[ale] Laptop without LCD panel (running Linux)

[Alex Carver]

You should be able to switch the video at boot before the OS.  I've had
three laptops that all showed boot screens on external monitors.
Usually it takes flipping the output using the Fn key and one of the
upper row function keys during that period to make it switch.

The signals on the cable to the LCD panel are not usually one of the
common formats.  It's typically something only the LCD driver itself
will understand so finding an adapter is not likely.

On 2018-08-12 19:45, Beddingfield, Allen via Ale wrote:
> One of my co-workers gave me a laptop that his wife dropped and broke
> the display, and the entire assembly off the back (LCD is broken, rear
> cover busted, hinge broken free from it, etc..).  The laptop body itself
> is fine.  I got on EBay and discovered that the entire display assembly
> is going to be about $150 to replace - not worth it.  So, I had another
> idea:  Open it up, remove the hinges, unplug the video/camera cable, and
> remove the wireless cables.  My plan was to just plug in a monitor to
> the vga output, and use it for a computer, somewhat looking like an 80s
> console without the TV.  I tried that, but got no video output.  So..  I
> plugged in the broken video cable, and attached it to the broken LCD
> panel.  I was able to see enough of the output to see that the PC is
> booting up.  It looks like the switch to the external output is done in
> software AFTER Windows comes up.  So much for my idea of a small Linux
> machine.
> I'm wondering now if there is some sort of an adapter in existence that
> I can plug the video cable that goes into the back of the LCD panel to,
> and get VGA, DVI, HDMI, or some sort of useful output to connect a
> monitor to?
> 
> Any ideas, anyone?
> 
> Thanks.
> Allen B.
>