90's Network Diagnostics terminal -> All-in-one gaming rig

[kdabr]

So here's the deal guys,

I just stole an EMCOM Net/QC out of the "to be thrown away" pile at my school. I figured this thing would make a kickass chassis for the ultimate LAN party machine, seeing as it has an onboard display and whatnot. So Ive stripped out all of the old hardware with relative ease, and it looks like it will very easily accommodate a micro atx board. The problem comes in with the screen. I'm not sure what res the one that came on it is, but I know it wont be high enough (This box was built in the mid 90's, and its only an 11.5 inch screen. Luckily, if I trim away a bit of plastic, there will be room for a Samsung LTN141XB display. My question is, How do I connect it? Is it possible too? The only connector on the screen is an odd looking connector which I can only assume carries both data and power. Any way to split this into a DVI cable and a power line? Or could you guys recommend an alternative screen that is made for this sort of thing?

PS- Because the point of this project is to make the power of a destop easily portable on the cheap, Ill be using a standard desktop mobo

EDIT: I already own the Samsung display mentioned above. I salvaged it from a fried laptop.

 

[bassmasta]

Re: Display Help

No. You'll need a controller board (LVDS, etc) to run the screen. It would be really complicated. Use a monitor from something else.

 

[kdabr]

Re: Display Help

Any reccomendation as to what sort of screen I should use? Im looking for something quite thing and no larger than 14 inches

 

[bassmasta]

Re: Display Help

A computer monitor. Maybe like this.

 

[Mako321]

Re: Display Help

http://cgi.ebay.ca/TFT-lcd-color-monito ... 2849wt_846

 

[kdabr]

Re: Display Help

If I remove all of the fluff from these, will the actual LCD display be as narrow as that of a laptop? I am working under very tight conditions

And will I be able to get the same pixel density? On this current screen, Im getting 1440x1050

 

[bassmasta]

Re: Display Help

The LCDs should be around the same size (that LED backlit one i linked should be pretty thin), but you have to add in a probably 4x6x1 board for the LCD.

 

[kdabr]

Re: Display Help

Whats a 4x6x1 board?

 

[bassmasta]

Re: Display Help

A 4" by 6" by 1" controller board for the LCD. Sorry I wasn't specific.
As for pixel density, you probably won't get much past 1366x768, unless you search pretty hard.

 

[kdabr]

Re: Display Help

How hard would an LVDS controller board be? Ive spoken to other people who have recommended that path

 

[kdabr]

Re: Display Help

Nevermind that. Im just gonna go with the flow, as Im starting to have trouble with other parts of the project (mostly due to the odd design of the starter case).

 

[kdabr]

Re: Display Help



An example of the plastic risers I constructed to mount the mobo to the case. This solved two problems: After drilling holes in the plastic for the protruding parts of the mobo, this plexiglass layer prevents the board from short circuiting, and allowed me to position the board where I liked, using existing holes in the Emcom's finnicky aluminum mobo tray to mount the plastic




Just wanted to see if it would boot






After hacking apart the majority of the front of the case, the monitor now fits. The keyboard folds up such that the keys face the display. Im still not quite sure how Im going to get a more desirable vertical viewing angle; while the original case had a tilting screen, it was only 11 inches; mine is 15


Right now I'm not quite sure where I want to go with the aesthestics...I'm thinking I'll cover up the old emcom logo with whatever I decide to name this sucker...I think some red cold cathodes would look beastly, but there arent many obvious places to put them. I definitely need to upgrade the cooling...the original machine had like one fan on the CPU, one on the PSU, and a little .5 incher on the HDD and that was it


Any way a mod can change the title to "Old all-in-one terminal converted to a new gaming rig"?

 

[bassmasta]

Re: Display Help

You can. Just change the title of the first post.
If it's finished, you could post it in the finished projects forum.

 

[kdabr]

It would be nice if I could extend this connection without chopping off the connector and soldering it back on...anyone know what this connector is?

 

[snowpenguin]

Very, very, very, very difficult. Beyond 95% of the users' skill level here I'd bet.

 

[kdabr]

Are you being sarcastic? Because this would be a 5 minute job...Im just paranoid about touching the nice, neat, clean connectors if there is a handy dandy cable already made for this

 

[Yoshilime M.R.]

Are you being sarcastic? Because this would be a 5 minute job...Im just paranoid about touching the nice, neat, clean connectors if there is a handy dandy cable already made for this

I think he means the project as a whole.

 

[kdabr]

In that case, its good to be in the top 5%

At this point, I am near certain that I will finish in the next few days. No major kinks have arisen, just minor stylistic, aesthetic, and organizational issues.

 

[bassmasta]

It would be nice if I could extend this connection without chopping off the connector and soldering it back on...anyone know what this connector is?

Those are connectors for the backlights. Some people have found them to be finicky to extend, but you can try.
If it's an LED backlit monitor it might be better.

also, snow's comment seems out of place

 

[snowpenguin]

it is. i was replying to the lvds post. dunno how i missed the next page :S