A little bit of Lynx II

[rubber_jonnie]

I've had a Lynx for a very long time now (Not as long as my 65XE!) and the thing about it that has always been a problem has been the screen quality. It isn't bright, colours are poor/washed out, and generally it just doesn't give a good experience.

Over the years I've considered getting a replacement, but given a new screen was more expensive than a Lynx II at the time, I just didn't bother.

Now I'm older and have a little more disposable income, I decided it was time to bite the bullet. I looked at the McWill screen, and those from BENVENN. They seemed to be mostly very similar in price and quality, but the decision was made for me when I couldn't find anywhere with McWill screens in stock, and BENVENN had new virutally solderless screen that plug in as a direct replacement. If you choose to not wire up the backlight button, it can in fact be solder free and require nothing more than a philips screwdriver.

So I ordered on 3rd November for the princely sum of £65, and 22 days later, it plopped onto my doormat. Considering it came from Australia during a pandemic, I can't complain about the service!

The kit of parts was as follows:

Parts_2.jpg

So we have a screen, a 3d printed back plate and a ribbon cable. That's it! The one criticism I have would be the orange 3d printed back plate. Mine was badly warped, and I had to use my heat gun to manipulate it into the correct shape as the screw holes didn't line up and neither did the screen! I'm in touch with BENVENN about it and they clearly want to resolve the problem, which is great.

Next is disassembly, which is simply 4 screws from under the rubber feet, and another one in holding the battery compartment in.

Once the back cover is off, it's a simple matter of disconnecting the ribbon for the buttons, the ribbon for the old screen, the speaker and the old backlight. Be aware the ribbons are locked in by a bar, so make sure you pull the bar on each connector upwards to release the ribbons without damaging them.

There is a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peAsxIc ... =emb_title which I'd suggest you watch if you plan to do this, as there is an inductor to remove from the mainboard (I think this disables the old backlight circuit) and it also shows details of how to enable the backlight button for the new display.

Here's the old display:

Old_Screen.jpg

Once the old screen is out, it's just 4 screws, then it's simply a matter of installing the new screen in and fitting the back plate. Once I'd 'fixed' my back plate, that was nice and easy.

Here you can see the new screen in place, the ribbon for the buttons is reconnected, and the cable for the screen about to go in;

Reassembly.jpg

Did it make a difference? Well decide for yourself in these before and after pictures:

Before:

Before.jpg

After:

After.jpg

Personally I think it looks great and would definitely recommend this screen if you're looking to upgrade your Lynx II.

Finally, here's a gratuitous shot of the Xbots title screen:

Xybots.jpg

IMHO this is one of the best ports of the game, it's just great!

[agranlund]

Nice! Mine is still in transit somewhere between Australia and Sweden :)

[rubber_jonnie]

Definitely worth the wait IMHO, just watch out for that warped 3d printed backplate though. If yours is distorted, it's easily fixed with gentle heat, but do tell BENVENN as they are keen to avoid problems with them and offered to replace mine.