Laptop LCD as monitor

[D_o_S]

Hi guys and gals,

I have just taken apart this old notebook I had, and I want to use the LCD as a PC monitor... is there any way to do that? The LCD is manufactured by Citizen (Citizen H6480L-FT), and has a 40 pin connector...

Any help greatly appreciated...

[[XC] leviathan18]

someone here has one like that.... a laptop lcd cant remember who

[D_o_S]

someone here has one like that.... a laptop lcd cant remember who

Please post... hugs and kisses to anyone who helps me solve this!

[Something Sexy]

You are gonna have to get a specific controller that converts the 40-pin to a VGA. Those tend to cost a few hundred bucks.

[2fink]

cirthix has one!

[[XC] leviathan18]

cirthix is the one with one with DVI right???

[D_o_S]

cirthix is the one with one with DVI right???

I sent him a PM, still awaiting reply

[[XC] leviathan18]

hope he helps you :)

[tennvols_69]

there is another way to do it, however its alot of work a while ago on another forum we had plans to build a circuit that would allow basic opperation of a laptop lcd. however due to the lack of intrrest we let the project die.the one main down side to the circuit we made was no osd controll aka you can move the image. if you do some searching on google you may still be able to find the data.

[Jamo]

there is another way to do it, however its alot of work a while ago on another forum we had plans to build a circuit that would allow basic opperation of a laptop lcd. however due to the lack of intrrest we let the project die.the one main down side to the circuit we made was no osd controll aka you can move the image. if you do some searching on google you may still be able to find the data.

yup it is a hell of alot of work but you can wire up a conversion yourself, me and a friend were gonna do it a while back but lost interest due to the difficulty

[dogsx2]

As cheap as LCD's are and are going to get cheaper, you would be better off getting a part time job and buying one. With all the work it will take you still would not have much.

It's like the Netgear 108 wireless PC card that came with my router. My notebook wasn't any faster with it vs the built-in. I was going to get an adaptor for the PC card to use in a pci slot. After searching for the longest time, I found a couple of them. They were more money then just buying a pci wireless card. Sometimes trying to adapt something you have in hand to work for something you want isn't worth the time or money.

[Odinn]

Do you still have the laptop ? If yes then you could salvage the display driver and rebuild it. Look for datasheets on the driver ID if you can locate it and you'll have enough info to rewire and power it.

[tennvols_69]

most of the time you cant salvage the drivers cause they are built into the motherboard. i also looked into this possibility.

[2gigs]

While, im looking to do the same thing, and i have a older HP notebook, but i may intigrate teh screen into the mod,and do a whole diffrent mod. I think its mostly proprietary, but i know older compaq notebooks had a standard interface, at least a few of them, back inthe 800 celry days.

[cirthix]

here's pics, i'll edit this post with more info when i'm more awake

lcds nowdays use an interface called LVDS and it comes in two flavors: 1ch and 2ch. lower resolution panels use 1ch while higher resolution panels use 2ch.

lvds 2ch is backwards compatable with 1ch

while the electronics may seem fine and dandy, compatability problems occur when you don't have the proper bios on the controller board. i havent done much research into this and have heard conflicting things. a guy i know in china says it's common to make your own lcd monitor by getting a panel and controller and that they are easily interchangable while others have said that each panel requires a special bios with values for the particular panel on the controller board.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=45603&d=1144321060

so let's play it safe and assume that we need a bios for each panel (a controller board's bios usually holds the values for multiple panels, just fyi)

however, the controller i speak of doesnt talk to the lcd itslelf, it goes through an lvds to row/column interperter that is attached straight to the glass of the lcd. this piece is going to be proprietary and is permanently affixed to the glass. DO NOT try to remove it.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=45601&d=1144321060

there is no difference between a desktop lcd and a laptop lcd other than size. laptop lcds are very thin (mine is 1/4") and laptop lcds typically have a significantly higher DPI at the cost of color quality.

however, laptops use lvds internally and thus dont need to convert from lvds (out of the graphics card) to dvi/vga, then back to lvds. this is where the controller board comes in. a controller board is basically a glorified adapter that has video input and lvds output.

normally, it's not worth it to adapt a laptop lcd to standard vga or dvi inputs because controller boards are expensive and not very easy to get ahold of them. controller boards can be found as low as ~40 dollars, but finding one that will work for you is pretty hard. i got my controller from a group buy of custom controllers with specially made bioses to support the sharp 15.4" wuxga lcd (it also runs toshiba and samsung 15.4" wuxga lcds as well, and shouldnt have any problems running similar panels, but these are untested). even with a large (i think it was 20+) order quantity, the controller was still expensive and cost me 380 shipped. I paid 220 shipped for the lcd itself and mounted it on a free piece of wood. so it cost me 600 bucks for a 15.4" wuxga lcd. pretty expensive and not much cheaper than a 24" lcd with lower response, larger viewing areas, and better colors, but i got it a while back and prefer the 15.4" size over the 24" (simply too big).

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=45602&d=1144321060
the main benefit of having a laptop lcd is stripping it and making a high resolution projector without using a rediculiously large fresnel.

one important thing to note is that there is no standard for the lvds connectors, so cables are proprietary.

bah, this post is probably inchoherent. it's late and i've got a splitting headache. i'll check back on this thread to answer any questions

[Slayer2k3]

......that's pretty effin sweet right there man.......I have an old 15" lappy around here somewhere.........maybe now I actually have a use for it. :D

[cirthix]

......that's pretty effin sweet right there man.......I have an old 15" lappy around here somewhere.........maybe now I actually have a use for it. :D

it's not worth it, just sell the panel on ebay.

finding the right controller is quite the job, and it may very well cost more than a cheap 17" lcd from newegg

i got this monitor for three reasons:

1: my 2001fp was really big
2: it does higher resolution that the 2001fp (1920*1200 :cool:)
3: i still have the option to make a reducliously high resolution projector


why is this thread in "computer cases"?

[SlackeR]

YOu can do it via the ESA interface. 2x13 pins on the GFX, it sit before the DAC.
I have been looking into it quite a bit, and i might be able to refresh the knowledge within a reasonable time, if need be.
It is limited to 16 colors, though, afaik.
And you need a pinout of the display.

[cirthix]

YOu can do it via the ESA interface. 2x13 pins on the GFX, it sit before the DAC.
I have been looking into it quite a bit, and i might be able to refresh the knowledge within a reasonable time, if need be.
It is limited to 16 colors, though, afaik.
And you need a pinout of the display.

sounds interesting, but 16 colors? do you mean 16bit color? 16 colors is pretty weak and not that usefull irl imo.

[YanBooth]

1: my 2001fp was really big
2: it does higher resolution that the 2001fp (1920*1200 :cool:)


my 3007WFP is really big too ;)

[ibby]

Its hard and not worth it, i looked into it a couple of months back and you would need to find a digital to anolge signal convertor.
like cirthix has.

I am sure ebay will have a couple of controllers you can buy ;)

[cirthix]

Its hard and not worth it, i looked into it a couple of months back and you would need to find a digital to anolge signal convertor.
like cirthix has.

I am sure ebay will have a couple of controllers you can buy ;)

the only ebay controllers you'll find ware going to be from lcds with cracked screens, but they pobalby wont work with your specific panel