[NTLK] LCD LED Back-light Panel

[Sylvain Pilet]

Hi Igor, Noah, Bernie, everyone,

The Newton screen is a very, very important point, since it is the only interface (if we do not take into account the eMate keyboard and external keyboards for others) with which we communicate with the Newton. It is also the element that deteriorates the most with use, the LCD becomes less and less sharp, and less and less contrasted, and the backlighting of the Newtons is really not better off.

I have often thought about this problem, and my conclusion is that the couple (LCD screen and backlight) should be changed in order to have something much more pleasant to use. 
Changing only the backlight, is only useful when using the Newton in a dark interior or at night, outdoors the backlight is useless, except to drain the batteries! But personally, I admit to using my Newtons very subdued with backlighting, because I use them a lot at home and in the office, and their spaces have a reduced brightness, because I work on a screen almost all the time.

I've already done some research on the Web to see if something could simply replace the backlighting without further modification, but I never found it. And I came to the conclusion that it would be better to contact a manufacturer in Asia, and ask him to manufacture what we need. The problem is that this cannot be done for very small quantities, because it is difficult to amortize the cost of "design" (but it is rather modifications that are referred to in this case, manufacturing tools). And since the number of Newton users, and therefore potential buyers, is constantly decreasing day by day, this is not financially reasonable.

Igor, in your first message, you talked about the possibility of removing the inverter from the circuit powering the backlight, by using another backlight, it would really be one less inconvenience, not to have this buzzing sound anymore! 
But do we know how much the original backlight consumes, because we should be able to take less power, even if it means making modifications as much as it improves autonomy.

Concerning the LCD screen itself, I long thought to myself that a screen of the readability of a "good" ePaper screen would be perfect, but already that the latency of the Newton screens is high, what would it be like with an ePaper screen! But nevertheless, this visual quality would be a pleasure to use on Newton. We would really feel like we were writing on paper.... with the intelligence of NewtonOS ! 
But here again, we would have to have custom-made screens made... If it comes to that, then we might as well make a new Newton, right?


Sylvain Pilet

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> Le 9 mai 2019 à 21:19, Igor Bertolucci <igorbertolucci at gmail.com> a écrit :
> 
> I was thinking on trying to find something link this that will fit the screen as closely as possible:
> 
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5pcs-lot-High-quality-LCD-Display-Backlight-Plate-Replacement-For-Samsung-Galaxy-j3-2017-j330-j330F/32959770540.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000014.5.32de9aa67t30jV&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.13338.128125.0&scm_id=1007.13338.128125.0&scm-url=1007.13338.128125.0&pvid=5003b455-9b98-4168-979e-55f37c92dfc4
> 
> Cheers,
> Igor
>