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My serial LCD for displaying directions
maraxle:
--- Quote from: JoeB on April 06, 2004, 03:02:44 pm ---- How does the screen look like when the light is just coming from the arcade monitor? Have you considered getting the LCD backlit ? What would such an LCD run?
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A backlight would definitely help. I've seen a kit out there for adding a backlight to this particular LCD. It's $38, if I remember correctly. The LCD itself cost me $20. If they made a red backlight, I'd get one in a second, but so far they only have blue.
--- Quote ---- The install process should be the most difficult thing to do. Most people have 3/4" MDF as their control pannel + something on top of that. How would you integrate it to the point where it doesn't look wierd? Any ideas from anyone?
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I'm actually mounting mine behind the bezel. I will leave a cutout in the artwork for the screen. When I was going to mount the LCD in the control panel, I was thinking of cutting a hole the size of the screen, and routing out around the hole underneath. The other alternative would have been making/buying a metal mounting plate, similar to the ones commonly used for trackballs.
screaming:
--- Quote from: maraxle on April 06, 2004, 07:13:33 pm ---When I was going to mount the LCD in the control panel, I was thinking of cutting a hole the size of the screen, and routing out around the hole underneath.
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That's exactly what I was going to do, but my LCD screen ended up being too big. If I could get a cheap color screen, I think it would be an awesome addition to an all-purpose cab.
/Steve
micro571:
That's a great implimentation of the screen in the cab.
Just a word to anyone interested in obtaining one.
There are 2 main types. The serial (mostly Matrix Orbital) and the parallel port types based on the HD44780 controller chip.
A couple years ago I bought a 4x20 screen, and wired it up to the parallel port. A little DIY project is the cheapest way to go. The best source of these LCD screens on the net is http://www.eio.com/lcdprodt.htm - where you can get em starting at $6.00 .
My screen is now in a project box and I use a program called LCD Smartie to control it. You can see my screen at www.jbprojects.net/projects/lcd .
It's a great project to do. Not too expensive and can be a great additional to a mame cab.
chrisindfw:
What about the idea of getting small one line LCD's and place them each under a button and changing them instead of one big screen?
I would try that but not sure how to control all of them at once.
maraxle:
--- Quote from: chrisindfw on April 07, 2004, 02:56:29 pm ---What about the idea of getting small one line LCD's and place them each under a button and changing them instead of one big screen?
I would try that but not sure how to control all of them at once.
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I considered that, but got such a good deal on this LCD that I passed on it. Basically, you'd just need as many COM ports as you have buttons. I can't remember if it's possible to go over 4 COM ports or not, but you could at least do a 4 button setup. Your batch file would have 4 lines in it instead of 1, and you would have 4 separate text files.