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 Post subject: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:54 pm 
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Location: Wolfsburg, Germany
Service Number: A08/TQ2.0.22133E1
Country: Germany
Hello fellow Marines,

to add something to new our next GerCM Table i decided to bring on a Grid Case, of course not the Compass II which i wouldn´t dare to open ;-)

My Choice was a 1520, due the large Display and the relatively good availability.

Getting a not functioning one over Ebay, i first thought about using a Tablet inserted into the Display Case, but i had second thoughts since its not seemed comfortable.

Finally, i changed my mind for a combination of a raspberry PI and a cheap 9" display from china, retro-fitting the GRID to new glory.

The raspberry is a cheap, cigarette pack-sized one Circuit-board pc with 4 USB connectors, HDMI & Line Out. Also capable of providing WiFi & Blutooth.

It offers a desktop like software and several Media Center (all will be chosen & downloaded during first install via WiFi)

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Step One:

Gutting out the Hell of the GRID

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With the old Interior removed, its time to test the new one. The Display uses a 12Volt adapter and the Raspberry PI 5Volt (in fact nothing else than a typical USB loading device for your cellphone). With that in mind i decided to only use the 12Volt Display Poweradapter only and branch the circuit to power up a car USB Adapter, which will then power the Raspberry PI.

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I removed the old diplay out of its housing also, installed a foambord as cover, glued the display on and spray-painted the whole thing anthracite to match the GRID as good as possible...cutting a small crack to put the connector foil (sorry no Photos of this step ) inside the housing where the driver board sits...

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I used the given openings to install the power & HDMI cable into the display housing, also used the GRID´s own power adapter connector & main power switch...I wanted to GRID to be as Original as possible ;-)


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The extra mile : Using the Original Keyboard

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With the Raspberry only using USB devices i needed to create a USB Converter for the original Keyboard... using a Teensy 2.0, a pre-templated program, some cable & soldering. First i test the keyboard to create a matrix of which buttons connects .. than adapt the program template and loaded it into the teensy...

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And here it is.. my newest toy for my fan boy Empire :-) If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask...Thomas



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Last edited by Hawkins on Sun Nov 26, 2017 1:26 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:16 pm 
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Location: devon, uk
Service Number: A11/TQ2.0.92142G1
Country: United Kingdom
Thats really awesome! Nice prop!

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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:34 pm 

Location: Wisconsin
Country: United States
Love this build! Fan of rasberry pi, I might have to give this a try.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:24 pm 
Mobile Mayhem
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Location: Rapid View, Saskatchewan
Service Number: A10/TQ1.O.32157E1
Country: Canada
That is amazing!! Such a fantastic piece for a table at an event!

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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 7:40 pm 
reload
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Location: Hamburg
Service Number: A03/TQ3.0.12136E1
Country: Germany
Thanks Thomas! Well done.
The Sentry Flash runs great. Happy to have seen it in action.

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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 9:32 pm 
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Location: Wolfsburg Niedersachsen
Service Number: A12/TQ2.0.02132E1
Country: Germany
Amazing work Thomas! I was also Verry pleased to have seen this in person:)
Now all you need is a sentry gun :D

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 9:50 pm 
The Hugger of Destruction TechnoSasquatch
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Location: Middlesbrough- Anglo Saxon land
Service Number: A06/TQ1.0.22140E1
Country: United Kingdom
"OUTSTANDING. All we need is a Deck of cards"

Superb job.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 12:15 pm 
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Location: Wolfsburg, Germany
Service Number: A08/TQ2.0.22133E1
Country: Germany
Thanks for your kind words..

The Sentry Gun Terminal was one of so many iconic objects in Cameron´s aliens and with the Blu-Ray Release, now almost everyone should have watched the Special Edition...learning about those sentry guns "Kick-Ass" ... pretty sure convention visitors will recognize this Prop (even not 100% SA)

Thomas

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Last edited by Hawkins on Tue Nov 28, 2017 6:30 am, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:12 pm 
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Location: Bath, Maine
Service Number: A03/TQ1.0.12143G1
Country: United States
That is a thing of beauty!

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 2:51 am 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
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What did you ise for boot script and software for media plauback on the pi?

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:26 am 
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Location: Wolfsburg, Germany
Service Number: A08/TQ2.0.22133E1
Country: Germany
knoxvilles_joker wrote:
What did you ise for boot script and software for media plauback on the pi?


Code for the Keyboard:
I found a Website including the Template on Instrutables.com , where it is described step by step (the first tutorial i understood for real after looking for weeks)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Any-Vintage-Keyboard-Work-With-a-Modern-PC/

Just use a Voltmeter connecting both ribbon cables branches (one for input & one for output) and press the keys one by one. Note the pins which are connecting for each Key and adapt to the matrix in the boot script.

OS for the Raspberry PI:
The Raspberry PI itself offers several OS to choose from when it is setup for the 1st time ( including Raspbian & in my Case OSMC for Media Files ).
You have to install a Flash Player called "Gnash" for the Sentry Gun Flash Animation.


Thomas

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Last edited by Hawkins on Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:31 am 
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Location: Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire
Country: United Kingdom
That is absolutely awesome! Fantastic work!

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 2:41 pm 
The Hugger of Destruction TechnoSasquatch
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Location: Middlesbrough- Anglo Saxon land
Service Number: A06/TQ1.0.22140E1
Country: United Kingdom
Oh the SENTRY gun will go down brilliantly with the public.

NSC events we had Simon's SENTRY gun up and running and that was awesome. Plus on the display tables working SENTURY Grids.
So Germany will be in a Very Pleasant treat with your hard work :D

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 4:49 pm 
Mad Cat
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Location: Active duty: USS Catalpa
Service Number: AO3/TQ6.0.79749E8
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Awesome work! I wish I had the know-how to do this to mine.

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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:16 pm 
'Nuff said.
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Location: Effingham, Illinois
Service Number: A08/TQ0.0.12146E1
Country: United States
This is great! Does anyone think we can get a working Grid to run a program without gutting it? I really do not want to tear mine apart. I know this was talked about in the past.

Thanks!

Greg

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Newell, Greg A aka Gman
Illinois - USA
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 7:56 pm 
Officers - Making simple s**t hard since 1775
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Location: Boston, Lincolnshire, UK.
Service Number: A07/TQ1.0.52135E1
Country: United Kingdom
Cool beans, would love to do this myself, but wouldn't know where to begin!!!


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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:56 pm 
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Location: Wolfsburg, Germany
Service Number: A08/TQ2.0.22133E1
Country: Germany
Thank you all for you overwhelming response ...

To be frank, i don´t know jack about programming c-code, boot scripts and stuff like this...but i learned a lot from youtube & google in the last 5 weeks...

for the mechanical side it´s easy when you start carefully dismantle the whole grid.. first pop off the 2 screw covers on the backside..remove the screws.. then pull the upper metal cover towards the display case...try not to lose any screws ;-) ...and then move on...removing the circuit boards & Hard disk...

be careful when you pop off the frames of the keyboard & the Display case.. its very thin plastic....

I maybe make a little youtube video if this will encourage you...

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Last edited by Hawkins on Tue Nov 28, 2017 5:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:36 pm 
Mad Cat
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Location: Active duty: USS Catalpa
Service Number: AO3/TQ6.0.79749E8
Country: United States
gman666 wrote:
This is great! Does anyone think we can get a working Grid to run a program without gutting it? I really do not want to tear mine apart. I know this was talked about in the past.

Thanks!

Greg


If you had the right program, maybe. But no one's been able to do that with ONLY a gridcase, and nothing modern...which leads some to suspect that what we saw in the movie was maybe NOT being run on the gridcase itself.

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It's a boot!"

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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:51 am 
You tell me man, I only work here.
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Location: Los Angeles
Country: United States
AWESOME!!

Coolest project here in awhile.


User Klyball wrote an accurate program to run on a compass / gridcase.

It only lacks audio.


Does the Flash program have audio? Can't remember.


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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:04 am 
'Nuff said.
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Location: Effingham, Illinois
Service Number: A08/TQ0.0.12146E1
Country: United States
Noble wrote:
User Klyball wrote an accurate program to run on a compass / gridcase.

It only lacks audio.


My Grid case 2 plus does not have a disk drive. Would it work on mine? I know I would have to manually put it in.

Thanks!

Greg

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Newell, Greg A aka Gman
Illinois - USA
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The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist.


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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:55 am 
You tell me man, I only work here.
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Location: Los Angeles
Country: United States
Klyball has his program on eprom, which is easily installed into an available slot.

(removable door above the keyboard)


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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:11 am 
'Nuff said.
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Location: Effingham, Illinois
Service Number: A08/TQ0.0.12146E1
Country: United States
Noble wrote:
Klyball has his program on eprom, which is easily installed into an available slot.

(removable door above the keyboard)

How do you get one? Does he sell?

Thanks!

Greg

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CPL A08/TQ0.0.12146E1
Newell, Greg A aka Gman
Illinois - USA
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Shoot first, think never.
Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun.
SMMFD
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist.


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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:41 am 

Service Number: A05/TQ2.0.32141E1
Country: United States
gman666 wrote:
This is great! Does anyone think we can get a working Grid to run a program without gutting it? I really do not want to tear mine apart. I know this was talked about in the past.

Thanks!

Greg


I wish I got more pics of your unit...

There is supposedly an expansion slot for a floppy drive?

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 Post subject: Re: Grid Conversion / Retrofit (Sorry, Picture-Heavy)
PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:27 am 
'Nuff said.
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Location: Effingham, Illinois
Service Number: A08/TQ0.0.12146E1
Country: United States
knoxvilles_joker wrote:
gman666 wrote:
This is great! Does anyone think we can get a working Grid to run a program without gutting it? I really do not want to tear mine apart. I know this was talked about in the past.

Thanks!

Greg


I wish I got more pics of your unit...

There is supposedly an expansion slot for a floppy drive?


No slot just a connection port.

Thanks!

Greg

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CPL A08/TQ0.0.12146E1
Newell, Greg A aka Gman
Illinois - USA
UKCM
Shoot first, think never.
Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun.
SMMFD
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist.


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