So I finished my B&O MP3 player; no one is more surprised about this than me. It is quite amazing what a deadline can do for your motivation levels. I got it finished just in time for the 2006 Great Mac Mod Challenge, and then I killed it. Involuntary manslaughter I think the term is; I was both reckless and negligent.
Yesterday when I went back inside the case to install brightness controls for the screen. On the Wallstreet PowerBook the brightness controls are located just above the keyboard next to the power and volume buttons and during the mod these switches got buried deep inside the case. Due to an odd bug in OS X the Wallstreet will sometimes start-up with the screen’s brightness level turned down so low that the backlighting is off. This makes is virtually impossible to see an image on the screen, but the issue can be fixed by simply adjusting the brightness controls (this doesn’t always work and occasionally the only solution is to re-boot into OS 9). So brightness controls are a necessity rather than just a nice afterthought; in my case however they were both a necessity and an afterthought.
I was particularly happy with how I resolved these buttons (pride before a fall). I placed two little black push-button switches at the front of the player just below the silver faceplate.
The switches are soldered onto the Wallstreet’s button pads, the centre of each pad is a common line so only three wires were needed for the two switches.
My problems started when I was putting the machine back together, I thought I’d be smart and tape the screen’s ribbon cable down to prevent its plug from working loose. Then I thought I’d be stupid and forget that I’d taped it down; I yanked on the screen and tore the ribbon cable in half (that was the reckless part of my crime).
In the past this mod has taken me and my soldering iron places I’d rather not revisit but the task that now presented itself really took the cake. The conductors on this cable are literally as small as a hair. But I didn’t really have a lot of options, these cables aren’t easy to come by. I decided to solder a jumper lead between the two cable halves. I had a lot of trouble getting the solder to stick to the ribbon’s conductors. After about 3 hours of work I’d only managed to make 4 connections. I plodded on (along the way I discovered a simple way of making a fine tip soldering attachment).
Once I completed the connection I encased the wires in hot glue, I didn’t want them working loose.
The other end of the cable was a little easier, I could solder directly onto the connector.
And so after many hours of work I had this:
And now comes the negligent part of the story. Instead of testing the cable with a multi-meter (or even just giving it a thorough looking over), I just plugged it in. Nothing worked, not so surprising really, but what was that burning smell? I unplug the power. I unplugged the cable. I looked at the cable and what do you know, I’d connected the positive and negative leads directly together. I couldn’t have produced a more convincing short circuit if I’d tried.
I fixed the cable, I plugged it back in, but still nothing.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I have over the past two years acquired three Wallstreet PowerBooks. One of these recently left through the study window with my DVD player and digital camera, one I have apparently just killed, and that leaves one more. I couldn’t use it to replace the screen or cable in the B&O mod because it’s got a 14″ screen (I’m using a 12″ one) but I can use it to check the system. I quickly pulled the extra Wallstreet from the shelf and removed it’s screen (as I dismantle the machine it dawns on me that I know the Wallstreet like Leonard Pyle knows his rifle, it’s a little disturbing). I plugged the extra screen into the B&O mod, still nothing. I plugged the B&O screen (including my home-made cable) into the spare Wallstreet, it works.
So, my cable works, the screen still works, and I’ve probably stuffed the B&O mod’s video circuit. And this outcome is not so bad; definitely better than if I’d stuffed the screen or the cable. I do have an extra Wallstreet computer, I don’t have an extra 12″ screen. I now have the tedious task of dismantling the Wallstreet and swapping out the motherboard for the one in the B&O mod.
It’s odd though, I think part of me actually wanted the B&O mod to die; I am really looking forward to the end of this project. Even with the new motherboard installed I feel like it’ll just be a matter of time before something else goes wrong, and I’m the only one who knows enough about this thing to fix it. It’s a liability, a dependant. I don’t feel the same way about the things I haven’t opened, hacked or cracked, if they malfunction then it’s someone else’s problem, but for the little bastard children I beget with my soldering iron I have a duty of care. A lifetime commitment, ’til the end of their life or the end of mine. A little dramatic perhaps, but my relationship with them is definitely odd.
Pictures of my finished B&O MP3 mod (along with all the other weird and wonderful Mac mods) will be available at the MacMod site from Tuesday, September 5th (US time). Check them out.
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