Fitting a TFT in a Toshiba 3200sx ..

My latest project is ..yet another old Toshiba luggable ..
But this time a T3200sx ..
I aquired this one in a very poor state ..and sadly with a smashed Plasma screen..
So ..after much debating with myself ..I repaired as much as I could ..
Installed a new custom bios ..which now enables CF cards to be used as hard drives ..
The Conner hard drive was retired ..and the CF card mounted in what was the modem compartment underside..
This makes for easy access ..
...repaired the keyboard ...
And finally ..the bit I thought long and hard about ..
replaced the smashed plasma screen with a colour TFT ..
The unit is a 386 ..thus is only really suitable for DOS and Win 3.1
Here are some pix..
Not finished yet ..as I am going to fit a small amplifier and speakers internally ..to complement the sound card ..
This wont replace the Soundblaster out ..but as I said ..complement the unit ..and provide some integrated portability when playing DOS games.
rgds
VS

Great result! You should take pictures of the whole process in case there's other owners who would like to do something similar. Bravo!

Thanx ..
Not paticularly inventive this one..
I tried simply splitting the VGA signal ...so as to provide both internal and external monitors ..but this greatly degrades the signal ..
So I used a cheap powered active vga splitter available from China via AliEX ..
The case removed from the unit and the pcb mounted under the power supply ..
The input to this unit was connected to the VGA out using a short custom made vga cable ..
One of the outputs of the VGA splitter was (again using a custom made vga cabel) routed inside the now empty lid/hood where the plasma screen was originally located.
Also routed into the lid was 12volts tapped from the Conner hard drives connector ..(now available since it was no longer used).
This 12 volt supply provides power for the TFT screen driver board ..and also the TFT backlight ..
control buttons from the TFT were brought to the outside world ..by drilling 6 small holes which would be under the removed plastic fascia at the front under the screen.
Anything not needed relating to the original plasma screen was removed to make space available.
A new 4:3 picture frame screen surround was made out of PVC foam board and sprayed black ..
This is needed as the TFT screen is a little bit smaller than the original plasma screen and the gap around the TFT needed making up.
Effectively I can now drive the internal screen which can be powered off ..and OR 2 external monitors.
Everything you need to know to achieve this is available at Vogons :-
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=60109&start=20
this is my 3200sx thread
and best of all ..all changes were made reversible ..so If I ever find a replacement plasma screen ..the mods could be undone.
The 'TFT Kit' I had to order from China ...but even at around £70 all in ..I figured it was worth the gamble.
The kit contains the 10.4 inch TFT screen with backlight ..
Backlight Driver pcb
User Control PCB
and the logic/screen driver board + cables.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=361989017201&_sacat=0

rgds
VS

in all honesty ...more creativeness went into the T5200/100 mod and rebuild ..which does still have it's original plasma screen ..
https://www.amibay.com/showthread.p...00-Orange-gas-plasma-luggable&highlight=T5200

..and finall it is complete...

My modded T3200sx ..
The final piece arrived this morning from the USA ..
another piece of 1mb IBM memory ..
actually I bought 4 simms ..as they were being sold in lots of 4 ..#
Now maxed at 6mb plus additional memory
& 386 cpu
So I now have a TFT screen T3200sx with original floppy drive ..running DOS from a CF card easily accessible in the unused modem port underneath ..
..and built in stereo audio ..with an ISA soundblaster.
Hope it meets with approval..

Nice! I like it a lot