LCD/VFD to fit 5.25" or 3.5" drive bay

[rowan194]

Hi all

I'm after a basic LCD or VFD that fits into a 5.25" or 3.5" drive bay,
and (preferably) plugs into the RS232 serial header on the
motherboard.

I know I could just buy or build a serial-to-LCD circuit myself, but
it's the professional appearance that I'm after, and I'm not known for
my craftsmanship.

I've seen a Silverstone 16x2 VFD unit but unfortunately it uses the
printer port, which my motherboards do not have support for. There are
other fancy displays but they use USB and most likely need Windows
drivers or at the very least some protocol hacking - I just want to be
able to send standard HD44780 compatible commands straight out to the
serial port on a FreeBSD server...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[David L. Jones]

On Jan 3, 12:46 pm, rowan194 <googlegro...@sensation.net.au> wrote:

Hi all

I'm after a basic LCD or VFD that fits into a 5.25" or 3.5" drive bay,
and (preferably) plugs into the RS232 serial header on the
motherboard.

I know I could just buy or build a serial-to-LCD circuit myself, but
it's the professional appearance that I'm after, and I'm not known for
my craftsmanship.

I've seen a Silverstone 16x2 VFD unit but unfortunately it uses the
printer port, which my motherboards do not have support for. There are
other fancy displays but they use USB and most likely need Windows
drivers or at the very least some protocol hacking - I just want to be
able to send standard HD44780 compatible commands straight out to the
serial port on a FreeBSD server...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

How about this:
http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/index-ser.html
Choose the module you want, and the matching 5.25" mounting bracket.

Dave.

 

[dmm]

On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 18:01:49 -0800 (PST), "David L. Jones" <altzone@gmail.com> wrote:

On Jan 3, 12:46 pm, rowan194 <googlegro...@sensation.net.au> wrote:
Hi all

I'm after a basic LCD or VFD that fits into a 5.25" or 3.5" drive bay,
and (preferably) plugs into the RS232 serial header on the
motherboard.

I know I could just buy or build a serial-to-LCD circuit myself, but
it's the professional appearance that I'm after, and I'm not known for
my craftsmanship.

I've seen a Silverstone 16x2 VFD unit but unfortunately it uses the
printer port, which my motherboards do not have support for. There are
other fancy displays but they use USB and most likely need Windows
drivers or at the very least some protocol hacking - I just want to be
able to send standard HD44780 compatible commands straight out to the
serial port on a FreeBSD server...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

How about this:
http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/index-ser.html
Choose the module you want, and the matching 5.25" mounting bracket.

Dave.

Or even
http://www.matrixorbital.com/

dmm