Here’s Exactly How to Hack a Bigger Screen onto PocketC.H.I.P.

Tony showing off his hacked PocketC.H.I.P.

Tony showing off his hacked PocketC.H.I.P. with larger screen

Resourceful Pocketeers on the forums have banded together to figure out how to swap out the stock LCD screen on PocketC.H.I.P. for an even bigger, 5″ LCD capable of rendering at 800×480 pixels.

MarekLew was the first to connect the bigger screen to PocketC.H.I.P. and share the news in the forum. Kilrah completed the hack soon after and shared some great photos of the screen swap process. And cmspooner’s post explained how to calibrate the touchscreen using a config file.

This post synthesizes the information from the three threads into one easy-to-deploy configuration file. Plus, having everything in a config file means that even if you reboot PocketC.H.I.P., the settings with remain in effect.
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3 New Community Tutorials: Play OpenRCT2, Chat with Pidgin, and Customize your MOTD

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Another week of shipping PocketC.H.I.P.s, another week of original community created tutorials. Community members Kainxkitsune, Ramayaben, and Neto aren’t just using PocketC.H.I.P., they are helping others get the most out of their device by writing projects.

Thanks to their documentation it’s now easier than ever to install Open RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, use the multi-protocol chat client Pidgin, and customize the command-line message of the day (MOTD) that welcomes users upon remote login.

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Get Turn-by-Turn Directions with the PocketC.H.I.P. Navigator

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With a GPS module and a few minutes hacking, transform PocketC.H.I.P. into an open source TomTom-like dashboard navigation system. Installs in seconds. No pesky automotive wiring necessary. Pencil stand not suggested (on your dashboard).

Ever since Scott got PocketC.H.I.P. working with a GPS module and the GPSd software, I’ve wanted to setup offline turn-by-turn navigation on PocketC.H.I.P.. While there are a handful of options in Linux, I ended up going with Navit.

Navit is in the Debian package repository, so it’s quite easy to install on PocketC.H.I.P.. But due to the enormous number of options, configuring Navit can seem daunting. After getting the basics setup on my PocketC.H.I.P., I shared my progress with Jose who helped me get the config dialed in. Keep reading after the break for full instructions, plus our config file.

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3 Great Community Created Tutorials: Install Quake II, Fluxbox, and MachineKit

Get Quake II on your PocketC.H.I.P. today!

Get Quake II on your PocketC.H.I.P. today. Crunch, Jerick, and Tina did!

Battle back an alien invasion in Quake II, customize your PocketC.H.I.P. desktop with Fluxbox, and control enormous machines with MachineKit on C.H.I.P., all thanks to the work of the community!

Community members Anthk, Bilejoni, and Machine Koder have you covered with all the details on how to install, configure, and use Quake II, Fluxbox, and MackineKit on C.H.I.P. and PocketC.H.I.P.!

Don’t wait until the next blog post, see it before it happens in the forum! It’s a vibrant community committed to sharing their knowledge of C.H.I.P. and PocketC.H.I.P., plus everyone is always happy to help when you have questions.

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Links We Like: The Art of Collections and Collecting

The NTC shelves of interesting things

The NTC shelves of interesting things

This week’s installment of Links We Like gives hat-tip to the collectors of odd and interesting stuff that has attracted our attention. From Jar Gielens’ stockpile of retro video games, to Keith Clatworthy’s trove of Mattel View-Masters, to Collectors Weekly catalog of collections their histories, collections reveal our products’ cultural history and remind us of our past.

Collections help us to remember elements of our past and find order in the disarray of memory. They’re enjoyable to look at and reveal a lot about the collector. Here at NTC we have a large group collection packed with interesting things like uniquely designed consumer electronics and classic toys, musical instruments, skateboards, oh, and there are lot and lots of cameras too!

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