Emergency Windows

I have completed my self-assigned homework after the broken laptop experience on my last trip to Asia. Actually this exercise led to several interesting findings.

First - the LattePanda Delta works great. I have it inside a passive cooling case (no fans!). The case gets quite hot during operation but it seems within the limits as the computer itself runs just fine (and totally silent!). It also gives quite decent mechanical protection (although for travel I would recommend at least a small pouch to prevent small object from falling inside). Also I had to do some creative work related to wireless antennas (the Panda leaves this problem completely unsolved - the antennas dangle around on tiny cables). I ended up buying a pair of pcb-strip antennas with IPEX/MHF-4 connectors and gluing them to the sides of the Panda Arduino connectors. It is not ideal but works. Other than that the Panda feels quite fast and responsive, even Microsoft Office 365 applications run quite well.

Second - the USB-C port on the Panda works as expected, taking power and providing display output at the same time. Works brilliantly with a portable USB-C monitor. The monitor has 2 USB-C ports, so one takes power from a wall charger (or a power bank!) and the second feeds power to the Panda and takes the video (and audio!) signal.

Third - looking for a matching keyboard - I ended up with the new Logitech KEYS-TO-GO-2. Despite Logitech making it super difficult to buy, it is an absolutely great keyboard. To the extent that I am using it now as the main keyboard for my work. And then I also can use it with my iPad and the Panda.

Fourth - an iPAD can now act as a monitor too. Well this does not sound like news, as I was using the iPad as a second add-on monitor for may years, thanks to the Duet app. But here is the thing: Duet and similar solutions enable iPads as SECONDARY monitors, but it is (almost) impossible to use them as the PRIMARY windows monitor (think: entering Bitlocker password before Windows even boots). But there has been a very important change introduced in iOS 17: it can now take input from a USB camera (or a frame grabber / HDMI capture device). I have tested three such HDMI-to-USB-C dongles and they all work. So daisy-chaining the HDMI port of the Panda to the USB HDMI capture dongle and then to the iPAD simply works. There are some apps like Orion which make it even easier (and more customizable). The only catch is - for longer work you need two power supplies - one for the Panda and the other for the iPad (and probably a USB-C hub as iPads have only a single USB-C port. But see below :)

Fifth - there are HDMI-to-USB-C video capture dongles with a second USB-C (female) port, which enables charging the iPad while using it as an external HDMI monitor. I bought this one from Amazon (also available on AliExpress) and it works as intended. And actually I can daisy-chain power it from one of the Panda's USB ports!

I the end it looks a little bit like a Frankenstein - a mixture of cables and dongles, but it does work. And at around 250 grams it is probably the lightest and most compact fully-fledged Windows backup computer one can imagine. The lighter option would of course be an Intel Compute stick, but they have been discontinued and also lack the expandability, which the Panda has through two M.2 slots.