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Small LCDs in a variety of types and sizes with driver boards.

http://store.earthlcd.com/

earthlcd has been a savior on many a project

http://store.earthlcd.com/

if you really just need on/off - do the spring loaded, or piezo, or even IR (www.acroname.com - sharp ir sensors)

if anyone has any other leads on cheap overstock LCDs... post away!!!

"The HDL has to have extremely low power consumption (to enable, among other things, a human-power source). That excludes the baby CRTs this poster found."

No, it doesn't, but since you made the challenge, to avoid argument, here is a $10 LCD display that far exceeds the spec necessary for a C-64 Laptop. This should reduce the cost of the unit by about $30.

"It is also extremely, dangerously wrong to assert that this will be proprietary. The design is wedded to open source designs; the demo units are running a commercial (redhat) Linux distro. This is less, it is not at all, a way of bashing this vendor or that. Rather, the idea is this. Imagine the outcome of million laptops. Many, frankly, perhaps even most, will be underused (but never underestimate the hunger of the 'rest of the world' to join 'our world' via the Internet). Some modest number will really, truly have transformative educational experiences, by learning WITH computers. Another number, larger? smaller? will learn ABOUT computers, and will themselves join /. world, as enterpreneurs."

Good point. The hardware will be a completely new design that will require recompiling of all the software fore it. It will not necessarally be "propriatary". Having a new platform that will require recompiling of all software is still inferior to a proven architecture that has thousands of commercial and public domain applications.

As for the internet, taking the stance that a computer doesn't have value unless it is on the internet is absurd. We did very well with computers prior to the internet. I'm glad we have it now, but I was very happy before we had it also.

"AND: the screen is expected to be sunlight readable, both to cut power consumption AND to enable the target children to be able to see vivid images in areas where daylight is the only reliable light source."

What? People have been using LCD's in both reflective and backlite for a very long time. This is not an issue. Why "vivid images"? If the people of a country are going to be so snobby that bw monitors and text/low res graphics just arn't good enough for them, then maybe they shouldn't have computers GIVEN to them. Many of us right here in the first world USA were very happy to have C-64s hooked up to black and white tvs. But apparently what we were very happy paying over a thousand dollars for is just not good enough for these people to have GIVEN to them for free?!?!?

"The poster also didn't note that: the HDL has to be a nearly sealed, highly rugged unit, capable of localization (e.g. keyboard replacement for local scripts). O, and it has to have USB ports and WiFi and ..."

Nearly sealed and highly rugged? Not an issue. Simple and cheap. I can drop the c-64 currently for sale off the roof, and it will function just fine. Sealing it is simple.

USB...I just call BS. Here in the US, we did just fine without USB for decades. It is definitly NOT an necessity. It is a luxary.

Localization....Wrong. Virtually every language on the planet has can be written in using romanized character sets. It may not be what they are used to, but when we started using computers we had to learn the metric system, so again, why is it that what we were happy to have would be beneath these people?

WiFi...Are you joking? They don't have any reliable light except the sun, and you expect them to have WiFi hotspots running? That is rediculous. Besides, as stated before, we were very happy for a very long time with networkless computers. What makes it so necessary for them to have it?

"Now, as the poster observes, you can kluge something together for about the same price sans these attributes. That's not the point."

So, given that we would use a $10 LCD instead of a $40 TV, you can "klude" together something for ~70% of the price. To

Personally, i've always liked the idea of putting an LCD screen that can pop out the front of your drive bay...

You mean something like this? I can't vouch for it or anything, but I'm planning on getting one myself once "lack of funds" problem gets resolved. I have, however, ordered one of their ezLCD-002 LCD's that I'm currently waiting for. I've read that the LCDs are refurbs, though, but the cost of replacement is pretty cheap (somewhere around $50 I think).

You mean something like this? I can't vouch for it or anything, but I'm planning on getting one myself once "lack of funds" problem gets resolved. I have, however, ordered one of their ezLCD-002 LCD's that I'm currently waiting for. I've read that the LCDs are refurbs, though, but the cost of replacement is pretty cheap (somewhere around $50 I think).

Karma-whoring clickable link. Come on, people, is <a href="...">...</a> that hard to type?

I use it all the time, for my car-puter. Portamon http://store.earthlcd.com/s.nl/sc.7/category.9/it. A/id.3846/.f/

For 499 you can have a folding laptop-lookalike that is really just an LCD and keyboard that accept external inputs. It folds up like a laptop but it's really a portable monitor+keyboard+touchpad in a laptop form factor.

http://store.earthlcd.com/s.nl/sc.7/category.9/it. A/id.3846/.f

I never owned one but at one job I was seriously considering it for exactly some of the reasons mentioned.

Portamon-12 (Portamon12)

PortaMon 12.1" Portable TFT LCD Monitor

World's Smallest Portable XGA Monitor!

SPECIFICATIONS:
Resolution: 1024 x 768
Colors: 16.7 million
Brightness: 180 cd/m2
Dimensions: 11.875" Wide x 9.375" High x 1.375" Deep (Standard Stand is 6" Deep)
Power: 110-220 VAC operation
15 Volt 2.4 Amp Power Supply
Input Connections: VGA, power
A/C Connection
Controller: CNT-EV-RGB

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
On Screen Display
Colors, Will expand VGA and SVGA Input to Fill Screen

INCLUDES:
Keyboard with Touch Pad
Durable canvas and mesh carrying case

POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS:
Field Service
Presentations
Server / machine room

Were you wanting this to do actual work (coding and such), or just to play games? The answer will affect what screen and input type you need. Standard composite or s-video will not be enough (unless your screen is lower-res 640x480) to do any serious work with - but it would be ok for game playing (though icon text and the like will be difficult to read). Finally, if it hasn't been mentioned already, get in contact with these guys - they will be able to help you with your problems and needs.

eBay
(see Home > All Categories > Business & Industrial > Electronic Components > Semiconductors, Actives > LCDs, Displays)

You can try EarthLCD to find a replacement panel, or alternatively, you can search ebay for the model number of the panel in your laptop. I have repaired about 5 laptop screens at very reasonable cost by buying panels from ebay.

There have been lots of sources for hobbyist LCDs for some time now. They can be purchased in low volume, the interfacing is fairly easy, and the physical mounting is taken care of.

Why haven't OLEDs made it to this market yet? The superior contrast ratio would seem to make them ideal for all sorts of homebrew applications.

You might want to check out EarthLCD. They carry a good number of parts for making LCD panels usable outside their original housings and configurations.

OCH LCD MicroView Review

LCD Mod

Extreme Overclocking-5in LCD Ultra-Thin Video Module Review - Page: 4 - Tweaking PC Hardware To The Max

Mikhailtech

5 Color LCD Mod

Mini LCD Monitor Review - Amdmb.com

Computer Compatible Small Format LCD Monitors

EarthLCD Home Page

Candescent: ThinCRT Showcase

Caltron Industries, Inc.

Caltron Industries, Inc.

Timeline, Inc. LCD Displays

6a3 5 X-Bri PAL-NTSC

6 TFT LCD Module Kits

5 mobile lcd display

Mobile LCD Modules

Pyle PLVWHR56M<br>5.6 Mobile Video LCD Monitor<br><img>

Parts Express: Browsing LCD 4 VIDEO MODULE

LCD Projectors, LCD, LCD Monitors, LCD Displays, LCD Panels, LCD Screens, Small LCD Monitors, LCD Flat Panel Displays, Resistive LCD Touch Screens

flat panel displays from Spire Controls

Check here for some LCD controllers and tips on how to put it together. The problem is that the controllers often cost as much or more than a cheap LCD by itself.

We can safely assume that Apple can bring some pressure to bear for better pricing on all of the above parts. Given this analysis, I'd guess that the entry price for the mini-iPod will be $149 and Apple knows something we don't about how to keep costs down (or they're willing to take a much lower profit maragin to build market share: not a bad plan if you expect mini-iPod buyers to graduate to higher maragin products in a year or so).

Coincidently, I was looking at that website recently, to get a small LCD screen (the one here). Unfortunately, they don't sell a controller board or anything. How am I supposed to link it to a computer without an appropriate connector? Can anyone help?

to look. Sure you don't get 3rd party reviews, but the prices are pretty good and you can get all sorts of kiosk and OEM parts. Touch screen technologies are discussed and can be added to any display. uhhh link.

Anybody know a cheap source of ~6-10" 800x600 LCD screens?

Try EarthLCD. They have a lot of LCDs for about $100. What would be really cool would be a machine with a character display device (which can be had for about $10). This would make a good text editing machine.

Though color would be nice

Many of the current MCUs are ball grid array (BGA) devices, which make them pretty hard to work with if you're not a professional, but a few can be had in PLCC or QFP packages, which means you can get an adapter board or socket.

You can also buy preassembled demo/development boards (this is the route I'm taking) and wire-up anything the board doesn't include by hand. Most of the MCUs on the market will have 32-bit memory busses (though they may not support more that 25 or 26 address lines), so you can attach just about anything you want to them.

This is exactly the kind of thing that Steve Ciarcia (of Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar) used to do: building personal computers from microcontrollers. Most of his designs used Z80 based devices, which was fine back in the mid- to late-eighties. Now, however, you can do a fair bit better.

As for speed, I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but the ARM devices can be had in speeds from 50MHz to 400MHz, and the same is true of the PPC and MIPS devices. That may not seem like much, compared to a 2GHz Pentium, but it's really quite nice.

Some good resources: Digi-Key is a reasonable source for all sorts of parts, Atmel makes some nice MCUs, programmable logic, and Flash RAM, Cirrus Logic makes some ARM MCUs and networking chips (amoung other things), Sharp, Samsung, Motorola, and AMD all make nice MCUs, Cogent Computers builds some nice development boards, and EarthLCD has good prices on LCDs and has an ARM based board in the works.

If you check out my journal you will get a detailed description of what I've been doing and why. In a nutshell: I'm trying to build a handheld computer that delivers adequate performance with maximum flexibility and battery life. The target design will have a small (7-8 inch) VGA screen, a moderately slow processor (100-200 MHz ARM), moderately sized hard disk (10-20 GB, 2" IDE), a moderate amount of RAM (32-256 MB), and run off of conventional rechargable batteries (8 AA NiMH cells) for at least 8-hours on a single charge.

Just to build the prototype will take several months and cost at least $1000 (probably several times that, when all is said and done). If I go to production, I can probably get the cost down to $300 per unit (not counting NRE costs), but the selling price will still be up in the $500 range.

The only way I am able to do any of this is that I am abandoning any kind of PC compatability: This device will never be able to run Windows or play flashy games (though it will run a regular, non-embedded, version of Linux). I've had to give up on all kinds of features that seemed like they should be simple: I don't have a clamshell case because the engineering is too complex for me to do myself and I don't have a keybaord because I couldn't find a source for laptop-style keyboards. I'm still holding out for polymer-LiION batteries, but I haven't found anywhere that builds them on contract, yet.

This is not the same sort of task as building a desktop computer from white-box parts (which is only slightly harder than plugging together lego blocks). This is much closer to actual engineering: I'll be constructing some of my own breadboards to connect the SBC to the LCD and the IDE hard disk, as well as custom hardware to charge and monitor the batteries.

Now all I need to tack down is the touch screen LCD interface for it

Here ya go - EarthLCD (LCD's and kits)
and EzScreen (Touchscreen kits)

earthlcd.com

They have kits with small LCDs and driver cards. There's a 6.3" monochrome with an ISA driver for $199 and a 7.8" color with a PCI controller for $299. Their outlines are 8.11" X 5.74", which should fit fine as a 5.25" bay is actually 5.875" wide. If you've got a few more bucks in your budget, or maybe don't have a free ISA or PCI slot, there's also an analog color 6.5" for $695 that's 7.04" X 4.99".

You're going to have to rig up some sort of mounting bracket for it. I'd recomend looking up a small machine shop in the phone book to do the fab work. Usually small shops have pretty good machinists who will be able to give you some useful suggestions on the design of it, and I highly recomend taking advantage of their expertise if you want the bracket articulated in any way. Stay away from places that specialize in automotive machining, as they are generally considered to be the machining equivalent of an MCSE.

Excellent place for all kinds of lcd or tft displays: www.earthlcd.com (also a good place to drool at the touchscreens)

Although the site was mentioned earlier, here are two direct links:

8.4" w/controller

10.4" w/controller

There are some more sizes in the RV section(!).

Although the site was mentioned earlier, here are two direct links:

8.4" w/controller

10.4" w/controller

There are some more sizes in the RV section(!).

Although the site was mentioned earlier, here are two direct links:

8.4" w/controller

10.4" w/controller

There are some more sizes in the RV section(!).

Check out http://www.partsexpress.com.
Also http://www.earthlcd.com, as mentioned above.
Keep looking the category 'Mobile Video'. You'll find many 4,5,6 inch screens.

If you're building something out of it anyway, PartsExpress has good deals on 'LCD Modules' which basically are the screens without the finished edges. There's a special right now for a 5.6" screen for $100! (part no 205-017). I bought a small screen there for $90 a few months ago to put in my car. They come highly recommended.

See EarthLCD.com for all your LCD needs (well, most, at any rate. I can't see to find an affordable 6.4" 640x480x256 touch screen LCD for my car...). They are not on the cheap side, but they have many models.

You don't comment on what resolution you want. There are hundreds of 640x480 LCDs available, down to about 6", possibly smaller. There are some 800x600 displays in the 13" to 10" range, but you start approaching the limits of pixel sizes.

..And it would costs abouts $200 a pop to get converter boards to use those LCD monitors on a desktop display. A lot of people assume that it's economically advantageous to use laptop LCD's instead of desktop ones. Typically, it doesn't cost less to use a laptop screen with a desktop, and the only places it makes sense is when you very specifically need like a 12.1" or 8.4" screen in a dash board or control panel. This thread talks about the technical problems associated with laptop screens on the desktop, and these guys carry everything you need to do it. Check it out, it's really expensive, even if you have 16 laptops with identical LCD's.

... and roll your own.

Look at MP3Car.com which has the details you need. Check out the forums.

Currently the Epia MB with a laptop HD via a 2.5 to 3.5 HD converter a slimline DVD/CD-R. You can use the S video or composite for a mobile LCD or serial based character LCD or go all the way and run VGA or SVGA LCD. Schematics on building the Sproggy DC to DC PSU or buy an ATX DC to DC power supply which is probably the hardest component to find.

On mp3car.com's forums you can find schematics for Delayed relays, noise suppression, why NOT to use an inverter, etc. For pics: mp3 webring list or searchmp3cars list.
Look at Mini-itx which has the spacecase that was discussed here on /.
So much for your afternoon.

Yes, /. needs a DIY section for hardware hackers.

Their site is at www.earthlcd.com. They have quite a few panels and the requisite converters for them. I've never bought anything from them but they have some cool stuff.

You don't really need to go out of your way to find a 9" PC monitor. There's a place called Earth LCD that has loads of surplus and overstock LCDs available, including touch screens. Some surfing around will come up with a good 8.5-9" color LCD with a VGA input.

I've used PC104 LCD video cards before. You can probably find some interesting stuff (like PC104 LCD controllers) at http://www.earthlcd.com/. Additionally, there are many PC104 SBC's with built-in LCD controllers that drive a number of popular displays. See http://www.sbc-pc104.com/ for a list of manufacturers.

Posted as AC to not appear too much of a KW.

http://www.earthlcd.com/controllers.htm

Regards,
SubtleNuance.

I suggest you start by looking here LinuxDevices.com's SBC reference, it is a terrific resource.

Im not sure the PC itself is your problem, simply getting a proper LCD driver and VidCard is your real issue.

As Ive seen/thought many times before, even recently mentioned here @ /., is the trouble you have driving a standard LCD. Dead laptops with very cool and useful LCD displays probably litter the parts pile of every slashdot user(!) - geeks are really unable to give up that LCD. Outside of buying a terribly expensive driver card from someone like Earth LCD. Also you may want to have a look at this reference.

This is an excellent question, an excellent topic and a very worthwhile idea. Basically, how do we hobble together some cheap, general purpose computers... not too much power - not much more than a network connection... these could be terminals in the home, "tablet-pcs", a DIY "ConnectedTouchpad/IOpener/Audrey", portable MP3 players... all cry out for *EXACTLY* the hardware this question is asking for.

A modular "embedded" PC. Just like our desktops... expandable, extensible and versatile. Why dont we have a solution like this for PDAs? Without straying OT too far, it would be *EXCELLENT* to see a DIY laptop for a lot of reasons.

Is there a good source out there for bare LCDs in small quantities? I've been able to find some at earthlcd.com,
but in general it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you can find at your local Radio Shack. Ten inch TFT displays there run around $300 minimum, so I don't see bringing the whole project in under $100 as practical, unless you're planning to go directly to the manufacturers and order thousands of units.

Afraid the Fresnel lens will degrade the quality of the image from your expensive LCD? Try this Bausch & Lomb lens--it appears to be a non-Fresnel, so it doesn't have the lines that could cause some quality loss. You could end up creating a better quality product than a $4000 LCD if this lens works the way I think it does.

Some video source thoughts:
-- 7-inch 16:9 LCD (I don't know where the 7 inches are--I think they're horizontal) being offered to Playstation/PSX owners
-- good source of variety of LCDs?
-- there are several 5-inch TFT NTSC LCDs available for use with the Playstation/PSX (some better than others)

If I weren't able to get good resolution out of the 16:9 version, I'd rather use a VGA LCD at ~$260-350 any day with the NTSC LCD prices Best Buy and Radio Shack charge.

Final thoughts on the dimness issue.. With an LCD, you should be able to remove the reflective backing (ever so carefully, pack a UV-protectant clear sheet of plastic over the back of the device and pump some flourescent, arc, or other bright lighting through it.
Some problems foreseen:
-- may take some experimentation to find the light that irritates the eyes the least
-- may need two settings for day and night
-- be very cautious as not to create a fire hazard