That little bit of extra information can always be helpful. Like when your boss is coming and you are not working on your TPS reports, but on your fragging skills. Or when you are suspossed to be doing the accounting when you are really checking out the latest tech news. Extra information from your computer can be important as well. Details like the current case temperatures, fan speeds, or other things like if you have new email without having your email client open.

Matrix just may have a product that can fill your needs. The Matrix Orbital MX series of LCD's have the ability to provide you that extra bit of required information when you need in, all in one nice looking package. So let's take a closer look.

Specifications

Interfaces
- Interface with up to 24-key keypad
- Use 3 General Purpose Outputs
- USB communications (Connect up to 100+ displays)  

Speed
- USB mode: 19.2 Kbps
- Fully buffered - no delays in transmission

Functional Capabilities
- Display text, horizontal and vertical bar graphs
- Software controlled speed, start-up screen, line wrapping, scrolling, contrast, backlight and time-out setting (up to 180 minutes)
- Memory chip saves settings
- Custom start up/splash on screen  

Power Requirements
- Operates at 0ºC to +50ºC
- Supply Voltage: 5Vdc
- Supply Current: 25mA typical
- Backlight Supply Current: 115mA typical

Matrix Orbital MX232

The Matrix LCD unit came boxed in a very plain cardboard box. Inside the box was (besides the great wealth of peanuts):
- Black Aluminum overlay, USB LCD Display with wide voltage (20 characters x 2 lines) - Product # LK202-24-USB
- Bracket, USB cable, and mounting screws
- Software and manual on CDROM
- LCDC

Matrix also included some extra accessories in my box which were:
- 2 foot internal USB Cable
- 2.5ft temperature probe (x2)
- 3 LED's on a PCB w/template for mounting

Shown in the pictures below is the actual Matrix unit. The front of the unit is black aluminum,but is available in multiple different colours and configurations to match your case style. The LCD panel itself is a blue tinted model, but is also available in multiple colours.

The back of the MX232 is full of possible connections and accessory ports. There is room for four temperature probes, three fans, internal USB connection, the connection for the 3 LED's panel as well a floppy power connector. These are the main connections that I used.

 

Installation

Installation of the MX232 was extremely easy. You simply just screw it in with the included screws into an empty 5.25” bay. After it is mounted you need to plug in the floppy power connector (if you plan on controlling fans) and any other accessories that you have. Matrix gives you two options in connecting the MX unit to a USB port. You can either use a run through cable and plug the LCD into the back of your computer, or use an internal USB cable for a cleaner look. The internal cable is an extra charge, but I would defiantly recommend it for a much nicer looking install. You can then add the 3 LED unit into your case. You install this by drilling 3 holes into you case (placement is shown on the drilling template). Once you connect the cable to the MX232 you have 3 message LED's ready to use. After all of the appropriate connections are made you are ready to install the software.

Included on the mini-cd is the drivers for the LCD as well as multiple programs for modifying what is displayed on the unit. The most popular/powerful program is defiantly LCDC. With this program you able to display all kinds of information to the unit. For example you can grab temperatures, fan speeds, check your email, show your current playing song in winamp, as well as a lot of others. The options are nearly endless when it comes to customization.

Also included in LCDC is the ability to create a custom startup screen for the unit. This screen is displayed when you system is booting. For example, I setup the Viperlair logo, but you can create whatever custom graphics you want to use.

User Experiance

Overall I found the unit fairly easy to use. LCDC is fairly straight forward to use, but can be confusing to start-out with. One thing that is defiantly missing from this package is a good instruction manual for the MX232 and guide to LCDC. I don't know how often I found myself digging through the matrix forums or LCDC forums trying to figure out how to use some of the LCD's features. Once I got the basics figured out though, customizing pages and displaying the required information for me was quite easy. I am just scratching the surface of what I can possible do with this unit, so this unit is perfect for those that want to customize the unit as much as possible.

Conclusion

Matrix seem to have made a really high quality product. Fit and finish on the unit was excellent, as well as the overall appeal. This unit matched my case perfectly and looked extremely sharp. The LCD itself is very nice. The picture is crisp and bright, and with the included software you can adjust how well the display looks in your environment. The included accessories were great as well. The internal USB cable allowed for a cleaner install, and the temperature sensors were easy to use and a extremely useful. The included software is very powerful and allows for a multitude of custom configurations and screens.

The unit was not perfect though. One of the main things I found to be a problem was the lack of documentation for both the MX232 and the included software. It seems Matrix just sends you the stuff and expects you to figure it out yourself. Now for the most part everything is straight forward, but there are some jumpers on the unit that may need to be switched according to how you plan on powering the unit. There also is not currently an all in one piece of software to do everything you need to do. For the most part LCDC will handle it, but if you want to create a custom graphic you need a program like CharMapper.

Pros: Beautiful looks, crisp bright image, fan monitoring, temperature monitoring, expansion and customization options

Cons: Bad documentation, need multiple programs

Overall: I found the MX232 to be an awesome LCD. It provided an awesome image with a lot of options for configurations. The lack of good documentation is a downside but once you get the jest of it changing configurations and customization is easy.

Comments and Questions should be directed to our Forums.

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