| eebasist |
You know how we've been having a problem with the cost of stand along LCD controlers? Well i have an idea that i'll be trying. I've bought an Aaeon 675 single board computer...it has a chips and technologies 69000 video chip on it that will allow me to interface with any LCD panel that can work on the 69000 (pretty common)....this would be able to function as an HTPC as well as power the panel.
BTW many different small board computers contain this chip and have pinout diagrams for various lcds |
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| Lifter |
| That's definately something useable. Advantech is a good place for SBC's as well. There are, however, LCD controllers for $200 at earth-lcd. But if you want to dedicate a new computer, the SBC route might be a good idea. |
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| eebasist |
| But on the bright side, I bought that SBC for 47$ shipped from the UK new...its a socket 370 so it can take cheap chips, and ebay has bare lcds for ~50-100 all the time. So for a HTPC its still great....or you can use it as your regular computer as well since it supports dual displays |
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| 18wheeler |
It is an interesting idea. And I think it might work.
I have not idea how SBC works ( saw some very simple application like 15years ago). So, what OS it takes? windows? or some special embeded OS?
If it uses windows then a good Celeron or PIII chip may give acceptable video performance; if it doesn't, are there software availble for multimedia (free or low cost)? Or could it be modified/upgraded with some sort of converter, so it can accept external video source (from another computer, DVD player, ethernet maybe) and display on LCD?:scratch:
last question, where could you get this sbc-675 for $47. I would like to play around it, even if it wont work for lcd projector. |
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| eebasist |
| The SBC is simply a motherboard......needs a power supply, chip, memory etc. Basically its a compact footprint motherboard with integrated video (LCD and CRT), ethernet, and can interface with lots more PCI/ISA boards with a backplane. I think its worth it, but i'm a bit insane |
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| Rekr |
I was reading the specs on the Aaeon 675 SBC you got, only thing that would stop me from getting it is that the video card only has 2MB ram and only supports a resolution of up to 1024x768 w/ 64K colors.
Rekr |
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| eebasist |
| I believe the specs at 1024 are 16bpp, not 64K colors. even if it was 64K thats probably more than enough for DVD |
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| Rekr |
The .pdf with the specs for the SBC-675 I got says 64K colors, but it could be wrong. But if its right, I don't think 64K is enough for a DVD.
Rekr |
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| eebasist |
| I'm wrong...its only 64K colors shoot.....but on a side note....i have my laptop running 16 bit=64K colors and i cant tell a difference, therefore it doesnt bother me |
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| Lifter |
| Well, for $47 you can't complain. However, you have to buy a processor (even a cheap one will still cost $20 minimum), memory, a harddrive. With SBC's, you also need to buy the special power supply, as well as a case (I guess you could make your own). The of course, the LCD cables will probably be $20 or more. Add at least $30 to that if it needs some kind of LVDS transmitter attatched to it. It all adds up, but if you do everything yourself, and you have old parts to use, I guess it could work and be worth it if you get a panel for dirt cheap. |
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| eebasist |
| I already have a spare chip laying around, can use my old HD, and you dont need an LVDS cable if its a short distance....dont need a special power supply....it uses atx on this board |
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| 18wheeler |
| I am considering buying one, but couldn't find any retailer who has price listed. could you share the information that where you found this for $47? Thanks |
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| eebasist |
| Go to ebay...search for aaeon in titles and categories...the perosn selling a lot of 250 of them is the one i bought one for 27 pounds shipped from the UK |
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| Lifter |
| quote: | Originally posted by eebasist
I already have a spare chip laying around, can use my old HD, and you dont need an LVDS cable if its a short distance....dont need a special power supply....it uses atx on this board |
That's how it used to be (LVDS was just for long distance external applications, like DVI is now), but most newer panels have LVDS recievers built into them because it uses less wires to fit through the hinges (learned this from a particularly unpleasant fellow who lives on a distant island). There's no way to bypass it, so you have to have a controller that has a compatible LVDS transmitter (i.e. Texas Instruments chips won't work w/ National Semiconductor's chips). Most companies offer an addon card or whatever.
But chances are that if your looking at an old laptop panel, it just has regular TTL inputs, so you won't have to worry about it. |
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| eebasist |
Yep, i'm looking at older laptop panels that you can find new on ebay. Just wish i could find out wich ones were compatable with the C&T 69000.
I know the LP121S2 and LP121SB are, but would love to see if the S3, S4 series are also compatable...if they are i'm golden |
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| 18wheeler |
| Have you gotten the SBC-675?what 's your impression so far? |
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| 18wheeler |
LP133X7:
Manufacturer: LG
Part/Model Number: LP133X7
Type, Size Resolution TFT, 13.3", 1024x768
Supports: C&T 69000
Price (US$): Call or e-mail us for pricing |
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| eebasist |
| But the question is with the x3, x4 models....are they compatable as well |
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| 18wheeler |
| Didn't see a LCD connector on these board. I might overlooked... |
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| eebasist |
| No LCD controller on it, so you're in the same situation again with the ITX board |
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| theloneabalone |
| I thought it had an lvds header onboard, oh well |
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| 18wheeler |
| I was planed to have a dedicated PC for projector, so single board computer works for me. Now how do we get sound from that thing?:confused: suppose we want to watch Divx on it. USB ->sound convertor? |
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| eebasist |
| Since its PCMIC (or some other acronym) compatable...a standard backplane (cheap like 20$ or less) can be used for PCI and ISA slots...or you can use USB |
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| zardoz |
" (learned this from a particularly unpleasant fellow who lives on a distant island)."
Uncalled for and mean spirited!
I would have thought you could forget the past since this member has left our ranks.
zardoz |
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| Rainer |
I think a cheap USB / Audio would be fine.
Highend USB/Audio with Digital Out, also transporting
AC3, DTS , 5.1 i found somewhere in USA for
and this was called "Sonica".
Link to the Company
http://www.m-audio.net/products/consumer/index.php
and the 59$ Link
http://www.eastcoastmusicmall.com/p.../MDM+SONICA.htm
some guy at Aaeon told me that you can
, against the manual which says 466 Mhz,
up to 500(533) Celerons plugin that board.
All Celeron "Mendocinos" where the Core Voltage is 2V.
So and this you can find until 533 Mhz.
Over that, there is fewer core voltage which is not supported.
But i think a 500 Mhz is fast enough for decoding
DIVx / Xvid and a also this slower USB Audio at the
same time.
If not i will solder my old Soundblaster AWE64 with short wires
at the ISA pads of this PICMG connector
- without the need of a Backplane.
Not eleagant, but no problem - It's old slow ISA !! (4.77 Mhz Busfreq so near DC :)) no HF )
If you can soldering a bit than you do it in a hour i think
cutting this little wires together is the longest process.
... but only when it's too slow what i not hope !
so now waiting for my SBC board's......
regards
Rainer |
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| eebasist |
| I wasnt aware that it didnt support a lower core voltage...i'm going to have to look that up. At least i'm not the only one who's going to be attempting this. |
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| Rainer |
Aahh, don't confuse here
You have too look at the "B"
These boards normally very expensive.
Minimum 350$ !! the new ones.
And they are in the embedded world UPTODATE.
so this is no old stuff. Many embedded developers
think in those 386/ 486'er classes and not in
that Pentium class because too expensive.
there are more "little" but expensive SBCs on the
market but for this project it's pretty ok.
But these boards which are cheaply available over
Ebay are the versions with the "A" at the end.
** Thats important for further discussions **
see the differences as fas as i know !!!!
Ebay Aaeon direct / or distribution ways.
SBC-675 (A) SBC -675(B)
CPU
- manual 466 Mhz 1.1 GHZ
- official 500 Mhz
- inofficial 533 Mhz
2V Core Voltage 2V and fewer for Celerons > 533 Mhz
3 x 128 MB = 384max 3 x 256 = 768 MB
Flash Disk
up to 144 MB. upto 1GB
10 / 100 Mbit Ethernet !!!! NO ETHERNET !!!!
Great, older board has Ethernet !!
And i have bought a few older "A" boards to be on
the safe side.
I'm lucky because i can stream the divx in
and attach a flashdisk. So it's quiet in the
living room. Especially when hearing MP3
music.
Hope i have brought some light into this.
You didn't need a new "B" version.
And you didn't get a "B" so damn cheap anywhere.
Incl shipping it costs me roundabout 45 Euro.
- i can't say more in the moment because they are on their
was
regards
Rainer |
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| Rainer |
Dmn word wrapping destroys my fine table.
So here again in a summary the fine differences
************************************************
SBC - 675 A (via Ebay for cheap)
CPU
- manual 466 Mhz
- official 500 Mhz
- inofficial 533 Mhz
Flash Disk upto 144 Mb
RAM = 3 x 128 MB = 384max
10/100 Mbit ETHERNET onboard !!!!
************************************************
SBC 675-B ( via Embedded Systems Distributors, expensive)
2V Core Voltage 2V and fewer Voltages for
Celerons > 533 Mhz upto 1.1 Ghz
RAM = 3 x 256 = 768 MB
Flash Disk upto 1GB
NO "ABSOLUTELY" NO ETHERNET !!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| 18wheeler |
It might be expansive :cannotbe:
product dicription EBC 350
it has build-in features:
- Form factor: 3.5" HDD drive foot-print
- CPU: SiS 550-/552(with MPEG II)-based SoC running at 200MHz, low power, Fan-less
- VGA: On-chip, 4X AGP, shared memory up to 128 MB, CRT/ DSTN/ TFT Panel support
- Memory: SDRAM up to 512 MB, SO-DIMMX 1
- TV-Out, Audio support
- 10/100 Base T Ethernet, Compact Flash, Mini PCI Sockets
It would be perfect if it has video-in intead of TV-out (and if it is not too expensive):cool:
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| eebasist |
So did you buy this before I did then?
Or am i the first to try this? |
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| Rainer |
Everything will end in this
1. Oh, if it would not be so expensive.
and the other possibility is
2. Oh, all is fine if it would only have "this and this" feature.
Give up.
Nothing is perfect and you will not find the perfect solution.
These embedded boards are at everytime a few years
behind - especially in Speed (Chipset) .
That's a rule of thumb.
And for such "old stuff" you pay industrial prices which
are 5 times as high as comparable "consumer PCs"
So, please . believe and give up to search.
Such a Nexcom board you didn't get under 400$
and possible without flash, without ram.
Try Advantech, Jumptec, Aaeon and all brands you can think
off. Buy a display cable to connect your flat panel Pc
with your notebook display and you will not get the
Hiroses connector. You pay 40$ for a cable.
You need a power unit and an enclsure and so on.
So this SBC-675 is the first chance i see in the last
years while i'm developing hardware stuff to
compensate a lot of the problems because it's
a cheap "basis" from where you can go on.
If it only would have "this and this" feature.
In this case it's the sound you're missing.
In other cases it will be something else.
I show you ways for adding sound.
And as my last try ,
before i shut up , i ask you the following question.
Which Processor is sophisticated for massiv Overclocking ????
To compensate this 500 Mhz "LIMIT" :)))
While i wrote this my old P1 - 450 Mhz plays DIVx full screen
full resolution without dropping frames.
Answer = CELERON
Exact those cheap CPUs you can find on Ebay |
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| eebasist |
| Why are you so pessimistic here? You dont need a special cable to be made that will cost 40$ to connect the two, why not make one yourself? |
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| zardoz |
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/...el=Hermes_845GV
CHEAP! add an LCD controller card...TV tuner card
I'm seeing the same wheel spinning I went through for some time...look for the hidden costs, they aren't all monetary in nature.
I'm buying one of these units pretty soon to replace the MAMOTH huge AMD 500 junk system that my tuner and LCD controller are in now, I'll disable the fairly advanced on board video in the BIOS for when I'd like to use it as my PJ, or Enable it for when I want the TV out or DVI out feature if I ever get rich enough to need DVI for a plasma. This box will serve MP3's to my house and enable me to surf the net on the big screen.
zardoz
see ya in the funny papers |
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| Rainer |
I think i will not get some ultra small Hirose or JEC or
whatelse SMD connector at my next "Walmart"
i wouldn't buy a cable
i would solder this direct.
but i asked "for joke" what a cable would cost
to connect my SBC with a NEC Panel.
This cable is "standard" , not extra made for me.
So and the price incl taxes and shipping was more
than i payd for the SBC.
I didn't asked after that info what a LVDS Transmitter
modul would cost......
We have bad "sources" here in germany.
Perharps that's the difference.
But i'm not pessimistic.
I only want to say that you can search until you're
old and your son can finish then you're project :))
So it's time to begin.
Hey, i wrote this mail for the first time over
my now repaired Nview Panel :)))
It took me weeks to find the error at my DOA.
regards
Rainer |
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| zardoz |
This was my earliest "testing" got good results but the OHP was junk.
zardoz |
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| zardoz |
Next and current step.....
more to follow
zardoz |
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| gregory27 |
Zardoz you have created a masterpiece!!!
But the best thing is you can watch bigscreen movies too!!
g27:eek: |
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| zardoz |
If the unit stays "more or less" the same I will be replacing wheels with bigger ones (twice the size and soft "cushy" ones) I allready have them but have other considerations first. I have a 9 inch enlarger lens on the way, if it works out it might replace the factory OHP tripplet. If thats the case the whole unit gets stripped and the OHP get's mounted on it's "edge" and drops from the ceiling on tracks. If I don't use the big lens I'm putting together a "clean" looking cabinet around what I have now.
Current gripes are
1: minor keystone (caused by the tiny wheels putting the PJ too low to the ground)
2: limitation of my LCD being only 800x600 (my SMASHED LCD's were to fix this :( )
3: distance from the LCD to CPU is limited by a short cable (I have the MAX length 60cm for a TTL LCD panel, the SMASHED LCD's were LVDS panels....300cm long cable max for my setup)
4: screen door is worse now because the LCD is too far off the stage glass (would have redone this with my new panels arrival.. had they not been SMASHED)
5: last but not least...have I mentioned my SMASHED LCD panels? (oh yeah...guess I did)
Pluses
1: mouse and keyboard have been replaced with cordless :cool:
2: the LCD is darn near "cold" to the touch because of the slick little fans
3: it's relatively portable (kinda heavy but rolls good and "picks up" easy because of it's base unit's construction)
4: DVD's play awesome!
5: desktop TV looks good (want a line doubler or something to "clean up" the **** signal ...then it will look better?)
6: it's quiet, the LCD fans a almost completely unheard and the 3M 9550 is prety quiet allready, 2 more fans are the CPU cooler (AMD 500 for now) and the CPU power supply fan
7: the sound is GREAT, I have nearly all of my music on this now in MP3 (over 3000 songs) my daughter had the visuallizer from music match on durring her birthday sleep over ( I've been officially declared by all her friends as "the coolest dad" :blush: )
8: Last but by no means Least...I have LEARNED SOOO MUCH! :nod:
well this has been a long winded post eh? (now it's over)
zardoz |
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| 18wheeler |
No, it is not:
>>from gateway website
Feature connector
Part number 6001271
The TNT-2 video card has a 26-pin feature connector. Pin 1 is located on the left or towards the video port connection on the card. The feature connector is a video interface port (VIP) bi-directional video interface that can be used with multimedia devices, such as a DVD controller card, that are compliant with VIP 1.2 or later |
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| karma |
heh i got one of those microboards ill post it for sale in trading post if anyone wants one this one sells for over $400 can
ill sell it for $140 i got it cheap |
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| 18wheeler |
notice a couple of intel MB have integrated "DVO" (digital video output). Claims to support LCD panel. but I didn't see an LCD connector on MB though. seems it needs a board like this to work. Well, if DVO is 'digital', and has done half the work, shouldn't DVO add-on board be cheaper and more 'universal'?
I have no idea how DVO works. Please share your opinions. |
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| Lifter |
Looks like a proprietary interface that Intel uses instead of using LVDS. Basically, you have to buy that device, and then buy a panel-specific converter. the "DVO" will not plug directly into any panel. Maybe Intel is hoping that some day it will.
They like to do **** like that. Look at this whole Centrino thing. Last I checked, WiFi has been available for a few years now.
Reach will only deal with large quantity orders. I've contacted them before. Even if you could buy it off them, you might as well just buy their DVI reciever. |
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