924Board.org

Smoothie · Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:54 am Post subject:

Thar 'tis - James Taylor Greatest Hits Vol 2.

Sorry 5150 - guessing you wanted it to be Van Halen? I have some of their stuff, but it's not in
the car at the moment. They cause the engine to rev too high between shifts.

Now why more of this white stuff today...isn't it spring yet?

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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Jesus · Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Posts: 225 Location: Québec, Canada

Wow, i thought i was the only one driving the thing in the snow, even at minus 30C
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Et la lumière fut...

5150 · Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:20 am Post subject:

lol.. Don't mention =VH= at the minute with all the rumours that are already flying around about them reforming....

Odd here, it's gone from winter to summer overnight, glorious sunshine today and we've been up all the coastal routes.. been a real nice day to simply drive with no-where in particular as the destination..
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Mars Red '78 Euro 924 n/a
http://www.cardomain.com/id/5150_uk

Graphite? Grey Metallic '85 (late model) 944 2.5

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

Smoothie · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:27 am Post subject:

Well you can see from my heater control that we're back to springtime here, but it's supposed to drop to about 20F degrees tonight.

Hey, I thought I was kidding when I said I'd use a hair dryer in the car to see the stereo's display, but apparently not. It comes back and displays perfectly with the heat. I gotta guess some pieces got themselves delaminated in the LCD and the heat squishes them back together.

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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Min · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 10:16 am Post subject:

LCD == Short for liquid crystal display, a type of display used in digital watches and many portable computers. LCD displays utilize two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid crystal solution between them. An electric current passed through the liquid causes the crystals to align so that light cannot pass through them. Each crystal, therefore, is like a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or blocking the light.
Monochrome LCD images usually appear as blue or dark gray images on top of a grayish-white background. Color LCD displays use two basic techniques for producing color: Passive matrix is the less expensive of the two technologies. The other technology, called thin film transistor (TFT) or active-matrix, produces color images that are as sharp as traditional CRT displays, but the technology is expensive. Recent passive-matrix displays using new CSTN and DSTN technologies produce sharp colors rivaling active-matrix displays.

Gotta love the internet.

Min

Smoothie · Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 12:41 pm Post subject:

Hey Min, Finbarr, anyone else that happens to know.. Are there any laptops made with screens that are readable in full daylight? My laptop has an active matrix and disappears completely outdoors, but I can still read my watch and a boats' fishfinder, so it must be possible to make a front-lit laptop screen. Anybody know who makes them? Monochrome would be fine.

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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

CBass · Joined: 03 Nov 2002 Posts: 2807 Location: Vancouver, Canada

Min · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 3:55 am Post subject:

MunkPuppy · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:31 am Post subject:

Min · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:09 am Post subject:

or you can just get a bright enough lcd in the first place .... the ones they manfactor these days are fairly good ... though I've noticed the quality varies greatly depending on the type.... talking about low end lcd's ...

Min

Smoothie · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 6:18 am Post subject:

From what I've read there are 3 types of lcd as far as lighting is concerned. Obviously the active matrix in my laptop pc is backlit. Yes, I have tried turning up the brightness all the way, but it still doesn't come close to competing with the sun. Another type is a combination front and back lit, while the third is front lit. They're called something like transflective, reflective and transmissive? (I don't know, I probably just invented a couple new words there.) I really don't think a backlit version could be made bright enough to come through in sunlight though. LCD's in wristwatches and fishfinders are pretty obviously front lit or "reflective" -or maybe they're actually "transflective"? - because they have the backlight for reading at night.
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Smoothie · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 6:28 am Post subject:

Here's something. A search on lcd transflective brings up a bunch of stuff. -
http://www.perfectlcd.com/FAQ_LCD_design_polarizer_mode.htm

http://www.horizontechnology.com/product_advdisp.html

This one I have to click stop (X) in IE as soon as the page loads or else it jumps to another page -
http://www.ebns.com/digest/story/OEG20010523S0077
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Finbarr · Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 85 Location: Worcestershire, UK

The problem with using laptop displays in daylight is really the amount of light that gets reflected off the front of the screen, which swamps the light coming through it from the backlight - which is relatively dim on a laptop in order to save battery power. The TFTs for use on desktops have the advantage of being able to rely on mains power all the time and can therefore have much more powerful backlights.

I haven't seen a reflective or transflective screen on a laptop since the very early days of Amstrad portables, which I think may have had some - but the chances of any surviving to this day are pretty remote as they were cheap and nasty machines ten years ago.

Best thing I can suggest is to try a polarising filter in front of the laptop screen - I've used them (although it was a few years ago) in an office environment to cut down reflected light on a normal monitor and they're not bad. Find a shop that has one and give it a go?
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1980 931 (with the odd electrical quirk...)

Smoothie · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 1:40 pm Post subject:

Actually, in those links above they mention some new reflective and transflective color lcd screens that have been put on the market more recently. They're in some of the current "ruggedized" laptops, but those are pretty expensive. That's why I'd have gone for a monochrome version, but don't really need to upgrade to a new pc and I haven't won the lottery lately so an anti-glare screen should do for now.

There are some screen covers available that limit the screens' angle of view to straight ahead for security reasons, but at the same time, if they work the way I think they do, they should reduce glare and be real good for blocking ambient light as well.
3M screen <click>

http://www.dartek.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Edpno=709589&Sku=T350-1101&CatId=165

Thanks.
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox