NEC Versa M/75 Laptop TFT screen w/touch - Page 2

claylong · 03-13-2002, 10:02 AM

They are old laptop screens. TFT, yes... Truecolor, no. They are 12 bit (4000 colors) and probably do not have too great of a viewing angle. It would be good for a car if you wanted the touch screen, and only if you could get it work.

corysurf · 03-13-2002, 03:59 PM

No this screen is not just sh**! But is it going to take some work to get it up and running. If you want to see an example of the screen in a car go to www.ashleypowers.com he has one in his truck. The touchscreen is a serial interface and information can be found on it at www.microtouch.com I have not had time yet to start trying to hook it up, but I am confident that the touchscreen can be hooked up. The actual display is 12bit which equals 4096 colors. So it is not going to be great for high-res video. No it will not hook up to most PCs without an LCD display card. These seem to be around $200 new so that is going to be the biggest cost of implementing these screens. Maybe there are cheaper controllers out there? That is my main question on these screens. I think that the seller of these screens really does not know much about them, which is why they are going for so cheap. I also saw the same LCD for $450 USD at one site online. I hope that nobody is actually paying that price for them though. I know this topic has been beat to death but I need a inexpensive controller, anybody?

Macgyver777 · 03-19-2002, 01:25 PM

Hey, I can't tell you how well this screen will work for in car. I know if only one person who has the same screen in his car. Check out www.ashleypowers.com He has a Mazda pickup that has this screen in it.

I haven't been able to try it because I need a controller card still. As you probably know they usually run from $200 on up. The reason that guy is selling these so cheep is he is a recyler of old computer hardware. He probably got the whole lot of stuff for $20 and is selling each screen and each laptop base for $10-20 each so in the end he will make some money. Not many people are probably using a 75 mhz 486 laptop for which this screen is designed.

I think this will be a good screen for in car use, I don't know how easy it is going to be to use the touch screen. I looked for three weeks for any tech documents on that controller. The brightness slider is just for controlling the backlight. Even though it is on the same board as the touch controller. I tried hooking my touch controller up to power and a come port following microtouches pdf file of a standard unit they sold. Must have been wrong because 12 v fried it. The think didn't do anything but smell bad after that test. Oh well the touch was a surprise to me when taking it apart. If you could find someone who has the laptop you could follow the pins to the computer and test for how much power is fed to the thing. I didn't have that ability.

As far as veiwing angls I don't know. Something to ask Ashley Powers. He would know and he does post on this forum from time to time. He has two vehicles on his website and is a great craftsman.

Allen told me his controller will work but his controller has 6 lines per color and this only needs 4. Others say they have been able to hook up 12 bit screens to his controller by not connecting the two lower bit lines but I have not idea how well that has worked.

If you need the pinout for the screen there is a website that has it...

MP3IAN by Ian Gregory · 03-20-2002, 08:15 AM

I have one of these NEC Laptops (Versa M/75) sitting on my desk right next to me. It has one of these screens you are talking about! However it does not have the touchscreen add-on! It seems to be just a standard contrast adjuster, minus the touch screen controller!

I want to pull the screen out of this laptop, how will i go about connecting it to my PC? I.e. What controller should i use and where can i get the pinout?

I live in Australia so an Australian supplier for a controller would be preferred.

Thanks Heaps

P.S. Unsure if this is relevant or tells the actual colour depth of the screen, but i have mine running on 24bit colour under windows. Does this mean that it is a 24 bit LCD?

Macgyver777 · 03-20-2002, 01:29 PM

MP3IAN by Ian Gregory,

I think there is a chance that you got a 18 bit version of that screen. Many of us on this post found a technical diagram that showed a dual scan, TFT screen, or a True color TFT optioned for this laptop. It is possilbe the last few they made for the unit were 18 bit screens. This means you will have 6 wires per color on the pinout. You can look at the photo's I posted earlier in this thread and then look at the model number on your screen. You have to carefully pop the bezel off the screen. If you had the touch there would be a small pen port on the right hand side of the screen. Sounds like you don't have that part. Watch e-bay a guy was selling conversion kits to add the touch. I didn't see them until after they had ended. I think the color one went for $10 USD..

As far as a controller, I think the "allens controller" that is talked about on her so much will work, at least he said it would. His controller is designed to drive a 18 bit screen so it might work better with yours. Your only other real n is Earthlcd.com They sell two options. A ISA/PCI card that will go inside your system and then have the outputs to feed to the screen. Some of these cards can not have the screen very far from the computer though.
The other option they have (similar to Allens) is a card that you feed VGA through a standard 15 pin D connector. Then it has a output of the digital lines that will feed the screen.

It sounds promising that your able to run your screen under windows at 24 bit color. I don't think you would get that option if the built in video/screen didn't support it.

Here is the link to the pinouts of the screen I have. If you model is different than mine in the photo's you'll have to search around for it.

http://www.quadrangleproducts.com/specs/NEC-307.pdf

you will need Acrobat reader to get that file but it shows the pinout for my screen and is compatible with about 4 other models.

Hope this helps.......

MP3IAN by Ian Gregory · 03-20-2002, 07:16 PM

Macgyver777,

I think you might be right about the 18bit ver. The colours are great! Absolutely crystal clear although it will only really agree with a res of 640x480 (although the chips & tech display adapter will handle a high res and 24bit colour, which the screen is currently running under)

Where do i get an allens controller from? how much? and will they be posted to australia?

Also does earthLCD post to Oz? I gotta work out how much it will cost to get the thing over here in Australian Dollars.

I will check out how many wires i have 6 wires per colour when i get home for you and keep you posted.

I would really like to get this screen working and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

THEMP3KID · 03-21-2002, 01:14 AM

Does anyone know if the NEC VERSA 486 laptop has the same interface as the above mentioned one?? Its a 9.5inch 8bit (yeah, I know, 256 colors isn't good) one from a 50mhz 486.. also, how do I know the maximum colors it can support, as I think it might just be the graphics card that is restricting it to 256.. I mean, 256 colors ain't that bad for windows and winamp...

smaug · 03-21-2002, 10:14 PM

I have one of these, stupid me I just posted a thread about it, I got it for $25 off of ebay, and it has the touchscreen controller, if anyone has ANY idea of how to get this to work with a regular VGA signal, please help out me, Im a newb.

Macgyver777 · 03-24-2002, 03:14 AM

If you want to know about allens controller use the search function. I don't know if he has any more but he was selling them for around $65 USD. I would recommend just getting the card from Earthlcd. They can fix you up with the correct cable to connect the screen. People with Allens controller have had a hard time getting 31 pin connectors to hook to the controller. Just search around on these posts and you will find a bunch asking for help with that thing.

Good luck....I haven't touched my screen in over a month. No $$$$......