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Best Way To Put a Monitor On a Robot?

Posted by timothy on from the window-to-the-soul dept.

I'm part of my schools IGVC team, and we're upgrading our bot's computer to an onboard mini-itx. Most of the access to the box is gonna be through ssh, but I want a terminal I can just mount on the bot for convenience. Bidding on a psOne LCD already, but what are some good options if that doesn't pan out? I want to keep it as cheap as possible and small (in the 5-7 inch range). I haven't found any good guides to modding a digital photo frame or portable DVD player, but I'm probably just not looking in the right places.

5 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Easy answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Duct tape.

  2. Small VGA LCDs by Change · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are a number of 7" VGA LCD displays with touchscreens in use in the car computer hobbyist community. The low-end ones are around USD $250-$300.
    http://store.mp3car.com/category_s/27.htm
    http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/lcd_displays
    http://digitalww.com/store/products.asp?cat=8

    Take a look around there and I'm sure you'll find something that will work quite well.

  3. For terminal use, I'd recommend monochrome by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe a 4x20 or a small graphic display with 8 bit interface. A lot easier to program (minimal graphics driver needed) and a whole heck of a lot cheaper than a color panel.

    I had good luck at www.crystalfontz.com, but Digikey and Mouser have stuff as well.

    We have used the TFT panels here at work, and they require a lot to get them up and running. Even if your mini-itx has a built in panel controller, the graphics driver is a not inconsiderable programming job (unless you are fortunate enough to have one included with your OS). You might well decide that the time spent trying to get a graphics display working would be better spent on bot functionality.

  4. Have you looked into the carputer/car-pc scene? by krnpimpsta · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hey, I'm into the car-PC scene (where we replace our stock radio's with computers & touchscreens, in order to have all the features of the best touch-screen navigation/head units, in addition to things such as internet (wifi/edge/etc), engine management, etc..) [/carputer plug]

    We frequently use LCD's in the 6-8" size, but they're usually touch-screen and that may be overkill for your application. If it's not, though, a good bang-for-the-buck 7" touchscreen is the Lilliput 7" touchscreen - ~$250. If you want something a little better, try the Xenarc 7" - ~$350 (I personally use the Xenarc 7" 700TSV and have tested the Lilliput 7".. I have only great things to say about Xenarcs)

    The touchscreens connect to your computer via USB and the video source can be either VGA or a single RCA coaxial.
    If you're on a budget, my best advice would be to search for a cheap Lilliput non-touchscreen in the size you want. A quick google search came up with this 7" Lilliput for $120

    If you want touchscreens, a good place to start is www.mp3car.com. Non-touchscreens are less popular in the carputing world, so you will probably have better luck with google for those.

    --

    New webcomic updated on Sundays: HERE

  5. What worked for me by cybergremlin · · Score: 4, Informative

    What I used on the robot for my EE senior project was a serial LCD from seetron.com

    It took the serial port data form a 16bit microcontroller and displayed it on screen. We used it mostly for text feedback but also used the low end graphics to display a graph of what our analog sensors saw in real time.

    Probably low end for what you want but still a good option for embedded hardware hackers out there, as they could run it off of a pic or Basic Stamp. Will except TTL or RS232 voltage levels.