Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Southern California, USA
Posts: 41

Just a few notes on how the Visor is set up internally. I composed these after spending some major time playing with things to get a piece of graphite out and then getting it to HotSync again.

1) There are 4 screws on the outside of the Visor, all on the back. Two are hidden below the Springboard module or the little fill-in thing. On my Visor, only three of them would come out.

2) Once inside, you will see that the Visor is composed of 4 boards (one is hidden behind the board labeled "HANDSPRING ASSY").

3) The board labeled "HANDSPRING ASSY" appears to be the motherboard. There are components on both sides. The Dragonball processor appears to be behind the 1cm (or so) chip that's all by itself in the lower-left. There are two screws through this board, and their tightness affected whether I could HotSync on my Visor.

4) The board labeled "HANDSRING BUTTON BD." houses 7 metal contacts for the hardbuttons. It also houses the HotSync connector and the battery connectors. The backup battery used to keep your data intact when you change batteries is also on this board, so disconnecting it is equivalent to a hard reset. It has a small white connector on the bottom that matches up with a connector on the motherboard. It's impossible to take this out unless the batteries are out.

5) The unlabeled board on the screen side of the case seems to house all the display and touchscreen stuff. It's connected to the motherboard by an orangish ribbon cable that's pretty easy to reconnect.

6) On the underside of the motherboard is a subboard. It appears to house some extra components they couldn't quite fit on the motherboard.

I hope this helps someone in the future. If you have anything to add (no flames please, I'm not claiming to be an electrician or 31337 hardware hacker) reply to this thread.

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<img src="http://www.handspring.com/products/visorprism/images/PrsmLgPct02.jpg" align="left" width="115" height="115">Brent Dax
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Visor Prism, USB recharging cradle, Win2K
I wish I could post from AvantGo...

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

quote:

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Originally posted by Brent Dax
4) ...The backup battery used to keep your data intact when you change batteries is also on this board, so disconnecting it is equivalent to a hard reset...

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This is not meant to criticize... just informational

The Visor uses a capacitor (which can resemble a small battery) to provide "backup" power during battery changes.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Nazareth, PA
Posts: 99

I don't know how a capacitor could possibly resemble a battery since the technical definition of a battery is two or more power cells, and there is only one capacitor.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

quote:

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Originally posted by HostileJava
...how a capacitor could possibly resemble a battery battery since the technical definition of a battery is two or more power cells...

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I suppose to the "electrically challenged" , a capacitor "can" could look like one of those little button batteries like you find in watches.

Two or more power cells?... Does that mean a single AAA battery is not a battery?

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God bless America, my home sweet home...

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Southern California, USA
Posts: 41

He's right, actually. A AAA is not a battery, it's a cell. That's why Radio Shack sells EnerCells, not EnerBatteries. A battery is a combination of more than one cell (power-storage area) - a car battery is a battery (it has about a dozen cells, if memory serves), while a AAA is not. We just use battery because cell is overused - there are table cells, biological cells, prison cells, and all sorts of other cells.

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<img src="http://www.handspring.com/products/visorprism/images/PrsmLgPct02.jpg" align="left" width="115" height="115">Brent Dax
[email protected]

Visor Prism, USB recharging cradle, Win2K
I wish I could post from AvantGo...

<B><-- Cobalt Blue is really cool!</B>

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

quote:

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Originally posted by Brent Dax
...it's a cell...

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You learn something new everyday

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Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 638

So when does a battery actually become a battery, AA, C, D 9V?
BEN

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Posts: 253

It's the memory board

quote:

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Originally posted by Brent Dax


6) On the underside of the motherboard is a subboard. It appears to house some extra components they couldn't quite fit on the motherboard.

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Actually this is the "memory board". One for the 2 MB version and another makes it an 8MB version. First thing I did after getting my Visor Dx was to take it apart

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Nazareth, PA
Posts: 99

A battery is a battery when it has 2 or more cells ie 2 AAA taped together. BTW I think a car battery has 6 cells. It's 12.6v so and rechargable cells are 2.1v, if you take the caps off to fill them with distilled water you can see them.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 284

Actually this is the "memory board". One for the 2 MB version and another makes it an 8MB version. First thing I did after getting my Visor Dx was to take it apart

Is this just a memory board, or is it what is called a "card" in Palm parlance (which contains both RAM and ROM).

If it's a card, then this is probably card 0, meaning it's the base memory and the OS ROM. This could make for a "simple" hardware upgrade whenever Handspring's version of 3.5 becomes available.

Shoot. Now you've got me curious. Where's that screwdriver.

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Baltimore MD, USA
Posts: 717

quote:

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Originally posted by BEN
So when does a battery actually become a battery, AA, C, D 9V?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Nazareth, PA
Posts: 99

That's right because non-rechargeable cells are 1.5v and 1.5*6=9

[Edited by HostileJava on 10-02-2000 at 11:51 AM]