From: Calvin Grier (cgrier_at_ix.netcom.com)
Date: Mon Feb 14 2005 - 07:40:25 PST
James,
I share your desire to have a brighter backlight and that's one of the
reasons I embarked on the (long) road to engineer a replacement to the Apple
original EL backlight. David PCB-Man Humphreys tried it first, but he gave
up on his quest to engineer an LED backlight. It could still be done,
however, the cost to do it would be prohibitive.
I contracted with an EL backlight maker that had "better" materials than
Apple did in 1996. I did some comparisons and decided that most users would
be able to source an (original or aftermarket) green backlight from various
sources for an extended period of time. In order to sell something that
people would want I'd need something unique. I chose to make white. A
brighter green EL backlight can be made today - but most people's eyes can't
distiguish a 10 or 15% improvement in brightness in day to day use. A 2x or
4x improvement would be possible only by changing to LED or CCFL backlights.
I've sold close to 100 of the white backlights and I have not had one of
them returned. Most upgraders like the improved black on white appearance of
the display. I'd be willing to make a production run for an order of
improved green displays, but I'd need advance orders for at least 50
backlights.
--Calvin
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Wages" <james_at_kiramek.com>
To: <newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net>
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 7:37 AM
Subject: Re: [NTLK] High Quality replacement MP2x00 white backlights
> On 2/14/05 4:47 AM, Martin Joseph <martyNT_at_barknaturalpet.com> wrote:
> >> With today's technology, there has to be a brighter solution than what
Apple
> >> produced over 8 years ago!
> > Following that logic there would be a better PDA also! Which there
isn't...
>
> I wasn't making a merely logical or philosophical statement. While other
> PDAs have yet to come up to speed with Apple's software implementation,
the
> fact is that hardware, including EL technology, has progressed over the
> years. One reason no one has copied Apple's software interface is because
> Apple holds the copyright to it. Apple does not own the patents on EL
> technology, however.
>
> And so, the progression in hardware technology has nothing at all to do
with
> the Newton interface still being the best out there. My remarks are
simply
> a means of calling out to the suppliers of Newton backlights to make
> something brighter and hence better than the stock EL. It should be
> technologically feasible to do this, although it may require electrical
> modifications to the EL driver circuitry. But I would be willing to take
> out the soldering iron if it meant a brighter EL -- especially a brighter
> WHITE backlight.
>
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