Project ARTO [PS2 Slim NetBook] Update 18-NOV

Yet another project underway, however this time of a different nature to my usual stuff.
Project ARTO (from the Latin word meaning compress, reduce or press together) is so named to emphasize compression of two devices into one tiny space.

So what is this tiny space? I here you say. Well ever since I got my first netbook for college. I always wanted to do something different in terms of personalisation.
Back in 2009, the Acer Aspire One with a USB DVD-RW I bought was a steal at £145 (around $230) and now in 2013 it has been gathering dust for some time. So I thought it was time I would give it a new lease of life from its old, mishandled shell. After some thought I decided on the challenge of forcing it inside a PS2…slim!

This is the main board inside the ps2 case;

Dremeled out screw posts

Nice fit

As you can see the mobo fits nice, except the challenge was not the mobo as I knew it would fit. The hard part was when it came to putting the DVD drive in too. Luckily the DVD drive was a flip lid drive just like the ps2’s which helped as the drive was just a reading mechanism (laser/laser stepper/spindle motor) and the PCB.

The DVD Drive

The reading mechanism of the ps2 was mounted directly to the top shell and with the laser and motor exposed. To mount the DVDRW the same way failed because of the motor was the height of the plastic it sat on, so to solve this I dremeled a hole just like the one in the DVDRW case.

The DVDRW

PS2 cut in the same way

Perfect

with the dvd drive inside, it was time to force the rest of the stuff in. the dvd drive takes up a lot of space due to the pcb being in a awkard angle(see below), its not the best use of the space. however this was the best layout becuse of the thin ribbon to the laser, and alinghing it was crutial so it would lot break or rub on the disc.

The PCB just fits at that angle

Ports

Next up was the ports; USB,Network,VGA and Power.

the task of desoldering all these ports was daunting, I've never deoldered anything this expensive before and i have a high failure rate when it comes to delicate work, however it need to be done so i got to work.

taking my time was an understatement took all day to desolder the ports and solder the extension wires, with the work on the other end still to do it can wait until it absolutely needs to be done.

Ports: DC jack, Ethernet, VGA and USB

All Ports desoldered. Bye-Bye card reader, you're in the way