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crazy question regarding small cellphone lcd screen

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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:


--- Quote ---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.
--- End quote ---

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:


--- Quote from: nox771 on November 02, 2008, 01:06:21 pm ---
--- Quote ---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.
--- End quote ---

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.


--- End quote ---

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:


--- Quote ---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.
--- End quote ---

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 ;)

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