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Homebrew LCD...

R

RaWk

Senior member
Has anyone tried making one of these with one of those cheapy OEM LCD's you see on ebay? I would think that with some circuit knowledge and an appropriate driver chip one could make their own LCD, right? The signals coming out of the standard VGA connector is pretty simple. Something like R,G,B (and corresponding grounds), Hsync, Vsync, and some other signals. Any input?

 
Look for one with an NTSC input, then it's cake. character LCDs can usually be done via the paralell port. MAKE SURE you can get a manufacturer's datasheet before buying.
 
Problem is that lcd don't take rgb input. They take digital input. However, it might still be possible with DVI because many notebook LCD's use DFP and DVI is based on DFP. I'm thinking of trying the same thing as you are. Wish me luck!
 
NTSC is just for sending to TVs/VCRs really, where the ability to have a decent resolution and read normal size text doesn't matter at all, and almost everything that gets displayed is a pre-anti-aliased natural image with very few if any sudden color changes.

Back when there used to be computer monitors supporting this standard (when 640x200was considered 'hi-res') the joke would be that NTSC is an acronym for "Never Twice the Same Color". Its NOTORIOUS for color bleeding and blurry images from interference patterns between the brightness and color signals. So it wouldn't be a desirable signal for a LCD display (normally known for image sharpness).

In fact the colors generated by old Apple //s are completed based on NTSC interference patterns when outputing a 280x192 (or later 560x192) black & white signal.
 
This would be awesome. I have a DVI on my video card. Does anyone have any idea how this could be done?
 
Are you talking about color LCDs or dot matrix lcds? Dot matrix LCDs are easy since there are TONS of drivers/libraries/hardware that'll simplify the job for you... Color LCDs, on the other hand, are a little more complex since you will have to be developing the libraries yourself unless the manufacturer or 3rd party provides it for you...

EDIT: Unless the LCD your talking about are the ones that are made for video... then you'll need a SVGA-to-RCA video converter.
 
I don't know if I am on the same page as everyone else but this is what I was refering to.

Ebay

I would just like to purchase one of these OEM laptop LCD's and make a case for it and hook it up to my computer. I know all the connectors for these are going to be different. I just wonder how hard it would be.
 
codewiz: that's exactly the model I was looking at..heh... Thing is, I can't find any specs on the internet about it!

so blahblah, yes, I am talking about a color LCD. I have used dot matrix LCD's (only character though) and that was pretty easy, so I think it would be fun to play with a full blown color computer LCD.

 
I figure that I am somewhat handy in the woodshop so I could build a $20 case out of wood for it. Add $20 for circuit board and connections and I could have a $180 17inch LCD for my computer 🙂

RaWk, this is truly a good idea. If I find out any info, I will definately let you know.
 
yeah, I've seen that page. It's impossible to track down a datasheet for one of these things. How do these dude's on Ebay sell these? Unless you're an OEM, you'd have no idea what to do with this (I assume the OEM's have access to datasheets that regular consumers like you and me don't). It's the man keepin us down I tell ya.
 
Originally posted by: RaWk
yeah, I've seen that page. It's impossible to track down a datasheet for one of these things. How do these dude's on Ebay sell these? Unless you're an OEM, you'd have no idea what to do with this (I assume the OEM's have access to datasheets that regular consumers like you and me don't). It's the man keepin us down I tell ya.
Click to expand...

If I am not mistaken these are for laptops. They are just LCD screens for different model laptops. I know I found one for my Dell Laptop. They are really easy to replace. I just figure if they are sold so cheaply it would be nice to modify for use on a desktop.
 
I think I might have found what we need.

link

I don't think this is the exact same model we are looking at but I am willing to bet the connection is the same type.

Jim
 
Codewiz: yeah I've seen that info sheet before. It's very high level and wouldn't help much in actually wiring things up and explaining any timing/circuit issues. I have email fujitsu so hopefully they'll get back to me with some useful info. I'll keep ya posted
 
Here is the response to the email I sent to Fujitsu. I think I'll try contacting the dude selling the LCD

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Many Thanks for your message and your interest in our products.

Unfortunately we are not authorised to provide you which such information, for it is confidential.
We can only supply an answer to one of our customers purchasing the LCD with us directly.

Kindly contact the company/person which have sold the LCD to you or your company.
They are responsible/obliged for supplying you with answers.

We regret not have a better answer for your and hope for your understanding.

Many Thanks!

Best regards

Barbara A. Pearson
Senior Service Co-ordinator
Business Unit Displays

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe GmbH
Tel. +49 (0)6103 / 690-217
Fax +49 (0)6103 / 690-122
barbara.pearson@.fme.fujitsu.com

 
They probably got them cheap and are selling them at a good markup. They know that people out there will think them a great deal, and get bought up. The problem is that every model usually has a different hookup. Also, this is just a screen, you still need a driver/decoder. It is not as easy as it looks. This seems to pop up every montho or 2 in HT. I remember when I first tried this. CompGeeks had old 14.1" screens they were selling for $25. Everyone in Ht bought them, and no one could figure out how to make them work, even after calling justa bout everyone on the planet.

these screens are made for direct replacement, not modification. without the propritary driver, you are SOL.

If you do happen to figure something out, please LMK. I have about 80 e-mail addresses of the poeple who were trying with the compgeeks LCD.

I wish you luck.

<edit>
found 4 old articles on this issue. None had any good info in them. All were in the archived section. ( must be a subscriber to access ) just search for lcd.
 
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