LCD programming/obtaining !

Gavin

Seen some good articles on LCD's connected to the paralell port.

Anyone know where I could pick these up in ireland.. apart from itronics or the other calatogues ?

maplins or peats ? Didn't see any on the peats website. Anyone using them at the moment ?

Gav

Matt Simis

OK, I dont have a serial port job, but do have a proper 4" LCD TV mounted in the front of my case. My Radeon 8500 lets me use it as a second monitor. It only cost $119 from www.overclockershideout.com

They have better ones than mine there now though :rolleyes:



Matt

Inspector Gadget

Maplin have parallel-port-compatible ones from STG£13 (RM88V - RM91Y and VX24B), and serial-port-compatible ones from £30 (RM92A - RM96E). Get PC cable RN01B as well if you choose a serial one.

Gadget

Gavin

ok, just checked them on the maplins site. I'll head into today and see if them have em here. Cheers,

Gav

Gerry

Yes, this is a worthwhile mod I think. Instead of cutting windows and putting neon lights in the case, I'd rather put something genuinely cool, useful and non embarrassing in it. A nice backlit screen displaying details from winamp, cpu temps, fan speeds or whatever would be dead cool.

phaxx

Oooooh, yes, I had an old laptop screen and wanted to put it into the side but unfortunately there's something wrong with it so it's useless.

I'm glad to see those little lcd panels are so cheap, I may well get one for the server. All I need now is some sort of keyboard I can attatch to the case. One of those fold-out palm keyboards would do, if one could connect it to a ps\2 port.

Gavin

What's the keyboard for ?

Gav

PPC

Get yer selfs a VFD from Farnell . (882951)

ICEHardware's VFD guide

Unfortunatly i mixed up the 5v and ground on mine and blew it up.
Im waiting for the replacment now.

phaxx

Originally posted by Verb
What's the keyboard for ?

Gav

It's a headless server, so it would be cool to mount a small display in the front and have a keyboard mounted somehow on it, so if and when I need to fix something, or check that it's working right, I don't need to go hunting for a keyboard and monitor and fiddle about connecting them.

yellum

Cool links there. I think I'm going to try that.

The part from farnell costs € 52.99

PPC

It fits in your floppy drive bay if its big enough.
Its really cool

[edit by phaxx] Removed your sig, it's annoying. The rules regarding these have changed too, check the admin forum[/edit\

BioHazRd

Sorry if I am coming in late here, but I have fitted an LCD to the front of my case

It is backlit, serial, has a keypad, fits in a 5" bay, displays temps, etc etc

I got it from Matrix Orbital

If you want any more info, email me or pm me

Gavin

How much it cost ? How long it take to arrive ? You pay by cc ?

Gav

BioHazRd

Their current prices are on the site. I paid by CC and it arrived after 4-5 days. Comes with all the kit and a load of software

They even have a forum on their site where some guys write specific apps etc. - they are really helpful.

I hope to have a picture of my case on the web soon - I will let you know when I do it so you can look at the LCD in place yourself.

PPC

The MO's are really nice.
They're classed as the best pre built in the world.
Bit-tech are doing a special offer


but imho VFD's are nicer. Still waiting for my replacement one which should be shipped Tuesday :rolleyes:

Inspector Gadget

...as far as I can see, there's one thing that no-one seems to note about the whole LCD/VFD thing - that is, the device's lifetime.

I've seen VFDs (as they're commonly fitted to stereos, videos, etc.) "burn out" inside a couple of years, but an LCD with an EL/LED backlight could (in theory) go on for decades. Now, I know none of us are really bothered by this, but the fact remains that the "V" in "VFD" stands for "Vacuum" (sp?) and as such if there were a leak, or a crack (considering these things heat up, it's not unlikely)...

Anyone else have thoughts on the subject?
Gadget

po0k

haven't read enough on this lately, and can't remember what I did read, but they generally hook up through the serial port don't they?

Might have a go later on.

This is where a full tower case really comes in handy.

po0k

I notice from the Bit-tech article that the MO has pins for connecting up to a 25-key matrix keypad.
How much would one cost?

koneko

Mmm, was looking at the same kinda thing, SyxPak.
In combo with one of those Antec/Chieftec cases (I'm sure you've all seen em, with the door on the front). Considering a TV LCD instead. Still in planning stages

Checked into this LCD + keypad a while ago, though it seems a little small:

http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/mo_blk202a_4br_lcd/index.shtml

spaczed

yeh, while on the subject of lcd's and parallel port connections. i got a small lcd up in maplins last week , and plan to use it to bulid a hifi seperate mp3 player (running embedded linux over windows/dos ELMP- http://zephyr.unl.edu/~spawn/elmp/ ) - basically a stripped down p100etc. system with no screen but an lcd displaying the track and so on, and also for showing information for selecting directory/track/playlist. i'm building my own 16 button keypad - they're simple to make, just some veroboard, wire and buttons. i'm taking the really simple diagram form an old maplin catalogue. it has the circuit diagram for 20 way and 40 way 'pads if ya want them. You can buy some from Matrix Orbital, who sumone mentioned earlier, maplin only do 16 way keypads now i think.

while on the subject does anyone know where i could pick up an old hifi amp case to use? should i post to > Technology > Audio / Visual > ?