Open Source Laptop

LAE Part 2

Design Phase – Lid Assembly Electronics Part 2 Welcome back to the Open Source Laptop Project series! So far, we’ve discussed the functionality and component selection of the lid assembly electronics, we’ve taken a closer look at the schematic capture, and we’ve prepared the project for the PCB layout design. In this update, we’ll tackle the PCB design of the webcam board with some expected challenges ahead; e.g., dealing with the overall small form factor of the board or breaking out the Read Article

Lid Mechanics Part 3

Design Phase – Lid Assembly Mechanics Part 3 Welcome to the third part of the open-source laptop lid assembly design! In the last installment, we looked at one possible way to integrate the webcam module and all the connected sensors into the bezel of the laptop lid. We have identified several challenges with the approach presented in the previous article. The additional assembly and manufacturing complexity associated with using a flexible PCB led us to another option using only a rigid Read Article

Design Phase - Lid Assembly Mechanics part 2

Design Phase – Lid Assembly Mechanics Part 2 Welcome to part two of the open-source laptop lid assembly design! In the last installment, we took a closer look at the basic design concept of the laptop lid and how we can integrate various sensors into the display screen. We will follow down this same path, exploring two ways to integrate the sensor PCB above the display panel. This will have a direct impact on the remaining mechanical design of the lid, so let's see how we can approach this Read Article

Open source laptop part six

Design Phase – Lid Assembly Mechanics Part 1 Welcome back to the open-source laptop project! In this update we are going to delve into the mechanical design of the laptop lid. Previously, we've explored which display panels are available and which would be the best fit for our application. Our search was successful as was the testing of the panel! Now the hard part begins: fitting everything into a system that is not only robust and functional, but also looks good. While the title of this Read Article

laptop part 2

Concept Phase – Initial CAD Design This installment of the open source laptop project development log will walk you through the early concept and brainstorming phase. The first step is to collect the ideas and requirements for the end device and condense them as best as possible into a simplified draft. It is not important in this stage to pay too much attention to the technical details—it is about laying a foundation i.e. creating a framework that can be subdivided and refined in Read Article

Inspire and Educate through Open-Source Hardware Products

Inspire and Educate through Open-Source Hardware Products Lukas Henkel will share with us what made him interested in designing electronics, some details about the development of his Open-source laptop project, and will even give us a sneak peek of the actual design development on Altium Designer. Read Article

Open Source Projects Overview: Laptop and Raspberry Pi CM4 Module

Open Source Projects Overview: Laptop and Raspberry Pi CM4 Module In this episode of the Altium OnTrack podcast, host Zach Peterson sits down with Lukas Henkel from Open Visions Technology to explore two groundbreaking open-source projects: an open-source laptop and an alternative to the Raspberry Pi CM4 module. Discover the latest advancements in OPEN SOURCE hardware and learn how these innovative projects are pushing the boundaries of DIY computing. Listen to the Episode: Watch the Episode: Episode Highlights Read Article

LAE Part 1

Design Phase – Lid Assembly Electronics Part 1 Welcome back to the open-source laptop project series! In the previous update, we discussed how to integrate the various sensors and the electronics assembly itself into the bezel of the laptop display. We’ve decided which PCB technology we would like to use, and what the mounting hardware for the webcam PCB looks like. In this update, we will focus our attention to the electronics and PCB design of the webcam module. Fully assembled webcam Read Article

Lid Assembly Design Part II

Concept Phase – Lid Assembly Design Part 2 We are continuing the journey through lid assembly design on our Open Source Laptop project. Designing a test adapter — Layout Now we have to put all of our work in an actual hardware design. The layout of this board is straightforward, as we only have one high-speed interface to pay special attention to. The DisplayPort interface can de-skew up to 20UI per specification. UI is short for Unit Interval which is the reciprocal of the bit rate. For Read Article

Lid Assembly Design Part I

Concept Phase – Lid Assembly Design Part 1 Welcome back to the open-source laptop project! In this update we will move one step closer to the design phase of the project. This is the first hands-on experience with one of the core components of the laptop — the display panel! We will decide which display panel to use, how we can integrate it into the lid, and we are going to design, assemble, and test a small DisplayPort to embedded DisplayPort adapter to light up the screen for the first Read Article

Laptop part III

Concept Phase – Cooling and Airflow Part 1 In this installment of the open-source laptop project, we will take a closer look at the cooling system. First, we will focus on the airflow inside the device and find out what we need to consider to meet the requirements defined in the previous article. {"preview_thumbnail":"/sites/default/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/O0xn2-kPL4o.jpg?itok=SkZpEUXp","video_url":"https://youtu.be/O0xn2-kPL4o","settings":{ Read Article

laptop

Introduction to Open Source Laptop Project Ever dreamt of designing your own open-source laptop? For a while now I´ve been fascinated by this idea. As you can probably imagine, this is a monumental task that will require a lot of time and resources. Working alone on a project of this size makes matters even more difficult. So, why embark on such an adventure–especially with a product design that has already been manufactured and sold by the millions for years on end? {"preview_thumbnail" Read Article

The Best CAD Engineering Computers to Buy in 2020

The Best Desktop Computers for CAD Design and Engineering in 2020 Calling all students and professional engineers! Here are the 10 best computers for CAD design and engineering in 2020 and 2021. Read Article