Surplus POS VFD displays

[Tom Katt]

Not nixie, but they are glass tubes ;-)  Also not vintage, but heading that way thanks to cheaper lcd and oled...

I recently bought a few of these surplus ELO E122426 2 x 20 char point-of-sale (cash register) displays on eBay...  They have a single USB interface that appears as a std serial port on the pc and provides power.  I haven't cracked them open, but I would not be surprised to find a std ttl serial pinout on the board somewhere.  These are really easy to use - just send them some serial text and away you go.  I have one running on a Raspberry Pi and another displaying stats on my pc via some free software (AIDA64).  Anyhoo, you can find these for under $25 shipped and they look quite nice, both the display itself and also the case which is a nice polished black.  I have located the documentation and a config utility that allows you to set a few things (baud rate, local power on message etc).

Just figured that I'd toss this out there in case anyone is interested.  I have no affiliation with the eBay seller (and there are many anyways) - but this one is currently the cheapest at $22 shipped.

ELO VFD Rear Facing Customer Display USB E-Series ESYxxE2x | eBay

[David Pye]

They *are* cool.  Pity they don't post to the UK.

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[gregebert]

Too good to pass-up at that price, so I bought one. Thanks for posting. I have a single-line VFD display that has been sitting in a junkbox for more than 10 years and have done nothing with it because it requires support circuitry. This thing is ready-to-go.

I was pondering the 8-character LED unit from another neonixie article, and decided against it because it's too small.

[Tom Katt]

On Monday, December 15, 2025 at 3:24:09 PM UTC-5 gregebert wrote:

Too good to pass-up at that price, so I bought one. Thanks for posting. I have a single-line VFD display that has been sitting in a junkbox for more than 10 years and have done nothing with it because it requires support circuitry. This thing is ready-to-go.

I was pondering the 8-character LED unit from another neonixie article, and decided against it because it's too small.

While these VFD displays work out of the box, it can be helpful to have the documentation if you want to utilize some of the advanced features, such as custom characters.  There is also a VFD_Setup utility that provides the ability to configure several parameters, such as increasing the default 9600 8/N/1 to 19200 for a bit faster transfer speed if desired.  

These displays are referred to as LD220 in the literature.  There are apparently several industry standard protocols used in Point-Of-Sale devices - I found the best for general PC use is  'Ultimate' - the configuration utility allows you to specify what protocol the display uses.  These are predominantly things like terminal control codes to move the cursor around (home, locate, etc) and blink, reverse etc.  The documentation describes the control codes for each protocol.

Again - none of that is really needed if you just want to spit out text to the display.  But for clocks and such you may want to incorporate locating the cursor to the positions being updated rather than re--writing the entire string.

If I did things correctly you will need a password to get to my files - the pw is neonixie ;-)

Link: VFD

[Tom Katt]

Didn't realize I could just attach the files lol...  This is probably easier ;-)

[gregebert]

Mine arrived today in mint condition; still had the protective plastic on it. Very easy to use:

1. Plugged into my Win10 PC's USB port, and it powered-up and sent some info, including a blurb mentioning 9600 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit.

2. Open up your setting to see the device. Mine showed up as COM6

3. Open up a windows command prompt, set the communication mode:

MODE COM6:BAUD=9600 PARITY=N DATA=8 STOP=1

4. Send it some text:  echo Nixie tubes kick ass > COM6

The label on the back says 5V / 500mA, which is much lower than I expected.

[Tom Katt]

On Wednesday, December 24, 2025 at 6:26:57 PM UTC-5 gregebert wrote:

Mine arrived today in mint condition; still had the protective plastic on it. Very easy to use:

1. Plugged into my Win10 PC's USB port, and it powered-up and sent some info, including a blurb mentioning 9600 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit.

2. Open up your setting to see the device. Mine showed up as COM6

3. Open up a windows command prompt, set the communication mode:

MODE COM6:BAUD=9600 PARITY=N DATA=8 STOP=1

4. Send it some text:  echo Nixie tubes kick ass > COM6

The label on the back says 5V / 500mA, which is much lower than I expected.

Glad you got it going ;-)  Yeah - very low power.  I modded the cable to point to the back - disassembled the base to access the wiring and used a drill to round out the cable exit to the other side, then put it all back together.  It's a pretty polished looking unit imo.

You can use the config app to change the power-up message, baud rates etc.  But as you see it's just like a terminal and spits out what you send.

Merry Christmas all  -  Love this community ;-)

[Michail Wilson]

I bought three of them.  All arrived quickly and all brand new with plastic cover.

 

I didn’t want to try to find a Win10 PC, so I did it on my Win11 Laptop after a change.

I am going to work on figuring out how to run it with a controller if possible to take out the PC requirement.  Love the display.

 

Has anyone opened it?  If so, how?

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

 

From: neoni...@googlegroups.com <neoni...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of gregebert
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2025 3:27 PM
To: neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Surplus POS VFD displays

 

Mine arrived today in mint condition; still had the protective plastic on it. Very easy to use:

 

1. Plugged into my Win10 PC's USB port, and it powered-up and sent some info, including a blurb mentioning 9600 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit.

2. Open up your setting to see the device. Mine showed up as COM6

3. Open up a windows command prompt, set the communication mode:

MODE COM6:BAUD=9600 PARITY=N DATA=8 STOP=1

4. Send it some text:  echo Nixie tubes kick ass > COM6

 

The label on the back says 5V / 500mA, which is much lower than I expected.

On Monday, December 15, 2025 at 12:24:09 PM UTC-8 gregebert wrote:

Too good to pass-up at that price, so I bought one. Thanks for posting. I have a single-line VFD display that has been sitting in a junkbox for more than 10 years and have done nothing with it because it requires support circuitry. This thing is ready-to-go.

 

I was pondering the 8-character LED unit from another neonixie article, and decided against it because it's too small.

On Monday, December 15, 2025 at 8:57:55 AM UTC-8 David Pye wrote:

They *are* cool.  Pity they don't post to the UK.

 

 

 

On Mon, 15 Dec 2025, 16:02 Tom Katt, <tomk...@gmail.com> wrote:

Not nixie, but they are glass tubes ;-)  Also not vintage, but heading that way thanks to cheaper lcd and oled...

 

I recently bought a few of these surplus ELO E122426 2 x 20 char point-of-sale (cash register) displays on eBay...  They have a single USB interface that appears as a std serial port on the pc and provides power.  I haven't cracked them open, but I would not be surprised to find a std ttl serial pinout on the board somewhere.  These are really easy to use - just send them some serial text and away you go.  I have one running on a Raspberry Pi and another displaying stats on my pc via some free software (AIDA64).  Anyhoo, you can find these for under $25 shipped and they look quite nice, both the display itself and also the case which is a nice polished black.  I have located the documentation and a config utility that allows you to set a few things (baud rate, local power on message etc).

 

Just figured that I'd toss this out there in case anyone is interested.  I have no affiliation with the eBay seller (and there are many anyways) - but this one is currently the cheapest at $22 shipped.

 

ELO VFD Rear Facing Customer Display USB E-Series ESYxxE2x | eBay

 

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[Tom Katt]

On Thursday, December 25, 2025 at 12:36:30 AM UTC-5 Michail Wilson wrote:

I bought three of them.  All arrived quickly and all brand new with plastic cover.

 

I didn’t want to try to find a Win10 PC, so I did it on my Win11 Laptop after a change.

I am going to work on figuring out how to run it with a controller if possible to take out the PC requirement.  Love the display.

 

Has anyone opened it?  If so, how?

Just as a quick note - I don't believe there is really much of any OS requirements...  As long as the host understands the usb serial port protocol, it should work.  No problem with Win11 or Linux from what I can see on my Rasp Pi.

 I haven't tried cracking mine open yet...  They almost look like they are glued during assembly like modern day smartphones - if that's the case you'd need some heat and suction cup pullers like you find in a gadget toolkit set.  Gotta love today's non-repair world - if it breaks just toss it and buy a new one I guess.   But I would start with seeing if there's any hint working through the base - once you pull that off you're at the back hinge cover and perhaps there is some fastener behind it that is the secret.  These would certainly make great displays for microcontroller projects if you could get to the serial pins.

[gregebert]

[Robert L]

Hi Tom (or anyone else!),

Are you running one of the ELO VFD displays under Windows 11? I've not found my way past the  "PL2303TA DO NOT SUPPORT WINDOWS 11..."message under Ports in device manager.

Suggestions welcome!

Happy New Year everyone!

Bob

On Thursday, December 25, 2025 at 9:28:01 AM UTC-8 Tom Katt wrote:

[Michail Wilson]

Hello,

 

I am.

 

I am also waiting on a USB Host chip to be able to directly plug in to an Arduino, etc.  I will post when I get an update.

I’ve also opened my unit to see the chip and was going to bypass it; however, I thought it would be much cooler to run unmodified which is why I am going to run through a Arduino/ESP8266/ESP32.

 

I can post either/all above info as I find it if anyone is interested.

 

As for your direct question, you need to install Windows 11 drivers in order to directly communicate with the PL2303.

 

Issue:

PL2303TA DO NOT SUPPORT WINDOWS 11 OR LATER, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SUPPLIER.

Goto this link to find info:

https://embetronicx.com/uncategorized/fixed-prolific-pl2303ta-usb-to-serial-and-windows-11/

 

The file you need is:

PL2303_Prolific_DriverInstaller_v1_12_0.zip

 

Once installed, you can then use the method described earlier in this thread as if using a Win10 machine.

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

 

From: neoni...@googlegroups.com <neoni...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Robert L
Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 2026 3:58 PM
To: neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Surplus POS VFD displays

 

Hi Tom (or anyone else!),

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[Bob wo6w]

Hi Michael,

The driver link worked for me... A quick and easy fix and the display is now running on my W-11 machine.

I'll definitely be interested in a suitable USB interface chip for one or another Arduino based projects. Moistly using ESP32C3 boards at this time. SEEED Ziao form factor.

Once again, MANY THANKS!

Bob 

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[Dekatron42]

Be aware that a lot of these drivers from various places on the Internet for the Prolific USB-chips are filled with malware so only download from sources where you know that it is a malware free file you download, and scan every file you download - I know this since I had the same problem some years back and unfortunately downloaded a file filled with malware, unfortunately it was from a known good source that had been infiltrated.

There are unfortunately also a few "false" PL2303TA (and other variants) floating around which will result in exactly this problem - I had the same problem too with a few Chinese cables/chips and as soon as I plugged in a cable with an original prolific chip the W11 driver from Prolific worked perfectly for me but not with the cables with "false" chips.

There are drivers available from Prolific here for the PL2303TA: https://www.prolific.com.tw/en/products/smart-i-o-solution-en/usb-1-1-to-uart-serial-printer/ - now, I haven't tested these exact drivers as it was a few years since I had this problem so I can't say if any of these work, I just wanted you to know about the fake drivers filled with malware and the fake chips.

/Martin

[Adrian Godwin]

While the USB host chips are a useful method to add USB host to an existing project (I presume you're talking from the SPI devices from, I think, Dallas and possibly FTDI) there are now a bunch of accessible processors with USB host on-board. I think ST do some though I generally find their products hard to get started in. The ones I'd look to for easier out-of-the-box functionality and a smaller (and hence shorter learning curve) are from Raspberry pi. The Pico offers host mode USB but does require, I think, collecting some drivers. There's a tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOD-NOzgj7o. There's also the very small raspberry pi zeros - A full-on linux environment with integrated USB hosts and all the onboard tools you'd expect from a desktop.

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CAJ0pfvYXJgnUe6_XTy4FKOMD69K%2Ba%3Db3sqM%3D3R9cUFBhzxbhXg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Tom Katt]

On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 2:58:23 AM UTC-5 Dekatron42 wrote:

Be aware that a lot of these drivers from various places on the Internet for the Prolific USB-chips are filled with malware so only download from sources where you know that it is a malware free file you download, and scan every file you download - I know this since I had the same problem some years back and unfortunately downloaded a file filled with malware, unfortunately it was from a known good source that had been infiltrated.

Hope everyone got the drivers needed - I just noticed that the v12 driver I am using for W11 was not in the VFD folder I shared earlier, so I added the driver file to the cloud link.  This is the official Prolific v12 driver and I've encountered no problems with it.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 12:36:14 AM UTC-5 Bob wo6w wrote:

Hi Michael,

The driver link worked for me... A quick and easy fix and the display is now running on my W-11 machine.

I'll definitely be interested in a suitable USB interface chip for one or another Arduino based projects. Moistly using ESP32C3 boards at this time. SEEED Ziao form factor.

Once again, MANY THANKS!

Bob 

I also build a lot of Arduino type projects (probably more true Atmel mcu's than Arduino platform, but same idea)...  I would think that if someone manages to crack these open and locate the TTL serial lines that would be a lot easier to manage than going through an intermediary USB chip.  I have to believe there are txd/rxd pins on that board somewhere.  

 

[Tom Katt]

On Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at 11:53:23 PM UTC-5 Michail Wilson wrote:

I’ve also opened my unit to see the chip and was going to bypass it; however, I thought it would be much cooler to run unmodified which is why I am going to run through a Arduino/ESP8266/ESP32.

 

I can post either/all above info as I find it if anyone is interested.

I'm interested ;-)  What is the trick to crack the case open to get access to the board?  I have suspected it involves dismantling the hinge base, but I've been fearful of cracking the case.  

[Tom Katt]

On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 6:33:45 AM UTC-5 Adrian Godwin wrote:

While the USB host chips are a useful method to add USB host to an existing project (I presume you're talking from the SPI devices from, I think, Dallas and possibly FTDI) there are now a bunch of accessible processors with USB host on-board. I think ST do some though I generally find their products hard to get started in. The ones I'd look to for easier out-of-the-box functionality and a smaller (and hence shorter learning curve) are from Raspberry pi. The Pico offers host mode USB but does require, I think, collecting some drivers. There's a tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOD-NOzgj7o. There's also the very small raspberry pi zeros - A full-on linux environment with integrated USB hosts and all the onboard tools you'd expect from a desktop.

We live in an amazing age ;-)  Not to go too far off topic, but another clock project I built uses vintage LTP-305 5x7 led matrix displays driven by a Pi Zero 2W...  The Pi OS is a minimal headless linux environment that makes it silly easy to grab NTP time from a WiFi network for an always accurate clock.  I used a no longer available Pimoroni MicoDot PHat display board and mounted the whole thing in a 3D printed case.  Power is provided via usb from a convenient port built into one of my pc monitors...  The Pi's are great for more complex projects that benefit from an operating system and also offer some GPIO / I2C / SPI ports.  But the hardware microcontrollers ala Atmel/Arduino/ESP32 etc provide a lower level hardware access that is often needed to drive other devices.

 

[gregebert]

The top bezel snaps onto the case. Insert a screwdriver or similar in the gap, and pry apart. Best to probe around the perimeter until you find an easier spot to open. From there, use a screwdriver to pry apart the case around the perimeter. Assembly is easy, but be sure to put the gasket in the right orientation and push them together.

There are 4 screws that hold the PCB in-place, and the small 5-pin connector is for USB (+5V, common, TX/RX+, TX/RX-, shield)

[Bob wo6w]

McAfee scanned the V12 driver on download and again just now... No issues found...

Michael... Thanks again for the driver link!

The additional discussion is quite interesting - case disassembly, etc. Thanks all for your input!

Bob

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[Bob wo6w]

VFD_Setup utility found here: V6.1.5.8:   https://support.ics.gr/en/vfd/

Seems to work on my W-11 machine. McAfee found no issues.

Bob

[Robert L]

Not terribly useful, but FYI... Lacks the "Test" tab for packaging and sending text updates. Changing the welcome message might be useful, but that's most of it!

[Tom Katt]

On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 4:41:04 PM UTC-5 Bob wo6w wrote:

VFD_Setup utility found here: V6.1.5.8:   https://support.ics.gr/en/vfd/

Seems to work on my W-11 machine. McAfee found no issues.

Bob

FYI - the setup utility, serial driver and some tech documentation is available in the OneDrive folder I shared earlier: VFD

I used the setup utility to configure the com port to it's highest speed...  Doesn't make a huge difference, but it does make updates a bit quicker.  There are a few versions of the setup utility - I think I recall one of them providing a method to upload custom characters to the display.  But that can also be accomplished using an escape code sequence detailed in the tech docs.

 

[gregebert]

For you Linux addicts, which includes Raspberry pi, the standard distro will recognize the device when you plug it into a USB port.

[I'm still waiting for my OTG cable to arrive so I can run it on the Raspi instead of my server]

[16907163.800039] usb 5-2: new full-speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd
[16907163.972852] usb 5-2: New USB device found, idVendor=067b, idProduct=2303
[16907163.972860] usb 5-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[16907163.972865] usb 5-2: Product: USB-Serial Controller
[16907163.972871] usb 5-2: Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc.
[16907163.972876] usb 5-2: SerialNumber: 11111111
[16907165.990329] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[16907165.990351] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[16907165.990365] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[16907166.030416] usbcore: registered new interface driver pl2303
[16907166.030438] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for pl2303
[16907166.030468] pl2303 5-2:1.0: pl2303 converter detected
[16907166.041041] usb 5-2: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0

From there, just make sure your user is a member of the dialout Linux group, so you can setup the device:

greg@LENUBS01:~$ groups
greg adm dialout cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare cadadm
greg@LENUBS01:~$ stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 9600 cs8 -cstopb -parenb

Then, to display a message:

echo "Burp, or whatever you want to say" > /dev/ttyUSB0

[Michail Wilson]

Thanks.

 

I normally (never) use PiZero since it requires more money, size, and knowledge to use them.

I like using WeMos/LoLin/ESP8266/ESP32 for all my projects.

As for a USB Host, it’s a premade board.   So, $20 for usb and controller

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CALiMYrtWTMareUOAm3OwAP7Lv2_vd4NWV%3D7shk%2BysB_3dL44Bg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Michail Wilson]

Hello,

 

The secret to opening the unit is easy.  A plastic razer blade along the edge.  It is a tight fit.  Target where the clips are which you can see in the pictures.

 

Attached are photos.

 

And on IMGUR:

https://imgur.com/a/YuFQrYg

 

 

 

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

 

From: neoni...@googlegroups.com <neoni...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Tom Katt
Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2026 4:31 AM
To: neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Surplus POS VFD displays

 

 

On Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at 11:53:23 PM UTC-5 Michail Wilson wrote:

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[Tom Katt]

On Thursday, January 8, 2026 at 1:23:43 AM UTC-5 Michail Wilson wrote:

Thanks.

 

I normally (never) use PiZero since it requires more money, size, and knowledge to use them.

I like using WeMos/LoLin/ESP8266/ESP32 for all my projects.

As for a USB Host, it’s a premade board.   So, $20 for usb and controller

As with many things in life, there often exists several paths that can arrive at the same solution...  I also tend to focus more on 'controllers' rather than 'mini-computers' (ie Pi) because I usually need to bit-bang interface to random hardware boards and I'm really not the biggest linux guy lol.  BUT, everything has it's place - a Pi Zero 2W with WiFi, BT, hdmi & composite video, usb, microSD drive, etc can be had for under $20 - they are frequently complete overkill for many of my use cases but often the most inexpensive solution compared to controller boards.  That said, growing up with 6502 my heart will always be 8 bit ;-)

[Tom Katt]

On Thursday, January 8, 2026 at 1:36:20 AM UTC-5 Michail Wilson wrote:

Hello,

The secret to opening the unit is easy.  A plastic razer blade along the edge.  It is a tight fit.  Target where the clips are which you can see in the pictures.

 Attached are photos.

If you still have your display opened up, could you take another photo of the larger connector on the left side of the board?  Many of the VFD boards I have used in the past seem to offer both serial and parallel interfaces - I'm wondering if that other unused connector has any markings suggesting it is an alternate of the usb connector? 

I'm working up the courage to pop one of mine apart...  My old shaky hands don't seem to have a lot of luck with brittle plastics these days lol.

Thanks for all the information and photos!

[Michail Wilson]

You mean like picture VFDopenF.jpg

 

Maybe you mean a closeup?   (highres attached)

 

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

 

From: neoni...@googlegroups.com <neoni...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Tom Katt
Sent: Thursday, January 8, 2026 4:19 AM
To: neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Surplus POS VFD displays

 

 

On Thursday, January 8, 2026 at 1:36:20 AM UTC-5 Michail Wilson wrote:

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[Tom Katt]

On Thursday, January 8, 2026 at 2:43:02 PM UTC-5 Michail Wilson wrote:

You mean like picture VFDopenF.jpg

Yup - perfect! Thanks!

I was hoping that the mask text might be labeling for the i/o pins, but they’re just resistor ids…. Oh well - time to get the meter and do some tracing.  I still think the pins I want are there, just need to figure out which ones go where.

Thanks again!

[Robert L]

Hi folks,

I wonder if anyone might have one or more of these to let go? Maybe second thoughts on a purchase? I could use an additional unit or two.

Many thanks,

Bob

[Tom Katt]

On Thursday, January 8, 2026 at 5:57:14 PM UTC-5 Robert L wrote:

Hi folks,

I wonder if anyone might have one or more of these to let go? Maybe second thoughts on a purchase? I could use an additional unit or two.

Many thanks,

Bob

I was about to say that you'd probably find them from other sellers, but after checking there's only one left for $39...  Wow - these were all over eBay a little while ago... There were literally dozens of listings when I bought my first one a few months back. Crazy!

[Tom Katt]

Forgot to mention - I also bought this Noritake CU24043-Y100 24x4 VFD when I was on my VFD kick...  It's a nice unit as well and has a similar serial interface, but you need to provide the adapter (so you wire up +5V/GND/TXD from a serial adapter).  It has a LOT of built in features and a much better configuration utility.  It's a much smaller display, about 3" x `1", but for many applications that may be preferable.  They've gone up a few bucks since I got mine, but for a nice new VFD I don't think $50 is unreasonable...

[Adrian Godwin]

There's some on eBay UK. Not as cheap but reasonable. 

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[Tom Katt]

FYI - after looking at this item I received an offer for 20% off, knocking the price down to $39.99...  Seller might be inclined to take less if you are interested.  I have no affiliation with this seller other than having purchased this item before and it was a smooth transaction.

[Bob wo6w]

There are similar Toshiba displays on eBay:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/256989118071

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[Tom Katt]

On Friday, January 9, 2026 at 12:53:05 PM UTC-5 Bob wo6w wrote:

There are similar Toshiba displays on eBay:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/256989118071

The only thing that complicates that display is the 12V Powered USB cable...  While these are common in the retail world, you might need to get an adapter or chop the end off the cable and possibly attach a 12 volt power source.

[Bob wo6w]

Whoa! Missed that detail! I have devices that use dual 5V USB ports to get extra power at 5V. Didn't recognize the 12V "Retail" standard.

Thanks for pointing that out!

Bob

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[Nicholas Stock]

Or..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135423061795

$18 each + shipping...

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