A friend of mine might want me to do some microcontroller programming for an idea of his - so I'm taking a look at the possible hardware just in case I do get involved. The idea requires a transparent display - perhaps a laptop screen with all the backlighting stuff removed. My problem is - I'm not even sure if that's workable, and if so, what it's called. Searching only reveals low-resolution LCDs like the kind you find on a calculator, or finished products like monitors.
It can be black and white (in fact, that's preferable) and it only needs to cover maybe 1/4 sq. feet. But it does need to have a decent resolution (somewhere in the neighborhood if 640 x 480 would be plenty). Is there a technical term for JUST the crystal, and no backlighting? Any leads to help me search would be greatly appreciated.
edit:
http://www.dorpo.com/pictures/pro_basic/DP-053H.JPG
A display like that would be perfect if only it could work pixel by pixel instead with the blocky numbers only.