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Hardware Technology

LCD Displays That Fit In A 5.25" Drive Bay? 87

Posted by timothy from the entrepreneurs-take-note dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "Several years ago, I saw several manufacturers that sold LCD displays that slid out of the 5-1/4" bay, flipped down, and allowed you to have a minimal monitor that stored in the case. Since it slid out and flipped down, that meant it easily fit into 1U and 2U rack mounted hardware. Now that I'm about to get charged beacoup bucks for having a monitor at the CoLo where I have my servers, I'm looking for something like this again. (SSH doesn't help with hardware and BIOS settings.)" Read on for some details on what he's looking for -- you may be after the same thing (or better yet, have such screens to sell).

"Yes, I have tried Google, but no one seems to be making these anymore. There's scads of links to projects where people mount their own LCD display vertically in 3 unused bays in a normal PC case, but I need something that will hide in a normal bay (just like a CD-ROM drive), and there obviously aren't 3 unused bays vertically arranged in a 2U rackmount case.

Anyone know of a manufacturer? Got an old model that works that you want to sell? I might even throw one in my car since then I could hide the display when I'm not using it, and it'd give me a minimal monitor for that SBC-based portable server I've been meaning to build, and it might be good enough to play some games on in a mini-portable system, etc., not to mention the sheer cool-factor."
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LCD Displays That Fit In A 5.25" Drive Bay? More

LCD Displays That Fit In A 5.25" Drive Bay?

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  • Something different (Score:5, Informative)

    by addaon ( 41825 ) <(addaon+slashdot) (at) (gmail.com)> on Saturday March 01, 2003 @09:57PM (#5416174)
    This [realweasel.com] isn't at all what you want, but may work better for your purpose.

    • Re:Something different (Score:5, Funny)

      by DonFinch ( 584056 ) <s2djfinc@@@vcu...edu> on Saturday March 01, 2003 @10:11PM (#5416210)
      now if they had floppy drives you can remotely kick the disk out of...life would be sweet.

      (my biggest headache when I remotely reboot a server.)
      • Hm. Any way to get the mac diskdrives to work in a pc? Of course, loading the disk would still be difficult. :-)
        • no no no you put the disk in then leave - then make it eject it- this breaks the glass on the front of the rack you nip in and take your server then claim on the insurance it was stolen and thats how you pay for your $350 weasel and some beer money ontop ;-)
      • If you had remote bios access with a pc weasel you could just disable booting from the floppy.

      • Re:Something different (Score:3, Interesting)

        by toast0 ( 63707 )
        ls120 drives can eject disks via software

        i don't know from experience if they'll let you eject from linux, but i can't imagine them not taking advantage of the eject commands in the atapi command set
        • eject from linux

          I have a SparQ drive connected to a parallel port. (Had I known what piece of crap it was, I'd never have bought it.) The documentation says it cannot eject from software. Before I got my first Linux computer, I tested the drive on a friends Linux computer. He had not read the documentation, so he just used the eject command. To my surprise it actually worked.
      • That's what those Compaq Remote Insight Boards are for - you can mount the old cards into a PCI slot, and at the same you have a graphics board, can hookup the local keyboard/mouse, have a virtual floppy (you need images to feed it), virtual console (you need a Java-enabled browser for this), and ontop if it cold-reboot your server, and shut it off and turn it on again remotely.
    • I can vouch for how much fun---errr, how useful Weasels can be. Watchdog, separate CPU with flashable reprogrammable system code, full BIOS access, intelligent serial passthrough, remote reboot! Depending on exactly why you need an LCD, a Weasel might be an alternative. There's a weasel in my server right now. I can see his little tail poking out of the rear case fan.
    • Heh, this piece of equipment is pretty useful, thanks for the link. They've got a demo of their product in some 150Mhz machine running BSD that you can reboot. It took a while to connect, so I think curious /. readers have found their demo, too. ;) Somewhere in a closet you can hear:

      [reboot] [beep] ...
      [reboot] [beep] ...
      [reboot] [beep] ...

      TiFox
    • That is way cool. I was about to order one, expecting it to be around $50 for the PCI version. Nope. $350. Ouch. Oh well.

  • A few places (Score:2, Informative)

    by kylus ( 149953 )
    You can try any of the ones from the LCDProc [omnipotent.net] hardware page. These include CrystalFontz [crystalfontz.com], Matrix-Orbital [matrix-orbital.com], and CwLinux [cwlinux.com] to name a few. The first two of these companies have a pretty good selection of LCDs in different colors and with different viewable areas.
    • Re-read his post...he wants a small LCD that functions as MONITOR. Not something to *monitor* his system stats.

      -psy
      • Re-read *his* post -- he suggested the *hardware* page, not the software itself :)
        • Re-read the *Matrix Orbital* site again. :) You're right, the fellow that suggested it did suggest the hardware, not monitoring software. However the Matrix Orbital hardware is insufficient for use as a "monitor". It lacks the resolution. Most of their displays are 3 or 4 lines by 80 characters. Some are "graphics" capable, but only have a resolution of 160x80 or similar. Not very useful to display a Linux/BeOS/Windows/FreeBSD desktop on.

          Not to mention that the Matrix Orbital displays are fed serially, which is *way* too slow to handle a VGA video feed.

          That being said, the Matrix Orbital stuff is wonderful, if you want/need a small LCD display for showing system stats, MP3 playlists or the like.

  • In a drive bay is pretty small... there are plenty of 1U keyboard/LCD combos though.

    http://www.armorlink.com/product/lcd_displaykit/ LK M-920B.htm is just one.

    • Unfortunately, I have a LOT of remote servers to administer. We have 4 data centers here in Irving, TX; 1 in Blue Hill, NY; 1 in Freehold, NJ; 1 in Ft.Wayne, IN; and 1 in Sacramento, CA. We've got that drill down. It's so good that I've gotten lazy and use the system to administer the servers that are in my building so that I don't have to get up from desk!



      I would suggest that since this is co-lo'd server that you look at something like the RIBLOE from Compaq. There are several companies that make them and you can even use the virtual floppy to do things like flash the BIOS remotely. It also allows to you watch the POST and do all the things that you could do if you were standing in front it except change hardware. We use the Compaq/HP version, the IBM one, Rose Electroics makes one, you can get them for almost any hardware you can name.



  • serial console....

    I have my server at home set up this way and it runs FreeBSD. Most UNIX's do this very well. Not sure about windows, but I did not see that as being a requirement There are also add in cards that can handle the display for the bios.

    Then you can bring a laptop and a null modem cable to the colo and your hooked up.

    • Re:two words... (Score:2, Informative)

      by eht ( 8912 )
      i'm just wondering if you even read to the point where he said "(SSH doesn't help with hardware and BIOS settings.)"

      guess what? serial console doesnt do diddly for BIOS setting either
      • But PC Weasel [realweasel.com] will do it just fine. VGA card that sends data out to its built-in serial port instead of a monitor, which allows you to view BIOS and pre-OS screens without a monitor.

      • Well, I have two motherboards (Tyans, 2510, and 2460) and both offer a Serial Console
        Redirection Mode.

        Turn this on, the when the machine boots, it scrapes the display onto a serial port
        So yes, serial console does allow me to adjust bios settings.

        And when the machine boots, and linux opens the serial device for console
        access, i have linux serial console also.

      • I did not mention ssh, so I have no idea where you got that.. must be your meds..serial console is NOT ssh.. it is a serial cable hooked up to a serial port that if your system supports it it can redirect the output from the system to the serial port.. thus rather than having a vga card you have a serial cable that you hook up to a seperate computer and using a program like minicom or hyperterminal you see the system boot up. I do this with my server at home.. this is not ssh .. it is serail access..

        As far as the bios settings go, Sun, HP and most none intel systems also output by default ALL the bios crap to the serial console.. that's what they do.. there are add in cards for intel machines that can also show the bios settings as well and allow one to change them..

        so eht, where you got ssh from serial console is just beyond me???? unless you were either replying to another post, or you are just a plain confused..

      • guess what? serial console doesnt do diddly for BIOS setting either
        Depends on what kind of machine you're running. All of mine [dell.com] do.

  • Another alternative (Score:5, Informative)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Saturday March 01, 2003 @10:22PM (#5416254) Homepage Journal
    I've seen a 1U pull-out tray that has a LCD, keyboard, and mouse. I think they're expensive, and you'll have to pay for an extra 1U (if that's how they charge). Still, it may be cheaper than a monitor.

    A quick Google on: keyboard mouse lcd 1u
    revealed several such solutions. It looks like they cost on the order of $3000.

    With prices like that, you're probably better off bringing a monitor in with you when you need to use it.

  • Serial Over Lan (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 01, 2003 @10:31PM (#5416314)
    Try Intel Server Motherboards, you can access the BIOS settings / powerup / powerdown your machine remotely with Serial Over Lan functionality
    • Hi, Do you have any information on how this works? We have a few Dell PowerEdge servers which are based on an Intel Server MB Design, and I have noticed this setting in the BIOS. However, I have been unable to get any information regarding the specifications...

  • Lousy Colo (Score:4, Informative)

    by stef0x77 ( 529972 ) on Saturday March 01, 2003 @10:35PM (#5416331) Homepage
    All the Colo's I've hosted at have had monitors (along with keyboard/mouse) on wheels, which you pull it over to your rack and plug it in.

    I'm suprised your provider doesn't have something similar.
    • All the Colo's I've hosted at have had monitors (along with keyboard/mouse) on wheels, which you pull it over to your rack and plug it in.

      I used to host some gear at Level3. When we moved there in 1998, they had nice carts. Since they were good folks as well, we lent them one of those old Sun monitors; we needed it for some of our boxes, and thought it would be nice to share.

      A year or so later, they decided the carts were too much trouble to maintain, complaining that people tended to forget and put the mouse in their cabinet. So did they take three seconds and a 3-cent cable tie to attach the mouse permanently? No, they got rid of every one. Including the one with our monitor. Bastards.

      A cynical person would note that getting rid of the carts means you have to buy rack space for your monitors. Ergo, more money for them. I'm not that cynical, of course. But that doesn't mean that Level3's execs aren't.

      Regardless, that was one of the things that pushed us to move to new colo.
  • I run serial port consoles on all my *nix machines. all i need in order to administer them is a laptop with a serial port and minicom.
    • Most of the time a serial console is fine. However, if you're running x86 hardware, I'm not aware of any BIOS that supports a serial console, so you're hosed if you need to do something before you get your kernel running.

      I suppose that this is a good reason to look into one of the open source BIOS projects. (On the other hand, I'm under the impression that those projects aren't ready for serious use yet.)
  • I'm sure someone may have already mentioned this - but almost any manufacturer of servers (dell, hpq) sells a 1U pull-out drawer type unit with a flip-up LCD panel and keyboard...

  • Liquid Crystal Display Display? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Euphonious Coward ( 189818 ) on Saturday March 01, 2003 @11:03PM (#5416502)
    Surely everybody reading this realizes that LCD stands for "Liquid Crystal Display". So, an LCD Display would be a Liquid Crystal Display Display.

    There might be one in your ATM machine ( Automatic Teller Machine machine) which you can look at while you poke in your PIN number (Personal Identification Number number), which it will store momentarily in its RAM memory (Random Access Memory memory).

  • Dell has LCD/keyboard in 1U for $1400 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DanEsparza ( 208103 ) on Saturday March 01, 2003 @11:39PM (#5416670) Homepage
    Dell has a 1U monitor/keyboard solution (that folds out) for $1400: http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/products/model_svrac _2_svrac_monitor.htm [dell.com] Dan
  • You can get VGA-to-video converters and use any TV. There are a lot of cheap, compact TVs. It's good enough for BIOS settings and some gaming.

    Or, just get a head-mounted display and carry it with you (they are down to about $500 for VGA resolution).

  • Although you probably already have your hardware, you might want to think about getting hardware support for these kinds of things in the future. I had some coworkers from India send me some mail once about the BIOS settings in one of the machines in my office. I wondered how the hell they'd gotten into the BIOS from India, but it was an IBM xSeries [ibm.com] machine with remote text access via a "Service Processor". You can either telnet into the thing, or use a serial cable to do power, get into the BIOS, or play with the bootloader, like GRUB and Lilo. Some of the newer ones even let you do a PXE boot remotely for installations.

    I know that there are also add-in PCI cards to do the same thing. Most of them have video on board, and a plug to put the keyboard into. A quick googling didn't turn anything up, and I can't remember the name.

    • Re:Get some real hardware support (Score:5, Informative)

      by aderusha ( 32235 ) on Sunday March 02, 2003 @01:09AM (#5417029) Homepage
      i manage around a hundred remote compaq servers, and every single one of them has a remote insight board [hp.com] installed. it gives you remote key/mouse/video through any java enabled browser. it has it's own network interface and power supply, so it works even when the host system is powered off or completely broken. you wouldn't want to play quake through the thing, but slapping one of these in your boxes means you'll probably never have to physically touch that system again except for hardware replacements.
      • Where I used to work we looked into this solution for our servers too. Problem is, we had over 4000. That's 4000 more network drops and 4000 more circuits we would need. Though I bet for only a 100 or so servers it worked quite nicely. SHame though, as I really liked those insight boards too.

  • Here's what you're looking for (Score:5, Informative)

    by MrResistor ( 120588 ) <peterahoff.gmail@com> on Sunday March 02, 2003 @12:38AM (#5416896) Homepage
    earthlcd.com [earthlcd.com]

    They have kits with small LCDs and driver cards. There's a 6.3" monochrome with an ISA driver for $199 and a 7.8" color with a PCI controller for $299. Their outlines are 8.11" X 5.74", which should fit fine as a 5.25" bay is actually 5.875" wide. If you've got a few more bucks in your budget, or maybe don't have a free ISA or PCI slot, there's also an analog color 6.5" for $695 that's 7.04" X 4.99".

    You're going to have to rig up some sort of mounting bracket for it. I'd recomend looking up a small machine shop in the phone book to do the fab work. Usually small shops have pretty good machinists who will be able to give you some useful suggestions on the design of it, and I highly recomend taking advantage of their expertise if you want the bracket articulated in any way. Stay away from places that specialize in automotive machining, as they are generally considered to be the machining equivalent of an MCSE.

  • This is what you were looking for.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02, 2003 @01:34AM (#5417151)
    http://www.logitec.co.jp/products/monitor/lcmt041a .html

  • You need to simplify (Score:3, Insightful)

    by supton ( 90168 ) on Sunday March 02, 2003 @01:48AM (#5417207) Homepage
    You are going to spend money on an LCD display for a server that sits at a co-lo facility with noone looking at it 99.3% of the time? This is so 1999. I'm not trying to insult you, but question your understanding of the alternatives, which are likely to be more simple.

    got Unix? Serial console!!! On Linux, edit lilo.conf, and edit /etc/inittab, put your consoles on /dev/ttyS0 - it only makes sense!

    Windoze? A network-capable kvm is likely about the same price as an LCD display, and scales to multiple boxes. But even cheaper is VNC, which can be tunneled over pub key authenticated SSH for remote access.

    Co-lo facilities are likely to be charging 15-25 USD per rack unit per month, and a 15" CRT takes up 8 units, so you end up paying at least 120 USD a month to not see a monitor most of the time. What a waste. If you go the VNC or serial console route, even without an expensive Mainboard with remote access to the bios setup, etc, you can still get away with no monitor - and when you do need one, your colo provider should have a monitor on a cart you can use gratis (if not, screw them and go elsewhere - it is a competitive enough business that they can't screw you).

    The reason that the LCD in the drive bay thing has gone away is that it is too much of a niche item to survive in a commoditized economy where hardware has low margins (this is also known as reality). Welcome to 2003 - scale down your expectations.
    • Read the fine post - he said he needed this for the BIOS setup, not for main system settings, for which he is using SSH.

      Since you cannot (yet) SSH into your BIOS, nor use VNC to access the BIOS, you solution is trivially rejected by what is in the story.

      However, I do agree with you - just take a portable monitory in with you when you need it.
      • Re-read the post. The term "network-capable kvm" refers to a remotely accessible piece of hardware that does indeed allow you to use VNC to access the BIOS.
    • The Kaveman [digitalv6.com] product appears to be a nice network-capable kvm. Last I checked they were in the $2500 to $3500 range. You can conveniently sit at home and watch your machine reboot and alter BIOS settings just as if you were sitting in front of it.
  • LCD screen in a drive bay?

    Another guy saying his 'biggest problem' is that he wishes he had a way of kicking the floppy out of the drive bay?

    I'm suprised any of this is an issue. Trying to find complex solutions for relatively easy problems.

    As far as remote administration, you can get cheap motherboards that support redirection of the console to a tty. Then hook the tty up to a terminal server, modem, etc. And that's it. These types of motherboards are fairly easy to find. Probably cheaper than some ridiculous LCD screen bling-bling interface.

    Or buy a machine that's meant to be remotely administered (Sun).

    Don't trick your colo machines out with Icy Hot Hardwarez.

  • Here's what you want.... (Score:3, Informative)

    by penguin_nipple ( 127025 ) <`dan.nedelko' `at' `gmail.com'> on Sunday March 02, 2003 @11:29AM (#5418516) Homepage Journal
    Rackit Technology [rackittechnology.com]
    What you're looking for is a KVM over IP technology. There are numerous solutions out there for remote administration of multiple servers. The link provided is one vendor, but alot of vendors exist.

  • Look at your local high-end car audio store (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jahf ( 21968 ) on Sunday March 02, 2003 @11:40AM (#5418550) Journal
    Alot of car audio stores sell dash-mounted DVD players that have a screen like what you are talking about. Often times the screen module is in a separate case from the radio.

    You might be able to rig a setup where you get one of the car screens and connect it to a video card that has Svideo or component video out.

    Not as high resolution as a VGA LCD (though who knows, maybe they have a VGA interface on some models, doubt it though), but you'll be using an alternate signal source, meaning your SVGA port will still be open, and it will look smooth with you press the button to deploy the screen ;) ...

    This brings up a segue into a feature I really wish laptop makers would provide. I travel alot and use my laptop as a terminal in a NOC sometimes. I would really like an SVGA -input- and PS2/USB dongle on my laptop so I could use the laptop monitor/keyboard/screen as a terminal for another computer. If this were a fairly common possibility, people like the article's author probably wouldn't need to resort to weird things like built-in screens.

  • it always amazes me.... (Score:4, Informative)

    by penguin_nipple ( 127025 ) <`dan.nedelko' `at' `gmail.com'> on Sunday March 02, 2003 @11:44AM (#5418564) Homepage Journal
    within the sheer numbers of Slashdot readers that so many people have so little experience. KVM over IP solutions will allow an administrator to have complete BIOS control over servers located at a NOC. Additionally these systems can be integrate into keypad lockable cases and power management systems for a very slick remote management system.

  • Smaller monitor choice (Score:3, Interesting)

    by stinkydog ( 191778 ) <sd@s t r angedog.net> on Sunday March 02, 2003 @11:29PM (#5421862) Homepage
    Bring in your monitor in a sunglass case [skyex.com]. All you need is a NSTC out either native on your motherboard/video card or get an external box and stuff it in you extra bay. Add a roll up keyboard and you are in business.

    SD
  • IBM and HP/Compaq make rack mounted servers that have a service processor that allow you to access the system at the BIOS level remotely.

    At the place where we work, electricians wire racks, plug systems in, and turn them on. We use Tivoli and IBM software to remotely install images and whatever software bundles the systems need unattended. Of course we also spent gazillions of dollars to do that.

    You can also get KVM switches that work over ethernet. They are expensive too.

    • IBM and HP/Compaq make rack mounted servers that have a service processor that allow you to access the system at the BIOS level remotely.

      HP/UX boxes also have a service processor that has a built in web server. You can power on/off your machines remotely over the web from your web-enabled cell phone. And it's all vendor supported stuff that's been around for years, not some silly hack. Having used both the HP and the Compaq solutions, I can tell you that they both work very well.

      If you must stick with a tinker-toy x86 box, have a look at www.realweasel.com for a nice text mode remote service processor that's pretty inexpensive.

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