How can I fix my old Asus VX7?
How can I fix my old Asus VX7?
The old Asus VX7 Lamborghini is still a lovely designed Laptop - even though it is not really a "laptop" due to its size and weight. However, besides the design, the VX7 has a real crisp monitor which can still compete with the modern hardware. For a few years, I've been thinking on how to modernize this beautiful old laptop since there is no easy upgrade. There are no modern laptop motherboards that will interface with the old hardware. I was stuck until I found this article: https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Mak...ontroller/ If I manage to convert this old laptop into a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse), I'd be half way there: The most important step was actually quite easy, I found a video controller board (B156HW01 v.5) for under €30 online. Thus, I was able to run the monitor with any kind of graphic input. Next was the keyboard: in the article mentioned above, they rely heavily on the Teensy LC board, which can't be found anymore. The newer Teensy 4 boards are too pricey. I manged to find a Teensy 2.0 board, for which there is no support in the above article. I will make a separate post on the keyboard and how to get it to work as a USB keyboard soon. The touchpad of the VX7 is very complicated since it is combined with the four status LEDs. But since it isn't supporting multitouch, I ordered an inexpensive external USB multitouch touchpad. I will have to figure out on how to replace the original with this one. Finally, the webcam and the SD-card reader are already USB, I will just have to figure out the wiring. I have an old 4 port USB 2 hub which I intend to use to combine keyboard, keypad, webcam and SD-card reader. If I get to this stage, I will have all the hardware useable for a modern single board computer. To assemble it into the old shell, I will have to Dremel cut all the internals plus the sides with the connectors from the housing. To reassemble the laptop, I want to 3D print new parts to integrate the new boards inside the housing and adapt the sides for the new ports. Even if this sound quite easy, it will be a lengthy and quite complex process which will take me months since I have lots of other things to worry about. Finally, there is the big question of which single board computer to choose: I kind of like the idea to get a LattePanda Sigma, which has for €575 a real good computing power: 13th gen Intel Core i5-1340P, 16 GB LPDDR5- 6400 RAM, 2 x 2.5 GB Ethernet, 4 x M.2 key, HDMI 2.1, 2 x thunderbolt 4, 2 x USB 3.2 gen 2 and 2 x USB 2. I could run Ubuntu and W11 in dual boot without any worries. Thus, for some DIY and under €700 I would have a kind of brand-new laptop. What do you think? Which single board computer would you suggest? And finally, do you want me to share the experience? Kindly BeePee
That gadget is super cheesy! In my opinion, just take out the big power battery, squeeze the tiny memory chip (CMOS), and store it in a secure box until you're ready to sell it as a cool item for later.
I get what you're trying to say, but what should I do with this old laptop sitting there waiting to become something valuable? It just takes up space and gathers dust. For me, it is way better to give it a new life and a new purpose. The LattePanda Sigma has arrived, and I am going to try to change the whole thing while keeping the original outside parts with very few changes. The "brain" will go somewhere in the middle so I bought some extension cables for USB 2 and 3 (type A), Thunderbolt 4 (USB type C), and more to get those connections to the side of the laptop. It was really hard to find short male-to-female cables since most cables are just male-to-male... On the left side, there are two USB Type A ports plus a DVD drive. Good luck: the DVD is SATA and the LattePanda Sigma has one SATA port. I want to connect the two Type A ports on the left with the two USB 3.2 ports of the Sigma. On the front left is the SD-card reader. I would like to replace it with a micro-SD card reader plus next to it one Thunderbolt 4 port. They should fit in the original slot. On the right side, there are headset and microphone ports which I will reuse, two USB Type A ports which will become USB 2.0 ports, HDMI port, VGA port, Ethernet port, and power-in port. The Ethernet and power-in ports will be reused, while the VGA port will become the second Thunderbolt 4 port. The LattePanda Sigma has a 40-pin eDP plug. I'm trying to find a cable that would fit. If so, I could connect the monitor directly to the board without needing a display controller board. This would free up lots of space inside the laptop and also the HDMI port which I want to extend to the right side too. The keyboard stays the same but will be converted to USB. The main change will be the touchpad. The original never felt right. I bought an external USB multitouch touchpad that I took apart. I'll try to use some of the visible parts, sensors, electronics, and buttons from both old and new ones. As of today, I haven't done any permanent cutting—I'll do that only when I am 100% sure everything will work. Attached are a few pictures showing what I've done so far.
If you poke holes in the shell, it's not going to be a treasure hunt. Even if you find something, nobody else can take it or use it. It'll just be a weird souvenir for your own collection only.
Here are some tips on how to make your keyboard work with USB: First, take this guide from an instructables post and share what you think. Step 1: Your old VX7 keyboard needs a cable that has 24 pins in a very small space called FPC. Step 2: You don't need to change anything else. Steps three through seven: I had to try something new because the expensive new Teensy boards were too hard to buy and the cheap ones didn't fit well. So I bought a cheaper adapter for €5.48 that connects two different types of cables, which is perfect for my cable. The adapter has a small connection on the back side that fits right into mine. Next, I took an old IDE cable I had in my toolbox and used it to pull out 24 tiny wires. Then I glued those wires onto the new adapter one by one starting with pins B0 all the way up to D4. Step eight: I used a program called Arduino 2.11 which worked really well for me. I changed an old code file by replacing some lines and saving it as Matrix_Decoder_2.ino: I added a list of numbers that tell the computer where each wire is on your adapter, plus I set the total number of pins to 24. Step nine: Before testing my whole setup, I did a quick check. I opened a blank text page and plugged in the Teensy directly from the PC USB port without using the keyboard yet. After waiting twenty seconds, I used a small piece of wire to stretch two spots on the board apart at first, then moved through all 24 spots making sure that what showed up on my screen matched exactly with which spots I stretched out. This way I made sure my wiring was correct according to the plan in Step eight. Then I unplugged the Teensy and went back to working step nine. Steps ten and eleven: Everything worked great for me right after I finished all this. One small note though: My old keyboard is German, so it has one extra key compared to a standard US keyboard. When typing on my new setup, I typed each button as if it was the normal American layout, which helps keep things simple. Steps twelve and thirteen here is the final list of numbers that shows where every wire goes for your adapter: 1=B0, 2=F0, 3=B1, 4=F1, 5=B2, 6=F4, 7=B3, 8=F5, 9=B7, 10=F6, 11=D0, 12=F7, 13=D1, 14=B6, 15=D2, 16=B5, 17=D3, 18=B4, 19=C6, 20=D7, 21=C7, 22=E6, 23=D5, 24=D4. Step fourteen: This extra check in Step nine confirmed that my translation list is exactly right for the plan in steps three through seven. Step fifteen: For the final code, I used an old Teensy example called Sony_PCGK25_Keyboard_pp2p0.ino to start building a new version called VX7_Keyboard_2.ino specifically for the Teensy 2.0. The only thing left is that I haven't figured out how to use that extra key on my German keyboard yet, so that part of the code still isn't ready to go.