TheBackShed.com

Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Slab computer

Author

Message

DaveC5
Newbie

Joined: 24/09/2025
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 27

Posted: 05:32pm 28 Feb 2026

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Afternoon all,

I got a bit fed up with working on a bunch of parts spread over the table, so I faffed about with some old MDF drawer-bottoms, a 10" car LCDTV, a Perixx PS2 keyboard and a Pi-Picobuddy board to make something a little more user-friendly.

I really wanted one of those Tandy TRS-80 Model 100's back in the day, and latterly got an Amstrad NC100 and a Sinclair Z88 to play with. The limitation was always the relatively small character display, and the slab format has its flaws, but I still like it for the nostalgic value and now I can pick everything up and carry it around a lot easier.

Cheers
Dave

dddns
Guru

Joined: 20/09/2024
Location: Germany
Posts: 773

Posted: 05:42pm 28 Feb 2026

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Super!!!

Edit:
Is this HDMI and what resolution(s) are possible?
Edited 2026-03-01 03:47 by dddns

phil99

Guru

Joined: 11/02/2018
Location: Australia
Posts: 3042

Posted: 08:49pm 28 Feb 2026

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

In the photo of the internals both the Pi-Picobuddy PCB and the monitor PCB have a VGA socket footprint but I don't see a HDMI one on the Pi-Picobuddy.
https://www.thebackshed.com/forum/ViewTopic.php?TID=18321&PID
Edit.
From pcbway.com

Quote PicoBuddy Computer specifications

Based on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2040 microcontoller board running PicoMiteVGA Basic.
Official Raspberry Pi Pico 2350 boards have also been tested and provide greater memory, speed and display modes.
Powered supply options:
+5 V connected to the Pico USB connector
+5 V connected to the 2.1 mm barrel jack (reverse and over-voltage protection).
>5V connected to the 2.1 mm barrel jack (reverse and over-voltage protection) using onboard regulator.
Selection of onboard SMPS or linear regulators to optimise efficiency/noise
2 x I2C busses with STEMMA QT connectors and/or 4-pin headers. Each bus can be independently set to 5 V or 3.3 V operation
PS/2 keyboard input (USB available with the USB-enabled versions of the PicoMite Basic firmware)
Micro--SD card slot
5 x digital I/O
3 x buffered analogue-to-digital inputs, plus buffered 3.0 V reference supply
Stereo PWM output to headphones, or to 8 Ohm speakers via class A/B amplifiers
VGA output, two colour palettes
Onboard HD4487-compatible LCD interface
Onboard 8 x digital I/O

Edited 2026-03-01 07:09 by phil99

DaveC5
Newbie

Joined: 24/09/2025
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 27

Posted: 07:17am 01 Mar 2026

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Hi,

It's just VGA. I have it set to 800x600, which is the native resolution of the LCDTV screen.

dddns said Super!!!

Edit:
Is this HDMI and what resolution(s) are possible?

Print this page

To reply to this topic, you need to log in.