$33 Board Turns Your Bare LCD Into Working Monitor

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By Sean Michael Ragan
Posted 2011/09/06 @ 9:00 am
Category Electronics, Tools

This is a question we hear a lot: “I have a spare LCD panel; what else do I need to make a monitor?”

This Chinese eBay seller has the cheapest out-of-the-box solution I’ve seen: If your LCD panel is in the list, send ‘em $33 and they’ll send you a controller board to drive it. If it’s not in the list, send them a message, first, and they may be able to help you out, anyway. Here’s one success story that caught our attention. [Thanks, Matt Mets!]

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18 Responses to $33 Board Turns Your Bare LCD Into Working Monitor

Scott Rocca on September 6th, 2011 at 5:05 pm said:

In theory, couldn’t you combine this with some plexiglass, IR LED’s and some multi touch software to create a tablet for drawing on?

It could make for an interesting open source alternative to some of the more expensive tablets.

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Scott Rocca on September 6th, 2011 at 5:05 pm said:

In theory, couldn’t you combine this with some plexiglass, IR LED’s and some multi touch software to create a tablet for drawing on?

It could make for an interesting open source alternative to some of the more expensive tablets.

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- Pat Kleespies on September 7th, 2011 at 3:54 am said:
  
  Yup, though pressure sensitivity would be interesting to work out. If you’re willing to drop the “big bucks,” the same seller has some mid-priced touch overlays.
  
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- Pat Kleespies on September 7th, 2011 at 3:54 am said:
  
  Yup, though pressure sensitivity would be interesting to work out. If you’re willing to drop the “big bucks,” the same seller has some mid-priced touch overlays.
  
  Reply ↓
- Pat Kleespies on September 7th, 2011 at 3:54 am said:
  
  Yup, though pressure sensitivity would be interesting to work out. If you’re willing to drop the “big bucks,” the same seller has some mid-priced touch overlays.
  
  Reply ↓
- Andrzej Rusztowicz on September 7th, 2011 at 3:55 pm said:
  
  Popular plexi + IR LED’s setup requires lot of free space behind the glass, for a webcam, and has no place for LCD screen (a projector is used instead).
  
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- Andrzej Rusztowicz on September 7th, 2011 at 3:55 pm said:
  
  Popular plexi + IR LED’s setup requires lot of free space behind the glass, for a webcam, and has no place for LCD screen (a projector is used instead).
  
  Reply ↓
Joshua Dolan on September 6th, 2011 at 7:38 pm said:

If only some of these chinese electronics producers would produce a solid cheap scan-doubling module for retro computing. I really want to hook my Amiga 500 up to my 25in LCD . . . or any cheap modern monitor for that matter.

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Anonymous on September 6th, 2011 at 8:32 pm said:

dang, id love to put some lcd’s i got laying around to good use, but i cant use ebay

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Anonymous on September 6th, 2011 at 8:32 pm said:

dang, id love to put some lcd’s i got laying around to good use, but i cant use ebay

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Anonymous on September 6th, 2011 at 8:32 pm said:

dang, id love to put some lcd’s i got laying around to good use, but i cant use ebay

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Jeff Ballard on September 7th, 2011 at 12:32 am said:

Ive used this same exact product to give my reprap/makerbot clone a dedicated screen, works great, been using it for about 6 months though.

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Taemoor Khan on September 7th, 2011 at 4:35 am said:

apple has just filed a case against this peasant for ‘bringing back life to a glowing rectangular object that looks like something they make’.

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Taemoor Khan on September 7th, 2011 at 4:35 am said:

apple has just filed a case against this peasant for ‘bringing back life to a glowing rectangular object that looks like something they make’.

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Taemoor Khan on September 7th, 2011 at 4:35 am said:

apple has just filed a case against this peasant for ‘bringing back life to a glowing rectangular object that looks like something they make’.

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William LeVan on September 7th, 2011 at 3:49 pm said:

EarthLCD.com has controllers too. They cost more but it is another solution.

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William LeVan on September 7th, 2011 at 3:49 pm said:

EarthLCD.com has controllers too. They cost more but it is another solution.

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Kaspar Bumke on September 7th, 2011 at 4:06 pm said:

Will this work with the Pixel Qi screens?

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