this is pretty cool, would be good for keeping an eye on my folding@home stats… maybe i’ll attempt my first project today

Posted at 1:51 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by josiah

Kind of a strange place to put it, but it’s a clean mod.
They forgot to mention more information about the screen itself.

Posted at 2:27 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by mastershake916

Heh pretty cool but has no real use not when my MX1000 is wireless :( digg this story here: http://digg.com/mods/How_To_LCD_mouse_mod

Posted at 3:04 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by Tom Parker

@Shake-zula, the mike rula

It’s a bit hard to follow his description of the LCD but here’s what I’ve gleened from it. The screen/ driver pair is a Nokia 6610 which can be obtained here: http://www.jelu.se/shop/product_info.php?products_id=130&osCsid=5e2deb0ef56739194e06051f49a0f345

He interfaces with it using a simple bit banging interface (IIRC). I believe he used the LCD software from here: http://www.skippari.net/lcd/lcdinfo.html

Looks like a pretty smooth hack all-around. I dig the clean look… Though I’m not sure what he really plans on using it for… Also as far as I can tell there isn’t a linux version of the software so it looks like us penguins are out in the cold on this one!

Posted at 3:04 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by bp

Thanks for the info!

Posted at 5:30 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by mastershake916

Hi. I coded the program that runs the display myself. I just mentioned LCDInfo as a sidenote.

Posted at 5:45 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by Japala

#4. Bitbanging is pretty simple and should be easier in a Linux environment (easier to expose the raw hardware).

I fail to see what good this is in a mouse, but its a good hack and outlines a technique to put an LCD screen in anything.

Like having an IRC window in the bottom of my coffee mug.

Posted at 8:08 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by freiheit

what a load of crap what is the point of having a screen when ur hand is over the screen 90% of the time no doubt mastershake will love this mod right up his street ??????

Posted at 8:56 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by steve

WTF steve?! Isn’t this small screen like a super-LED? You should be all over this!

Posted at 9:12 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by DanAdamKOF

Steve:
We are sorry you are not happy with the quality of the recent posts. Since you are unwilling or unable to submit a worthy post we have decided to refund your subscription fees. Your checking account has been credited with the full amount you paid to visit this site, please do not visit again.

Posted at 9:45 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by craash420

As clean as this job is, I see at least one way that it could be a bit nicer…

If the screen’s controller can be connected through usb (maybe with with the aid of microcontroller, not my expertise but I’m sure somebody will chime in) then you just need to hack apart a little pos usb hub into the case and wire the mouse guts and the lcd controller to individual ports. With this kind of set up you could even provide an auxilliary usb port through your mouse. And yes, I know the usb hub-mouse has been done, but this expands on it ;)

Posted at 10:08 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by Juan

I think this is cool, but…

If you could somehow position the screen so it was visible even when your hand was on the mouse (I’ve no ideas), and if you could some sort of button/jogdial to interact with the mouse’s screen, then it could be a pretty cool interface.

Then again, do you want to take your eyes off of the screen to look at your mouse?

Posted at 10:14 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by nickjohnson

For those people who didn’t realize what I was getting at, the above setup equates to a single interface cable coming from the mouse. Namely a single usb cable.

Posted at 10:14 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by juan

Pretty cool, but i can think of better places to put this than a mouse, such as the front of your case to display stats like cpu and memory load. Since your hand is going to cover it most of the time, I really can’t think of a good reason to have it in a mouse, other than bragging rights.

Posted at 10:17 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by gambit

the point is that its more awesome than no LCD.

Posted at 10:54 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by pillowcase

Can you use a better screen like from a nokia 6230i?

Posted at 11:43 am on Jul 26th, 2006 by rc

I think it looks sweet. Well done. Any possibility you could link it with WMP or Itunes to show the album art of a song thats playing?

Another cool idea – have the screen display the icon of the current open program, or the icon for the website you are viewing? Maybe write a program showing different system statuses, such as temps, up time, wifi connection, proccessor throttling, available ram, etc on a group of charts.

Nevertheless, I am very intrigued by your project, good job.

Posted at 12:15 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by jonny_s

cool hack, I could see it display info like download status and stuff or emule stats without the need to open the programm or to interupt screensaver (in case you use one)!! or RSS feeds !!! Not the whole page but the info that there is new info or a new mail!! anyway still smooth finish!!

Posted at 12:27 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by mentor

I like his fan mod did you guys check that one out too

Posted at 12:31 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Ben

nice hack… and steve, maybe you’re hand is on there 90% of the time… perhaps you need to step away from your computer and allocate more than 2.4 hours of the day to things unrelated to your machine… unless of course those 2.4 hours are spent on the keyboard instead of things like a significant other (man, woman, whatever), sleeping, grooming etc.

I wonder if that screen would make a good HUD when attached to a carPC… hrmmm…

Posted at 2:34 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by trebuchet03

wow. l33t g4m3r n3rd1n3ss. The ultimate addition to some out-there case mods, sure to score you some street-cred at a lan party.

I can’t say I’d ever get around to doing this, but I can think of a few other projects where a tiny LCD could come in handy-this project seems to make an excellent tutorial with sources.

I give it 5 thumbs up

Posted at 3:04 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Phugedaboudet

sorry u guys r so laime the truth hurts and so does my fist u lardy arsses get some proper hacks on here f.f sake

Posted at 3:16 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by steve

Kinda impractical as mentioned, but I still like it! Sparkfun appears to have this same LCD for $19.95 for those of us who prefer to pay in USD instead of KR. Be sure to pick up the connector for an extra $1. What the author doesn’t seem to mention is exactly how he powered the thing – the electronics require 3.3V, and the LED backlight requires 6-7V. Only 5V is available on parallel/USB, if memory serves. Maybe the mouse itself has a 3.3V regulator and he’s stealing power? Also, I think he could have eliminated the parallel connection entirely! Just slip a tiny FTDI FT245RL USB-to-FIFO bridge chip in there for $4. The chip would appear as an additional USB virtual com port. Use the free drivers for Windows/Linux, switch to big-bang mode, and drive away. It would probably increase the screen update speed (a lot), and would also provide the 3.3V.

Posted at 3:42 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Darkcobra

The mod itself looks great. But I still don’t see a practical use for it. If your hand is on the mouse while you’re using the PC, how can you utilize the screen? I surely wouldn’t want to lift my hand all of the time to check it out.

Maybe if the screen were modded into a keyboard, it’d have far more practical use.

Slick mod though, for sure. Looks great! :)

Posted at 3:57 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by vassago

cool hack.

Here is the LCD for $20.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=569

Posted at 4:12 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by bodiby

steve….what can i say!! well you just proved that you are 12! other than that just be cool and think hey maybe i can use this hack to put a lcd in my bathroommirror or in my shoes or whatever use it as an inspiration!! be creativ you know thats part of hacking culture, to do stuff with stuff that wasn

Posted at 4:45 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by mentor

Nifty hack! For those wanting a “practical use” why not use the little screen to indicate download progress of a big file, or current status of a backup job, or time / weather info, or any small bit of info ripped from an RSS feed of your choice… anything you might want to know when walking by the machine, but don’t want to sit down, turn on the monitor, and log in to see. For those who want to use the screen and mouse at same time, why not do a hack and put the screen in the keyboard instead? (whoops poster above me already suggested that hee hee) it might need a bit more creative plastic sculpture, but is there anything that can’t be done with JB Weld and a sharpened screwdriver? I think not :P

Posted at 4:46 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Raiku

I think I have this mouse somewhere.

BTW great job getting dugg almost 900 times for this story.

Posted at 5:13 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Matt Sandy

“HACKS DON

Posted at 5:15 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Japala

im going to put a little LCD display inside my Computer monitor!

Posted at 6:07 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Matt0817

@Steve. stfu. do us all a favor. instead of bitching and complaining and calling us all lame, (and making gruesome misspellings of lame btw…), go take your gun, you know, the metal thing with a trigger and a slot for a chunk of metal? load it, stick it in your arse, mouth, or to your temple, and pull the trigger. that will insure a steady flow of proper, led-free hacks for your endless enjoyment. btw, please realise, if everyone else likes this, then the modder must have done something right. so, go get a job, make out with the wife you claim to have, and for god’s sake, post a damn hack or shut up!

Posted at 6:49 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by colonel_panic414

Just as cool as adding LCD screens to the fender of your car, ala Pimp My Ride.

Cool doesn’t mean functional in this case.

Posted at 6:51 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by TheBlunderbuss

Steve, you’re a f***ing idiot, everybody hates you.

Posted at 7:34 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by mastershake916

Cool shit. Having the screen in a mouse is kind of useless, but if you can put it in a case on one of the 5.25″ drive bay panels to monitor temps or something of the sort would be pretty cool.

Posted at 8:18 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by CELLZERO

As I always say… Steve only exists because we continue believing he does… Myself when I’m skiming a hack I just skip over any post with steve in the by-line because, lets face it, he has never had a single interesting thing to say in the history of hack-a-day.

Why someone chooses to keep coming back and being irritating and useless is something that I’m sure has to do with a deep emotional insecurity or maybe a small dangly organ. Or something but personally I don’t really care. Just play snip snip and edit him out of your reality and everyone will be happy!

Oh and sorry for misleading on the software… teaches me to read hack-a-day right before bed.

Anyway, great hack… what I really love is all the possibilities that screen has… If I could come up with a wireless interface I could see scattering them around my appartment to keep tabs on weather/downloads/system status etc. Pretty sweet!

Posted at 8:26 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by bp

This is very cool, credits to the creator,

However, how did you cut the square out of the mouse, i’m capable of opening the mouse but have never done much towards cutting neat squares of plastic, maybe you could add information on how to do this…

The hack was done well, but there is sometimes a lack of info where tards like me need it

maybe we should have a protest to get steve banned?

Posted at 8:41 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by Fragged

hey guys, im sorry. im being a total jack@$$. i should appreciate some of these hacks a bit more, they really are kool. im sorry for any fights ive started.

Posted at 8:44 pm on Jul 26th, 2006 by steve

so who slapped steve?

Posted at 12:39 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by giskard

Unreal mod! Great job.

Posted at 12:57 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by Alan

awesome! no practical purpose, but, if nothing else, it’s at least useful for showing off :) love it

Posted at 1:22 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by andrew

this is trebuchet03

I wonder if that was really steve’s post? Anyone can type steve into the name box…

as for banning… naw… don’t see how you could prevent him (unless he’s on a static ip – which might not stop him). but i’m more for keeping open communities, even if that means some crap floats to the top. I think almost everyone can tell the difference between a floating crap and more decent content ;)

I’ve added this to my wish list to make a HUD to use with a carPC… if its bright enough (even that can be remedied with a luxeon), I think it will come out at least half decent :P

Posted at 1:33 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by steve

No, that most recent comment from “steve” wasn’t the regular steve (that posted the previous two comments).

Posted at 1:43 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by Eliot Phillips

Not sure if someone else sujested this yet, as i didn’t read evry coment.
why not use the guts of a usb-par port adapter? That, coupled with the guts of a 2 port usb “thumb-hub”, and you have a one cable solution.
Just my $0.02

Posted at 1:50 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by One man down

@fragged
one technique i found worked was to use tape to mark out the boundaries and use it as a guide when cutting, something i got an idea for from american chopper ;)

Posted at 2:29 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by faileas

wow this hack serves no purpose whatsoever. you would have to be a numbnut to use this unless the xyz board is not connected to the internal mobo of the mouse, then you could play stuff like doom or hexen on your mouse, or even doom 95. But in the mean time, this hack isnt up to par with the socially excepted norm and the idiosyncracies of the teen world, where one geek will follow the next. who ever made this hack should be disbanded from hack a day.

Posted at 2:48 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by Steve

12)
Yes, I can see a use. If the mouse had a button that would divert the mouse pointer from the computer screen to the mouse screen, then you could mouse over the mouse screen.

How about some games for the mouse screen, like mouse pong…..

Or have it display the time.
(Mickey Watch Mouse)

This would be way cool if you could install it inside a Mac Optical mouse, since their entire case is transparent…

Future project: GPS mouse
A mouse that senses it’s position using the Global Positioning System.
or
GPMS — Global Positioning Mouse System

Posted at 3:42 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by wifi-guy

I would like to do this and have it pull from my pictures folder and do a continuous slide show of all my pics. Great job.

Posted at 8:09 am on Jul 27th, 2006 by Shep

Very nice hack.
I wonder if the Sparkfun model would be easier overall?

Posted at 1:15 pm on Jul 27th, 2006 by ZapWizard

yes this a great hack. i found it to be a breath of freash air. and i see lots of potential in this hack other than the lcd in a mouse. maybe a classic cyber punk deck.

Posted at 6:59 pm on Jul 27th, 2006 by chris

Hello. My first comment ever on this site though I have been visiting for a few months. I thought this mod was great! Its not that an extra LCD is inpractical I think. I believe most people don’t like the LCD in the mouse idea. I would love to have a spare LCD. So I have been searching everywhere and would really like to find a way to mount it in the spare 5.25″ bay of my PC. It would be cool to have random info about my rig display or family photos on the HTPC.

Posted at 8:56 pm on Jul 27th, 2006 by TIM

i love how clean this project came out.. and as for people thinking its useless.. have a little imagination..

the reason he didnt just make a little picture frame or put it in a drive bay is that that stuff has been done.. when was the last time you saw an LCD in a mouse.. personally i have never and it combines the millions of uses of a free LCD with the fact that it will always be predominantely displayed on your desktop when you are away from the comp.. or just a hands twitch away when you are on it.. it is not meant to be constantly looked at.. it is just meant to be cool and different and it will be as usefull as you make it..

that being said i would be worried about the palm prints smudging the view.. but thats just cuz i have sweaty hands

Posted at 10:22 pm on Jul 27th, 2006 by g0d

also.. i dont have my hand on the mouse constantly when i am on the comp and i dont think most people who have used a computer for the greater part of their life do either.. i type with 2 hands and there is such a thing as keyboard shortcuts.. just think about being able to type on your favorite chat program and just look over to your right (or left?) and check on all kinds of information.. like some have said, your p2p download progress, file transfer progress, rss feed, whatever you can think of that can be adequately displayed..

man now i want to build one :(

Posted at 10:27 pm on Jul 27th, 2006 by g0d

What i think would be really cool with this is if you could make it display the icon of the program you are in (like someone has already said) BUT make it so if you pressed alt and scrolled the wheel (alt-tabbing but with mouse scroll) it showed the icons of other programs which you could select… cool? definatly

Posted at 7:02 am on Jul 28th, 2006 by Lewis

I dont know if someonbe already said this cuz I am too lazy to read 50 posts, but why not go the cheaper route and use LCDsmartie and a martix orbital LCD screen, and let it display system info, and rss feeds and stuff. You know what? Im going to do that! I have spare LCDs and an old mouse… ill submit it when Im done… wow im really excited now…..I cant wait

Posted at 5:16 pm on Jul 28th, 2006 by Jake

I have to wonder if this hack could be taken further than even juan suggested, and a small computer (say the guts for a palm or something) could be stuffed in the mouse… It would definately be a tight fit, and yes, *useless*, but it would be funny to see the mouse cursor moving on the screen in the mouse–you have to move the whole computer (mouse) to move the cursor. Yes, useless, but so is a lot of *marketed* things.

Posted at 10:43 pm on Jul 29th, 2006 by hawkeyeaz1

man im gonna do this hack dude this is some awesome stuff

Posted at 9:52 pm on Jul 30th, 2006 by nick

1337 hack! I read about some kind of screen that produces a static electricty charge and makes the screen feel like it is a 3d object. It was in some kind of car gps. Think of the possibilites… get real-time data (CPU clock, FPS,etc.) while your hand is on the mouse.
Also, how ’bout a power switch for the lcd?

Posted at 4:41 pm on Jul 31st, 2006 by HaX80r

I’m actually a little surprised some one hasn’t mentioned just the sheer “mood-lighting” aspect. Or maybe a way to show a stripped down visualazation for mp3’s that are playing. it’s a shape that the frame rate is so low.

And as far as the usefulness of an LCD in a mouse- It’s not so much an “LCD in a mouse” issue, but more of an “lcd in any cramped small space”

I’d like to see a mod using a something like a pocketPC screen modded into where the number pad is on a keyboard. or into a seperate keypad like the Logitech diNovo has. but as a hardware hack, not wsing a PPC’s wireless or bluetooth to connect, and software to control. A decent screen and it’s touch sensative. think about the possibilities.

Bonus points for a wireless setup. my only complaint about this hack is the required corded connection.

Posted at 2:28 pm on Aug 5th, 2006 by phnx

WTF!!! Why are you knocking him, What have you made lately!!

Its a cool hack and I followed the instructions on his site which are more than adequate unless you really need to be spoon fed

You can check download status, blah, blah while your machine is locked, etc

Posted at 9:26 pm on Aug 7th, 2006 by matt