Raspberry Pi Drives ‘Sidecar’ Internet Access for Psion PDA

Maker and developer Kian Ryan has a great passion for old technology. When it came time to tinker with his ’90s Psion PDA, he knew he had to throw his Raspberry Pi into the mix.today we will show him S.Idekar creation using raspberry pi It acts as a working Linux serial terminal as well as a modem to connect the Psion to the Internet.
Ryan uses the Psion Series 5MX version of the PDA that was popular in the 1990s and first created a custom PCB known as the PiRS232. This board acts as his HAT for the Pi Zero, allowing him to connect to his PDA using a DB9 serial connector. This PiRS232 board of his is housed inside a small device that Ryan calls his Sidecar.
This sidecar unit is completely portable thanks to the addition of a 2200mAh LiPo battery and Pimoroni’s LiPo charging board. The idea here is to not only create an internet connection and terminal interface for Psion, but also to make the unit easily moveable and not tethered by a series of wires. assembled into a customized 3D printed shell.
Talk to Ryan live on Tom’s Hardware: The Pi Cast. December 6 at 2:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM GMT.
Ryan kindly shared the complete parts list for the project so we could take a closer look at how the system worked together. His custom PiRS232 PCB is connected to his Raspberry Pi Zero. Pimoroni LiPo Amigo Pro and Pimoroni LiPo SHIM are used. As mentioned above, it is made portable and powered by a 2200mAh battery. printed matter For those who want to download and print at home.
Ryan explains in his blog post that while using a Psion 5MX as a client, any PPP client that can support RTS/CTS will work instead. He gives detailed instructions on how to connect his Pi to the device via serial to initiate the necessary communication. However, be aware that this hardware is from his 90’s and is unsupported, so there are security concerns when connecting the Scion to the internet.
If you want to recreate this Raspberry Pi project, or want to learn more about how the projects work together, check out the original Raspberry Pi project. blog post And follow Kian Ryan for more cool projects and future work.