Replacing a broken screen on the Pomera DM250 - tips for anyone else in the same boat!
Sharing this because it would have been helpful information for me! I bought a Pomera DM250 in Tokyo a few years ago and used it constantly until the screen broke in my backpack. I knew nothing else was damaged because I'd already memorized the simple menu tree to save and export writing - which all still worked even without visual feedback on-screen. It sat in a drawer for a year or so until last week, when I finally extracted the screen, looked up all the tiny serial numbers, and searched for ages until I found this compatibility guide on aliexpress:
https://www.aliexpress.com/s/wiki-ssr/article/ej070na-01j
I then ordered this unit on ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/115059638787) which arrived in a few days. The pinout pattern matched perfectly, so it worked right away upon plugging it in! I'm thrilled. $30 all-in to fix something I was ready to replace for $300+.
Two downsides so far...
The new unit's metal housing is about 2mm wider because it has an integrated backlight rather than the layers of reflective material taped onto the OEM one. As close as it is to fitting, it looks like I need to make a custom case or modify the plastic component that receives and mounts the screen. Alternatively, I could ditch the current mount and just tape the thing in there.
The ribbon cable is also shorter and straight rather than L-shaped, meaning that I'd either need to resolder it or change the housing layout anyways to accommodate the board sitting closer to the display.
These two issues combined are making me lean toward a custom case. Long shot, but does anyone have 3D print files for the Pomera for me to modify? I always wanted the clear plastic special edition anyways. If not, I'm thinking of going a more esoteric direction by stripping off the OEM keyboard and embedding the thing in clear acrylic with nicer keys.
I hope this helps anyone else in the same situation!