1750 GRiDcase conversion

[septic]

Lift & shift of my thread from the old forum re 1750 GRiDcase prop.

20210118_140547.jpg

20210118_182129.jpg

Video of the Sentry "program" running - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udB3gFeWgYY

Popped the screen housing open, removed those innards and replaced with a wee 9” android tablet - big thanks to Terran / others on the forums for the tablet idea!

I have attempted to keep the internals untouched, so that the removed screen could be put back, and the laptop returned to its original [non-working] state, but now thinking that’s kinda wasted effort, so now plan to drill out the serial port, and epoxy the usb power cable into the port housing.

Spent quite some time trying to work out just how to remotely control the tablet. Tried a few android-to-android remote apps, and PC-to-android programs as well, but nothing useful, so decided on wireless mouse. As the tablet only had one usb port, I hunted about for OTC / USB splitter cables, probably buying 8 or so from AliExpress etc, which have all taken mooooonths to arrive.
Eight cables as for the 1st order, the power pins didn’t seem to work (although external keyboard, etc all worked fine. I assumed they were faulty cables. 2nd order, same thing. If only I'd had a multimeter!
In fact, none of the cables I purchased allowed my to use a mouse AND charge the tablet … guessing it’s some form of OTC limitation with my cheapie tablet.

Ended up digging out a dongleless BT travel mouse I was given as a leaving gift from my last work, (never used it as it’s too small for my hand). BAM! Sorted. I've emptied out the battery compartment too, and this is where the mouse is stored for transport.