VFD and LCD Displays... Anybody using them?

**dug1967** · 04-14-2004, 08:01 PM

Okay, getting near the final design portion of Vetteputer 2.0

Vetteputer 1.0 was kinda plain in face presentation, just a 5.6" LCD in the dash..... I want Vetteputer 2.0 to make more of a visual impression... Got the 7" Xenarc 700TS in the face, got the DVD drive there and am left with about 2" of vertical space for something else to put in to fill out the entire dash opening....

I was thinking of some type of LED display, you know a colorful streaming type display that could present messages, like during boot up just scroll Vetteputer 2.0, then during run maybe say the program running, or maybe just the time....

Then through googling it got more intriguing... I got onto the small LCD and VFD displays.... Found this one...

LCD Display

It looks pretty sweet (except for the white background) and will fill up the space on my dash face... Does anybody care to give other cool small display devices...... and also I am a little concerned about interfacing these to the computer.. any suggestions?

Any thoughts or comments would be most appreciated

**wizardPC** · 04-15-2004, 01:10 AM

ah, the old days....

before Xenarc, Lilliput, and the host of NTSC LCDs came onto market, the only way to get any kind of visual feedback was through one of those. Instructions on how to interface these with any computer abound on the web.

You're gonna want to get a VFD, they are the most readable during the day and night. But, thats only if you want to be able to read it at night. If you dont care, then go with an LCD.

Check out www.matrixorbital.com for the displays. In the old days, people would get 4x40 (4 lines x 40 characters) and display ID3 tag information using a winamp plugin. This may be something you want to consider.

**dug1967** · 04-15-2004, 08:44 AM

Yeah Wiz, I know the VFD's and LCD's are kind of old school.... when I first started building my first car PC they were still very prevalent..... I myself am just looking to use up some of the face presentation I have left in my dash opening....

I was hopeing to put an opening for my XM-PCR (so it's face with the little round glowy thing would show and I could remove it through that opening), but I don't have that much area.....

So I started think about the small (thin and long LCD and VFD displays)....that would be cool.... maybe have a rolling graphical marque and/or a time display, or computer info display... just something that would look cool.....

Thanks for the info on the brightness issues, I didn't realize LCD's were dimmer.... I did run across Matrixorbital, they do seem to have some cool stuff.... I was just wondering if somebody was aware of and/or has used any other types..... Googling just got me more confused...

Any more ideas or thoughts.... and again thanks Wiz