Hi all..

This is one of my creations made out of boredom, it consists of:

Vtech V Smile (case)
5.6" TFT LCD
Dell Thin Client PC FX130 (1Ghz VIA,1 GB ram, 1GB SSD, Win XP nlited)
Arduino Mini Clone
12V Lithium Rechargeable Battery
Some putty
Hot Knife
Wrist action (sanding!!)
Broken PS3 pad
Hot Glue

Step 1: Get Your Stuff!

I got the Vsmile off Amazon for around £20, the Arduino set me back £6 and got it off ebay along with the thin client PC for £20. The screen cost me around £30 and the 12V battery £10 and got them off ebay also. I had a faulty PS3 pad which I used for the buttons and the analog stick.

Step 2: Rip Everything Apart, Cut, Mold, Stick and Sand!

I had an old PSP screen lying around so I used this as a template to cut the screen out. I cut the buttons on analog stick out of the PS3 pad out and used the excess plastic to fill in the gaps on the Vtech shell..

Step 3: Tweaks & Testing

The Ardunio clone didn't have any boot loader so I had to get the old trusty GQ4-X programmer and flashed the clone though the ICSP port.

The Arduino micro clone I had didn't have the functionality of changing the usb function other than a serial port emulation so I had to write two programs instead of one.

The Arduino program basically captures the buttons and analog stick and sends the data via serial

Analog X->A0

AnalogY->A1

Other buttons D0 <-> D8

Here's the code for the Micro

// These constants won't change.  They're used to give names<br>// to the pins used:
const int analogInPinY = A0;  // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to
const int analogInPinX = A1;  // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to
int outputValueY = 0;        // value output to the PWM (analog out)
int outputValueX = 0;        // value output to the PWM (analog out)
int centreY = 0; //Callibrate
int centreX = 0; //Callibrate
int Ypos = 0;
int TempY = 0;
int NegY = 0;
int Xpos = 0;
int TempX = 0;
int NegX = 0;

// constants won't change. They're used here to 
// set pin numbers:
const int buttonup = 2;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int buttonright = 3;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int buttonleft = 4;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int buttondown = 5;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int buttonDiamond = 9;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int buttonTriangle = 8;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int buttonRed = 7;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
const int buttonYellow = 6; 
const int buttonAnalog = 10;
const int buttonMode = 11;
const int ledPin =  13;      // the number of the LED pin
const int led2Pin =  A2; 
// variables will change:
int dirState = 0;         // variable for reading the pushbutton status
int buttonState = 0;         // variable for reading the pushbutton status
int CTX;
int AnalogNegs = 0;
int PadMode;
int Fader = 0;
int FaderDir = 0;

void setup() {
Serial.begin(19200);
  // initialize the LED pin as an output:
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);        
pinMode(led2Pin, OUTPUT); 
  
  // initialize the pushbutton pin as an input:
pinMode(buttonup, INPUT_PULLUP);   
pinMode(buttondown, INPUT_PULLUP); 
pinMode(buttonleft, INPUT_PULLUP); 
pinMode(buttonright, INPUT_PULLUP); 
pinMode(buttonTriangle, INPUT_PULLUP);   
pinMode(buttonDiamond, INPUT_PULLUP); 
pinMode(buttonYellow, INPUT_PULLUP); 
pinMode(buttonRed, INPUT_PULLUP); 
pinMode(buttonAnalog, INPUT_PULLUP); 
pinMode(buttonMode, INPUT_PULLUP); 
CTX = analogRead(analogInPinX);
centreY =  map(analogRead(analogInPinY), 0, 1023, 0, 254);
centreX =  map(analogRead(analogInPinX), 0, 1023, 0, 254);  
Callib;}

void Callib() {
  //TRY!! Callibrate Centre
centreY =  map(analogRead(analogInPinY), 0, 1023, 0, 254); 
centreX =  map(analogRead(analogInPinX), 0, 1023, 0, 254);   }


void loop(){
  // read the state of the pushbutton value:
  
  outputValueY = map(analogRead(analogInPinY), 0, 1023, 0, 254); 
  outputValueX = map(analogRead(analogInPinX), 0, 1023, 0, 254);  
  Ypos = 0;
  NegY = 0;
  TempY = (outputValueY - centreY);  
  if (TempY > 5 || TempY < -5) {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);  
  NegY = TempY < -5 ;
  Ypos = TempY & 254;
  };
   
  Xpos = 0;
  NegX = 0;
  TempX = (outputValueX - centreX);  
  if (TempX > 5 || TempX < -5) {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);  
  NegX = TempX < -5 ;
 // if (TempX < -83){TempX = -84;}
//  if (TempX > 83){TempX = 84;}
  Xpos = TempX & 254;
  };
//  Serial.println(TempX); 
//Serial.println(Xpos);  
  dirState = 0;
  
  dirState |= (digitalRead(buttonup) ^ 1) << 0;
  dirState |= (digitalRead(buttondown) ^ 1) << 1;
  dirState |= (digitalRead(buttonleft) ^ 1) << 2;
  dirState |= (digitalRead(buttonright) ^ 1) << 3;
  
  buttonState = 0;
  buttonState |= (digitalRead(buttonTriangle) ^ 1) << 0;
  buttonState |= (digitalRead(buttonDiamond) ^ 1) << 1;
  buttonState |= (digitalRead(buttonYellow) ^ 1) << 2;
  buttonState |= (digitalRead(buttonRed) ^ 1) << 3;
  buttonState |= (digitalRead(buttonAnalog) ^ 1) << 4;
  int d = (digitalRead(buttonMode) ^ 1);
  
   if (PadMode > 0) {
     //delay(30);  
     digitalWrite(led2Pin, HIGH);}
       
   else{
   digitalWrite(led2Pin, LOW);
   }
  //if (PadMode = 0) {analogWrite(A2, 0);}
  if  (d > 0 ){
    PadMode = (PadMode ^ 1);
  //    // PadMode = 1;
    // digitalWrite(A2, HIGH);}
     //return;}
     
   while ((digitalRead(buttonMode) ^ 1) > 0) {
   }        delay(3);}
    
    buttonState |= PadMode << 5;
  
  AnalogNegs = NegX << 0;
  AnalogNegs |= NegY << 2;
  
  Serial.write(0xFF); //sync
  Serial.write(dirState); 
  Serial.write(buttonState); 
  Serial.write(AnalogNegs);
  Serial.write(Xpos);
  Serial.write(Ypos);

  // check if the pushbutton is pressed.
  // if it is, the buttonState is HIGH:
  if (dirState > 0 || buttonState > 0) {     
    // turn LED on:    
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);         
 //analogWrite(A2, 20);  
} 
  else {
    // turn LED off:
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); 
    Callib;
   // delay(3);
  }
  delay(2);
}

I've used a sync byte to synchronize the serial data to the FreeBasic program. I also added an LED that sits in the centre button which is used as a 'Mode' button to give another layer of control.

The FreeBasic program converts the serial data from the Arduino into to keyboard keystrokes, it's run upon start-up of windows as a background task.

Thanks to Ben Heck for the inspiration!!

Introduction: Hand Held PC

Step 1: Get Your Stuff!

Step 2: Rip Everything Apart, Cut, Mold, Stick and Sand!

Step 3: Tweaks & Testing