View the updated project log on my personal site, XodusTech.com So I said to myself "Self: wouldn't it be simply grand if your toshiba portege had an internal wireless card, yanno that one collecting dust with no home in your spare parts drawer". After a long conversation about it I finally gave myself the go ahead. Used in this project is a Linksys Wireless-B WUSB11v4 USB card. There is nothing fancy or frilly about the device and decided that since the laptop was USB 1.1 in nature that it wouldnt make huge a difference to go with a G based card. The trick was that the laptop had only 1 physical USB port on the actual body. The dock of course has two. That got me thinking that the laptop itself might actually have two usb ports with only one physically wired. So after a few minutes of probing around with my super fancy $5.99 voltmeter I located what appeared to be the data lines on the dock connector of the toshiba. The ground and the +5v could be located anywhere else. After running an intial test to make sure that using the 2nd port while the laptop was not docked would work I was good to go. Although in all of the pictures the Mod itself is actually completed (I got too excited to take pictures) However it will be more clear perhaps what exactly it is I have done. Anyway on to the pictures: The laptop itself, looking almost innocent. Not knowing the madness. Keyboard removed, and then LCD assembly + palm rest removed to expose the motherboard. The first struggle was soldering to the pins of the dock connector. Although a fairly easy task, care had to be taken to not get solder anywhere else. For the +5v I drew power directly from the power regulation circuitry meant to drive the entire docking station. I have not had any problems with this thus far, so it seems like a good choice. Also another issue of course would be where to mount the card itself. I found the best location where what I can tell was a device called a modem. Although I have never actually seen a .... modem... in real life or used one I can only imagine it must have been for some archaic form of telecommunications </ultimate sarcasm> But more importantly I would never end up using the modem so I removed it to give space for my new wifi card The modem itself removed from the motherobard. And then me soldering on my new usb wires (note I used the standard usb colors) and desoldering the silly USB-B jack on the card to make it as small and thin as possible. The card now mounted to the underside of the motherboard. And then covered with some tape to prevent shorting out. So whats next? Well now I have to find some way to mount the antenna in the LCD assembly. And finish up the installation of the LCD (another project entirely). Thanks for taking a look.
The soldering king is at it again! My only thought is wondering where the body of the USB card will go? Maybe, just maybe, route the USB through the chassis to the PCMCIA slot and place the card in there? Then run the antenna wire into the LCD assembly? My old Protege 3110CT only had once PCMCIA slot, so putting the card in there may be difficult. Also you may have a external CD ROM that needs that slot (like I did) so it may be out of the question. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Actually, I must not have shown it well enough. The card itself is mounted where the old modem board used to be mounted. The antenna I am planning on running through the side of the LCD assembly. Though the problem is the LCD back plate is made of metal so it shields the signal making the whole thing useless. I may end up mounting the antenna on the side of the lcd. As it is a flat and thin PCB type of antenna it may glue well to the side. I will try to get some pictures of that when I have a chance.
Oh I see it now. Sorry I just sort of skimmed the text. Yeah if you've got a good spot for it, it seems that you've got this whole thing figured out. Just make a little antenna wire and route it up through the screen housing.
wow.. cool, thats a new one, adding usb hardware into a laptop, your icon should say "my other hand is a soldering iron" lol
