Blue (or white) lcd

TracyL

New member
Ok, if anyone knows where to find a blue or white backlit 20x4 lcd, I would appreciate it. Otherwise, how hard would it be to convert either a reflective or LED backlit lcd to EL? Thanks.
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Chrix

New member
WOW! As i said in my other post, thats really good!

Where can I get one? Its a matrix orbital isnt it?!
 
M

MWP

Guest
Theres a good reason why CF LCDs are backlit instead of sidelit like the one in that link.

Sidelit LCDs look horrible... no other way to put it. The light isnt even across the LCD so they become hard to view. Youll also find that LCD in the link is quite small, its almost impossible to side light an LCD as big as a 634 and make it look good.

BTW... TheCheeseMan... That MO LCD youve been modding is a pixel graphics LCD right (not char driven like HD44780)?
What PC stats software are you using to drive it? I didnt think any was avaliable.
 

TheCheeseMan

New member
MWP said:
Theres a good reason why CF LCDs are backlit instead of sidelit like the one in that link.

Sidelit LCDs look horrible... no other way to put it. The light isnt even across the LCD so they become hard to view. Youll also find that LCD in the link is quite small, its almost impossible to side light an LCD as big as a 634 and make it look good.

BTW... TheCheeseMan... That MO LCD youve been modding is a pixel graphics LCD right (not char driven like HD44780)?
What PC stats software are you using to drive it? I didnt think any was avaliable.
Firstly I'm not here to say 'woo MO displays are the best don't buy CF' - though I do like and was showing off my display as it does rock.

You're right in pointing out the problem with single LED lit LCD's - getting the backlight to be very constant over the LCD is difficult and you'll notice from the picture there is a slight halo on the left hand side if you use LED's any brighter than about 2cd, though I don't think this is a real problem. And I'm pretty sure by the pics that CF do sell some side lit LCD's though I may be wrong.

As for the LCD's size - it's almost exactly the same size as a 4x20 display, so don't worry there.

Software support is good, it can use all existing MO software - can be driven as a normal 4x20 display, though the only advantage of doing this over a 4x20 display is the ability to use different fonts and 256 special characters (of variable width - I normally use LCD Center now with a few special characters). There isn't much software around that will take fully advantage of it's graphical ability, though some is in the works. But you don't really pay any extra for it being graphical - $15 over the 4x20 price I think for a nicer colour display with memory, custom startup screens, fonts, a keypad interface and a GPO.

Basically it's clear from what you've said above that you've never stopped to look at this display for more than a minute, never read the review of it http://www.icehardware.net/reviews/graphiclcd/ and really don't know what you're talking about - though please don't take offense at this.

Once again, I don't work for MO and I don't take a banner of theres into bed with me - my fifth LCD if arriving this morning and four of them so far have not been MO displays, though as I said in, the review above this display from MO does rock. The mod I did to change the LCD's colour is not LCD make specific and I'm sure could be used on a CF displays (the blue inverted ones certainly look like they're side LED lit - no?).

Thanks (sorry if this post seemed harsh),

Rob.
 
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M

MWP

Guest
Yeh... ok, that is rather cool.

I didnt realise that LCDCenter or any of the other popular apps could drive the gfx MO LCDs which is what i mainly had against it.

Backlighting is still the prob with that LCD... would be nice if you could mount more LEDs around the LCD to give it a more uniform lighting.
I think the only other prob i would find with that LCD is the PCB size compared to the display area. Say if you wanted to mount it in a box, it would look kinda weird having a huge box to fit the PCB when the display size is quite a bit smaller.
 

TheCheeseMan

New member
MWP said:
Yeh... ok, that is rather cool.

I didnt realise that LCDCenter or any of the other popular apps could drive the gfx MO LCDs which is what i mainly had against it.

Backlighting is still the prob with that LCD... would be nice if you could mount more LEDs around the LCD to give it a more uniform lighting.
I think the only other prob i would find with that LCD is the PCB size compared to the display area. Say if you wanted to mount it in a box, it would look kinda weird having a huge box to fit the PCB when the display size is quite a bit smaller.
I think the height above and below the lcd that the pcb stretches is the price you pay for not having to have a backboard - so the unit is not very deep - and you pay for it in nearly all CF displays as well as MO's, though both companies have displays with smaller pcbs. Personally I prefer stand mounted LCD's so it's not much of an issue for me though I can understand your point in some applications.

As you can see by what I've done with my display single LED displays have their pros and cons and both CF and MO do LCD's with all types of backlighting (you can get a graphical LCD with CCFL backlighting from MO for example I think) so if you don't like single LED backlighting you can avoid it. I've had 5 LCD's now, only one which is single LED lit and it doesn't bother me...

Cheers,

r.
 
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