Siemens Nixdorf PCD-4NL Display swap

(Fig. 1: The reason for the display swap: a fern-like pattern inside the original Hitachi panel)

In January 2026, I bought a Siemens Nixdorf PCD-4NL on Kleinanzeigen, together with its power supply and the external floppy drive. It is a close relative of my PCD 4ND, but with a different display.

The main reason why I bought it: the PCD-4NL is quite small - almost a subnotebook. Devices like this were rather rare at the time and also very expensive. Of course, the small size came at a price: you had to do without a few features. For example, unlike my PCD 4ND, it has no sound chip.

A First Look Inside

(Fig. 2: The bottom of the PCD-4NL)

The hard drive is a 543MB Toshiba MK1924FCV, still with the Siemens Nixdorf label on it:

(Fig. 3: The 543MB hard drive with the Siemens Nixdorf label)

(Fig. 4: The mainboard with the 486SX-33 CPU and the NEC memory chips)

The Original Display

The display in my PCD-4NL was a Hitachi LMG5271XUFC-FAT:

(Fig. 5: The label of the Hitachi panel)

Its front looked rather bad - lots of scratches and spots:

(Fig. 6: The Hitachi panel with scratches and spots)

A Closer Look at the Hitachi Panel

I took the Hitachi panel apart and removed the backlight from the glass. Inside, there was a strange golden, fern-like pattern. With this pattern in the glass, the panel is practically unusable (see Fig. 1).

Swapping in a Sharp LM64P83

As a replacement, I used a Sharp LM64P83:

(Fig. 7: The Sharp LM64P83)

This was the main part of the work: the Sharp module does not simply fit into the lid of the PCD-4NL. So I took the bare LCD panel out of the Sharp module and built it into the housing of the Hitachi module:

(Fig. 8: On the left the housing of the Hitachi module, on the right the bare Sharp panel)

But the electronics of the Sharp panel did not fit into the plastic frame of the Hitachi module. I had to adapt the plastic frame quite a bit until everything fit:

(Fig. 9: On the left the bare Sharp panel on the plastic frame of the Hitachi module, on the right the metal frame with Kapton tape)

(Fig. 10: The driver board of the Sharp panel in the Hitachi housing)

During the conversion, I broke a small piece out of the glass of the Sharp panel. Luckily, you cannot see it, and it has no effect on the function:

(Fig. 11: A small piece of glass broke out of the Sharp panel - luckily without any effect)

In the end, the Sharp panel fit into the lid and worked with the PCD-4NL. The first start showed the Phoenix BIOS:

(Fig. 12: The Phoenix BIOS on the Sharp LM64P83)

The External Floppy Drive

As so often, the external floppy drive needed a new belt. Unfortunately, I could not get exactly the right one, so the drive only works sporadically:

(Fig. 13: The opened external floppy drive)

Result

The Sharp LM64P83 is now installed in the PCD-4NL and does a good job. The PCD-4NL starts Windows 3.11 again:

(Fig. 14: The Siemens Nixdorf PCD-4NL running Windows 3.11 after the display swap)

Only the floppy drive is still a weak point because of the belt. But that is not too bad: the hard drive can be removed, so I can copy data onto it directly.