Inexpensive USB LCD With Linux Drivers For LCDproc

An anonymous reader writes "The Windows Vista SideShow technology shows some promise. But what about Linux devices that can present snippets of information independent of the main display? Here's a review of the picoLCD-4x20, a relatively inexpensive USB device ($50) that supports both SideShow on Vista and LCDproc on Linux."

Comments

!cheap

[bradgoodman]

$50 for a 4x20 Text LCD is not cheap!

Re:!cheap

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, and I could program up a $2 ATtiny for the interface, then another few bucks for connectors. Of course you'd need a case which would also cost money and time. By the time I was done, I'd be pretty close to $40, if I only payed myself minimum wage. If you think you can produce them cheaper, why don't you give it a try? I can hear it now, "But, but, but, it's still too expensive." Talk is cheap.

Re:!cheap

[Anonymous Coward]

Add a USB cable, a few buttons and a plastic shell. With the display and the controller, that's a total of maybe $10 in parts, retail, one-of prices. $50 for the final product is an acceptable price, if you must have the small form factor or the low power consumption, but it is not "inexpensive" or "cheap". You can buy 1024x768 TFTs for $50...

too little, too much

[frovingslosh]

As far as I can tell, this device is only alpha numeric, no real graphics capabilities.

While I'm sure that a very small number of people will buy into this, I find it very disappointing and very limited, and pretty damn expensive for what you get. I compare this to my Logictech G15 LCD graphic display device. I paid $60 for mine a little over a year ago, it runs on USB, has similar input buttons near the display, but it does full graphics, and a number of nice aplets are already written for it (although far too few). Oh yea, it also happens to include a full illuminated keyboard, multimedia volume knob and mute button, and 18 user definable macro keys (expandable to 54 or more using the 3 "bank" buttons - but unfortnately the newer version of the Logitech G15 reduces this to just 6 user definable buttons). And they throw in a few extra USB ports too. While some people might not want to use a keyboard with their computer, I kind of suspect that most do, and that mounting a full graphic capable similar sized LCD on a Luminated keyboard is a far better way to go for the vast majority of users, and that a $50 price for just an alpha-numeric display is a bit expensive. Too bad they didn't make it Logitech G15 compatible and put it out at a lower price, but I don't see a likely broad use for this gimic when the G15 is still available, even with it's reduced number of fumction keys in the new version.

Re:too little, too much

[Zerth]

Or you could just get one of those LCD picture keychains that has something like a 65c02 with a usb interface. 1 or 2 inch graphic lcd that does 20-30 frames per second.

And you can get them for under $30. Some as low as $15.

http://spritesmods.com/?art=picframe&page=3&showall=true

Although last time I checked the software was linux only.

Re:That fine article is old.

[symbolset]

I would probably have gone with USBspy because I'm not afraid of commercial software, I just prefer the other kind. I'm sure Sourceforge has something to solve the problem but I'm not actively seeking an answer today so it's better if the grandparent does the rest of this work himself.

4x20? luxury, when I were a kid...

[hack slash]

...4x20 was the screensize of your LAPTOP!

I got a working one of those kicking about in my shed, any ideas what I could do with it? besides trying to find replacement rechargable batteries.

Re:Require Windows XP

[symbolset]

I'm sorry. This is /. so I assume some stuff. Forgive me.

Ok, so what you do is click the address bar and type "google.com" (without the quotes) and press the enter key. Then in the search box on the page you type your heart's desire. If what you're looking for isn't on the first page, click the "2" and so on until you find it.

I hope this has been helpful.

Re:Or maybe...

[ajlitt]

In USB parlance, "full speed" means that the device supports 12Mbps transactions. It has no bearing on the throughput the device must sustain. And the 2.0 part is just marketing fluff: any full speed device is compatible with the 2.0 spec by way of legacy support for 1.1. For the record, "high speed" is the official term for 480Mbps USB, not 2.0.

Standards organizations are weird.

Re:Require Windows XP

[Kawahee]

I hope this has been helpful.

So helpful was your advice that I travelled back in time and availed myself of Google to make this post.

If you had bothered to Google this you would have seen that cheap, platform independent and real time frames do not exist. They are not real time, they are not platform independent and they are not in the $50 price range.

Do not make a recommendation for a platform independent, real time, $50 USB frame when they do not exist

Then again, the only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself, so I guess it's forgivable that you did not know that real time, platform independent, $50 USB frames do not exist, right?

Re:Or maybe...

[OeLeWaPpErKe]

Or you could hack a digital picture frame :

http://picframe.spritesserver.nl/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Now *that* could be nice. Full color, tiny screen on the front of the device. Now make a touchscreen out of it and ...