports (Camera, Bluetooth) on the

Another Teaser Shot ... And My Next Project

2010-03-15T00:10:00.001-05:00

I haven't done much on the project in the last week, I bought a used boat and motor on the 5th and brought it home Monday. But here is a shot of the LCD screen assembly with all the wiring run and ready to install and test. I just need to hardwire the touchscreen controller as soon as I finish this post. And now my next project, gotta have something new to put this Netbook to Chartplotter

Teaser Shot Of Bezel Mod

2010-03-03T00:16:00.001-06:00

Just about finished, I had to make some minor adjustments on the plunger height of the switches with a file but all I have left is the wiring to the switches and LED. Just a quickie

More Progress On the Bezel Mods

2010-03-01T00:27:00.000-06:00

Things are really starting to come together now. I'll start out with a shot of the switch array ready for wiring. The way the LED is mounted may seem strange but the last thing I want when I'm out navigating the Mississippi River at night is an LED shining directly in my face. So it's mounted sideways which will give it a nice glow without being in your face. I just want something to indicate

More Pics Of Bezel Mod

2010-02-25T13:08:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned earlier I am adding 4 switches to the bezel, Power, WWAN, WLAN, and Bluetooth. The first picture is the two outside switches, as you can see I had to glue on some shims to level the board. The middle 2 switches go where the camera used to be and already have a little platform molded in. Nothing fancy here, just thin PCB material with pads cut with a dremel Here they are in place

Modifying The Screen and Bezel

2010-02-21T15:11:00.000-06:00

Here are a few progress pictures. The first shows the before and after views of the back of the LCD and the wiring harness The original Here is the modified LCD and wiring I undid the shielding around the LCD wiring and pulled back the wiring for the digital mic and the webcam. The webcam wiring will eventually go to a stripped down wireless mouse USB dongle so I can use A1ctl to turn it

Preliminary Teardown And Planning

2010-02-20T00:46:00.000-06:00

Well after week and a half fighting software trying to get my new motherboard, processor and video working with Windows and even worse getting a 64 bit Linux Studio back up and running I've finally gotten into the hardware part of this project. The good news is the hinges and screen case are symmetrical and all you have to do is unbolt them at the hinge and swap them and it folds down perfectly

Catastrophe Strikes .... and a Fishing Database

2010-01-30T00:28:00.002-06:00

Catastrophe strikes, my main computer's motherboard gave up the ghost and died. Well actually not the entire motherboard but the CPU socket is toast. The top (plastic of course) stud where you clip the heatsink two broke loose and when the fan and heatsink fell the suction created by the thermal paste pulled the CPU out bending some pins and apparently damaged the AM2 socket as a new CPU I had

More Custom Fishing Maps

2010-01-20T01:22:00.002-06:00

Now I'm going to talk about my favorite source for maps, unfortunately it's only for the state of Iowa. Check your state government website to see if they have a similar thing. Since this was created mainly for agriculture use I'd bet most states with a lot of agriculture will have something like this. Modern farming uses GPS and mapping more and more to keep track of things like crop rotation,

Custom GPS Enabled Fishing Maps

2010-01-19T12:01:00.005-06:00

I've spent the last couple of days moving all my map and depth data over from my old laptop to my new netbook. I also sat down and finally worked out a way to make layered maps from GeoTIFF's and retain the EXIF geodata so they can be autocalibrated in my mapping programs. The first set of maps are hydrographic maps made by the US Army Corps of Engineers. You can find them here. The particular

I SUPPORT GOOGLE'S CHINA DECISION

2010-01-14T09:37:00.002-06:00

I urge every other blogger on Blogspot to make a statement supporting Google's decision to stop playing footsie with the Chinese Communists who refuse to play by Internet Free Speech Rules.FREE SPEECH FOREVER!!!!

Odds and Ends - And A Progress Report

2010-01-13T22:30:00.006-06:00

I noticed a little anomaly in the sending the GPS Enable DOS window to the tray using the TrayIt application. If you set it to send the DOS window to the tray then it will do this every time you open a DOS window. You can bring it back simply by clicking on the icon in the tray. To me this isn't a real big deal because I don't use it all that often, mainly when I'm setting up and tweaking a

Comments Now Working

2010-01-08T18:54:00.002-06:00

For some reason the comments weren't working properly but I've got them working again.Sorry for any inconvenience and please post any questions or comments you may have.

Finishing Touches On GPS Enable

2010-01-01T23:56:00.007-06:00

Between storms and Holidays and a slight glitch in my GPS setup (More on that later) I've been a little too busy to post the finishing touches on the GPS enable hack. Although the next step isn't necessary to make the GPS work it does lend a professional touch.First thing we need to do is go to http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm and download the TrayIt! utility and install it as instructed

Enabling GPS On The UNDP-1 Gobi 1000 Module

2009-12-22T21:58:00.007-06:00

Sorry about the delay, the Holidays and an impending ice storm are slowing me down but here is a step by step tutorial on enabling the GPS on the UNDP-1 Gobi 1000 module. This will be Acer One specific but the steps should be essentially the same for any brand/model that uses the Gobi 1000 module but doesn't have the GPS enabled by the OEM. I didn't write any of the software being used, it's all

The UNDP-1 Gobi 1000 Part III

2009-12-19T18:00:00.012-06:00

I'm going to start this entry with a run down of the IC's used in the UNDP-1 Gobi 1000 module. They managed to cram an amazing amount of power and circuitry in a small package, 20 years ago a device with this power (if it could even be done) would probably be bigger than the average netbook or even a notebook. Starting from the antenna inputs (top) down:Top middle - CXM3519 - antenna switchThe

The UNDP-1 Gobi 1000 Part II

2009-12-19T05:54:00.012-06:00

I'll start out this post with a list of OEMs/manufacturers that are using UNDP-1 module (Sierra Wireless may be making their own module, it's sold OEM only so there is no information on the Sierra website about it) Acer HS-USB 9212 Dell Dell wireless

The Qualcomm UNDP-1 Gobi 1000 WWAN

2009-12-17T19:52:00.013-06:00

It's hard to even figure out where to begin, there is a lot of ground to cover here and a fair amount of misinformation and misunderstanding about the Qualcomm UNDP-1 (Universal Notebook Data Platform) Gobi 1000 OEM WWAN card. For starters Qualcomm isn't a device manufacturer, they aren't even a chip manufacturer. They are a group of Design Engineers who are very bright and very innovative.

Misadventures In Linux

2009-12-16T17:39:00.006-06:00

After hearing about and seeing screenshots of Unbuntu's Netbook Remix I really wanted to give it a try. So I made a bootable thumbdrive with UNetbootin ( http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ ) Set the BIOS in the Acer One to boot from the thumbdrive and proceeded to install. Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) is a very lean edition of Unbuntu with a User Interface that's designed for netbooks. Nice big