Long term project - Osborne Executive Mod

I've been thinking about modding my old Osborne Executive for a while now. *This old CP/M machine from the early 1980's isn't used much anymore (actually, it hasn't been touched for at least 10 years), and I know there is power within that can be used for the good of mankind. *Or at least it could do some gaming!
This is a long-term project, and it will last past the coming holiday season. *The parts will cost significant money, and money is tight right now so I won't be able to just go out and buy everything I need. *I'm sure most of you know these constraints. *
Anyway, here are some preliminary pictures of how the Osborne Executive looked before I tore into it's belly, ripped out it's guts, and basically was left with a shell of a once great system (in 1983 terms)...

bigal

[The Modfather]

Turn it into a mobile command center. Pimp it out military style, throw in a lot of green lighting, make it a road warrior.

The Modfather

[unholy]

lol, make sure it has its own monitor

unholy

[bigal]

I hadn't thought about the color scheme, but green sounds good to me. I still have a few green Cooler Master LED fans, and I'll have to check on the green cold cathodes. I may need to order those.

The internal monitor is a plan I want to implement, and that's the reason behind the motherboard I am looking at (Asus A8N-VM CSM, or something similar to that). I could use some help finding a decent but low priced LCD that is around 5.25" wide by 4.00" tall (or slightly larger). It must hook up to the VGA port, like a normal LCD. My machine will also run a PCI-e graphics card, ideally the Geforce 7800GT, with an Athlon 64 3800+ dual core CPU and 1GB of quality memory. I also want a single SATA hard drive with command queueing and the latest SATA-II spec, since this motherboard supports that.

Any help / suggestions you guys have are appreciated, and links will make it easier for me to see what you have found. Remember, this will be built over the holidays, not right this minute. Money is tight, and it's always hard to justify building another computer....to my wife!

bigal

[unholy]

if u want a cheap 5" ur going to have to get the RCA/Tv in ones. and use the adapter on ur video card.

though there are ways to get them to work with VGA. simalair to the PSOne to VGA mod. though u can also buy LCDs that are for cars and other things which has 8" Screens, and VGA.

in the long run, get a D-Analog Convertor (no DVI interface is not the same output as a LCD digital interface) and buy a 5" or 4" lcd from a lcd seller like, www.earthLCD.com

unholy

[bigal]

If you download the specification sheet for a 5.7" LCD panel here (http://earthlcd.com/zlcd/downloads/lm32019t.pdf), it shows a response time that's an order of magnitude too slow for computer use. I need something that would be somewhat usable as a Windows XP desktop. I think I need to see some actual implementations that others have done too.

bigal

[The Modfather]

Yeah, there are no LCDs that are going to be that small and give you the quality you'd need for them to be of a lot of use. You're gonna have to jury rig something I think. Maybe you could mount a screen that flips down and use the small screen as a sort of oscilliscope to have it look like a piece of high tech equipment (retro style). That's been done before I know but you could put your own spin on it.

How about this... It's a portible nuclear device, paint it with nuke symbols, with the green lighting, a bit of weather wearing on it, maybe rust look to it, put some top secret and classified lables on it etc... Add in some funky doohockies that don't do anything but make it look like a nuclear device, etc.

The Modfather

[bigal]

...I could simulate a nuclear explosion analysis (like they do with those super computers at Sandia Labs) on the screen. Now that would be cool.....and nobody would mess with Bigal anymore.

bigal

[The Modfather]

Yeah! That'd rock! Do that!

And just for kicks, run SETI@Home on it. hehe.

The Modfather

[unholy]

hehe nuke case great idea , with the LCD u could have one. But they aren't going to be good enough for gaming that all. and maybe set u back 100-150 bucks.

unholy