Quick update + keyboard adapter

Hello all,

I thought I'd write a quick update since there has been a lot of interest since this project was featured on Hackaday.com (http://hackaday.com/2016/05/01/upgrading-a-20-year-old-pda/)

I'm really happy about that, having people showing interest in your work is always a boost :)

Anyway - several people have asked me about making the keyboard adapter available. While everything you need to make one is on Github, I fully appreciate that my design is pretty challenging to put together for people with little or no experience of surface mount soldering.

So I'd like to hear from you - are you interested in getting a pre-built and tested keyboard adapter? The adapter looks like an Arduino Leonardo to your computer, so think of it as a tiny Arduino board with a connector that fits the Psion keyboard. While I'll make sure it works properly before shipping, I won't be able to provide much support or any warranty. This is mainly meant to help a few more people getting their own projects off the ground.

Comment below if you are interested!

Discussions

echicken wrote 03/10/2017 at 23:33

I would buy a couple of these as well, if it saves me from putting them together myself. :D

Are you sure? yes | no

Jason wrote 11/14/2016 at 00:31

Cash ready and waiting :)

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Jason wrote 11/14/2016 at 00:31

Cash ready and waiting :)

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RasmusB wrote 11/14/2016 at 11:46

Soon :)

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henrique112 wrote 10/01/2016 at 13:14

Dude, I love your project. Do you have any updates to it?

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RasmusB wrote 10/03/2016 at 05:12

Thanks :) No news really. My next plan is to build a few keyboard adapters and sell on Tindie, but mainly I haven't had the time to work on this for a while. But it'll happen eventually :)

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rikelliott wrote 07/17/2016 at 11:45

yes, i would definitely be interested in this. I have been trying to come up with a similar project for some time, and seeing your work here has really encouraged me to dust off the old psion 5

incidentally, have you seen this old blog? http://gamesrant.com/psionresurrection/wordpress/ on it he manages to get the psion keyboard working using a standard keyboard controller, and also managed to drive the screen using a gumstix. Its light on detail, but might be a helpful source of ideas

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RasmusB wrote 07/22/2016 at 21:08

Sweet! :) Yep, I have seen that approach. I opted for a more custom solution to make it easier to handle system sleep / restore / power from the original ON/OFF keys on the keyboard.

I'm expecting to sell a few keyboard controllers in the future, so stay tuned :)

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danfreak wrote 06/01/2016 at 17:31

Would love at least two of these!

Was inspired by your Hackaday post, and now have a couple of Psion Series 5 for experimentation. One I want to turn into a keyboard dock for a phone, and the second for a crazy overpowered mini-laptop based around an Intel Compute Stick. Love these keyboards so much! Not had one since the 90s...

Following your screen research with interest as well, and will let you know if I stumble across anything suitable. Worried about the power/space overhead of any of the HDMI/MIPI converters. Thanks so much for sharing!

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Austin Prior wrote 05/16/2016 at 14:16

yes. Me likey. Just found this project because I was considering doing this myself. I'm very glad that someone much cleverer than I has figured most of it out already. It looks very hard indeed

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sharil.abdul.rahman wrote 05/16/2016 at 13:51

*throes money* :D

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zogzog wrote 05/09/2016 at 17:40

yes, may even take two.

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Adam Hammerton wrote 05/07/2016 at 22:58

Definitely interested if the price is right (and probably even if it isn't). Will they come flashed with the bootloader ?

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RasmusB wrote 05/08/2016 at 11:29

Yes. The plan is to use the Arduino Leonardo bootloader since that doesn't require a dedicated reset button. An ISP connection will also be available.

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jstojsav wrote 05/05/2016 at 07:04

yes, I would pick up a few of these for sure!

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Cedric wrote 05/03/2016 at 16:16

yes, take my money!!! :)

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Reverse engineering mechanical parts

Keyboard adapters available!

Discussions

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