This is great. Using the RasPi as a base gives you an inexpensive platform to build on, one that will be available for years to come. I am truly impressed...
I hope that the design is compatible with the original RasPi and the Pi2. Please publish wich models A, A+, B, B+, Pi2, Pi0 ... it is compatible with, the OS and the RAM requirements. I have an early RasPi B lying around, 256 MB. If it's compatible with the original Pi, now that the Pi2 is out, you can strike a bargain buying a RasPi very cheap. Great work! Greetings from the TyRannoSaurus Jan-80 On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 07:36:15 -0800, Ken Pettit wrote: > On 12/7/15 7:00 AM, Ray Lopez wrote: > >> Ken, forgive the stupid question, but what does TDock do? RL > > Hi Ray, > > The goals of TDock: > > 1. Provide an HDMI LCD video interface for Model T (a DVI replacement). > 2. It should work with M100, T102, T200 and PC8201. > 3. Provide a TPDD client to USB Thumb drives or SD cards (NADSBox substitute). > 4. Provide an interface capable of supporting networking. > 5. Provide an interface for printing to modern printers. > > 6. While not a goal, it also provides 13 I/O pins (well 11 I/O and 2 input only) on the pass-thru LPT port when not connected to a printer. > > The implementation in the picture is a daughter card for the Raspberry Pi 2 B (a "Pi Hat"). It connects with the Model T parallel port for primary communication of video data, but also has an RS-232 port (and a BCR port). It also has a "pass-through" LPT connector where your old LPT printer can be connected. Making TDock a Pi Hat was the simplest and cheapest approach, though it is not very portable and has the requirement of booting / shutting down Linux. > > My other ideas involved simple microcontrollers or FPGAs to provide HDMI / VGA. They would have been more portable, but also more expensive. The general theme on this list always seems to be "cheap" (though I prefer the word "inexpensive"), so I decided to give up portablily in favor of lower cost. > > Ken
