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Hardware Mods

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:01 pm
by howie368
I made some mods to my DT368 that let me have an external CF / Microdrive hd and two more USB ports. Here is a short list of what i did so you can do it too. Login to see photos.

Parts list - external battery
                two female usb cables
                44pin ide to CF adapter
                CF type II or microdrive

Tool list - glue gun
              soldering iron
              small and tiny phillips screwdrivers
              dremel or other high speed rotary tool
              electric drill
              exacto / razor knife
              wire strippers
              electrician's tape
              voltmeter or continuity tester

Take apart a dead external battery and remove the circuit board and cells.

Use the rotary tool to make a cf card sized slot on one end of the battery case and 2 usb sized slots on the other end.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:12 pm
by howie368
Then place the ide to cf adapter in the battery case, facing up, and hot glue it in place. Put it in so that a cf card would stick out about 5mm.

Do the same with the female usb cables on the other end. I flattened the lip around the plug so it would fit in the hole then bent it back to keep it from being pushed back in.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:17 pm
by howie368
Use the drill to make two pilot holes on the rear of the dt368 case in between the holes that the external battery's lower tabs go in.

Then use the rotary tool to connect the pilot holes and smooth the slot.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:34 am
by howie368
You can optionally drill two tiny holes in the DT368 back that line up with the holes which hold the battery's metal cover on. Using the screws that were taken out of the battery case in the first step you can secure your modded battery case to the DT.

Now take the 44pin ide cable and use the rotary tool to remove plastic from the cable end that you want plugged into the DT. The back of the cable end should be cardboard thin and the front (where the holes are) should be just a tiny bit larger than the header on the stock flash module. In this step you will grind off the parts of the cable end that hold the front and back together so you should, with as little glue as possible, secure them to each other.

Plug the ide cable into the ide to CF adapter and be sure to match pin 1 with the red stripe.

Cut off the ends of the USB cables leaving as much of the cable attached to the female ends as possible. Now feed all three cables through the slot you cut in the DT's back.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:10 am
by howie368
Now we get to the fun stuff.  :)

While the battery case is not attached and the cables are through the DT case you need to fold the ide cable so that it sits flat inside the battery case and has the correct amount sticking through. To do this you need start by placing the cable end where i have marked with a white arrow. Then fold the cable so that the fold rests just below the heat sink where i have marked with a black arrow. Is o.k. if it touches the heat sink but it must not be on top of it. Now, on the other side bend the cable upwards and make whatever other folds you need to have it rest inside the battery case without changing the length inside.

Make sure the holes on the cable end point towards the motherboard.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:36 am
by howie368
Now attach the battery case to the DT and screw it on if you have drilled the small holes that match the battery case cover plate's holes. 

Take the exacto knife and carefully strip the usb cables of their sheaths so you expose the individual strands. You can leave a little bit of the sheath near the slot but i found it best to strip them all the way.

Move the wires to the left side of the slot and use electricians tape to hold them in place. Make them as flat as possible and tape them down when you find the best path down to the dock connector. I went left from the slot and then down just before the screw hole, spread them out on top of the internal battery compartment, and then around the lower screw hole.

All the way out to the left or right and down won't work imho. The stock usb plug and the power connector both have pretty tight tolerances.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:29 am
by howie368
Remove the dock connector from the motherboard.

There are two ways to accomplish this next step; Run the wires through the hole on the motherboard (hard but keeps the wires out of the way) or just solder them on the dock connector (easy but you have to fuss with the wires to keep them from being pinched)

However you decide to do this here is the pinout of the dock connector and usb cables.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:59 am
by howie368
Use a voltmeter or continuity tester to verify each strand before you solder them on the dock connector and write the wire colors down just in case.

Shorten the wires to a length you feel comfortable with while remembering that you have to cram them inside the case when you are done.

Strip each wire about 2mm and twist the ends. The ground(negative) and positive wires can be grouped together but the data wires must be kept separated.

Solder them on and plug the dock connector in.

Connect the ide cable. Needle nose pliers, forceps or hemostats are a good idea if you have freakishly large hands like me. ;D If your folds are crisp the cable should snug right into place when you set the board into the back of the case.

When tightening the long screws that hold the motherboard in place you should tighten them only until you see the board dip. Too tight and you will get a BIG ugly spot on the screen. As it is you probably will get a little ugly spot from the ide cable and usb wires.

Play around with it, move the wires, shave a few microns more off off the ide cable. You'll get it so that the spot is almost not noticeable.

The outside screws can be tightened all the way except for the one under the internal battery. Too tight on that one and the hardware buttons will be pressed all the time. Best to leave it out or just a little snug.

Good luck everybody.

Howard Phillips

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:18 am
by howie368
To complete my mod I bought a kensington usb micro bluetooth adapter for the stock usb port and a d-link dwl-652 "Extreme N" pcmcia wireless card.

I had to break out the rotary tool and shave off a quite a bit of the d-link's antenna shield to make it fit in the slot though.

Re: Hardware Mods

Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 6:31 am
by NEMO
In Atigo T there are different positive pins assigment in dock connector.
Howie368 thanks for your posts