Using a TV Instead Of A Monitor...[solved]

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

I promised a friend whose family never owned a computer that I would give them my old laptop after I got a new one. Well, after I got it my Dad asked me to give my old one to my relatives in the Philippines (I heard a funny story about a friend's relatives recently raving over the speed of a Commodore 64!). That fell through but I still want to keep my promise, so I thought about cleaning out our old post-Y2K HP desktop and putting in Linux. The problem is that the monitor is broken and I can't afford [or don't want to spend the money for] a new one. I heard of a way you could use a TV screen in lieu of an actual monitor. Is this at all possible for an old desktop and if so, how do you do it?

[DrHu]

I heard of a way you could use a TV screen in lieu of an actual monitor. Is this at all possible for an old desktop and if so, how do you do it?

The usual way is to have a video card that has tv output
--another way is to use a TV setup box, that includes the computer video port, usually VGA

Either choice requires spending some money..
http://www.techlore.com/article/10061/H ... o-Your-TV/
http://www.online-tech-tips.com/compute ... o-your-tv/

[Aging Technogeek]

Third way. Most new flat screen tvs have a vga input connector and the internal circuitry required to be used as a monitor. You just plug in, set the channel selector per the mfgr directions and turn on your computer.

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

Well, it looks like I gotta find a new monitor. I'll work something out....

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

This sounds like a hobbyist project that has a few exciting hurdles one would have to jump through and not something to be done out of economic necessity. My friend says it sounds interesting and plausible for his big screen LCD, but it would be best to have a conventional monitor. Still, can my 2001 HP desktop be usefully hooked up to an LCD TV?

[richyrich]

Yes, if the LCD TV has a VGA input (same as the VGA output on the back of your pc). You may also want to check the native resolution (eg: 1920x1080 or less)on the LCD, as your video card in your pc may not be able to run the same. Using lower resolutions can sometimes make it just about impossible to use! (from personal experience)

My son uses one (LCD TV) for his monitor, it's just a small 20" with built in speakers, but works fine at 1360x768 !

good luck, and regards, Richard

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

I'm thinking about seeing if a slim barebones' stock video card could support the use of a VGA cable. It probably would not be possible to get a neat little Linux box that just hooks up to the LCD TV and supports a usable resolution, or is it? The small form factor would be ideal, yet is it still possible? I think that a cheap barebones nettop w/ some decent secondhand components using the TV would build a modest yet well-put-together machine. I want to help out a friend and have the pleasure of a DIY, simple and efficient machine.

[richyrich]

I think the video card would be the most important part of your proposed system.
1) The LCD TV - what type of input plugins? are they DVI or VGA? What is the stated resolution of the TV?
2) The Video Card - MUST be capable of the resolution of the TV. Needs the same output plugin compatible with the TV input.

A small box hooked up next to the LCD TV, with a wireless keyboard/mouse combo, would be a pretty COOL setup!

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

Cool setup indeed! Get the Shuttle box, a secondhand HDD, CPU, RAM chip, video cable and wireless keyboard/mouse combo could be had for a feasible $200...maybe. It wouldn't have a DVD drive though. Wouldn't that be a cool project for $200?

[richyrich]

The box should already be capable of mounting an internal DVD burner. They're cheap, around $30 Canadian.
An Nvidia GeForce 5200, or second hand Quadro FX (eBay) for around the same $30

Looks good to me too!

[Lolo Uila]

An older video card driving an LCD TV should be fine. I guess it depends on what they want to do with the computer. If they just want to do basic stuff like documents, email, IM and web surfing then you should be okay with any video card that runs under Linux.

If we're talking 3D games and full-screen High Definition movies, then an old video card will not be adequate.

Most "720p" LCD televisions have a native resolution of 1366x768 (768p), and 1080p will be 1920x1080. If the set supports 1080i it is really a 720/768p set that downscales 1080i (so use the 720/768p setting).

If the TV has a standard 15 pin VGA input (many do) then you're golden. Just plug the PC in, boot it up and it should work.

If it does not have VGA, then you will need a PC with DVI out and a DVI to HDMI cable. And if you are using DVI to HDMI you may run into an overscan problem. Pretty much all televisions overscan the picture by default. The picture is larger than the viewable screen area and gets cropped off around the edges. Some sets have an overscan adjustment or a function to turn off overscan (Sony calls it "Full Pixel" mode) and that makes it easy. If the set does not have an overscan adjustment then it may be very difficult (or impossible ) to get the video to fit the screen without losing the edges.

And yea, a computer with a wireless keyboard and mouse on an LCD TV is great. I have set up many friends that way. I have a Shuttle hooked to a 40" Sony XBR myself.

What is the make and model of the TV you want to hook up to?

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

The Shuttle KPC is the exact computer I was looking into to set up for simple everyday computer use. Would it be a great candidate for Linux Mint on a widescreen LCD? I may need to breakdown the exact steps I would take to actually build it after I find out the make and model of the TV.

[richyrich]

The only thing about Shuttle is that you have to use their motherboards.

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MzA=

All micro-atx motherboards work with this one.

[DrHu]

This sounds like a hobbyist project that has a few exciting hurdles
...
but it would be best to have a conventional monitor. Still, can my 2001 HP desktop be usefully hooked up to an LCD TV?

It is possible you can run 2 video cards, will need a fair amount of configuration for the /etc/X11/xorg file, however that second video card can be a cheaper one whose only real prupose is to provide a TV quality output, an old Matrox; which always had the best video image quality might do, or an ATI card
http://www.matrox.com/en/
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/drivers/
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/suppo ... rs/latest/

Of coarse for best Linux compatibility, Nvidia seems to be the preferred choice..
--ATI isn't keeping up, nor probably is Matrox (having been overtaken by both ATI, Nvidia) in popularity..

[DrHu]

The Shuttle KPC is the exact computer I was looking into to set up for simple everyday computer use. Would it be a great candidate for Linux Mint on a widescreen LCD? I may need to breakdown the exact steps I would take to actually build it after I find out the make and model of the TV.

Would it be a great candidate for Linux Mint on a widescreen LCD?
That is more a matter of the mainboard, how well that works with Linux, only then is the video card a concern
--for if some parts, like sound or chipsets on the board have issues with Linux, you will not get to that second step, video output to the bigger TV (also LCD or CRT isn't as much of an issue either), its just that newer TV's are LCD/LED or plasma types
--and if it's newer TV: you probably want to get the higher speed response units (you know 120Hz or 240Hz rather than the normal 60Hz)

There are so many small computer cases around from the various manufacturers, that it only a matter of choosing one for its style , and confirming the packaging, which size of mainboards can it support, regular ATX or mini-ATX, and you would also have to pay attention to video card size or full size video cards, will they fit inside the case correctly
--usually you can tell by their reference systems, which suggest various hardware combinations..

These are often called media cases..
http://www.webactivemagazine.co.uk/pers ... cases-test

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

Then the more I look into it, the less confidence I have of squeezing it all under $200. I was considering a barebones kit but I would be limited in choices for CPU's. I also thought of a micro-ATX case and motherboard combo starting @ half my budget, then scrounging around for a compatible CPU, power supply, hard drive, RAM, wireless USB adapter, [preferably wireless] keyboard & mouse and compatible cable (VGA to S-Video I suppose) is quite a hard demand I placed on it. I am also thinking of buying a plain desktop PC, any cheap one I may come across, but the motherboard's video card may not support TV input. What else should I consider?

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

I went ahead and bought a refurbished ASUS Terminator desktop PC for $75. It's small enough for use and having also bought an Intel 2.6 GHZ CPU, 80GB HDD, and 512 MB RAM for a total of $112. I also took out the old wireless PCI card and antenna from my old desktop and am looking for a good deal on a wiireless keyboard and mouse. I was wondering if a DVI/S-Video PCI card would work properly to support using a TV as a monitor, but I wouldn't know about motherboard issues or if there is any other hardware issues I don't know about. If I had a card what should I watch out for and how do I set it up?

[Gunmetal_Ghoul]

It's too bad that they decided to put up w/ an old CRT monitor that was given to them, but it works great except for no manufacturer support for 3D acceleration for its SIS video card for Linux. Flash is slowing the CPU down, and that's a real drag....