Has anybody ever built their own vector display from scratch?

Tornadoboy

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Has anybody ever built their own vector display from scratch?

I was poking around youtube and watched a couple of videos of someone playing vector games projected on a wall using a laser scanner and Lazymame, it got me wondering if anyone has every made their own vector display meant for a cabinet?
Here's a link to one of the videos I'm referring to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLtS1NIwBpU

It looks like it's more than possible given what I've seen with those videos, it's just a matter of quality and whether it's something meant to be projected on a wall or somehow contained to be viewed in an arcade cab. I wonder if it could be projected on the back of some kind of screen and viewed from the front, which is essentially what happens in CRTs? Or could it be projected on a flat surface in reverse and watched while reflected on a mirror like some arcade games?

Just food for thought, it's a fun thing to ponder. :)

Oh and I just noticed I've hit the 2,000 mark for my posts, whoohooo! :D
 
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JROK has but with regular raster monitors reworked slightly -- no laser projection needed.

http://www.jrok.com/xfer/xystuff/

He took a generic CGA display, took off the yoke windings, and rewound a new yoke out of thicker wire and fewer windings. He drove the deflection (yoke windings) through an existing XY board, but drove the guns and high voltage through the regular raster monitor chassis.
 
It's crossed my mind but I have nowhere near the technical ability to pull it off. It would be great to see what could be done with vectors using more modern components.
 
I would love to see a conversion done. With CRT's demise, something needs to be done. While not perfect, I think AAE does a pretty good job of recreating the effect through software. Hardware wise, Pico projector technology might be a way to do it. It uses RGB lasers.
 
I would love to see what a vector image would look like with one of these little babies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9VfX8BBHA8

Slip it under the CP to project into the back of the cab or in the top/marquee area down onto a mirror. Mame has the capabilities to show an image in reverse. With this these always being in focus, should be a snap to mount.

Here's one on Amazon, under $300 shipped:

http://tinyurl.com/3l9qmld

I wonder how big an image this produces at say 24"?
 
Cool little gizmo but I don't think it would look good as vector, you'd really need something that projects with actual red, green & blue lasers to truly have it look right.
 
Cool little gizmo but I don't think it would look good as vector, you'd really need something that projects with actual red, green & blue lasers to truly have it look right.

Here's the latest:

You should by now be aware that we're big fans of Microvision's Show WX pico projectors. Whether integrated into the smartphones or gaming peripherals of the future, we feel like the company's Laser Display Engine has a big part to play in our lives. It's therefore very welcome news to hear that its research team has managed to integrate a "direct" green laser into the portable projector setup, making for simpler and cheaper manufacturing of smaller components. Up to this point, Microvision has been performing its color mixing using a red laser, a blue laser, and a red laser specially re-calibrated to output green light, but that added bit of complexity can now be set aside with the inclusion of lasers that produce green hues natively. The company cites at least five global manufacturers ready to produce direct green beamers in commercial quantities by late 2011, so with a bit of luck and price competition, the pico projector dream might have itself a glorious realization after all.

It looks like it might come sooner rather than later.
 
I've had similar thoughts. I was thinking to put a thin piece of white plastic (as a diffuser) where the CRT glass should be, then use a green laser to fire at the back, using signals from an original board (say, asteroids) to drive it. My question has been, what's the persistence of phosphor vs the transit time of the laser. I'm just a bit afraid that the laser will end up looking weak. But I've not had time to try it.
 
I've had similar thoughts. I was thinking to put a thin piece of white plastic (as a diffuser) where the CRT glass should be, then use a green laser to fire at the back, using signals from an original board (say, asteroids) to drive it. My question has been, what's the persistence of phosphor vs the transit time of the laser. I'm just a bit afraid that the laser will end up looking weak. But I've not had time to try it.

Monochrone vector games should be relatively easy, well in theory anyway, it should just be a matter of getting a laser scanner setup fast enough so there's no visible flicker.
 
Monochrone vector games should be relatively easy, well in theory anyway, it should just be a matter of getting a laser scanner setup fast enough so there's no visible flicker.

And, with monochromes you'll just need one laser, centered in the back, so it's pretty easy to get the thing to target properly. Colors are a bit more work. My big question was - is the laser light going to look like it's flickering because the phosphors would be 'on' for much longer than the laser is in a given position. If so, is there some way to 'buffer' laser positions and have the laser go over it's own path several times to better emulate the original phosphors?

Step 1 is to get a laser, get it scanning, and get some diffuser plastic and see how it looks. And I've got enough projects going right now that I don't think I'm going to do it.
 
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