Really small LCDs?

[Mateo]

I'm looking for a small LCD screen. Preferably under 10" but under 15" would be acceptable as well. I also want the lower price the better. As far as I'm concerned, as long as it will take VGA then it's probably good enough.

What I'm thinking about doing is setting up a thin client (using the ebox 2300) in my kitchen who's only function is to run a recipe program.

edit: maybe touchscreen isn't a bad idea after all... i'm looking into it.

[gn2]

There are plenty of options available: http://tinyurl.com/2sg88l
You can get 7" touchscreens ready built and there are 7" touchscreen kits to add to 7" monitors. They are popular for use with car PC's.
These 7" touchscreen kits come with Linux drivers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYNu4vNuQoQ

[arbulus]

I actually had the same idea one day. I found some pretty neat hardware to facilitate such a thing.

http://www.norhtec.com/products/mcjr/index.html
This is the NorhTech MicroClient Jr. It's small enough to attach to the VESA mount on an LCD monitor. It runs on Compact Flash cards and you can get it with optional WiFi as well. You could put a light Linux Distro on a CF card and use the WiFi to connect to an NFS or Samba share.

As for a monitor, there are several places you could look for a small touchscreen:
http://www.elotouch.com/products/LCDs/default.asp
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1449
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=touchscreen&x=0&y=0

Connecting the MicroClient to the VESA mount of a touchscreen LCD would give you a machine with an incredibly small footprint, and allow you easy access to your recipes.

[Mateo]

The Microclient Jr. is a rebranded eBox 2300. So we even had the same hardware in mind.

The thing is, I don't want to spend a lot of money on this. That's sort of the point, a low budget, yet ultra cool, gizmo to have. So I don't want a $500 touch screen. And I'd like something that doesn't stand out the way a monitor with a base does. So I think the car monitors are the way to go. There are a few brands out there which you can get for relatively reasonable prices.

[arbulus]

The Microclient Jr. is a rebranded eBox 2300. So we even had the same hardware in mind.

The thing is, I don't want to spend a lot of money on this. That's sort of the point, a low budget, yet ultra cool, gizmo to have. So I don't want a $500 touch screen. And I'd like something that doesn't stand out the way a monitor with a base does. So I think the car monitors are the way to go. There are a few brands out there which you can get for relatively reasonable prices.


I know what you mean about the price. It seems that when looking at the touchscreen route, prices are pretty high. And when it comes to small monitors, it seems that they get more expensive the smaller they get. I really don't understand that. It seems there's a sweet spot for monitors around the 17"-19" range, and they get outrageously priced above or below that size.

[gn2]

I really don't understand that. It seems there's a sweet spot for monitors around the 17"-19" range, and they get outrageously priced above or below that size.

Economies of scale, these are the popular sizes, the production runs are much higher so the cost of manufacture is significantly reduced.

It costs a lot of money to tool up a production line for a particular model, the more units you make, the less the tooling costs per unit.

Then there's distribution, it costs the same in manpower to move a pallet load of 17" monitors with a forklift as it does to carry half a dozen 7" touchscreens.

[iamsmiley]

I honestly never even thought about going with a touchscreen until reading this - thanks for the heads up.

Looking around at prices they still haven't come down (and this thread looks a couple of years old). I am also looking at doing a 15" lcd in the kitchen - but all of my options are still several hundred dollars!

Here's what I found so far:

Sewell (http://sewelldirect.com/Synaps-LCD-Touch-Screen-Monitor-15-in.asp) - $400
Super Warehouse (http://www.superwarehouse.com/3M_MicroTouch_M150_FPD_Beige_15_Touch_Monitor/41-81368-112/p/343465) - $604
Tiger (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1173263&CatId=1449) - $440

Anybody else got any ideas or know of somebody out there making them cheaper?

[el_ricardo]

if you just want something dirt cheap, then a psone screen could do the trick, you have to take it to pieces to get at the composite cable, which you have to cut and solder on an s-video connecter, but still a pretty good source of small lcds, especially at around £20! (http://computers.search.ebay.co.uk/psone-screen_Monitors_W0QQa10244ZQ2d24QQa14ZQ2d24QQa1889 4ZQ2d24QQa26446Z31868QQa6ZQ2d24QQalistZa6Q2ca26446 Q2ca18894Q2ca31764Q2ca14Q2ca31763Q2ca10244Q2ca3801 QQcatrefZC6QQcurcatZtrueQQdfspZ32QQfposZWF1Q205SLQ QfromZR2QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ32QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQga10244 Z10425QQgcsZ1594QQpf_queryZpsoneQ20screenQQpfidZ20 07QQpfmodeZ1QQreqtypeZ2QQsabfmtsZ1QQsacatZ174QQsad isZ200QQsaobfmtsZinsifQQsargnZQ2d1QQsaslcZ3QQsbrft ogZ1QQsofocusZbs) there's some howtos on tinternets about pulling them apart and so on, I've thought about using one of these screens for a case mod in the past

[Omnios]

K a suggestion with a question.

Can you Phreaker a display from a old laptop into a vga connector to run as a small monitor. I have two junk parts lappy in my closet and the monitors are good.

A website on this would be nice.

One of them has a broken hinge so was thinking of locking it open and set it up like one of the old computers from Star Trek NG lol.