RPTools.net

Hi,

I just wanted to ask if any of you think this might be feasible.. And if you have stumbled over something like this before and have an url to share, please do so.

So my laptop died out the other day. The gfx card is dead, of that I am 99% sure. I have salvaged the hdd(always useful) and the lcd panel with all the connectors a small controller card of some sort which I suspect has to do with powering the panel.

Anyway.. Yesterday I was gaming with my group and we used a normal desktop lcd monitor for the game table. I've found one that has a flat back so I can just lay it on the table. Works great! Game table on the cheap..

It struck me during while we were playing that if I could somehow get that laptop lcd panel working I could make the thinnest gaming surface on the table possible without a projector. The panel is only 5-6mm thick...
In my mind all that is needed is rewiring from the panel graphics (molex?) connector to a standard d-sub connector, and then coming up with some sort of powersupply for the monitor.

Research needs to be done, obviously. I'd be surprised if it turns out to be as simple as outlined above.. It can't be that easy, right?

Thoughts? Comments? Have an url for something along similar lines?

Thanx
-Bad

Checkout this video: LCD Monitor Teardown

While it's possible to use an LCD panel off a laptop, it's a difficult and expensive project. You're better off selling it on Ebay and using that to fund something less difficult, such as a pico projector, or just another monitor. Laptops aren't built with the idea of using the parts for other things. The monitors are powered by the chips on the motherboard, not by the pieces in the screen. The signals aren't the same as you would find in a standard LCD monitor, as those are for use with many machines.