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Hardware

Programmable Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD) 149

Posted by timothy from the dashboard-toy dept.
An anonymous reader writes "There is a review of a programmable Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD). It is used to monitor computer related stats e.g. temperture, voltages, uptime etc. The article can be found here. Looks like an interesting toy!"
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Programmable Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD) More

Programmable Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD)

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  • This looks like some kiddies LED kit. Yes, it's visible from further, blah, blah, but how is it really useful? Hmmmm.
    • You'd have to see one in person to really grasp the benefit. They are extremely bright and easy to read compared to backlit LCD displays and work in any temperature. A photograph can't capture this.

      I installed one in the dash of my Jeep behind a pane of smoked plexiglass and the finished product looks totally professional.

    • ...beyond the obvious "just to show of your geekiness"

      1. Already mentioned I think...mobile/automotive/outdoor applications. Ever tried to use a laptop when it's colder than 10C? I have (refrigerated warehouses, outside, etc for programming PLCs in isolated locations). It still works but the LCD screen sure looks like crap.

      2. Got a bunch of servers without monitors (or that share one monitor)? It sure would be nice to see the CPU load, available drive space, network traffic and so on at a glance instead of pulling up to a console and switching the KVM sharing device (or SSH-ing or telnetting) all over the place and getting mixed up as to which machine you are observing.

      3. Nice to have basic diagnosic info like that on a separate display...it doesn't add clutter to your desktop (mine can get cluttered enough as it is) and you don't have to go hunting to see what window it's buried under. It's also probably less resource intensive than putting it on a GUI window and more convenient than various command-line/text-based utilities out there.

      4. The VFD vs. LCD is nice because it is bright and readable---more so than even backlit LCD. If I'm computing at night by the light of a desklamp (where I'm at, in December that means any time after 4PM), it would show up very nicely on the tower sitting on the floor by my desk (LCDs sure wouldn't).

      There ya go...sounds pretty useful to me (beyond being a geek-toy). On the flip side I don't think I'd go for this particular VFD product. It takes up two drive bays--thanks but no thanks--that rules out use on low-profile desktops and rack-mounted PCs (and many compact and mid-tower cases if you have, say, a DVD and a CD-RW, some tape backup systems, or auxilliary cooling device or lots of other other stuff that fits in a 5.25 bay). Concept-wise it's a very good idea though...

  • Its too big!!! (Score:1, Redundant)

    by mustangdavis ( 583344 )
    If you have two free 5.25" bays, this display may suit you well.


    I guess this means this won't work in my 1 U rackmounted servers, eh?

  • Pr0n Meter (Score:5, Funny)

    by syntap ( 242090 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @01:59PM (#4982420)
    Now you can watch your hard drive space count down to nothing in real time!
  • If it's cheap, I'm sold :)
  • When installed into a modded/color matched case, they look HELLA COOL!!! If you got the bonez and the skillz, buy and install and have fun!!!!!

  • So... um... why? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by WPIDalamar ( 122110 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:01PM (#4982438) Homepage
    Is it just the coolness factor? Or is there another reason to have one?
    • I like the idea of being able to continually monitor some of the things they show in the article:

      Sys Temp: ###*c
      CPU Temp: ###*c
      CPU Speed: ###Mhz
      CPU Fan: ###rpm

      Handy, especially when you're overclocking or don't have an operating system that supports software to give the same info.

    • Re:So... um... why? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Zathrus ( 232140 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:18PM (#4982580) Homepage
      About the only reason I can see to use one of these (at least, once you get out of the geek subset that's into case modding) is for a home theater PC. Having an HTPC that could display current input, current song/video playing with time elapsed, etc. would be nice. And most LCDs have a visibility measured in inches (centimeters) rather than feet (meters).

      Would probably want to be able to turn the brightness down though, since if it's too bright it's distracting in a darkened room.

      And, all of that said, this display is too large to be used for most HTPCs -- the display itself is about the right size, but requiring 2 5.25" drive bays kills it.
      • I did think of using VFDs as a computer display, but I agree, the board size on the units are prohibitive. I think you can get away with one drive bay if you used the two line version.

        I own a box of the more basic versions of that unit, basically the raw unit that takes the Hitachi LCD signaling, which is pretty much the standard for character based LCD displays. Programming a PIC to do serial port interfacing is really trivial, IMO easier than writing a PC program in Linux or Windows to send it relevant data.

        As for HTPC, I think the hardest part would be to find a way to access the DVD software's internal variables (time count, etc.) to display them.

        Concerning brightness, if I am right, these units have four brigthness settings, off, low, medium and high. A lot of electronics gear put a VFD behind a tinting panel to knock the brightness a bit, and my Pioneer reciever even autodims the display after a few minites of no user adjustments, such as volume dial or selecting a new input. It goes to full brigtness when you are using the buttons and controls, but dims after you are done.
    • no.

      and to have this over regular lcd..

      absolutely zero unless you happen to have a) very bad eyes, b) are fat or c) would like to look at it in -20c.
    • I would find these useful for displays on otherwise headless computers. If you have a rack full of servers, it's kind of nice to be able to walk up to the rack and see how they're all doing without having to pull up a console on each one or find a monitoring agent that's recording that information over the network. *shrug*
    • Well, I installed 2x20 LCD's on a the severs at work to monitor traffic, temperature and CPU usage. There's no real reason to go with a VFD unless it's going to be used in an extreme enviornments. For example, LCD's will freeze in the winter (well, here in New York State) and become useless while VFD's are more immune. Besides that, you can get LPT LCD's for around 10% of what a comparable VFD will cost.
    • I use an LCD [crystalfontz.com] in my home entertainment PC... a black 4u rackmount Athlon that sits in my home stereo rack.

      MP3s, DivX movies, DVDs, Shoutcast/Icecast streams, TV-out, 5.1 surround... all from a single black box. The LCD panel is mounted in a normal drive bay, and displays CPU load, Time, song being played, or about any system parameter you can imagine. It was also significantly cheaper than the one reviewed above, and came with all cables, and mounting hardware included. The software was a quick download.

      The convenience alone makes it worth it. A quick glance at the CPU utilization meter keeps me from having to switch over on my KVM to see if my Divx or MP3s are done encoding...

  • "Programmable" (Score:2, Informative)

    by vincent99 ( 146865 )
    This is no different than a normal serial LCD/VFD.. All the "programming" has to be done on the computer side.

  • Odd.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:05PM (#4982469) Homepage Journal
    It's kind of interesting, how these case displays seem to be so popular.

    I have a vaccuum flourescent display on my machine right now. It's multi-colored and large, so large that it needs a separate case and power supply. It displays cpu stats, news, weather, even games!

    Hopefully, these case kiddiez will discover the wonder of this thing called a "monitor." One thing at a time, I suppose.
    • It's kind of nice having something that doesn't weigh over 20kg and suck over 100W of electricity just to display CPU stats. There's lots of use for this in server rooms, where such information can be displayed without having to fire up a monitor and switch the KVM over.
    • Mod parent up, but not funny, there is a serious point in it. This particular model in the article costs circa 140 bucks depending where you get it. You should be able to find a decent 14 inch monitor for less than that, and hook it up as a second monitor to your PC, and it'll do a much better job (plus take up more space LOL, but it can display at least a bunch of stuff.)
      • A 14-incher? You can pick up a new Viewsonic 17" for $140.

        Not to say that random little displays on computers aren't kind of cool, but for the same price I'd go for the wide-desktop-cool, instead of the glowy-blinky-cool.

  • not new (Score:2, Informative)

    by bromoseltzer ( 23292 )
    Maybe this is a useful product, but similar displays (maybe with plasma or LCD and serial IO) have been around for 30 years or so.

    Happy New Year - mse

  • Why now? (Score:2, Informative)

    by oddrune ( 102921 )
    Matrix-Orbital have been selling them for ages.
    It's nothing new..
  • I think this is the display that the incredible SliMP3 [slimdevices.com] device uses. Except it uses only a 2-line display.

  • Price? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Here's another review on the Matrix Orbital VK204-25 [bit-tech.net].

    I didn't see the price in the review, but after a little poking around, Matrix Orbital's website lists this VFD at $123.12 [matrixorbital.com].

    • I mean, I've got a K6-233 computer at home, and with this, I can make it so people at least think [riceboypage.com] I have a fast computer.

      Seriously, can anyone explain it to me why people fork out as much cash as they do to give a facelift to something crappy, rather than just saving up, and buying a better model? I mean, for well less than $100, I could pick up a crappy video card, and a 9" monitor to display status messages.

      I can't find anyone selling the 9" POS monitors I have at home [640x480], but a 1024x768 [dealtime.com] one is about the same cost as the 4x20 char display.

      With Home Depot talking about upgrading their cash registers in the coming year, the old ones they have might go on the market -- check computer shows and sellers of refurbished hardware.
      • > I mean, for well less than $100, I could
        > pick up a crappy video card, and a 9"
        > monitor to display status messages.

        And for those of us that barely have space available for the PC we're using? I won't even get into the embedded applications of this... they *should* be obvious.
        • I'd rather get a smaller computer [tomshardware.com] if space is the issue.

          Can anyone explain to me why so many people buy full tower cases, and then only fill 2-3 bays? I mean, hell, even at home, I don't think I have a machine that has more than 4 bays full. [game machine has a CD-R/DVD/2xHD, and a server with a CD-ROM and 3 hard drives].

  • Something a bit cheaper... (Score:4, Informative)

    by tchuladdiass ( 174342 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:07PM (#4982488) Homepage
    Pick up any HD44780 compatible LCD, and hook it up to your parallel port. There's a driver for linux that controls this using the same commands that Matrix Orbital uses. However, a 20x4 LCD will run less than $10.00 at many on-line parts houses. I use one for my digital jukebox project.

  • Price? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by prockcore ( 543967 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:07PM (#4982491)
    Why is it that these hardware review sites never give the price? You would think that the price would be at least as important as Baud Rate or some of the other things they listed.

    • Re:Price? (Score:2, Informative)

      by CACraw ( 618075 )
      Pricing for this and other similar devices here [pointofnoreturn.org]

      About $150-200 depending on add-ons. --Chris

    • Jameco [jameco.com] has them listed for $159
      • All these prices given are a bit high. In single unit quantities, the VFDs with Hitachi LCD interface are $80 at Digikey. Add a circuit board, and $5 worth of parts to make convert it into a serial unit.

        I think the Hitachi interface version can be bought in volume at $40-$50
    • I bought a 20x2 VFD from a place called BG Micro last spring for 20$. Their website, bgmicro.com, appears to be down right now, but that price created quite a buzz over at the hardforums, prompting many people to go for it.

      And as for the question of why have it, it is just the 'coolness' factor. I just have mine display what is playing in winamp at the moment, or the time if winamp isn't playing anything.
  • VFDs are expensive as hell, and IMO they look like the kind of crap you'd see in a 1960s sci-fi flick. Mebbe if you want that 'industrial' look or something (or actually use the PC in an industrial setting - data acquisition on the factory floor or some such)

    I've seen 4 character units for $100+. Of course thats w/o any sort of controller.

    For half the cost, a quality backlit color LCD matrix looks much nicer and does more.

    Of course, people will want one of these just to show off how much money they had to piss away.
    • VFDs are much easier to read from a greater distance than backlit LCDs.
      • VFDs really arent easier to read than your everyday LED based display, though.

        They are, however, more tolerant of extreme heat/cold/humidity - which is what their niche is, displays on industrial equipment.

        So you could spend $5 or so on an LED based readout, or $100+ on one of these. They'd look pretty much the same, but the VFD would be more durable. The LED would be dimmable to boot, as not to annoy you at night.
        • The VFD in my SliMP3 [slimdevices.com] is dimmable. I was under the impression that VFDs were noticably brighter than regular LCDs. That's the main reason Slim Devices decided to use VFDs according to their info.
          • brighter than LCDs, yes (liquid crystal displays, like in your watch), brighter than LEDs (light emitting diodes, like in a cheap alarm clock) depends. There are LEDs bright enough to blind you.

            An LED you can dim by just varying the voltage to it, like a dimmer switch on an incandescent lightbulb. A VFD is pretty much a miniature flourescent lamp, and you cant dim it by adjusting the voltage. It could be designed from the ground up to have 2 'brightness' settings.

            I'm surprised SliMP3 uses VFD, it has to be putting a good dent in the profit margins, and most wouldnt know a VFD from LED display. Perhaps longevity was a factor (because like the incandescent v flourescent lamp analogy, VFDs are much less likely to burn out)

  • I'm sure this has been going on for a lot longer than I've noticed it, but it seems like there's a pretty big trend toward displaying information from your computer without looking at the monitor, specifically displaying somewhere on the case. Apple's Xserves have those nifty LEDs, we have some Dell servers here that light up orange or green depending on what's going on... Now you have these text displays (i know they're not new) and that new Apple patent that everyone's buzzing about. While I think its great to be able to get some information about you system at a glance (like the old CPU load LEDs on the old BeBoxes) in a rack environment, but how much of this stuff is just eye candy (not that there's anything wrong with that..)
    • With a new age of people building media PCs to hook directly to the TV, or other headless boxes, this kind of thing gets pretty useful.

      I'm currently planning a little media PC, with a LCD matrix in the front with an auxiliary keypad, so I can display DVD positions, etc, and use the keypad for navigation. No keyboard/mouse/monitor at all. I'm going to have to write much of the interface myself, which is where I'm at, but there's a lot of code to work with out there..

      Of course, the eye candy factor is big too. An LCD displaying your fragging stats on the side of your case is pretty cool at a LAN party (and somewhat functional, I guess).

      The CPU temp and fan RPM stuff seems irrelevant to me.. I'll typically watch that stuff for a week or two after a build and then safely assume that it's running within spec. HDD space is another useless piece of info, it's not something I generally need updated in real time. It doesn't take long to type 'df' or look in the status bar of Explorer.

      Anyhow. Little lightbulbs that make letters. What an age. I'm glad we have slashdot to find out about these things.

  • lcdproc (Score:2, Informative)

    by elskanko ( 26136 )
    there was an acticle on slashdot about the lcd screens from matrix orbital using some cool linux software
    http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/ [omnipotent.net]


  • I hear the Apple has a patent on changing the looks of your case. This could very well be a violation!

  • not very functional, but cool (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ymi here ( 636104 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:16PM (#4982558)
    The coolness factor goes without question.
    What amazes me is that mods that look cool and do little to nothing are becoming so popular. This product at least has some functionality unlike lighted fans and all that jazz. Now the dust bunnies can have a real time stock ticker. Just need to mount a retractable rotating disco ball so the dust bunnies can get down after a long hard day.
    • ymi here wrote:

      > What amazes me is that mods that look cool and do
      > little to nothing are becoming so popular.

      What amazes me was that for 15 years, the only innovations in the garden variety PC case were turning them on their sides to make towers and plastic thumbscrews, both of which came in early on.

      That began to change in May of 1998, when the newly reborn Apple announced the iMac. Apple since followed with the rest of their product line, giving them a very unique look.

      The PC world struggled to compete, but they were held down by Microsoft's specifications and a total lack of innovation. The best they could come up with were clueless copies, and copies good enough to get shot down by lawsuits.

      Then came the fall of 2000 (or the Fall of 2000, depending whether you refer to the season or the PC crash). Apple recovered quickly, keeping its prices up and keeping up the innovation. The Wintel makers weren't as lucky, and they responded by slashing prices, shedding tens of thousands of workers, and huddling in storm shelters. The value had gone out of the PC world.

      The first faint stirings of hope for the PC came when retailers such as CompUSA became bold enough to sell bare bones systems, that allowed some user customization. Microsoft raged about the total lack of bundling of their products, but that doesn't seem to have stopped anybody.

      Someone, somewhere along the line, singly or collectively, got the brilliant idea to dovetail the case modding and build your own movements, and bring them into the mainstream as an established way of acquiring PCs. That did it. Now people could have highly unique and individual PCs, and pay for some of them nearly what Apple charges. Only the profits are spread across lots of little companies, instead of all going to an HP or a Dell. The PC has its value back. Innovation is raging, driven by customer demand and imagination.

      Everyone seems to be worried about the Apple patent on case color changing. Don't be. Apple just noticed it wasn't the only cool thing on the block anymore, and is leapfrogging your coolness. A patent is only a worry if you are a blind imitator like the clueless big PC manufacturers. Don't fall into that trap. Leapfrog Apple again, and keep driving the coolness factor (and useful features) higher and higher. That, plus some serious choice in the operating system department, is the way to save the industry, and evolve the desktop computer into something ever more attractive and useful, maybe even exciting again.

      Mind you, Microsoft won't like loosing control of the PC industry one bit. It is kind of difficult to lock down the PC when every component is lovingly chosen by the individual user. Palladium is never going to work in that kind of environment. Poor widdle litterbugs.

      "It's a miracle! The sea water has once again created new life."
      Moll on Mothra Leo's transformation into Rainbow Mothra, "Mothra 2", December 13, 1997

  • Throw in a reel to reel tape deck. . . (Score:4, Interesting)

    by kfg ( 145172 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:17PM (#4982572)
    that fits on top of my tower and I'll be set. The dinosaurs aren't dead, they've just taken a while to "evolve" to a smaller package.

    PC's are birds. I guess Linus realized that when he chose the penguin as a mascot.

    I mean really, think about it. You can get a card with a vacuum tube on it, visual state displays, tape backup and water cooling, all the things that micros "obsoleted."

    The more things change. . .

    KFG
  • In case anyone is wondering and doesn't want to drill down through the site (soon it will be /.'ed anyway): Here [matrixorbital.com].

    VFD2041 Standard $116.28
    VFD2041-V
    VFD2041 Wide Voltage
    $118.28
    VFD2041-E
    VFD2041 Extended Temperature
    $126.28
    VFD2041-V-E
    VFD2041 Wide Voltage and Extended Temperature
    $128.28

  • The SliMP3 player here [slimp3.com] allows you to control its very nice 2 line VFD via HTML or Perl (or whatever).

    As a bonus, get an ethernet controller and MP3 player in the hardware. $250.

    --Chris

  • VFDs are really cool, and the 4 line ones can be a lot more useful than 2 lines displays, but does their display come with a stick [27.org]?

    Having the VFD sit up on a stick [27.org] is what really makes it useful, IMO.

    -B

  • Register lights! I want register lights! (Score:5, Funny)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:27PM (#4982646) Homepage
    What we REALLY need is a 32 by 8 array of lamps--preferable incandescent--that will display, at all times, the contents of the general-purpose regsisters, another group for the segment registers, another for the EIP...

    ...and a way to connect a speaker to the high bit of register 0 so we can hear it "thinking..."

    ...and, of course a "speed" pot, and a 9-position "speed decade" pot that allow us to adjust the clock speed anywhere from 1 to 1000000000 Hz so you can see the instructions executing...


    and a nice D'Arsonval analog CPU speed meter that displays the number of instructions per second that are actually being processed.

    Then we can have contests to write programs that turn all the lights out, turn all the lights on, make interesting patterns in the lights, etc.

    • a 32 by 8 array of lamps that will display, at all times, the contents of the general-purpose regsisters... a "speed" pot... analog CPU speed meter...

      Something like this could actually be very educational. I remember having gobs of fun with a KIM-1 about twenty years ago, and learning a lot. And a friend built a custom Z80 box with 16 LEDs for address and 8 more for data, and toggle switches to write his programs into SRAM, which he operated with ninja-like agility.

      These days, the right way to do it would be to write a simulation with a GUI. If you really did it with hardware, people couldn't download it. But in fairness to your original idea, the GUI would need to have an antique radio [antiqueradio.org] theme. For instance, I got your speed pot right here [antiqueradio.org]. (That's actually the face of the shortwave that sat in our kitchen throughout my childhood.)

  • I read the review and couldn't find out if it was easily programable or if it is only (easily) used to display uptime, temp., etc... If you can program it to easily output any information that you want, then this is truly useful. You could build a nice little mp3 server for your car/home with track output through this on the dashboard/stero rack.

    Can anyone think of any other cool uses for a fully programmable display like this?

    • I read the review and couldn't find out if it was easily programable or if it is only (easily) used to display uptime, temp., etc... If you can program it to easily output any information that you want, then this is truly useful.

      I have a friend that has a Max Orbital display that he uses on a linux box that is set up as a "multi-media server". He has the display programmed to show music and video track information in real time. I don't know the details on how he has it set up, but it seems like a very useful and flexable product.

    • Software (Score:2, Informative)

      by MoTec ( 23112 )
      I've been using a Matrix Orbital LCD for almost a year now and I'm pretty happy with it. The best software for it is definately LCDC (lcdc.planetdps.com). It works with windows, not linux but it is easily programmed to display almost anything you want.

      LCDC interfaces with Motherboard Monitor to get temps, fan rpm's, and voltages. It also interfaces with WinAmp to get song titles and even graphic equalizer information.

      Parallel displays can be had for much, much cheaper than matrix orbital's displays but LCDC doesn't (officially) support anything other than matrix orbital displays.

      Also, I happen to know that Matrix Orbital is getting ready to release a USB version of their LK204-25PC (a 4x20 LCD with 12volt general purpose out's - great for controlling fans). It's going to be at least a couple months before they release a similar VFD device.

      I'm pretty happy with mine but for me at least it definately falls into the 'neat' category instead of something truly usefull, like it would be on a headless server or home theatre PC.

      Check out LCDC, the author did a great job on it, for sure.
    • It uses a standard and well-documented serial protocol, which means you can quite easily write your own driver apps. Or alternatively there's LCDC [planetdps.com] for Windows (shareware, but worth it) or lcdproc [omnipotent.net] for Unix.
    • I read the review and couldn't find out if it was easily programable
      It is easily programmable. See the lcdproc [omnipotent.net] project for a high-level interface that someone has already written for you, where you just open a socket and send some commands like any other internet service. Or if that's a little too easy for you, then I guess you can do the serial work yourself.

      Can anyone think of any other cool uses for a fully programmable display like this?
      About a year ago, I found out that my home file server's RAID had been running in degraded mode (one of the drives apparently didn't start up?) for .. a long time .. before I noticed. I rebooted and all the drives started and it synced, but it kinda scared me that I had gone so long w/out redundancy. ("Oh no, my precious pr0n!") Yeah, call me a shitty admin for not checking the logs every day, whatever.

      So I wrote a little python script that checks /proc/mdstat every minute, and it displays a simple "Raid OK" or a scary message (and yes, I've tested that case, so it'll really happen ;-). Now if one of my drives goes out, I'll notice right away, because it's in plain sight.

      I also poll /proc/net/dev and display some running average deltas, though I think that might be more eye candy than useful.

      And of course, it displays a big clock too. It's the easiest-to-read clock in the room (20x4 VFD), but since it's not always being displayed (lcdproc switches around between all its different "screens") sometimes you have to wait a few seconds to see what time it is, so that's kind of lame. :-/

  • all computers had blinking lights.

    I was very disaopinted when the IBM box came out with no blinking lights.

    Nice to see we're getting back to the good old days.

  • It surely uses little power. If you have 3 computers on an UPS like me, 2 of them with no keyboard or monitor this kind of thing is interesting. Those 2 computers, a server and a firewall are in a place where there's no room for monitors, even 9" ones, and even if there was they'd put more load on the UPS.

    Of course I could not plug them into the UPS but then I'd lose functionality. Seeing "shutdown in 10 minutes" on that screen could be an useful feature.

  • News? How? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by silverhalide ( 584408 )
    These displays have been out for at least 20 years now. I can hardly see how these are news. They are used in old pinball machines from the late seventies as one example. Just because someone released one with a serial interface makes it news? Please, some NEW technology for once!
  • Displays are really popular things today. They're always trying to come up with something brighter and more efficient. These VFDs take the crown from the relatively new OLED technology. They operate at a wider temperature range (some research I did shows -20 C to 70 C). They also use less voltage (around 5VDC as compared to 8 of most OLEDs).

    VFDs sound like the perfect backlighting technology to go into everything from phones to handheld consoles (the Gameboy Advance is seriously in need of something like this) as they would go easier on battery life thanks to the minute power draw and low temperature.
    • There are several problems with VFDs that OLEDs don't have. First, I've never found a VFD with the resolution of a GBA or PalmPilot screen. Second, they're far more expensive than OLEDs and LCDs. I know for a fact that the GBA's screen costs less than $10. I have a spare for my unit. The monocromatic, smaller, and less detailed screen reviewed here is over $100. Third, the GBA's LCD screen already draws extremely little power because it has no active light source instead relying on a reflective backscreen. VFDs use more power than LCDs -- not much more, but it's not saving you power.
  • I've had this display for over 3 years. I placed it in the living room with a long rs232 cable. You can run the power through the rs232 cable, so you don't need an external adapter. When someone calls, the server runs the phone number through a mysql DB with all phone numbers in the country and then forwards the result to another PC in the living room. It then sends the info to the matrix orbital VFD. Of course there's a remote control that lets you scroll through the entries and lets you select MP3's to play. That's a lot more usefull than mounting it inside your PC case.
    • "a mysql DB with all phone numbers in the country"

      Holy cow! From your wording, I'm getting that you have a personal MySQL DB that stores "all phone numbers in the country"? Even if I'm assuming wrong, what publicly accesible MySQL DB has all names and numbers of people all over the world?

  • Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if anybody has done something other than a temprature or current winamp track? I could see some nice textmode demo's coming to these, if they ever get bigger than 8x4 characters or whatever they are for less than £100/$100

  • Price too high, unit too big. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dasmegabyte ( 267018 ) <das@OHNOWHATSTHISdasmegabyte.org> on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:44PM (#4982755) Homepage Journal
    The price on this unit is listed as $140. Why pay that much? For less than that you can get a VGA compatible full color lcd panel, which will mount in the same space and which can be used with a simple dual head setup. I've seen an old Sharp 4 inch LCD mounted this way; the guy ran winamp visualizations on that display and they looked fab.

    For WAY less than that, you can get a standard serial LCD or VFD display with no circuitry from a mail order electronics store. Building your own circuit board for it shouldn't take that long and is a fun exercise. Sure, the software's nice, but it's not really HACKING if you use somebody else's software.

    Way I see it, this product is designed for lazy casehackers with too much cash. Real men solder.
    • Could you please link to where I can get a VGA compatible full color lcd panel for $140? Thanks!
      • eio.com has at least 6 different models, some as low as $40. Generally, the cheaper models will require more hacking, more delving into often apocryphal documentation, but they have a lot of laptop pulls for around $100 or so. These are too big for my tastes. Some of their smaller modules are just perfect, though their jewel -- the Sharp 6 inch for $99 -- is sold out since late 2000. Get one of those badboys and a Trident Providia (PCI VGA card with simultaneous output to VGA, component and Svideo, handled on card and not in software) and you don't even have to THINK about output. This was the autopc I ran in my van until it shit the bed...there's no room in my VW for such a device and no room in my schedule to fit it.

        They also have a number of very nice character LCDs for under $20.
  • If it doesn't support Ogg Vorbis, then the terrorists have already won!

  • More Info (Score:3, Informative)

    by limekiller4 ( 451497 ) on Monday December 30, 2002 @02:50PM (#4982793) Homepage
    For those of you seriously considering getting one, another review can be found:

    http://www.bit-tech.net/review/77/ [bit-tech.net]

    ...and can be purchased here:

    http://www.matrixorbital.com/products/vk204-25.htm [matrixorbital.com]

    The Slashdot-linked review didn't seem to have the price, either, and that is listed as between $123.12 and $148.12, depending on what features you wanted.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • PC... isn't it so we can (get/write) software to do these things? So we don't need a different system to do simular things?

    hm..

  • I own one of these displays (an LCD one), and it's better than anything else on the market (hello Henry ;). They make loads of models, not just expensive VFDs. Here are some links:

    Matrix Orbital [matrixorbital.com], the manufacturer - they sell direct.
    Matrix Orbital forums [lcdforums.com], with loads of photos.
    LCDC [planetdps.com], the best driver software around for MO LCDs. Does everything :).
    Kustom PCs [kustompcs.co.uk] - a UK distributor

  • The 4-line display itself would fit in a single 5.25" bay if only the PCB were perpendicular instead of parallel to the VFD...

    Taking up two bays is one too many, and very poor design.

  • They're neat displays, but hardly news. They have been selling these for at least 4 or 5 years. Before they started selling LCDs, I think.

    Most people are better off spending $10 for a HD44780 LCD plus cables than spending $140 on a VFD. They're both well-supported and easy to display on, especially in linux.

    I've currently got a <a href="http://www.crystalfontz.com/">CrystalFontz</ a> LCD in my case, telling me all about what the computer is doing. It's brighter, bigger, easier to read, and has more features than similar MtxOrb LCDs, and costs significantly less. It even came with a drive bay mount so I didn't have to cut up my case. :)

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