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My serial LCD for displaying directions

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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.

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