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Technology

Even Tinier SVGA Color Display 33

Posted by CmdrTaco from the its-so-cute dept.
erlkonig writes "For those intrigued by tiny displays, Colorado Microdisplay crams 800x600 into a 1.2cm diagonal, under 1g device. Jump straight to the blurb or just look at the pretty pictures. Remember, to get the little chunk of connectors out of the way, you can always mount it (or them) upside-down in your hat brim :-) " How close can the eye reasonably focus on things? That looks pretty nifty, but 800x600 at 1.2cm is gonna have to be real close to those retinas. Still nifty looking.
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Even Tinier SVGA Color Display More

Even Tinier SVGA Color Display

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  • What's the resolution of the human eye? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This thing seems to be coming close in terms of DPI. I'd like to see a 19" screen with that kind of technology.
  • The application that comes to my mind right away is viewfinders for digital cameras -- with these things, you could have an SLR style through-the-lens viewfinder. (They're certainly the right size, anyway.) And perhaps they use enough less power than the usual 2" LCD that that the batteries would last a while.

    Really, though, is there any point to continuing to make screens smaller after they need a magnification system larger than they are?

  • Practical Applcations? (Score:3)

    by gavinhall ( 33 ) on Sunday May 23, 1999 @09:57AM (#1882439)
    Posted by DonR:

    Great. Before lusers could talk on their car phone while driving. Soon they'll be able to look at their porn while driving. Darwinization at its best.


    ---
    Donald Roeber
  • The way I know, Matrox cards since the Impression series support multiple cards in the same system, and they usually come with drivers that support that mode. In the Millenium (I have an old version, with a 170MHz RAMDAC), there's a switch that disables the VGA ROM; cards 2-4 must have this in the OFF position. As for multiple head support in Linux, I don't know how XFree handles it, but the MetroLink X server supports this functionality.
  • The radiation that you could get from little lcd displays like that is probably less than what you get from a normal CRT at 1/2 meter. I imagine that they would be statistically insignificant on rad output.
  • Well, Mill 1 doesn't do impressive 3D acceleration. I can say that MetroX DOES support multiple Matrox video cards at the same time, especially if they are the same. Otherwise, MX needs to have every video card to be of a different chipset (I think). I have 2 Mill 1 8MB cards and 1 8MB Permedia 2 video card on my Alpha right now. NT doesn't support the extra P2 at the same time as the Mill 1's, but Metro X can run them all at the same time.
  • Well, not really, if people still complain about the difference between 300dpi printing and 600dpi, then why not complain about it for screens too? I really would like to have a paper-quality monitor.

    If only I could get a 21" monitor that did 12800x9600 or so. Then I need a double-buffered video card, with RGBA, so that's what, a tad under a gig of video RAM. Yummy...
  • Excellent! Now it truly wont be long until we can have lightweight 3d Goggles for playing Quake with... That would be awesome...

    What I REALLY cant wait for is 3d cards that can handle multiple monitors... That way I can have perherpheral vision when playing quake... 3 monitors side by side to look around without having to use the mouse!
  • As an experiment, I turned my head sideways and had it aligned so that only one eye saw my monitor display. And trust me that's annoying. Try it yourself. Try concentrating on the monitor like this for 5 mins and see how strained your eye ball becomes. Mine almost jumped out and did a "jedi flip".
    --

  • More useful than it might seem (Score:4)

    by irongull ( 9022 ) on Sunday May 23, 1999 @11:52AM (#1882446)
    Check out the specs on the webpage - its actually kinda cool. Lenses in the viewer make a larger virtual image than the screen. The eye can't focus on anything that close without these lenses. It has a 26 degree field of view - that corresponds to a monitor 11 inches in diagonal viewed from 2 feet away. Not great, but certainly useful. And very readable. Additionally, each pixel transmits different levels of red, green, and blue, rather than having three separate pixels for each color. That probably makes for very good image quality. As far as only seeing it through one eye...while this is not ideal, it is also very doable. Microscopes have been like this for years. Of course, stero microscopes are more popular these days, as they allow more detail and reduce eye strain, but it is possible to see very well through just one eye. The trick is to keep the other eye open and focused like the eye looking into the eyepiece, but focus your attention on the image. It is even possible to shift your attention between the two images - useful for taking notes and looking at a magnified image without moving your head.
  • I think that your prayers have been answered, the Matrox G400 [fastgraphics.com] apparently will do this and more.

  • But... (Score:1)

    by GiMP ( 10923 )
    I have a Sony Glasstron and I get 640x480 from it, however the quality could be better. I wish I had a 800x600 display :)
  • Before people jump in and flame, this is a different product than the other article Taco posted.

    As for the products themselves, I dunno -- maybe I'm not enough of a geek to be thrilled by this (although the applications for military HUDs on soldiers' helmets is kinda science-fictiony...)

    Jay (=
  • I believe that Apple already has such a card with dual ATI RAGE 128's on it for their Power Mac G3 line. Don't really have to worry about OS support there, either- both the hardware and the OS have been able to support Multiple Monitors since the Mac II was released in 1987.

    -Sol
  • Hatbrim?.....awesome!...hmm how close can radioation get in your eyes, 800x600 in your face...not bad...now they gotta make one with 2 displays for each eye....heeh
  • I remember a commandline argument for doom that could be used to set up side views
    3 seperate pcs over a network but it would still be cool
  • Try Reflection Technology [reflectiontech.com] for the Private Eye. Their working on a full color [reflectiontech.com] version, but it think their behind on the resolution front (only 640x480).

  • Really, though, is there any point to continuing to make screens smaller after they need a magnification system larger than they are?

    Yes, if you look at research on glasses integrated displaies, you will find that they almost universally are looking for super small displaies. One of the documents I was reading mentioned that if they could get a 5x5mm packaged LCD screen, they could integrate it into the boom of the glasses and use a relatively simple folded optical path to make it viewable. The lack of super small displaies has caused a couple of companies to go to alternate methods including scanned lasers and vibrating mirrors.

  • Higher Resolution (Score:3)

    by Bryan Andersen ( 16514 ) on Sunday May 23, 1999 @04:26PM (#1882455) Homepage
    Microdisplay [microdisplay.com] has 1024x768 displays and just introduced an evaluation kit for $2000 on their 800x600 display that can be operated for three hours from AA batteries. See their press releases for further detials.

    Displaytech [displaytech.com] has reflective LCDs with 1280x1024 resolution. Originally designed for projection systems, but they are small enough to be used in a HUD system. PDFs can be found off of their products [displaytech.com] page. They also have developers kits.

    Things are really heating up in the microdisplay industry. Especially as there was a conference SID [sid.org] last week San Jose, CA.

    I persoanlly want to incorporate a couple of the 1280x1024 displays into a hat to provide a 3D headsup display. Placing the display above the brim with focusing lenses, and a flip down 1 way reflective mirror should provide a good useable display.

  • But could it be used in a projector without cooking it..? You'd have a pretty powerful light going through it; that's gotta have some effect on the LCD display, right?

    Also, for all of you out there gung-ho for contact lens versions, you might want to notice that this baby still needs a bit of a cable; I doubt you want to be blinking with that thing in your way.

    Personally, I can't wait for when they actually get these things working practically and all. I'd love to be able to put a pair on, and read my e-mail. I just think it's kind of funny, though, how it'll look typing out replies on the bus with an entirely miniaturized system--except for the keyboard. :)

    Maybe it's time to go back to that old Commodore design, eh? Albeit a bit thinner. You could fit all of the basic computer parts into about that area, with a low-end CPU. Just add a network port.. or even just a regular serial port.. then you could get your e-mail or whatever through it, and have it communicate back and forth with another computer. (or let it use a modem)

    As for power consumption.. well..

    ..okay, here's the idea. If we're going to have people this plugged in and all, why don't we go all the way? I think it'd be neat if you could get on a bus where-ever, and just pop a cord into a socket at your seat, connecting both your power supply and low-bandwidth internet access. The initial communication between your gear and the bus would establish your identity, and if it's a pay-system, setup power/internet costs and what credit card or debit card's going to be used. Then, it'd ask what was your stop, and would activate an alarm to automatically warn you one stop before yours that your stop's coming up. Then--net access. :)

    ...

    Ah well; a guy can dream, right?


    Fork
  • so get two of them... and while you're at it have them display images from slightly different perspective, and you've got a neat little (little) HMD. [head mounted display]



    Welcome to Peace and Love, Inc.
  • It doesn't have to sit directly in front of your eye. Lenses work very well for magnifying things.
    Fiber optics and mirrors can move images around.

  • This is very impressing, and also very interesting, but I really think the Laser-based Virtual Retinal Display [slashdot.org] seems to have a better sollution for the virtual reality systems of the future. But I guess what we all want is a way to interface the computers directly into the brain. It will come, but it might take a few more years. 2 or 3 or something like that :=).

  • I think these are the same people who invented the technology 7 years ago with the private eye ...

    I have used those devices and they work excellent.
    no eye strain and such ... it basically will give you a virtual floating screen that looks like it s about 12 inches away so you dont have the eye strain and because it isnt blocking your entire vision you can see "though it" onto your work area.

    this device will be cool when released ... I hope I can buy one that plugs into a standard vga output.
  • So I go look at the pictures and I notice that the screens are, indeed, very small and the pictures appear to be very clear & colourful. Wow. Then I notice...

    Why aren't they plugged into something?
  • This product is not quite finished. They need to curve it to the shape of contact lens so I can stick it in my eye. All patent rights are pending and reserved by me, Phillip Kennedy. Please contact me for licensing. (pun coincidental).

    Also, at this time I would like to announce virtual reality goggles for lab rats. This will will greatly increase the versatilty and quantity of experiments that researchers can perform on them.

  • I'm not sure if anyone else here lives in Thunderdome, but here we've had these big fresnel lenses to "enhance" (read:magnify) TV screens since the early 60's. They sucked. For a more appropriate demonstration, watch Brazil.

  • Darwinization, in the sense that you're using it, entails having stupid people kill themselves, thus weeding themselves out of the gene pool. Unfortunately, stupid drivers very often kill other people, and also unfortunately, often fail to kill themselves.
  • its 800x600 and there are higher res small devices out there. Kaiser has a HMD offering 1024x768 with a 30 or 60 deg FOV.

    As an alternative display setup, check out Micro Optical http://www.microopticalcorp.com
    with their eyeglass displays.

    other info on HMD vendors at http://isdale.com/jerry/VR/HMD_Vendors.htm
  • Well the subject should explain the post by itself. Last I heard, the most that's been able to fit in a Human Eye was 16*16 points (This does not include the method of Shining Laserlight directly onto the retina) with 800*600 now about the size of a human eye, It cant take much more development for then to fit something like a 640*480, or at least a 320x into an Eye, now can it? Getting it to function is a different matter, but still, it is just another step to getting true sight into the eyes of the blind. On a side note, is anyone else reminded of Brazil when they hear about this small screens? Personally, I think it would be great to use one of these, and replace my monitor with a small frame for the screen, and a lightweight magnifying lens to get it up to my current 15" Next: 1024*768 on the head of a Pin!

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