Atrix Lapdock -> RISC OS Portable

If it was part of NC OS, in theory, it should be kicking around in the sources somewhere?

And if anybody finds that module kicking around the back of a cupboard, I’d love to get my hands on a copy of Pace’s Japanese IME…

Does anyone know the internal key numbers of the extra windows keys, so they can be mapped to select, menu and adjust?

This post shows how to change the “menu” key to act as the menu button if you want to build it into the ROM.
You can also just use the keyboard set-up and add the macro command using this program.

Thanks, that will do if I the way I want proves impossible.

What I wish to do is to use with the keymap module.

It is easy to set up the right control key to do it, for example. (Which will probably be the way I’ll do it on the lapdock, which has less keys.)

This is the list:

http://www.riscosopen.org/wiki/documentation/show/Low-Level%20Internal%20Key%20Numbers

but I cannot find the windows and menu keys. Are they not defined or just omitted from the list?

I would have thought it would make sense for these keys to be mapped to select, adjust and menu by default, rather than nothing.

Here are some more key numbers that might help.

This is the source for the internal key numbers.

Thanks. That was exactly what I wanted.
These commands do what I want:

KeyMap 104 112
KeyMap 106 113
KeyMap 105 114

Thanks to all, for all the information and ‘research’ contained in this tread. I suspect quite a few people (me included) have purchased a Lapdock largely due to this thread.

I’m currently living on my canal boat, which makes the Lapdock solution for the RiscOS RPi ideal. I only have 12VDC power, and that comes from the sun via an 85 watt solar panel. Powering a normal monitor from my 12VDC boat supply can be done (especially now that we can drive other screen resolutions thanks to this thread), but this would take a lot of precious amp hours from my 12 VDC batteries. I can charge up my Lapdock at work during the day :-)

Q. What is the quality of the RiscOS screen like on the Lapdock when running at 1366×768 resolution ?

I’m trying to source my Lapdock MHDI and USB cables in the UK, to overcome the excessive shipping delay from the Far East. This is proving difficult but (just) possible although much more expensive. I’ll post my cable details and suppliers when I get everything working.

Ralph

Q. What is the quality of the RiscOS screen like on the Lapdock when running at 1366×768 resolution ?

It only runs at 1360×768 (1366 doesn’t work, apparently). I can safely say the quality of the Lapdock display under RISC OS is just as good as any other OS (including the Atrix, or other flavours of OS on the Raspberry Pi). It’s a fairly reasonable quality screen in comparison to most laptops, IMHO – definitely defies the current £70 price of the Lapdock!

So, out of curiosity then, who else has bought (or is seriously considering buying) a Lapdock for RISC OS use?

All we need now is some form or wire-free networking to make it truly portable. I guess a WIFi adaptor or even working 3G would be great!!!

Look at your inbox ;-)

I have everything (inluding a nice little black box for the Pi) except the sodding HDMI converter :-( for my version.

Lindy are due to make one but release date is still saying September the 6th – GRRR

Lindy are due to make one but release date is still saying September the 6th – GRRR

Mine arrived from China in about ten days. For just a few quid (cheaper than the Lindy one, and the current date has been pushed back from late August), it’s worth a punt.

And they take PayPal (even if you don’t have an account!), just to make it easier …

Lindy have the female micro HDMI to male HDMI adapter in stock (item number 41083). Not cheap at GBP 7.49 plus shipping. Needs a bit of plastic shaving off to fit. Not tested sound yet, but otherwise OK.

I can confirm that the screen quality of RiscOS running on the Lapdock screen is excellent.

Ralph

@Leo is there any chance you could compile a ROM for 1024×768?
I’d try it myself but have no idea where to start.

Hi there, I an going to do exactly this, had a slightly different idea to achieve the sane result but this looks very practical. Can you confirm exactly which model of Atrix lapdock you used for this please?

I think you’ll find Leo has already done that one :-)

http://www.mybigideas.co.uk/files/RPiRO1024x768.zip

Can you confirm exactly which model of Atrix lapdock you used for this please?

I used the ones that were built for the original Atrix and are subsequently on sale for around £100. There’s been a bit of a rush on them of late, so prices have jumped from the £59 I paid for mine in April. I actually bought it to use with an Atrix, then discovered the Raspberry Pi hack.

Motorola Atrix Lapdock currently sells for GBP 99.99 on Amazon (seller is “bargain_heaven”). They were less than GBP 40.00 earlier this year from other sellers though – there’s a very long thread about them on the main Raspberry PI forums dating back to April 2012 (or earlier).

I got mine a few weeks ago when the Amazon price was GBP 69.99. My Atrix has a Norweigan keyboard, which is not too dissimilar to a normal UK keyboard (still uses “QWERTY”), although finding the “?” etc. relies upon memory. The biggest issue with the Lapdock is that it uses male micro-USB and micro-HDMI connectors, placed very close together. Getting hold of female micro connectors in the UK is not as easy as you’d expect !

Ralph

Well I am now typing this on my pPi! :-D

Just need to sort out the menu mouse button and work out how to build RISC OS with different resolutions so that I can try a more recent ROM with sound support…

Pictures here

The RPi and cables etc have been sold. I left this here also because the ebay links might be useful to someone.

For anyone wanting a 3 button USB optical mouse, they DO exist (i.e. 3 equal sized buttons, acorn-style, rather than a scroll button – it’s a HP USB Optical 3-button Mouse: model number DY651ET, and as far as I can tell it is a unique item on the market.

I believe the cables/ac/adaptors you need etc are
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Case-Raspberry-Pi-1-Amp-Power-Supply-HDMI-4GB-SD-Card-Debian-Squeeze-OS-/230825635155 minus the cardboard case
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5Ft-1-5m-HDMI-Type-D-Micro-HDMI-V1-4-Cable-3D-1080P-fr-Motorola-XOOM-Tablet-/170858626156
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320786316751
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-female-Micro-USB-B-female-adapter-cable-FF-/320741927842

Advice – you probably don’t need to shave any plastic (depending on the cables) – there is a plastic spacer on the dock that is designed to be removed.

For anyone trying to get the adaptors to fit the dock, you may not need to do plastic shaving! the cable and adaptor I had certainly fit (just) without modification, but the dock as shipped has a piece of plastic the make the atrix phone fit which can just be pulled off in order to get access. I believe the reason for the spacer is because the atrix is also available with a larger battery option, so the dock needs two sizes to ensure a snug fit.

It also occured to me that for anyone wanting to make a neat box to contain the pi or whatever else they want to stick into the dock, this piece of plastic that is already the right shape could be used to make a very good fit very neatly.

Confirm that RiscOS sound now works via the HDMI cable/adapter to the Lapdock :-)

Had to add the following command in my config.txt file to enable HDMI sound :

1. force HDMI sound
   hdmi_drive=2

Sound was tested using the development ROM from 04-Sep-2012 copied on top of the development flash image from 08-Aug-2012. Had to manually load the sound module into the boot structure, as described elsewhere.

Being able to change the monitor resolution is also great, although I guess we now need a monitor definition file building for the Lapdock (1360 * 768?). I must look and see how it worked before using Leo’s special build – perhaps there’s one already there I can borrow ?

Also the new power-on splash screen looks really cool – so cool that a Filipino colleague got his camera out and took a photograph of the boot-up screen :-)

Ralph

Being able to change the monitor resolution is also great, although I guess we now need a monitor definition file building for the Lapdock (1360 * 768?). I must look and see how it worked before using Leo’s special build – perhaps there’s one already there I can borrow ?

Setting up an MDF should be pretty easy. Just copy an existing mode definition and update the width & height values; the other timings (sync width, pixel rate, etc.) are ignored by the Pi video driver.

I have got my lapdock up and running with the Linux distro on the Pi. There are meters of cable at the moment, but I will refine that. Not being up with all the things to do to install RO, do I need to wait for the imminent release of the ROOL image, or would some kind soul guide me through the process with what is available now? I will be working from an XP machine. You can find me at steve[at]kappa[dot]me[dot]uk.