# Add Cool Multi Function LCD To Your PC !!



## Ayuclack (Mar 17, 2012)

Spoiler



Let Me First Clear That This Is My Friend JJ.ALUKKA Project and I Posting here 



Ever wished to know whats going on your pc while you were gaming or while your monitor was switched off without checking it? Or ever thought if you could possibly show PC stats or tell you when there is a new mail without checking it? Or atleast are you a CPU modder looking for cool stuffs? Well there is indeed a cool solution! By hooking up a cheap alphanumeric LCD onto your parallel port (provided u have one!),  you can have a simple but cool looking secondary display to show infinitely as many data as you would wish from System Stats to Game Frags!
For those who don’t have a parallel port, you can use a cheap PCI parallel card! Using a USB to Parallel Converter will NOT work! However there is another solution to it which involves some advanced knowledge of programming a micro-controller. More about that at the end of the article, but now, we will be discussing about a parallel port driven cheap LCD!  The supported display outputs include details about CPU, RAM, HDD, GPU like speed, usage, space, temperature, fan speed, load and can display as percentage, bar graph, remaining. The other stats that could be displayed include Emails, Weather, Clock, Winamp display, Media Player details, or pretty much anything you need. The hardware for this is very simple and the software does the complex part which is by a program called LCDsmartie. Most basic stuffs are built in, and you could add more features day by day by simply adding plugins for whatever you like!

*Components and Tools Required*

1. PC with parallel port

*mypcmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/serial-parallel.jpg

2. 16×2/4×40 or any HD44780 based mono LCD with backlight

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/1-2.jpg

3. Parallel Port Printer cable

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/2-2.jpg

4. Some single wire

5. Soldering Iron and Flux

6. Paper cutter/wire cutter

7. Port95NT driver and LCDsmartie

*Experience Required*

Moderate – with just basic soldering knowledge

*Procedure*
Get the parallel port Printer cable and check both its ends. One end will be having a connector compatible with the port on your pc and that will be the  male connector. Keep that end and cut off the female end of the connector from the wire. Splice the wire and solder the different wires to the different pins as shown in the circuit diagram below according to your LCD type.Make sure you do a good solder or your display might flicker.

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/3-2.gif

*Above circuit is for 16×2/40×1 HD44780 compatible display*

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/3b.jpg

*Above is for 40×4 display*

Note the wire which needs connection to +5V and do not solder it to the printer cable, instead solder the ordinary single wire to it and find a free molex connector as like in the picture below from your SMPS. Connect the other end of the single wire to the RED wire in the molex connector which is 5V. Do NOT connect to yellow wire even by mistake as it is 12V and you will blow your LCD! Ground connection is through printer cable, so no need for another wire.

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/3b2.jpg

Connect the printer cable to your PC printer port. The display should light up and show a black line which tells that your main connections are fine. Install the Port95NT driver and LCD smartie. Sometimes you might need to restart your pc to get the Port95 driver to start working after install. Open LCDSmartie and click on setup.

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/3c.jpg

*In display settings, select display plugin as HD44780.dll and startup parameter as LPT1*

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/3d.jpg

Goto screen tab and LCD size according to your display. Most common size is 16×2. If you dont know, just count the number of alphabet blocks your display has x number of lines.

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/3e.jpg

Click on apply, now your display should start showing the default LCDSmartie text!! If it worked, congratulations!! if not, check your display connections and software settings. Examples of a working LCD are shown below. First one shows one fixed into the cabinet.

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/4-2.jpg

This one shows how it can used externally in case you dont want to mess up with your cabinet.

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/5-1.jpg

The next screen shows a wide variety of outputs possible with this setup!

*i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/jj_alukkas/Axecrew/6-1.jpg

This project is very unique as most people wouldn’t have even heard of it!
And now in case your PC doesnt have a parallel port or you have a laptop, you can do the same project, but it would need some additional hardware to emulate the LCD driver and read the strings over USB. An ordinary USB to parallel converter will not work! But a cheap addon PCI parallel card will definitely work like this one! For laptops, this is not an option, so you will have to follow one of these if you have the expertise.


*Demo*

[YOUTUBE]bwBmFzjQD1M[/YOUTUBE]


Be Sure To Check Out The Website Here for More Like this.


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## krishnandu.sarkar (Mar 17, 2012)

Awesome 

Repped


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## captain_volt (Mar 18, 2012)

gr8!!!!  nice work. it is really cool looking modding


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## rahulyo (Mar 30, 2012)

Very Nice guide bro . Thanx .


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## newway01 (Mar 31, 2012)

Great tut. Never even think of such a cool thing. Have all the necessary stuffs like solder iron,parallel cable, lying around except the lcd. Gonna give it a try. How much does the lcd screen costs on average? Can we buy a multi-color screen too and use with this setup?


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## Ayuclack (Mar 31, 2012)

The lcd panel is for rs 175 on ebay.in


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## harshilsharma63 (Nov 18, 2012)

Awesome stuff, I didn't knew it was that easy.


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## manikant (Jan 31, 2013)

Gr8 post dude, bt i want to use a 5” COLOR TFT. How to do that?


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## mija123 (Jan 31, 2013)

thanks, it will help


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## Ayuclack (Feb 2, 2013)

manikant said:


> Gr8 post dude, bt i want to use a 5” COLOR TFT. How to do that?



Every thing depends on the bitmaping on the screen!!


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## anirbandd (Feb 2, 2013)

excellent mod!! well done!


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