[simpits-tech] Just a quick update.........

[dabigboy at cox.net]

---- Gene Buckle <geneb at deltasoft.com> wrote: 
> On Mon, 9 Apr 2012, dabigboy at cox.net wrote:
> 
> > Had great success with the Tracor CDU retrofit/rebuild over the past 
> > couple days:
> >
> Very nice Matt!  What sized LCD are you using in there?
> 
> If you can wait, you could use a Raspberry Pi board with the GPIO breakout 
> board to run that whole thing....

Had a stroke of luck on sourcing a screen.........the original CRT is a lovely 3" unit which doesn't seem to match up to anything (I looked up portable TVs, security monitors, etc, I really wanted to use another CRT for its true-black'ness in a dark cockpit). I ran across a "Citizen" brand LCD on ebay for $25 out of an ex-cop car, which just happened to be "about" 3". As it turns out, it's a little too small for the Tracor, but it's close. I had to completely dissect the screen to modify the diffuser, reposition the backlight, and even remove some glass from the LCD screen itself (!!!!) to make it fit. The clear/blank area of the LCD glass is blacked out with electrical tape, but I have a piece of clear plastic in front of the works to maintain a smooth front (and to protect the LCD glass). It's a pretty old, low-quality screen, but as I am going to just be doing a black screen with green text, it should look fine.

I do have a PI on pre-order, but it looks like it's going to be at least August before I get it.........but yes, I had the same thought. With good graphics support and built-in composite/RCA video output, it's a natural! Will probably go ahead and write the software, then port it to the PI (since I'm using all Linux here anyway).

Matt