Review: Matrix Orbital GLK12232-25-WBL

Matrix Orbital GLK12232-25-WBL

OK, so you've got a nice looking computer, you've water-cooled it, you've added neons, cathodes and just about everything that glows you can think of but something is still missing. You're not sure what's missing, but its there, like a splinter in your mind.
Lucky for you, we have the answer: The GLK12232-25-WBL Graphic LCD from Matrix Orbital is what you need.

Specs:
" 122x32 Pixel Screen (20x4)
" Serial RS232 Interface 9.6-115kbps
" 15872 bytes Memory
" 25 Key Keypad Interface
" 2 General Purpose Outputs

Graphic LCDs
The main difference when comparing graphic LCDs the normal alphanumeric LCDs are that graphic LCDs do not use a predefined, fixed font. They are replaceable with pretty much any font you would want to use where as an alphanumeric screen. As you can guess by the name tho, you can also send 122x32 monochrome bitmapped images to be displayed on the screen. The 15872 byte buffer is enough to hold 30 images.

As well as the LCD unit itself, I got some other goodies:

" 30cm Serial Cable " 4BR Serial Cable " Serial Back Plate " Mounting Screws " Mounting Template

Standard installation is very easy; it is just a case of plugging the wires into the LCD and into your computer. With the supplied cables, installing the LCD inside the computer is simple. However, I didn't want it inside the case so I had to make a few changes.

The 4BR serial cable has a backplate attached to it; this is very useful for an internal installation, but no use for an external installation. I undid the bolts that held the serial plug into the backplate and removed the backplate - problem solved. The LCD requires +5v and ground via an FDD power connector. As I was mounting the LCD outside the case an FDD connector wasn't going to be available. I snipped a Molex and pass-through cable off an old fan I had, swapped the 12v and 5v pins over and soldered a 2m length of wire where the fan used to be connected.

**WARNING** When you swap the input pins on the pass-through over, make sure you swap the output pins as well. Otherwise you may plug the pass-through into another device and with 5v and 12v the wrong way round, this will kill the device.

I snipped an FDD power connector off a duff PSU I had lying about and connected it to the 2m length of wire. The power cable is now long enough, but the data cable isn't; luckily I had a spare RS232 extension cable in my desk.

The finished cables looked like this:

When you first power on the screen, you'll get the standard MO "Graphics in Any Direction" image presented to you.

Software
To test the LCD I used the Matrix Orbital Graphic Display software (MOGD)

This was where I hit my one and only problem; no text on the screen. I knew the software could 'see' the LCD because I could turn the back light on/off and the contrast adjust was notable. However, whenever I hit "send text" I just got a blank screen. I went off in search of more buttons to press in MOGD and had a peek in the images/graphics tab. That worked, I could draw things on the screen no problem. That suggested a font problem. It seemed that the default font on the LCD was corrupt/missing.

With the screen now happily displaying text, I began looking for some software to make it do something useful. I'd heard good things about LCDcenter (www.borderfield.com)

The screen had no problems displaying output from LCDcenter. However, if I told it to scroll the information, it scrolled too fast and garbled the screen, but that is a software issue rather than a hardware issue.

Happy with what LCDcenter was doing, I went back to MOGD to try uploading graphics into the displays 15872 bytes of memory. The image that you choose to store at location 1 is the one that will greet you when the LCD is powered up and not receiving data, IE whilst the computer is booting up.

On the left is what I've stored at location 1, and on the right is in location 2. Not the best of graphics, so I'll have to find some better ones soon I think.

Above are the two different screen setups that I use in LCDcenter. OI! Stop laughing at my CPU…I mean it, stop it!

Both of the right hand side photos reflect what the LCD looks like, on the left my camera has picked up the blue a bit more. The screen is white backlit, not blue.

Conclusion
I really, really like this LCD. Normally when I play games I have my mp3s playing, it's nice to be able to glance to the right and see what I'm listening to, or how hot my system, are what my voltage lines are doing. The installation was a breeze, even for someone completely new to LCDs like myself. The only thing that I can find wrong when using this LCD is the lack of software that can take advantage of the graphical capabilities of the display. There are some apps out there that can do pretty patterns and such on the screen, but none of these have a practical use. However, the software is not what I'm reviewing here, hardware wise it's a top notch piece of kit and has been a pleasure to review. Thank-you Matrix-Orbital :)