 (Hack) Archos tablet hacking
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Conundrum
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Sat May 19 2012, 01:38PM
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Registered Member #96
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061
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Hi,
Noticed among other things that the cheapest Archos tablets though having a nice screen have several annoying flaws.
1) Wifi antenna sucks, the signal is truly appalling.
2) No internal 3G
3) Only one microSD slot, not even fully SDHC compatible it seems.
4) Only a single speaker, even though stereo capable.
5) DC-IN breaks off frequently and is a pain to fix.
6) No Bluetooth (!)
7) No support for recharging if the unit becomes unbootable for whatever reason.
8) No HDMI out (!) but space and pads on the PCB for the connector.
So I am hacking these two units to have the following features.
1) Wi-Fi antenna replaced with one from a laptop, doubling effective range.
2) Dual microSD slots using existing USB-IN feature
3) Add-on PCB mounted in spare part of the casing for Bluetooth.
4) Dual speakers, with tweeters to extend audio range (done)
5) DC-IN replaced with more robust connector glued to the PCB (done)
6) Battery level indicator so that you can see at a glance what is left
7) Auxillary charging support using the existing large USB connector
8) IR backlight for the camera
9) Haptic feedback via magnetic sensor PCB and mic in or serial input card
10) 433 MHz RX function for external weather sensors etc
11) Trackball?! cos some people just hate touchscreens with a passion.
12) HDMI out because it needs this 
Thought about adding additional 833mHz RF transmitter for headphones etc but Bluetooth works
just fine for most things.
Anyone want to add to this list?
Seems that writing an app for these isn't too difficult, just fiddly.
If it supports pendrives then it should support other devices such as USB to serial
modules and other "Fun Stuff" and if it doesen't then the mic in can be used.
A guy has actually written a program for this which emulates a small pendrive for
the sole purpose of using USB as a data input mechanism.
-A
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