# Small cheap HDMI or DisplayPort screen **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897 "2018-11-02T17:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/1 "2018-11-02T17:20:36Z")
I have a headless computer that every once in a while has something go wrong enough with it that the vnc server doesn’t start and I have to go plug a monitor into it to figure it out. I’m looking to replace the monitor that sits on a shelf and has to be hauled around with something small and cheap for those cases. This is the only monitor I have any more, and I’d love to just get rid of it. The computer has DisplayPort and HDMI and… maybe DVI video output, so one of those. Maybe there’s a way to use a tablet? I have an old junky Kindle Fire tablet that I’m happy to dedicate to the cause. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/2 "2018-11-02T18:22:56Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I’m looking to replace the monitor that sits on a shelf and has to be hauled around with something small and cheap for those cases. This is the only monitor I have any more, and I’d love to just get rid of it. When you say “monitor” to you mean a CRT or an LCD? Around here I can get a smallish LCD monitor at most $15 at a thrift store. If you want to go real small, there are several small LCD screens for Raspberry Pis and such (usually HDMI). But for ~$30 the resolution isn’t so great. OTOH, if you need just a basic text screen this might work. There are people on eBay that will sell you a graphics card interface to match certain LCD screens you’ve scavenged from someplace (laptops, etc.). But it’d be cheaper to just buy a monitor for something like this. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/3 "2018-11-02T19:18:32Z")
Yeah, an LCD. I already have a normal LCD monitor. I’m looking for something tiny. Tablet-sized. I don’t care much about resolution, since I only need to use this to troubleshoot pretty low-level stuff. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/4 "2018-11-02T19:21:28Z")
Look on ebay, for LCD monitors designed for Automobile use. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/5 "2018-11-02T21:20:03Z")
Ah, yes. That’s the sort of thing I’m looking for. Thanks. If anyone has actually used one of these and has a brand recommendation, let me know. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2018, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/6 "2018-11-03T11:48:19Z")
Can you connect a terminal to it? You’d need to google a couple commands, put those in a text file and you’re good to go. “Sudo reboot now!” “Start vnc” Maybe google for a startup script for vnc and a script to restart the machine periodically. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/7 "2018-11-05T22:52:03Z")
What do you mean by “connect a terminal to it”? The vnc server already starts up automatically. And I can restart it by toggling the power switch. But if it doesn’t come up to the point where the vnc server starts, then I need to connect a screen to it to figure out why. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-cheap-hdmi-or-displayport-screen/823897/8 "2018-11-06T04:37:52Z")
[Like this?](https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-7-Ultra-Thin-800-480-TFT-LCD-Video-Audio-VGA-HDMI-HD-Monitor-Screen-Adpater/262144960122) I have used a similar bare bones screen with a Raspberry Pi project.