Dell Touchpad mouse mod / pc interface *Update*

[Warrior_Rocker]

So I had a old busted dell laptop with a touch pad in it, I had heard these things were ps/2 compatable, but I had to find out for myself, this may work itself into a neat mod one day. First I had to figure out the pinouts of the connector on the back of the touchpad. Turns out the company who makes them had some really nice documenation, a 91 page pdf on every touchpad they pretty much made. Including the pinouts, and any other technical info i may want.

First I had to test to see if it would work. I just soldered to the ribbon cable for now, but im going to desolder the connector on the touchpads pcb and make my own interface, just making sure the ps/2 is true.

Pictures:







All of the PDF info can be found at: http://www.synaptics.com/decaf/utilities/ACF126.pdf Starting on page 27 it lists all the info to get it hooked up to ps/2


SO whats next? well remove the connector on the back of the touchpad, solder on my own interface, and redo the buttons.


Any input is appreciated.

[DeLorean5000]

good job dude, ive always wanted to do it... but never got around too it.. I say you should integrate it into somthing... maybe your book bag

[cire9753]

nice man that could be cool on a modded case with a ps1 screen and this mounted

[Warrior_Rocker]

Okay, So I decided to remove that nasty ribbon cable. But doing so was easier said than done. I had some trouble removing the plug on the touchpad pcb that the ribbon wire hooked into, I ended up ripping up several traces 'DOH!, So I had to solder some wires to replace the torn traces. Turns out it is fine though. Good save on soldering skills. I also took the buttons off the ribbon cable, not sure where they will end up or where the whole thing will end up, but its a preliminary mod so..

anyway Pictures:

First I had to solder wires to the back of the touchpad, If you look closely you can see where I had to repair the traces in 3 spots.



Finally got those pesky buttons off the ribbon and prepped for soldering.



Buttons now soldered, and the useless ribbon I now have?



Love to hear anyones input on what I should do with something like this, or any comments on the mod itself.

[CollinstheClown]

Wow, neat idea! I may have to try it someday! Great sodlering skills man, I have that iron and it broke on me. Mount in into your KB!




-CollinstheClown

[Warrior_Rocker]

yea, i wish the touchpad was usb..., I am trying to look at the dell motherboard from that very same laptop in an attempt to figure out if i can interface the keyboard with ps/2 as well. I wouldnt see why not, but I cannot make heads or tails of the dell mobo.

I was thinking about putting it on my keyboard, after all why not (I already have kb ps/2 and usb running to it, why not mouse ps/2) I could place it either where the insert-pagedown keys are, or the dpad. Not sure if I really want to get rid of either, I use the insert pad for winamp, and the dpad... well just for normal dpadding?


I was thinking it coud be neat to use in the car for a carputer, those touchscreens are nice, but sometimes you want a real mouse with right and left click. Or I thought it would be neat to put on the front of a computer with the ps1 lcd mod done to it. Could use it the computer esientially without anything but power connected to it.


Anyone got any great modding ideas to do with a touchpad?


Edit:
My iron is the radioshack butane one, Not sure if thats the one you had, but I have had a pretty good experience with it. I just bought a new tip, as the old one just couldnt cut it any more. Also I love the ability to adjust the intensity on the fly, as well it heats up in no time flat. Portable and no cords to fool with as well. Great for on the job repairs, I do a good bit of that, so its great to throw in my little toolbox. Kinda like my own macgyvers kit.

[r4tch3t]

Putting in the front of a computer with a PS1 screen is a great idea.
Love your mini mods

[CollinstheClown]

Yeah the Radioshack butane, for me, if it lights its only like a lighter flame. It's full of butane, but it just won't come out. I think it's just a clog, but I wanna empty it before I mess with it... As you should know, the butane is VERY cold.

I like r4tch3t's idea, mount it with a PS1 screen and maybe a nano ITX board in a little case. Kind like one of those "Ultra Mobile PCs".




-CollinstheClown

[r4tch3t]

Wasn't actually my idea

Originally Posted by Warrior_Rocker

Or I thought it would be neat to put on the front of a computer with the ps1 lcd mod done to it. Could use it the computer esientially without anything but power connected to it.

Commented that this Idea was great.

[Warrior_Rocker]

The one thing I have noticed on my iron is that over the time I have owned it is that you have to slide the adjust more to get the butane to come out, I am sure there is some sort of little internal adjustment, Maybe this is similar to your issue where the soldering tip is just not getting enough butane to do anything with?

An easy way to drain it is just to turn it on and leave it in a well ventilated spot outside, it will evaporate into the atmospehere and should not be a problem at all, then get a pipe cleaner in there and show it you mean buisness!.

*back on topic*
I had thought about something like that, I have a Shuttle SV24 mainboard which is very close to mini-itx it is just a little longer. I am having the capacitor problem with it, I replaced a few a year or so back and fixed the board, but a few more went bad and I tried to replace them and it wont post. I need replacement caps to get that to work again. Couple that with a pico psu or the likes and it can quickly become a real neat 12v based computer, the board is fairly low power, and offers firewire and tv outs.

If I can get the old shuttle board to work I will look into something like that, good idea.

[CollinstheClown]

Well, I just tinkered with it... (I have the torch tip on, lost my solder tip)

Clicky.


Oh, sorry... did see that.
It would make a really freaking cool mod! You should look into fixing that board.




-CollinstheClown

[Warrior_Rocker]

That is nuts, I am not sure how to even get mine to do something like that. Any possiblity its the wrong kind of fuel in your iron? looks more like the fluid from a ligher than butane?

[CollinstheClown]

Yeah its the right fuel...


It's broke, that's why your iron won't do it. I'm going to buy a new one. I liked it alot when it worked. Also, from what I can see you can get pretty precise with it.




-CollinstheClown

[bubsterboo]

I love buttane soldering irons! Got one of these not that long ago.
http://www.leevalley.com/gifts/page....&cat=4,54&ap=7

[antiHero]

First off nice job. One question. In the pdf on page 28 is shown to use 2 10k resistors. Did you use them or are they on the touchpad? I got one from an old compaq laptop and would like to try that too.
Thanks

[Warrior_Rocker]

Wow good find. I had scrolled through the pdf so fast just to find if it had the pinouts of my touchpad I missed that entirely. No I did not use the 10K resistors at all to interface with my touchpad. I am not sure the laptop I had ripped it out of did either. Looks like for some reason it is to pull up the signals a little bit but I certainly had no issues with getting mine to work. I just plugged it right into my IBM Thinkpad and it worked like a charm. Though I am sure if yours did not work with straightup ps/2 you could add the resistors and see. In that configuration I just do not see how not having the resistors could damage anything.

[antiHero]

Where did you find the pinout for your touchpad? Mine uses the 8 pin connector but i cant figure out which pin is 1 and which is 8. The damn colorcode looks like a rainbow!

No. TM41PUK134-2

Thanks

[Warrior_Rocker]

Okay so if yours has the 8 pin connector IIRC the pinouts for that are:
+5v / Data / Clock / Right / Left / Ground / nc / nc

The way I figured out which pin was witch on mine was to figure that all the empty space on the back of the panel is the ground as well as the interference shield. So I broke out my trusty multimeter and set it for resistance touching one lead to a spot I scratched away the solder shield on to bare the copper and I tested each pin until my volt meter regsitered 0 indicating it was a loop with no resistance.

Though one of the other really good indicators for mine was that the ground pin was connected directly to the large green areas for the ground. Also the +5v input had a thicker trace coming off of it than the other pins and had a resistor inline with it most likely to step the voltage down a bit for the touch pad.

Hope that helps. I wish I had some high res pictures of mine so I could better explain what I mean. But maybe you will get the idea.

[antiHero]

Yeah that help a bit. I had a closer look on the second pcb where the buttons are and found the trayces from the touchpad to the second pcb are numbered.
So the colorcode is:
1 - Black
2 - Brown
3 - Red
4 - Orange
5 - Yellow
6 - Green
7 - Blue
8 - Purple
Now i have to find my soldering iron and on with the fun!

[ahmad-al3omar]

dear
i need your help to know how to interface this touchpad with serial adapter
thanx alot