Comments on: Interesting things to do with a spare lcd monitor

Question: Interesting things to do with a spare lcd monitor

adamfunman — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:24:56 -0800

I have a spare 15 inch LCD monitor, and I am looking for something interesting to do with it.

More specifically, looking for a way to incorporate it into my home theatre or into my family room. All ideas welcome!

By: michaelkuznet

michaelkuznet — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:31:58 -0800

Digital Picture Frame

By: librarina

librarina — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:37:02 -0800

... so you don't want to give it to me?

That's the best choice.

Another good option is to make it into a picture frame -- I can't find the link now, but I think it must've been here or at BoingBoing; you can put a nice wooden frame on it and rig it up to a computer to cycle through a folder of images. I will keep looking, but maybe someone else remembers?

On preview, yes, michaelkuznet remembers.

By: PurplePorpoise

PurplePorpoise — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 22:54:14 -0800

If you're really careful, you can strip the backlight off of it, and place it over a projector (the oldschool kind - the one where your highschool teacher got their finger all dirty rubbing out what they've written in those really stinky pens on the rolls of clear plastic).

Practically - give it to librarina (or me - like, who has spare LCD moni's kicking around?). 15" is still pretty decent - I suspect that $$ isn't a problem - maybe grant it to a niece/nephew or something?

I've found that a 2nd monitor is invaluable when I'm trying to get stuff done wrt data analyses/writing/random stuff.

Dual monitors are teh roxxors.

As for picture frame - you're going to need something to drive it (ie., beam pictures to it = bulky, may as well buy an old laptop off of eBay).

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 23:52:47 -0800

picture frame... already mentioned
multimedia projector... already mentioned
(As you carefully remove the back and the backlight, you can also turn the backlight into a light table for tracing, copying, animation, etc)

You could attach it to a LAN-party box or other desktop machine that you want to make portable. (Ie, a desktop machine you can just grab and go)

Digital boardgame board
Similarly, Digital terrain for miniatures roleplaying/gaming
Nightvision system (attach a CCD camera with IR lamp)
Some of my friends are integrating LCDs into their cars, but youd need to hook up a computer and add a touchscreen overlay.
If you add a touchscreen overlay (they're fairly cheap), then you can make the Ultimate Mp3 Jukebox out of an old junker/freebie computer.

By: Otis

Otis — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:08:15 -0800

Here are some good instructions for turning it into an XGA projector.

By: plinth

plinth — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:50:45 -0800

Build a lap-top MAME machine using a miniITX fanless mobo, a laptop HD and a USB game controller.

By: adamfunman

adamfunman — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 19:20:40 -0800

Thanks everyone... my wife loves the mp3 jukebox idea..thats brilliant! I appreciate your help.