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

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

Thanks for the info!

#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.

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

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 ;)

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.

the point is that its more awesome than no LCD.

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.

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

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

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.

cool hack.

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

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

“HACKS DON

@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!

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

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!

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.

Unreal mod! Great job.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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

Good work on this blog. Enjoying it alot lol.

Subbed! q: