crazy question regarding small cellphone lcd screen

[clickhea]

i have a lcd screen from a blackberry curve




it wouldn't be possible to somehow wire this up to the computer to have it display certain things would it?

the connector to the lcd is weird so i wouldnt even know where to begin if it was even possible.

[leapinlew]

The quick answer is no.

I'm making an assumption it's like a laptop LCD and it's not like a normal monitor. I did some research on something similar when I had a lot of junker laptops that had perfectly good monitors, but bad computers. You could do a ton of leg work and possibly get the thing working if you can find the proper driver (hardware and software) for the display, but odds are it won't be feasible.

I don't remember all the details of why it's so difficult, but I do remember that it wasn't simply a matter of a correct pinout.

[clickhea]

alright that's what i figured, thanks for the quick response.

[Encryptor]

I believe that I read some where that it's because there isn't a controller built into those smaller lcd screens. Therefore there is nothing to convert/translate the signals going to the lcd or something along those lines anyway and the part to do that is very expensive.


Encryptor

[leapinlew]

I believe that I read some where that it's because there isn't a controller built into those smaller lcd screens. Therefore there is nothing to convert/translate the signals going to the lcd or something along those lines anyway and the part to do that is very expensive.


Encryptor

Very good memory. That sounds familiar to me too.

[clickhea]

ok heres a little spin on the question


i have the phone motherboard which the lcd screen connects too.

when i connect the lcd to the motherboard then connect the motherboard via usb to my computer i get a picture on the lcd of a battery symbol.


think there would be anyway to override this and have it display random things? or would i need a specific driver for this.

[nox771]

when i connect the lcd to the motherboard then connect the motherboard via usb to my computer i get a picture on the lcd of a battery symbol.

That's just the built-in firmware of the phone displaying the battery charge indicator when it detects power (via USB).  I don't think you will get what you want via that route.

To interface to a computer via USB you will likely have to build a microcontroller based interface (you may be able to find a dev board somewhere - prob $$$ though). 

To build a microcontroller interface you would need to first find the datasheet for that display.  Something like the PDFs here:
http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/128128a/data_sheet/data_sheet.html
Then you would need to get familiar with a microcontroller, how to communicate via USB, and how to write the corresponding host-side software.  Been down that road, if your new to this kind of thing expect a year or so of learning. 

There are some forums around that deal with this kind of thing.  You can try here:
http://forum.lcdinfo.com/
Now that I look at it perhaps that 13700 board they sell will work (that would save a heck of a lot of time):
http://www.lcdinfo.com/
You could try posting the LCD model info to that forum and ask if the controller will work.

[leapinlew]

when i connect the lcd to the motherboard then connect the motherboard via usb to my computer i get a picture on the lcd of a battery symbol.

That's just the built-in firmware of the phone displaying the battery charge indicator when it detects power (via USB).  I don't think you will get what you want via that route.

To interface to a computer via USB you will likely have to build a microcontroller based interface (you may be able to find a dev board somewhere - prob $$$ though). 

To build a microcontroller interface you would need to first find the datasheet for that display.  Something like the PDFs here:
http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/128128a/data_sheet/data_sheet.html
Then you would need to get familiar with a microcontroller, how to communicate via USB, and how to write the corresponding host-side software.  Been down that road, if your new to this kind of thing expect a year or so of learning. 

There are some forums around that deal with this kind of thing.  You can try here:
http://forum.lcdinfo.com/
Now that I look at it perhaps that 13700 board they sell will work (that would save a heck of a lot of time):
http://www.lcdinfo.com/
You could try posting the LCD model info to that forum and ask if the controller will work.

Thanks for the informative post Nox. I wanted to say something similar to what you said (will cost a lot of money and isn't easy) but didn't feel qualified to say so since I'm not an expert on the matter. I remember walking away from this same type situation with the idea that it was much more complicated than I originally thought it would be.

[nox771]

I remember walking away from this same type situation with the idea that it was much more complicated than I originally thought it would be.

You know I'm not certain it's entirely over the head of someone new to it, for some reason when I go about these things I always end up taking the hardest route possible.  For me I look at it and I would go the micro route, but look at what this guy did: http://forum.lcdinfo.com/viewtopic.php?t=2490

He took a $20 LCD, a $60 controller, plugged it into myLCD (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mylcd/), and got video working on it.  To be certain he had to have a good level of understanding of what he was doing, and he did some custom coding, but it's much easier than the route I would have gone.  I've seriously got to learn to make better use of off-the-shelf bits and pieces...

[clickhea]

well thats pretty cool, but yeah iam just not gonna bother thank you guys