I am thinking of buying a 4x20 Noritake VFD How would i hook this up. It looks like it has a mobo serial hook up on the back. Plz HELP!! Now for a pic. Someone help!
i have seen someone chop off a serial connector on the mobo and attach wires to the pins in the mobo where the serial plug was. that way you can keep it all internal. I have also seen it where they took the serial cord for the lcd and ran it outside of the case through a hole in a pci slot and then plugged it in. either way works.
Read through the LCD FAQ and learn. There is a lot of useful info there including, but not limited to, how to wire it up and what software will work with the display.
Its a CU20045SCPB-T23A. Very easy to use. VFD thinger at VFD world has pinout diagram for parallel port, and datasheets. Ive written PIC code to use them.
yeah, i thought it looked very similar to a noritake vfd i had. I forgot the model number of mine, but the two are very similar.
So i can buy it and then just plug the serial cable into it? I know what kind it would need to fit in the plug.
No. It has 2 connectors. One is a 16 pin parallel connector that has an IDC header (same things you see on motherboards). The second connector is a 3 pin header that you can use for alternate power and serial communication. It looks a little like a fan header. And, No, you cannot simply wire this directly to your motherboard. The serial port swings from -12V to 12V for signalling, while the serial interface for the VFD is 0V to 5V. You would need to condition the serial port signals using a MAX232 transciever IC. The links I gave earlier show how to directly connect it to the paralell port. A $2USD 25DB connector from radioshack and a few wires. VFDthinger and also LCDStudio can control these displays. They are really easy commands.
