Dek's Port Replicator PA2703U

An open source equivalent of the Toshiba Port Replicator PA2703U. This is for Portege 610CT, T3400 and T3600 notebook/laptop computers. Given the great difficulty in sourcing the original port replicator for late 1990 era laptops, and the absence of having a vga out port on my laptop, this project aims to add a simple VGA out, keyboard, and mouse sockets. It is based on available service manuals detailing pins on the socket, my hobbiest experience with electronics, and quite a bit of trial and error.

Later versions maybe expanded to include other ports (including a pins for an external floppy drive, comm, and printer ports) that maybe useful for other projects.

For further information and step by instructions on how to build, please head on over to: https://github.com/dekkit/Mini-Port-Replicator-PA2703U-VGA-Keyboard-Mouse-

Background

Given the great difficulty in sourcing the original port replicator for late 1990 era laptops, and the absence of having a vga out port on my laptop, this project aims to add a simple VGA out, keyboard, and mouse sockets via the propriatory socket found on the back of laptops from this era.

The original socket on my 610CT laptop used a propriatory socket and despite many hours spent searching for an equivalent, I was unable to find anything suitable. As a result, I decided to recreate the socket using low cost pcb manufactoring, and particulary given the advancement in free online PCB design software (easyeda). This was based on the service manual and my own verification and testing.

The goal is to ensure this design is open, easily accessible, and able to be cheaply made. A secondary goal is to showcase how custom inexpensive PCBs can be easily made to support building an interface to a legacy / propriatory socket for other projects.

dek