Back To School 09: Are you ready for some Old-school LCD goodness?

Setup and use
In order to get USB-LC Display up and running, you have to install the appropriate software located on the CD itself. Given the overall size of the software package [2.4MB], a 32MB or a 64MB USB stick would be more appropriate, but what can you do.


Installing the software suite... as you can see, the size is massive ;)

Software support is really impressive - you can use this display in Windows 2000 [Service Pack 4 and beyond], Windows XP [SP2], Windows Vista and yet unreleased Windows 7 operating system. Both 32- and 64-bit versions of software are available. The device also supports Linux "out of the box", but it doesn't stop there. Smart Display Company also ships complete SDK [Software Development Kit] for Microsoft's Visual Studio, Delphi (Pascal) and C++ Builder.

All in all, this is without a doubt, the best software bundle to come with such a device. If you are a developer or an enthusiast, you can easily turn this display into anything you want.



Tested LCD model can natively show calendar, clock, countdown timer, Date/Time, processor usage, memory, mail monitoring, Media Player, slideshow, stopwatch and a WinAMP plug-in. While this is sufficient at first, advanced users will want to go and visit LCDStudio homepage http://www.lcdstudio.com/site20/home.php and download the software package. Applications such as LCD Studio enable custom build of various screens, such as your own design of CPU/RAM/HDD loads.


Changing the saved start up picture is a breeze... if you have the appropriate monochromatic image

After the installation you may want to change the startup picture. In order to do this - just start the utility and select "Settings". Picture must be resized to 240 x 128 pixels and the best results are achieved by using monochromatic pictures.

We played with the device for around four weeks, and in that time it was used by four people with very different interests in life, and we gathered feedback from more than a dozen people. Overall, feedback was quite positive, until they learned of the price.