DIY Dell Inspiron Docking Stations?

scompt asks: "I've been looking around for some information on building a custom docking station for my Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop. The barrier is obviously the odd, jumbo connector on the back. Does anybody know the pinout of it? Hacking the insides of a laptop is almost a lost cause, but opening up the docking connector might provide a nice way to expand a previously dead end box."

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Solutions....

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Like what you are looking for are probably beyond your expertise.

Note that the high-density connector on the back of the Inspiron is not something you can solder onto a piece of single-sided veroboard from Radio Shack, and expect to be able to put PCI slots on it. And for less complicated applications, using something like the USB or Parallel port is a better idea.

If you *must* have better expansion on your I8K than what the (cheap, but spartan) Inspiron port replicator provides, there have been reports of people connecting Cdocks (for Latitudes) onto their I8k's and flashing their system BIOS with a Latitude image. But you apparently lose some Inspiron-specific functionality and its unsupported.

For more info, which is what I suspect this Ask Slashdot is actually asking about, try google. Some good I8K hacking resources are http://home.attbi.com/~stonent/ and all the good stuff linked off there, and the I8200 FAQ at http://www.geocities.com/thebithead/I8200FAQ.htm and Dell's own website has quite good docs and infor for messing around inside your I8k. As for hacking inside the I8k, I think you'd be suprised about what you can do, see Dell's I8k forums about what is possible.

As for making your own replicator, forget it unless you have access to sophisticated routing and simulation software, and access to manufacturing things like 4-layer PCBs and such. If you must hack, buying an I8k replicator is a good start, and they arent expensive unless you have unreasonable expectations.