New project - laptop display on the Sony backup monitor

John_Canfield · 10-16-2006, 01:51 PM

I've been wanting to try this for some time and finally had the urge to give it a shot. The objective was to duplicate the navigation laptop's display on the Sony monitor so that I could glance at occasionally (and not have to wake up Jane

.)

The Sony monitor being basically a TV monitor has relatively low resolution and will NOT display small lettering to where you can read it. It IS useful for a nav program like CoPilot that does not have a cluttered display and uses large type and big graphics. You can decide for yourself when you look at my screen shot.

I doubt that I will keep this as a long-term solution - on the horizon is a small VGA monitor that I will mount somewhere on the dash. This was fun to play with anyway.

Here is the link for the project.

John_Canfield · 10-16-2006, 01:51 PM

I've been wanting to try this for some time and finally had the urge to give it a shot. The objective was to duplicate the navigation laptop's display on the Sony monitor so that I could glance at occasionally (and not have to wake up Jane

.)

The Sony monitor being basically a TV monitor has relatively low resolution and will NOT display small lettering to where you can read it. It IS useful for a nav program like CoPilot that does not have a cluttered display and uses large type and big graphics. You can decide for yourself when you look at my screen shot.

I doubt that I will keep this as a long-term solution - on the horizon is a small VGA monitor that I will mount somewhere on the dash. This was fun to play with anyway.

Here is the link for the project.

Tom N · 10-16-2006, 03:14 PM

I tried the same setup last year. Bought the adapter from RVCams.

I also found the resolution poor.

My next plan of attack is to mount a 15" LCD monitor hanging upside down from the overhead cabinet to the left of the drivers seat. Feed it as a second monitor from the laptop. I'm waiting for the price of 15" LCDs to drop into the "experimenting" range!

SargeW · 10-16-2006, 06:05 PM

So John, is it possible to run a second LCD monitor from a lap top, and have the Monitor program running at the same time as the GPS program?? I thought about that, but i'm not experienced enough to work it out without help...

tderonne · 10-16-2006, 06:14 PM

Been there done that too.

Running DeLorme Street Atlas in 640x480 really makes it look pretty bad...

Thought about sending the laptop output up to the TV via the laptop's S-video output and see if that's a little better. Wouldn't make it easier for me to see, but might be fun as the kids get older to follow along as we drive.

(Thought about trying the S-video out to an RCA video adapter to the backup monitor too, may be able to get more than 640x480??)

John_Canfield · 10-17-2006, 05:15 AM

Tom - I have an extra 15" monitor at my bro-in-law's house in Austin - I might try to find a place for it in the dash area. Don't know if I can turn the display upside down. Some monitors will let you rotate the display by 90 degree increments to account for different mounting configurations.

Sarge - it should be simple to concurrently run the laptop display and an external monitor, but your manual would tell you if it is designed to do both at the same time.

Tim - no reason why you can't feed the big TV with the S-Video out of the laptop. With a 27" TV it should be easy to read the screen. Don't think the laptop graphics adapter will permit a resolution higher than 640x480 with the TV out port active.

smlranger · 10-17-2006, 05:41 AM

John:

I bought the same adaptor from RV CAMS but never could get a signal to my laptop....however, I was using yet another adaptor (my laptop does not have S-video output, only VGA). I also considered getting a separate monitor for this. Let us know what you end up with.

Tom N · 10-17-2006, 06:03 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John_Canfield:
Tom - I have an extra 15" monitor at my bro-in-law's house in Austin - I might try to find a place for it in the dash area. Don't know if I can turn the display upside down. Some monitors will let you rotate the display by 90 degree increments to account for different mounting configurations. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you can't turn the monitor 180 degrees the Display option in control panel will let you flip the output 180 degrees. I just checked and the ATI video card in my laptop allows me to flip the output 90 or 180 degrees. WOW, the mouse is almost impossible to use when I flipped my laptop screen 180!

SargeW · 10-17-2006, 09:19 AM

John, would the age of the laptop be an issue (mine is about 4 yrs old) or is it the quality of the motherboard?

John_Canfield · 10-17-2006, 01:04 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tom N:
If you can't turn the monitor 180 degrees the Display option in control panel will let you flip the output 180 degrees. I just checked and the ATI video card in my laptop allows me to flip the output 90 or 180 degrees. WOW, the mouse is almost impossible to use when I flipped my laptop screen 180! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Hmmm - I'll have to look at mine - didn't notice it when playing around. UPDATE: Hey - how about that.. I can rotate the display!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by SargeW:
John, would the age of the laptop be an issue (mine is about 4 yrs old) or is it the quality of the motherboard? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Sarge - very low-end laptops probably would not have an S-Video out. The Dell 600m I use I think is about a four year old design and has the S-Video. My cheapie Dell Inspiron 1000 (about 18 months old) doesn't have S-Video out or a very good graphics adapter (or anything else very good for that matter!)

SargeW · 10-18-2006, 04:54 AM

Well, I checked my laptop, a HP 5600, and I have an S-video output. But do I need a seperate software program to enable the laptop to run two programs concurrently, or is it accomplished by the laptop hardware??

Gene Rondenet · 10-18-2006, 02:19 PM

I've been on a similiar campaign for some time now. I've started researching "Auto-PC's" and their assocaited accessories. I have decided that what I really "need" is a 15 inch 1280 X 1024 pixel, small bezel, LCD monitor that runs on 12V and has a USB touch screen. I would then use this for navigation (DeLorme) and my MP3 player. This could be mounted low enough to not block visibility, but still large enough to show multiple windows.

I did have an old Fujitsu laptop with a touch screen and it worked pretty good until the hard drive failed. I really miss the touch screen feature.

John_Canfield · 10-18-2006, 04:20 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by SargeW:
Well, I checked my laptop, a HP 5600, and I have an S-video output. But do I need a seperate software program to enable the laptop to run two programs concurrently, or is it accomplished by the laptop hardware?? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Sarge - Windows will run concurrent programs nicely (Windows 3.1 or 95 won't however.) You don't need to do anything. Now if you are talking about driving two displays concurrently, that will be a function of the laptop's graphics adapter.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gene Rondenet:
I've been on a similiar campaign for some time now. I've started researching "Auto-PC's" and their assocaited accessories. I have decided that what I really "need" is a 15 inch 1280 X 1024 pixel, small bezel, LCD monitor that runs on 12V and has a USB touch screen. I would then use this for navigation (DeLorme) and my MP3 player. This could be mounted low enough to not block visibility, but still large enough to show multiple windows.

I did have an old Fujitsu laptop with a touch screen and it worked pretty good until the hard drive failed. I really miss the touch screen feature. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Gene - I have thought about running a 12V mini PC but I suppose there isn't much point in it since I would still need the Jotto desk for a keyboard. Might as well have a laptop.

You idea of the touch screen is a nice one for the tasks mentioned. I have seen small LCDs that are touch screen capable - I suspect the application needs to be written for touch screen but I don't know for sure.