Good. So I was right: rear wide left. Gotcha. Thanks for the posts ... I have everything I *should* need in the mail, so I suppose we'll find out in a few days if I can pull this off.

The fun part will be molding the acrylic form ... I only have an oven to do it in, so I may have some troubles, though it shouldn't be anything unmanagable. I'm just going to take two flat hard surfaces and stick them onto my heated acrylic and then use them as guides to bend the stuff to angle, then use a smaller piece to bend the back. I'm planning on making a deformed U like the below picture with a cutouts for the centronix connector and power cable mount in the back and holes drilled for the standoffs in the front and bottom.

I think a heatgun would be better and certainly more comfortable...
I had luck: the guy from the store where I bought my 4mm Lexan bent it to my wishes for no surcharge (I payed the equivalent of 20AUD$ for it).

CD :)

While the guys here will cut it, none will bend it. It is a real pita, and since I have no heatgun, I'm limited to either a hairdryer or the oven ... and I don't think the hairdryer will do the trick!

You might be able to pick up a picture frame that'll do the job. They're available in various sizes: you ought to be able to find one that fits. Even dollar stores have them. ;)

A picture frame won't account for the perfboard, controll harnesses, and wire rat's nest I'll have behind it ... I don't have any illusions that my construction will turn out as nice and organized as Turbo's. I may end up just getting a beta fish tank and mounting everything in there as well ... that might be a bit unique. I'm just trying to think of any kind of housing I could mount this guy in (one that can be opened and accessed for adjustments and can be modified so I can mount the centronix connector and power (RJ45) plug through the wall. I'm thinking a molded plexisheet might do me best.

I think I'm probably going to use LCDStudio rather than PowerLCD since the PLCD demo doesn't work and the guy that sells it is being particularly unhelpful with this problem. I refuse to pay for software without guarantees that either it will work or I'll be refunded if it doesn't, especially when the guy selling it is in a foreign country with no real contact info ... the situation stinks to me. In the end I'm skinning LCDS and adding plugins so they'll work almost identically ... though with more customization (like the screen that busts down my chip, OC information, timings, CPUID garbage, and MASSIVE ghettonet logo, hehe). I'll have to post pics of THAT when I'm done so anyone else can contrast the free options to the for-pay ones.

I got the components (everything except the LCD) just a bit ago. The resistors are fine, as are the pots (I've taken a mltmtr to them to confirm which poles to use). The PSU plug provides a very steady 5.2V, which shouldn't put me out of whack on the LCD, and may lower a bit once a real load is put on it. The reset button is a massive POS, but I think I can live with it (it is HUGE, for fscks sake!). Even if I don't get the package today, I'll get all the soldering done tonight so it'll be damn near plug and play when I receive the module ... I'm done programming the LCDStudio software, and I can't wait until I can test it in RL instead of just on the screen.

Things are looking good. I'll provide pictures as I work ... though you shouldn't expect anything as nice as TK's. Think "fashionable borg hat" and you'll come close to what this bugger is going to look like.

edit: it looks like the LCD isn't coming today, goddammit. I'll get the rest done and try to post some pix later. Rowr.

PROGRESS!
 

I told you this wouldn't be as nice as TK's mod (TK, you are da man!), but here we are. You'll notice that I used the same technique with the IDE cable, though I just glommed all the ground pins together with solder for simplicity's sake, lowering the wirecount by about 50%:

This is a bottom shot of the perfboard showing my r33t soldering skillz ... or maybe not so good, but it did the trick!

Here is one with the power supply in and the parallel cord hooked up:

Look ma! No flames!

Sorry, was a bit busy the last days (annual tax declaration of the company...:rolleyes: )

I still do not understand why PowerLCD doesn't work on your machine...
It has been developped in Visual C/C++ .NET, so you need the dotnetfx.exe package (did you try to reinstall it?).
Since W2K and XP do not allow direct access to the HW (the parallel port in this case), you need to install the DLportIO.exe software (also available on the PowerLCD website).
Now that I remember, yes I tried the full PowerLCD 1.1 version and the V2.0 demo before I bought the V2.02 (without the LCD actually connected, didn't have it yet at that time) and they worked without any error.
PowerLCD 1.1 indeed doesn't work with MBM 5.1.9 or higher, but V2 does (the shared memory structure from MBM 5.1.9 and higher is different from the previous versions).
I installed PowerLCD on three W2K machines actually and the only problem I had was with the A7V333 where I had to set the parallel port to EPP in BIOS (instead of EPP+ECP as on the other machines). I didn't try with XP. I will try it on my multiboot (XP,W2K,W2KSRV) server in my bedroom (but I need to ask Mr.ChronoM a new serial to install my PowerLCD 2.02 again).

I tried LCDstudio too, it works but is text based, not graphical.
Nevertheless a fine package, and yes, it's free.

CD :)

Re: PROGRESS!
 

What the heck, if it works that's all that matters...
Anyway, if you put the perfboard in an enclosure nobody will see it.
Keep up the good work!

CD :)

OK, received my new PowerLCD serial and installed PowerLCD 2.02 on my XP machine.
Had to install .NET Framework (dotnetfx.exe) and DLportIO too.
Works like a charm...

CD :)

I've tried all of that (reinstall and driver add-ons) and it doesn't work. I have a full list of errors in to Chronom now and he'll see what's up. I'm not worried about it, however ... I'll send you pics of my r33t LCDStudio skin-job and you'll understand why I'm stoked by it. In many ways, it has the same graphics, look, and feel of the PowerLCD suite ... only it works!

I better get that LCD in the mail today or my head will explode, hehe.

Oh, crap! The screen is lighting up, the LED and contrast pots work perfectly, all the wires are soldered into the right place, but I can't get any signal to the LCD. I can NOT make it display ANYTHING regardless of contrast. any ideas?

Okay, all done! I've got a few software quirks to work out, but I found that my problem was rooted in a TINY short where a filament from one IDE wire escaped the insulation and grounded itself. All better, though. Let me get you some pictures.

More guts:

Some screenies:

I suppose it's fair to mention that this is hooked up to my wife's 2500+ ATM ... I didn't want to test it on my best machine first in case of catastrophic failure!

And a bit of disk space action:

*doh*

Some netstats:

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