Hey all, I am currently trying to find information regarding the use of PIC micro-controllers to drive LCD's; ive scanned over the useful links sticky a couple times and ive googled my butt off and ive gone down about 40 or so pages of threads... its slowly putting pieces of the jigsaw together but im missing some big ones! My project idea is one which takes various inputs i.e. speed/temp/weather conditions and calculates the typical safe breaking distance then displays that on an LCD to the user (and maybe hopefully get a range finding device too but im not too sure). At the moment it is in the initial stages where by im trying to see if its viable. What little i know of LCD's has come in the form of assembly language programming of a basic LCD voltmeter etc - which itself was a pain! - Since the main bulk of my project would be done in C, i was wondering if im able to stay in a higher level programming language with regards to getting the information on the LCD - because im not too sure how to make the transition from C to assembly language with regards to embedding the assembly routines into the code. I was also trying to find ultra-bright LCD to maybe go for a HUD but all i can seem to find is those damned monitors! lol FYI its a final 3rd year UNI project ... im not too sure if its enough but ill know come the start of the year when i get to sit down with a lecturer! My efforts up till now havnt really got me anywhere fast but i was hoping you guys could help me out with some advice/links as you guys helped me soo much last time (for my 2nd year project). As always im humbly asking for the help of this fantastic forum (enough butt kissing lol ) -btw please forgive any typo's my sleeping pattern is wayyy off lol and... goodnight
hi first, what C compiler your using ? if( PCW CCS) there are many ready made code, check your driver folder on CCS installion directory else you will still be able to find at least one driver second, what LCD is it ? character or graphic type i have experience on the character and may be able to help you third, why do you need to convert it to ASM just use the C code its much easier to understand and manipulate... hey am taking final year project too... and am also stuck trying to read the Moth********* Bi****y PS/2 data using PIC's external interrupt what a headache.. enough cussing, good luck man
just throwing this out there but you might want to take a look a the picaxe microcontroller google phanderson he has some lcd dev kits might be worth taking a look at.
Hey, sorry didnt have inet access past few days. Thanks both for ur advice CONST: so far my only experience has been with Borland C/C++ though my studies. I have been pointed towards Proton compiler - im not familiar with it but im going to get my hands on a copy; as for the two u mentioned PCW CCS im not familiar with either but... which would you suggest? To be honest i think ill go with character LCD... i have created a basic DVM with one before on a training board... and really all i'm looking at doing is presenting information to the user - but it depends how complicated they want out of me... graphics seems daunting. Oh sorry const what i meant to say was ... i didnt know i could use pure C with LCD's... if that's the case, whoopie! lol TEC: ive seen basic control programs for counters/7segments with that before, but ill check that out thanks
Take a look at: http://ouwehand.net/~peter/lcd/lcd.shtml for some info on interfacing a very popular character lcd display to a microcontroller. The PIC example code is in assembler, so you could either figure out how to call assembler functions in whatever compiler you are using, insert the assembler as inline code in a C function (again compiler dependant) or rewrite in C. Essentially you connect the LCD to some port pins and replicate the signals the LCD requires by writing bit patterns to the pins. This should be pretty easy to implement in C. Edit: http://ouwehand.net/~peter/lcd/lcd_examp.shtml#_2 has a zip file of C code for an ATMEL controller Edit: This guy: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=115461 has used a PIC to drive an LCD, he might be willing to help with some code?
microchip has an app note on driving an lcd with a ucontroller. includes the assembly code and everything. if i find it, i'll post it: AN587: http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1824&appnote=en011059
