Sci Fi Your Pi: PiDesk - Project Update #5

13 May 2015

Previous posts for this project:

Project Update

Project Update

Last week, I was experimenting with the lift mechanism for the display of the Pi to be used as a desktop computer.

That was a temporary display for testing purposes. And even though the screen had a good resolution, it was too small to be fully legible because of its size.
As an alternative, I cracked open an old (and broken) laptop and recycled the display. I was able to recuperate the screen without too much trouble and went searching for a controller online.

eBay seems to be full of these things at a very cheap price when sticking to classic VGA and DVI outputs. Adding HDMI seems to triple the cost! Because I already own and don't use a HDMI to DVI adapter, I chose to buy a VGA/DVI controller board only, setting me back about 10EUR. The controller board even came with inverter, connectors and control buttons (menu, volume, etc ...). The recycled display itself is a 17" widescreen with a maximum resolution of 1440x900. It's not full HD, but it's not bad at all for a (nearly) free display.

After hooking everything up, the laptop display was functioning properly! One of the next steps for the display will be to make a lightweight enclosure to hold all the parts in place.

Till next time!