What to do with a broken monitor?

tomatobeard@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 125 points –
lemmy.world

Found this bad boy next to the dumpster. 32" Samsung. Anything I can do to salvage it? Or is it too expensive to fix? (I'm pretty handy)

Or could I use it as is and somehow only use the working portion of the screen?

27

If you're handy with Linux you can configure it to only use the working part of the monitor: https://superuser.com/questions/1305338/linux-distro-how-to-use-only-part-of-monitor-for-display https://duckduckgo.com/?q=linux+use+part+of+broken+monitor&t=fpas&ia=qa

Excellent. I use Fedora so I'll definitely try this. Wife uses Windows so...her loss 😄

What u see there (weird colored stripes) is the actual LCD(part that creates the image) being cracked which is not repairable. Unless u can find a replacemt LCD module for that exact screen, you wont be able to get it working. If u take it all apart the other subcompononents can be useful for tinkering, like the backlight can be used for all sorts of things and there are funky optical filters in there but nothing that will be useful to you unless u like playing with electronics.

Edit: Just noticed that the screen isnt even fully dead. So then why not just use it as is? There shouldnt be any danger from the LCD being broken. If u cover up the dead part then its basically a 4:3 display you could use as a second monitor.

What do you do with a broken monitor. What do you do with a broken monitor. What do you do with a broken monitor early in the mornin’.

xrandr --output > move the active part over. xrandr --output > move the active part over. xrandr --output > move the active part over. Ear-ly in the morning

That's good advice, have an upvote, sailor That's good advice, have an upvote, sailor That's good advice, have an upvote, sailor Ear-ly in the morning

We’re gonna need a lemmysings comm, we’re gonna need a lemmysings comm, we’re gonna need a lemmysings comm ear-ly in the morning.

  • cover the left side
  • put on some slideshow, set of gauges, or camera feeds on the visible part

If you no longer care for using it as a monitor, you can turn it into a fancy lamp. With some minimal electronic knowledge and diy skill it can be made into a collimated lamp that simulates sunlight from a window.

You should most definitely make a MagicMirror with it and just orient the display so you don’t need to put content in the broken area.

Dang, great find, I keep my eye out but never see anything that cool in a dumpster.

ETA: Their site has a video example on it: https://magicmirror.builders

I'm not sure that's the solution you're looking for; but, you can set it to display only on the working side of the monitor.

So the OS would use it, as a 'smaller' screen.

How to.. on Windows [note that you also have an external softwares like CRU] (unfortunately, I can't vouch that CRU is good, I've never used it).

How to.. on Linux.

GL.

You could use it as an extra monitor for emulating older 4x3 ratio games, just run the emulator on the right side of the screen, and maybe put some black paper over the cracked area to be a little less bothersome.

I dunno, just a random thought.

I would say to use it as a monitor it is probably not going to work as the actual part that makes the image is broken. However you could probably repurpose it as an artificial light such as the one from DIY Perks YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/6bqBsHSwPgw

I once repaired an all-in-one PC with a display I bought online. Wasn’t particularly hard but takes a while if you’re doing it for the first time. Try googling your monitor type and „display“ and see if there are replacements available.