I made a Raspberry PI Laptop

This is my setup. As clean as i could make it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPGt2EmQ ... e=youtu.be
The converter is made from plexiglass and the switch is cutting the CEC/DDC ground pin
so no power consumption when it's off. I am waiting for the supercap to install it in the converter.

Very nice you should sale the setup I wouldn't want the on/off switch just basic 2 cables and the HDMI.

Very nice. Build one for the rest of us?

I can provide any information you want but i can't start selling those converters.
Selling cost vs hours spent making one is an uneven battle.
You can take PVC of 1mm , scratch it and fold it, buy one of those converters (http://www.ebay.com/itm/180929866847?ss ... 1439.l2649) , desolder the hdmi, solder new wires and install everything in the PVC case.
If anyone can provide information about the supercap a member from here used i would appreciate it.

I have everything working except the sound. Anyone care to help? Thanks in advance

Nice work @Jimakos!

I have everything working except the sound. Anyone care to help? Thanks in advance

Uncomment:

Code: Select all

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

hdmi_drive=2

If that doesn't fix it try:

To get sound out the HDMI

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe snd_bcm2835
sudo amixer cset numid=3 0

Thanks for the reply.I tried what you said but it didn't work.The only thing I can conclude is sound isn't going through my cable .

Fixed it
Had to uncomment the line in config.txt by hand.Now it works! Thanks for the assist Malakai

Just got delivery of the English/Hebrew version of the dock. Only problem is that it is in the US still awaiting forwarding. Can't wait to join the ranks here.

Has anyone created a wiki on this? Can't seem to find one at eLinux.

Just got delivery of the English/Hebrew version of the dock ...

Did you get your dock from Ben's Outlet?
http://bensoutlet.com/products/lapdock-hebrew
How long do you think it will take to get it?
The wiki would be a good idea.
I would like to know what image/OS folks are using. Do you already have yours?
.

Just got delivery of the English/Hebrew version of the dock. Only problem is that it is in the US still awaiting forwarding. Can't wait to join the ranks here.

Has anyone created a wiki on this? Can't seem to find one at eLinux.

There are two: I added one in the RasPi/Screens page under "HDMI", as it seemed to be the most likely place people would find it: http://elinux.org/RPi_Screens#Motorola_Atrix_Lapdock

There's also a "Motorola Lapdock" page, but you have to search for it. It's not RasPi-specific, and currently just lists some cable links: http://elinux.org/Motorola_Lapdock

L'chaim!

where is volume control? on dock Fn + speaker(+-) seems not function?

USB wire color codes in case someone might need it.

USB wire color codes in case someone might need it.

Nice thinking, Chris. Thanks! This reminded me of something about which I've been meaning to ask.

Question: I've only really heard anyone talk about red, green, white, and black wires. What is the yellow wire all about and is there anything we can do with it for this project?

I would add the yellow wire is often found in gaming devices and is usually power not data on things like Xbox controllers, I used this wire in my Xbox to make a remote switch to turn on my Xbox by rewiring the 4th port in my Xbox and rerouted it to the power switch.
This also meant that the light gun did not work on this port.

Did you get your dock from Ben's Outlet?
...
How long do you think it will take to get it?

I did get it from Ben's outlet. There were two versions there but the Hebrew one was cheaper. Delivery to the US address was pretty quick actually. 5 days with the weekend in there. The forwarding may take a while though. Using a very cheap option. Hopefully 14 days but in the past, it has taken longer. At least it'll give me time to get the other bits of cable and connectors.

also, thanks to johnbeetem for the links.

Hey,

I'm on my way copying this great idea, but I've some trouble with the keyboard. I've built myself a nice y-cable for powering and keyboard as described in various places around here. Power works fine and I get a screen over HDMI. However, I can not get my Pi to react on any keyboard input.

I opened the lapdock and checked the connectivity between the 30-pin connector inside and my custom usb-a end and that seems to be fine. Pin 23 goes to D+ and pin 22 to D-, both showing 0.6 ohm.

I did not dare to check voltage or current on the board or the dock, since I've never worked with electronics before. What's the things that you'd check next? Either on the software or the electronics side? I thought about asking the guys at work to use an oscilloscope to monitor the output on the data lines, when a key is pressed to make sure the lapdock is working properly (and just because I always wanted to use one of those for something non-educational), but then I've already bothered them a lot...

Any other suggestions? Maybe someone with a similar problem...

Looking forward to hearing back from you guys...

I do not bother with using a 'Y' cable on mine. The newer Rev 2 boards without polyfuses on the main USB ports work fine back-powered from their main USB ports. Older ones with the polyfuses work back-powered if you either bridge the polyfuses or do the PiPass mod (which connects the 0V and 5V pins on the micro USB to those on the main USB ports). As well as being less effort, this looks tidier as you have less plugged into the Pi..

I have run into a problem when trying to back power the rpi from the dock. I get low voltage between tp1 and tp2. Down around 4.1v. I run into the typical problems of low voltage like repeating keys. When I power the rpi from a PSU, the voltages come up to 4.8 or so and things work fine. There is nothing on the rpi usb buss except the connection to the dock. I am wondering if my usb cable is giving me heartburn. It is a 12" male A to male A. I have an adapter to convert from the dock to the male A.

I have run into a problem when trying to back power the rpi from the dock. I get low voltage between tp1 and tp2. Down around 4.1v. I run into the typical problems of low voltage like repeating keys. When I power the rpi from a PSU, the voltages come up to 4.8 or so and things work fine. There is nothing on the rpi usb buss except the connection to the dock. I am wondering if my usb cable is giving me heartburn. It is a 12" male A to male A. I have an adapter to convert from the dock to the male A.

Sounds like you might have a lot of loss at one of the connectors. The adapter increases the voltage loss also. I was able run at 4.25V (TP1/TP2) just fine. The voltages do read a little low when back-powering.

I have run into a problem when trying to back power the rpi from the dock. I get low voltage between tp1 and tp2. Down around 4.1v. I run into the typical problems of low voltage like repeating keys. When I power the rpi from a PSU, the voltages come up to 4.8 or so and things work fine. There is nothing on the rpi usb buss except the connection to the dock. I am wondering if my usb cable is giving me heartburn. It is a 12" male A to male A. I have an adapter to convert from the dock to the male A.

Do you have a rev 1 or rev 2 RasPi? The original rev 1 RasPi USB A ports have 140 mA polyfuses F1+F2 which have a large voltage drop at 500 mA. Normally they'd prevent back-powering from working at all, but at best they'd give you a large voltage drop. I replaced my F1+F2 with 1A single-blow fuses, with a 50 mV drop when back-powering. Later rev 1 RasPis replaced F1+F2 with 0 Ohm jumpers and rev 2 RasPis don't have F1+F2 at all, so in these cases F1+F2 are not your problem.

My Lapdock has 5.02V at its USB A ports. TP1-TP2 is 4.91V -- this is after the 50 mV drop across the 1A fuse which means I'm getting a 60 mV drop over my USB cable and adapter. My cable is a 25 cm A female to micro B female suggested by Drew Fustini's element 14 'blog entry (link) and available from eBay (link). I have a short generic A male to A male adapter at the RasPi end.

Hey,

I'm on my way copying this great idea, but I've some trouble with the keyboard. I've built myself a nice y-cable for powering and keyboard as described in various places around here. Power works fine and I get a screen over HDMI. However, I can not get my Pi to react on any keyboard input.

I opened the lapdock and checked the connectivity between the 30-pin connector inside and my custom usb-a end and that seems to be fine. Pin 23 goes to D+ and pin 22 to D-, both showing 0.6 ohm.

I did not dare to check voltage or current on the board or the dock, since I've never worked with electronics before. What's the things that you'd check next? Either on the software or the electronics side? I thought about asking the guys at work to use an oscilloscope to monitor the output on the data lines, when a key is pressed to make sure the lapdock is working properly (and just because I always wanted to use one of those for something non-educational), but then I've already bothered them a lot...

Any other suggestions? Maybe someone with a similar problem...

Looking forward to hearing back from you guys...

Like itimpi, I don't use a Y connector -- I just have a short A female to Micro B female, plus an A male to A male adapter, as described in the previous comment. With the Y connector, it's very important that the Vbus only goes to the RasPi power input and that you don't swap the data lines, as that would make USB sad.

Do you see anything about USB devices when the OS boots? I'm still running Debian "Wheezy", and I see a few pages of diagnostics flash by, but there are some references to Lapdock's keyboard and trackpad as generic keyboard/mouse devices. If you don't see anything like this, there could be something wrong with your cable.

Another test is to plug in a standard USB keyboard in the unused RasPi A port. If this keyboard doesn't work, there could be a general RasPi USB problem, such as insufficient TP1-TP2 voltage. If the keyboard does work, time to fix the cable or replace it with something with a better success rate.

Okay, thanks for the suggestions. I won't be able to check anything before Monday, but now I have at least a few things to try. Backpowering is not an option for me, since I have one of the older boards. At least not at this point in time, with some of the other options still present.

What do I need to do to power the Pi from something other than the dock? I think I still might have to do something with the Vbus of the the micro-usb on the dock or can I just leave it disconnected?

Okay, thanks for the suggestions. I won't be able to check anything before Monday, but now I have at least a few things to try. Backpowering is not an option for me, since I have one of the older boards. At least not at this point in time, with some of the other options still present.

What do I need to do to power the Pi from something other than the dock? I think I still might have to do something with the Vbus of the the micro-usb on the dock or can I just leave it disconnected?

If you don't want to back-power RasPi, another approach is to use two USB cables as described in this 'blog (link). The cable+adapter from the Lapdock Micro USB plug to a RasPi A port has its Vbus wire cut somewhere to prevent back-powering. A second USB cable connects from a Lapdock USB A port to RasPi's Micro USB power jack. This is a lot clunkier than back-powering, and you have to be sure the second USB cable doesn't have a large voltage drop due to extra-thin wires. However, you do get the protection of polyfuse F3 and you don't void your RasPi warranty by modifying it.