Small Form Factor EPIAs with Laptop Screens

Hey all,

Here's an old favourite of ours

Getting a laptop screen to work as a monitor for the PC, except this time, I'll take it a step further.... I remember from back in the day, when a fresh young n00b asked us about this, we used to ostracise and birch him until he learned that it was not worth it after all...


Well onto the present - I'm in the market for a low power Mini-ITX board to handle my biizznaaasss. And from what I see in boards like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/VIA_EPIA_PD-10000.jpg
There is something sitting quite comfortably in the middle of the board - AN LVDS CONNECTOR!!!

Now I happen to have an old 15" Laptop screen lying around (Sharp), and it also appears to have an LVDS connector!

What I would like to know is how likely is it that my connector is the same as the one on the board? Info in the manufacturers handbook is scarce, so I can't tell what sort of connector it is. What I do know however, is that my laptop screen has a 15x2 (30 pin) connector. Should it work? Does anyone here have an EPIA board with the LVDS? What are the different sorts of LVDS? Where can I get pin schematics - they appear to be different everywhere I look!

Any help is greatly appreciated and shall be rewarded with a picture of a bearded man
MGT

 

OK, I can't hold it in any longer...


Simply legendary...

 

Hahahah, I want to be just like him when I grow up.

About your screen dilema, have you tried plugging it in and giving it a whirl?

 

Don't we all...

I have yet to purchase the board, but know that different ones come with different LVDS arrangements so I was just asking around...

 

Find a pin-out of the LVDS on the board, and find a pin-out of the LVDS on teh laptop screen.
See if they look compatible.

 

You need the LVDS processing PCB too, because that EPIA doesn't have one - only the pin-out.

 

As Bindi says, that's just a connector for the optional driver board.
(Good luck finding one though, the only place I've EVER seen them is on Via's site. Nobody seems to stock them at all!)

 

Snap :clicksfingers: Back to the old drawing board

Those additional boards indeed to appear to be very difficult to come by... and when I do find one, it costs more than what I would pay for the mobo itself...

Oh well, just got one of these:

An OEM Intel SFF Board... No features to speak of, but at least its low power... and makes 0dB of noise.

PSOne TFT it is then...