Lynx LCD Replacement/VGA-Out by McWill

[Turbojerry]

I'd like to thank McWill again for a great product ! The Mod screen brought my Lynx I I've owned since 1990 back to life ! Nothing beats digital video quality...

[Turbojerry]

At present I have no TurboExpress \ PC Engine GT for testing. I can try to make a digital mod in the future.

But the NOMAD mod is my project at present, because a lot of people are not satisfied with already available NOMAD mods.

 

The GG mod is already in production and should be available in 3-4 weeks (incl. scaling between GG and SMS games) .

Pre-orders are welcome!

After all the trouble I go through converting everyhting to RGB, VGA, and digital video having composite video on the NOMAD is ridiculous. Count me in for a NOMAD mod when thry're in production McWill.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Turbojerry

[McWill]

I'd like to thank McWill again for a great product ! The Mod screen brought my Lynx I I've owned since 1990 back to life ! Nothing beats digital video quality...

With your power mod and the new LCD mod your LYNX will live another 30 years! Thanks for the pictures.

You'll be on the list for the NOMAD mod, if available.

[mckafka99]

I am interested in a Nomad Screen upgrade as well if it becomes available. Thanks!

[Krip316]

Count me in for a GG AND Nomad mod! Is it the same price as the Lynx mod McWill? Just wondering so I can save up. ?☺

[RupanIII]

McWill, your doing such a fantastic job on these things. Thank You.
I am a bit concerned at you taking up the TG16 and Nomad mods though. Those are pretty successful as is.
What do you intend to add to it.

 

I'm certain that this isn't making you rich but I don't want those projects to wipe out your gains from these wonderful contributions.
Believe me, getting GameGears running again with vibrant full size screens is a HUGE THANK YOU, but most of the Nomad and TG mods look wonderful.
Sourcing a proper sized TG screen for the original size is a pain,but, most are happy to have the larger screen in the TG since it gets it working again.

I just want to air that from the business side of things for you.

At present I have no TurboExpress \ PC Engine GT for testing. I can try to make a digital mod in the future.
But the NOMAD mod is my project at present, because a lot of people are not satisfied with already available NOMAD mods.

 

The GG mod is already in production and should be available in 3-4 weeks (incl. scaling between GG and SMS games) .
Pre-orders are welcome!

[leonk]

I disagree. I have a modded nomad and thought it looked damn good until I got the Lynx mod done. The Lynx video quality is noticeably better than the composite video fed nomad. There's just too much noticeable composite video artifacts in the picture when compared to Lynx or other genesis output modes (eg rgb to my pvm on my model 1).

[McWill]

McWill, your doing such a fantastic job on these things. Thank You.

I am a bit concerned at you taking up the TG16 and Nomad mods though. Those are pretty successful as is.

What do you intend to add to it.

 

I'm certain that this isn't making you rich but I don't want those projects to wipe out your gains from these wonderful contributions.

Believe me, getting GameGears running again with vibrant full size screens is a HUGE THANK YOU, but most of the Nomad and TG mods look wonderful.

Sourcing a proper sized TG screen for the original size is a pain,but, most are happy to have the larger screen in the TG since it gets it working again.

 

I just want to air that from the business side of things for you.

 

Thank you for the special word of praise.

Indeed it's hard work to design the hard- and software for these mods and it takes a lot of my time.

But it is also a hobby.

 

I can imagine to realize also the TG16 / TE / PCE GT mod. But it is not finally planned.

 

The NOMAD mod uses the same board as the GG mod. Just the firmware is very different.

So it isn't much more work to do this mod for the NOMAD.

I also added a VGA output. So the quality is better than just video out.

 

The main difference of my mods is not having an analog design. They are digital and may prevent interferences of converting signals from digital to analog and back to digital.

 

I just want to breath life into the old retro consoles. So they will live another 20, 30 or 40 years

 

[cowdog360]

Got my LCD kits in today. Decided to try out one on my original childhoold Lynx II. I got my Lynx on my birthday most likely when I was 15/16 years old. My LCD kit arrived yesterday on my 39th birthday.. fitting I recently re-capped my unit, but had no video coming out. I had sound, and backlight, but no video, so I figured this was a last ditch effort to revive it. In short, it brought it back.. and then some!

 

 

New screen waiting for install:

 

Took some wires out of a CAT3 networking cable, soldered them up. I prepped the board the other day by taking out the LCD socket, inverter and other parts. Used my truster Hakko FR-300 desoldering gun to make it quick and easy (about 5 mins worth of work).

 

Close up of the wires installed:

 

More wires for power and removed components:

 

Screen installed:

 

And finally, it works!!

 

I'll have to install the VGA portion next, as I mainly wanted to see if my old beast would work. So next up is VGA out, upgraded speaker, and a 5V DC regulator and a new N-channel mosfet for the long haul.

 

Oh, and time to do my buddy's and then figure out what screen 3 needs to go in

 

Lastly, thank you McWill for this amazing LCD! The fit and finish and design is top notch, you must be quite the engineer

Edited May 14, 2015 by cowdog360

[evilevoix]

SP COOl I need this.

[McWill]

Count me in for a GG AND Nomad mod! Is it the same price as the Lynx mod McWill? Just wondering so I can save up. ☺

Yes, it's the same price as the LYNX mod.

[Omnibot2000]

I can imagine to realize also the TG16 / TE / PCE GT mod. But it is not finally planned.

I would be VERY interested in a mod for my multiregion-TE. I hope you will do it someday.

 

But then again, I'm also keen on having the same outstanding-quality-displays in my GG and multiregion-Nomad. So take your time, meanwhile I can save up

[Guitari]

Yes, it's the same price as the LYNX mod.

If this page has become an expression of interest page then I too would like to have one GG and one nomad mod.

[mvirtuale]

It arrived Lynx 2 modified.
Really very nice.
For now, I only played Toki on the two screens.
thanks McWiLL
You did a great job.

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

I finished adding the edge connector for the VGA out in the space of the brightness dial today. With the ridges I filed into the sides of the connector it feels completely tight without the need for further reinforcement, which is great.

I still need to make the edge connector to VGA connector cable and am wondering how to close up the edge connector part of that, I wonder if shrink tube alone would be sturdy enough.

 

I bought a magnifying lamp with an arm to help me solder small parts with insufficient ambient light. Looking through the glass I cannot see the shaft of my soldering iron and it melted part of my display ribbon. Luckily it only melted the isolation of one wire and everything still worked.

 

Is the backlight wire supposed to be soldered to the chip directly? Because I wasn't able to solder it to the round solder pad (via) at the end of the trace.

 

Lynx games are so much more fun with the new display, really great. My batteries seem to last a long time now as well.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Lamer Deluxe tm

[Turbojerry]

McWill, your doing such a fantastic job on these things. Thank You.

I am a bit concerned at you taking up the TG16 and Nomad mods though. Those are pretty successful as is.

What do you intend to add to it.

 

I'm certain that this isn't making you rich but I don't want those projects to wipe out your gains from these wonderful contributions.

Believe me, getting GameGears running again with vibrant full size screens is a HUGE THANK YOU, but most of the Nomad and TG mods look wonderful.

Sourcing a proper sized TG screen for the original size is a pain,but, most are happy to have the larger screen in the TG since it gets it working again.

 

I just want to air that from the business side of things for you.

 

I don't think it'll be a problem for McWill to sell digital video mods for Those consoles either. It'a an amazing difference going from a composite back up camera LCD video screen to a modern digital video LCD screen. It's like going from composite video on a NES with a consumer TV to a NES with RGB on a Sony BVM. Even with a small 3.5" screen it's that impressive of a difference.

[RupanIII]

Yeah, I figured it out earlier today before logging in.

The Nomad can tap the RGB just fine, so, yeah, this will be better.

Existing mods just use Composite, and they do look good, but RGB will be better on the same exact LCD even.

 

 

I don't think it'll be a problem for McWill to sell digital video mods for Those consoles either. It'a an amazing difference going from a composite back up camera LCD video screen to a modern digital video LCD screen. It's like going from composite video on a NES with a consumer TV to a NES with RGB on a Sony BVM. Even with a small 3.5" screen it's that impressive of a difference.

 

 

Thank you for the special word of praise.
Indeed it's hard work to design the hard- and software for these mods and it takes a lot of my time.
But it is also a hobby.

I can imagine to realize also the TG16 / TE / PCE GT mod. But it is not finally planned.

The NOMAD mod uses the same board as the GG mod. Just the firmware is very different.
So it isn't much more work to do this mod for the NOMAD.
I also added a VGA output. So the quality is better than just video out.

 

The main difference of my mods is not having an analog design. They are digital and may prevent interferences of converting signals from digital to analog and back to digital.

 

I just want to breath life into the old retro consoles. So they will live another 20, 30 or 40 years

Edited May 17, 2015 by RupanIII

[jbserra]

I thought for sure I had messed something up, but just wrapped up the mod and both the LCD and VGA out work as advertised. Thanks McWill. The results are amazing!

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

I just noticed something with the new screen; in the second level of Ninja Gaiden, when the background scrolls, high contrast details flicker a lot. I'm not sure what is causing this, it might be large changes between color values, but it is strange that I haven't noticed it in other games yet.

EDIT: Just noticed it in the red details of the first level of Zarlor Mercenary as wel. Just like Ninja Gaiden this game has scrolling that is pretty slow and not very smooth, maybe that is causing the effect.

EDIT2: I just checked Zarlor Mercenary on the original display and there the scrolling does look smooth. I wonder if this is purely caused by the slowness of the display, or if it is using a non-standard display refresh rate. Is the new screen able to do variable refresh rates?

Edited May 17, 2015 by Lamer Deluxe tm

[McWill]

I just noticed something with the new screen; in the second level of Ninja Gaiden, when the background scrolls, high contrast details flicker a lot. I'm not sure what is causing this, it might be large changes between color values, but it is strange that I haven't noticed it in other games yet.

EDIT: Just noticed it in the red details of the first level of Zarlor Mercenary as wel. Just like Ninja Gaiden this game has scrolling that is pretty slow and not very smooth, maybe that is causing the effect.

EDIT2: I just checked Zarlor Mercenary on the original display and there the scrolling does look smooth. I wonder if this is purely caused by the slowness of the display, or if it is using a non-standard display refresh rate. Is the new screen able to do variable refresh rates?

The new display is very fast and has high contrast. The old one was very slow, so you haven't noticed these changes. But therefore you have seen fuzzy pictures on the old one. The LYNX has variable refresh rate and the new LCD has a fixed refresh rate.

 

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

I know the old display is slow, I've made a couple of demos taking advantage of that effect. The new display sure is massively more clear. I wonder how many games are using non-60-hertz refresh rates, it might be possible to find that out using the handy debugger.

[99catfights]

I must sincerely thank McWill for his amazing product and service! Both are unmatched- simply the best. If you're considering this, jump on it! I can't help but imagine what Atari's fortunes might've been if the Lynx shipped with this...

 

My pics don't show the full range of color and clarity and I'm seeing things in games for the first time!

 

Thanks so much!!

[markawil]

New to the forum and thread, but already messaged McWill with interest in a Lynx kit, very excited about this mod.

 

One mod I didn't see mentioned in the list of possible upcoming kits would be the Neo Geo Pocket. The only mod you can do on it currently is a frontlit mod.

Edited May 21, 2015 by markawil

[RupanIII]

I see no reason the TE/PCEE mod can't be the same exact board as the Nomad mod actually, baring some hole differences. I haven't been in a TGE in a while, but, the room is there.

You would have to accept a new wider video border on your screen shield though.
sourcing the smaller screen would be harder, though he might be able to adjust his scaler, it would be counter to the goal.

Many people get 3.5 in mods and a new screen border for the TGE when modded.

I would be VERY interested in a mod for my multiregion-TE. I hope you will do it someday.

But then again, I'm also keen on having the same outstanding-quality-displays in my GG and multiregion-Nomad. So take your time, meanwhile I can save up

[Twoface2]

 

One mod I didn't see mentioned in the list of possible upcoming kits would be the Neo Geo Pocket. The only mod you can do on it currently is a frontlit mod.

 

 

Why do you want a new screen for the NGPC???

 

It's screen is great for playing outside. For indoor use you can do the frontlit mod.