Rural computing

In this post I would like to share a bit about my current S10 Samsung Dex setup. The post is about the external monitor I call ‘rural monitor’ which I use when we nomad with my family to various places like hotels or parent’s house etc.

Since I had my first notebook, I have always wondered how to reuse the LCD panel of the notebook once the hardware fails or the computing capabilities of such device become obsolete. In 2021 I found a thrown away laptop lying next to electronics trashcan in front of my home and decided to check, if there are any useful parts inside. I was mainly looking for ram, but unfortunately I was not the first scavenger there. However there was still an LCD panel present. So I decided to strip the panel from the chassis and test my luck with LCD controller board for this panel from AliExpress. The board with the power supply cost me around 20 euros. At that time, I had no idea, if the LCD is still in working condition. To my surprise, when I connected the board with the LCD panel, power supply and added HDMI input, everything worked like a charm.

But then came the tricky part. Where should I mount my new street swag monitor? I didn’t have any cool 3D printers or garage with some reasonable tools which I could use to build something fancy, I have decided to go with good old grocery box (Italian one for grape distribution in supermarkets… Italian though, that means fancy :-)) and few wood screws.

Closer look on controller board:

The end result in action:

Rural display works pretty well with Samsung Dex, is good enough with PS4 and when it is not used as a monitor, I still use it as box to carry my stuff around.

All cables are stored inside the box.

And here is my rural monitor as a PS4 travel accessory: