Workaround of a failed kittyhawk hdd

[panips]

I didn't find any modern solution for the old, 1.3', HP KittyHawk HDD so I mod one myself. Guess this is the easiest way to revive an IBM powered tablet (yea...Dauphin DTR-1)



The original HDD was secured by double-sided tape, so you may apply some ipa alcohol to help removing it.


The KittyHawk is in fact a regular (tiny) IDE hdd with 90-degree offset connector so it's possible to mod one from the modern IDE solution. While CF/IDE adapter seems too big, the SD/IDE adapter has the right size. Using a standard SD/IDE adapter, first desolder the 44-pin header. Rotate the adapter 90 degrees and solder the first 22 pins into the row of holes closest to the edge of the PCB.
I did not take many pictures but this is how it looks like after the first step


Next, clip the remaining pins on the front side and dremel them down until they are completely flat. No picture here but basically you need to cut the shorter arm of the L-shaped pin.
Now for the most challenging step: reshaping the pins. For each L-shaped pin, bend it into a 'J' shape. While maintaining the original 90-degree bend, introduce two additional 135-degree angles so that both ends of the pin are offset but parallel.


Solder the remaining 21 pins so that the original inner row (the one further from the edge) becomes the new outer row of the connector.


It's easy to break the pins but you can always find some solutions


Now it's almost done. The PCB is still slightly too wide to fit the drive bay, so you will need to trim the board between LED4 and LED5. It is safe to remove LED4, resistor R4, and the surrounding non-essential circuitry to achieve the necessary clearance.


Done! Ok, a picture of the original KittyHawk, mod one, and the SD/IDE adapter


I then use an old 128M sd card to install the system and all software come up with Dauphin DTR-1. I did not test what is the max size of HDD it supports, but 128M seems pretty enough for an old 486.


Yeah, 128M!

[RealBlackStuff]

Never heard of a Dauphin DTR-1.
Nice job!
So what are you gonna do over Xmas?

[axur-delmeria]

Never heard of the Dauphin DTR-1, and a quick web search led me to this: https://www.oldcomputers.net/dauphin-dtr-1.html and this this video from LGR.

[panips]

It's ski season! Will get back and continue working on ThinkPad 350 in my spare time.
BTW: seems many Dauphin DTR-1 units are missing their original stylus, I tested several digitizer pens and I found that the active pen from the Fujitsu Stylistic 1000 works perfectly. This means you can also use active pens from the Compaq TC1000 and the Fujitsu Stylistic 500, 1000, 1200 (and likely the 2300)