I finally finished my DIY Ethernet LCD backpack. It has a Matrix Orbital compatible TCP server that accepts re-directed output from LCD Smartie (youtube video). It also has a default '#twatch' mode that connects to Twitter and scrolls the latest trending topics and tweets (youtube video).
Since the LCD Smartie Matrix Orbital display plugin uses a com/serial port, I use a freeware serial port forwarder to create a virtual COM2 on my system and then forward that to the Ethernet backpack's TCP server over my local network.
The hardware and firmware are open source, so you can build your own. I've also arranged for a group purchase of assembled hardware from Seeed Studio: $45 with an LCD screen, $30 for just the assembled PCB (both include worldwide shipping). The group purchase will end on September 23, 2009.
Edit: sorry, it's just $30 for the assembled PCB.
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