Building a Better Lynx LCD

[Jess Ragan]

(insert smarmy ZylonBane post here)

[4Ks]

(insert smarmy ZylonBane post here)

 

Take a chill pill, man.

[ZylonBane]

(insert smarmy ZylonBane post here)

Why would I post in response to my own post? Good lord man... the next time you want to try to zing me, get someone smarter to do it for you. Please.

[chris_lynx1989]

Is there a compatible 21st century 3.5" TFT panel that can be used to upgrade a Lynx?I tried to find one without luck,anyone else find one?Is that just pie in the sky or what?Karri?Others?Chime in.

[Jess Ragan]

You guys are siding with the asshole? Really? I can't count the number of times this tool has come into threads and provoked other members with his predictable, snitty insults. Has he contributed anything of value to AtariAge, anything at all? Made a game, created a hack, offered useful advice that didn't end with a backhanded insult? If he ever did, I'd probably drop dead from the surprise.

 

You can have him. You deserve him. He's going on my ignore list. Zylon, do me a favor and take that attitude of yours to a biker bar. You'd be torn in half before last call.

[chris_lynx1989]

I can't disagree with this enough. The Lynx II is totally washed out and difficult to see... if I had the ability to modify it for better visibility, I certainly would. I recall the Lynx I having a better picture, but that could just be my imagination.

The 1 & 2 screen are pretty much the same.If you use the screen guard/sun shield on either you get a better looking screen image though.

[chris_lynx1989]

Also,having light behind or next to you in a room helps.Having the shield on also makes one tip their Lynx back for the best viewing angle with a passive LCD panel,which is 30 degrees usually.The brighter your light around you and your Lynx is the more washed the screen appears too.

[Jess Ragan]

I just remembered someone talking about adding white LEDs to the system. I'm just wondering where to make those connections and where the LEDs should go, and if a diffusion screen would be necessary afterward. I suspect that you could do to a Lynx what hackers used to do to the GameBoy Advance way back in 2001, but you'd have to know where to tap the power first. Also, does anyone know how much power could be saved by removing the original backlight? Would it make any difference at all or would the power savings be minimal at best?

[Fadest]

I haven't found an english topic here, but you can have a look on Rygar's mod to put LED in his Lynx.

It's in french, but just follow the youtube link (hope it is still working, it is blocked here), and you may figure how he did (basically, he putted LED into the neon tube IIRC, take care, neon tubes are toxic)

 

http://www.yaronet.com/posts.php?s=127951

 

it seems that autonomy has been increased by a factor 3 !!!

Edited July 26, 2010 by Fadest

[chris_lynx1989]

The energy draw of the Lynx with the backlight is 300ma.Without it is 90ma.So,you'd save 210ma it seems.Not a ton in some ways,just enough though. Why the Lynx II got the button,I guess.

[ZylonBane]

You can have him. You deserve him. He's going on my ignore list. Zylon, do me a favor and take that attitude of yours to a biker bar. You'd be torn in half before last call.

If you're ranking yourself at the same cognitive level as a bar full of bikers... well... no arguments here.

[Jess Ragan]

Thanks for the link Fadest, I'm considering it. I have a new Lynx coming to replace the old one, so I have an extra flourescent tube I can use for the mod. I'm just wondering if you would even need that tube at all... I tend to think that the screen would be brighter if you didn't cover up the LEDs.

[yerzmyey]

I think the Lynx LCD is good enough as it is.

 

Well, maybe. I'd also say so.

As long as it works.

But what, when it goes dead?

A proper replacement would be worth to pay considerable money, I think.

[semicolo]

I think using the tube helps having a more uniform light, if you check some mods done on gamegear you can see a brighter spot on each side of the screen.

[Jess Ragan]

I haven't found an english topic here, but you can have a look on Rygar's mod to put LED in his Lynx.

It's in french, but just follow the youtube link (hope it is still working, it is blocked here), and you may figure how he did (basically, he putted LED into the neon tube IIRC, take care, neon tubes are toxic)

 

http://www.yaronet.com/posts.php?s=127951

 

it seems that autonomy has been increased by a factor 3 !!!

 

One other thing that bears mentioning... those tubes are under pressure! I opened one end and it shot across the yard, slicing my finger in the process. I'd strongly suggest that you DON'T use the tube at all and just find semi-opaque plastic tubing instead. It'll save you a Band-Aid and possibly some cancer ten years down the line.

[Jess Ragan]

Hey, I just finished the mod, and it definitely works... but with a few caveats. The LEDs work and can even be adjusted with the brightness dial, BUT overall visibility takes a huge hit. Saturation in particular is just plain crummy, taking the vividness out of games like Roadblasters. Maybe I bought the wrong LEDs, I don't know, but I will warn you that you shouldn't do this mod if you want the absolute best quality visuals out of your Lynx. If battery life is more important to you, then you might want to consider it.

 

Also, make sure you carefully reassemble the system when you're done because there's nothing more annoying than having a piece of the felt screen protector blocking your view.

[Jess Ragan]

Here are a few pictures of the hacking process for those interested:

 

http://www.lakupo.com/grblitz/

 

Is anyone interested...? (Desperate cry for attention alert!)

[Godzilla]

i'd love to see some way to hack a modern screen into the lynx. batteries would probably last a lot longer...

[Video]

And it took you an entire YEAR to get around to voicing your disagreement? What the hell were you doing... digging through the archives looking for things to disagree with?

A year and a month, get your fact straight J/K

 

I think the Lynx screen is as good as it's going to get. It's got a weird super low rez custom screen that your not going to get a modern day replacement for...though a better backlight may help some.

 

Especially since LED backlighting is becoming more used, you might could get some backlight LED's to put in the screen or something. You'd end up with a little off colored image, as I'm sure the florescent tube probably is more red spectrum tahn modern LED's. but you'd probably get the best lighting for the lowest battery consumption (well, short of using a secondary light source, but that didn't work to good for me)

[Jess Ragan]

Oh, I modded my Lynx with LEDs already. Didn't you see the journal entry on my web site? This happened about two weeks ago.

 

I do wonder what would have happened if I had experimented with colored LEDs. Maybe drop a high ohm resistor on a red LED and add it in there to see if it would improve the quality of the screen. I suspect it would take a lot of careful experimentation to get the formula just right.

[Video]

Oh, I modded my Lynx with LEDs already. Didn't you see the journal entry on my web site? This happened about two weeks ago.

 

I do wonder what would have happened if I had experimented with colored LEDs. Maybe drop a high ohm resistor on a red LED and add it in there to see if it would improve the quality of the screen. I suspect it would take a lot of careful experimentation to get the formula just right.

Well, if you got multiple LED's in the system anyways, it shouldn't be to hard. Some of those red ones are damn small too. You wouldn't need much, just enough red to offset the blue the white ones probably look like.

 

How about a piece of cellophane (sp) over one, or several of the LED's? Or maybe you could get a cellophane sheet to stick to the back of the screen, just to tone the light down a bit.

[semicolo]

Could be good to use an oled panel like one of these http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/27/lumiotecs-oled-lighting-panel-gets-video-reviewed-throws-down/

Need to wait until it's less expensive though

 

I'd like to try the led trick myself, do you have any recommendation on the led wavelength, light intensity?

[gravitone]

It's a great idea indeed. I had an old 19" panel lying around with a crack in it, and im thinking, why not?

I've cut a lynx screen + 1 inch on the side size piece out of the plexi diffuser, drilled holes for the led's, glued them in and now im left thinking.

 

Problem 1: I'm entirely modding this lynx to begin with. Not even leaving the original lynx2 casing. So in an effort to come up with a less bulky design, the original frame that holds the CCFL is going out the window. Sadly my LCD panel lacks the nice diffuser and inverter foil sheets that the original poster used. Anyone here have some lying around?

 

Problem 2: The backlight inverter has to be desoldered, as well as any stray components part of that circuit. The 2 LED's i used need to be wired up to a solder point that has a: the right voltage, and b: is wired into the brightness dial. Anyone here with some experience with the lynx hardware have any ideas about what can be removed and what solder points could be picked?

Edited September 30, 2010 by gravitone