Hi, I am planning on getting a 2x20 backlit LCD for in a 5 1/4" drive bay. At this site I can also get a 1x16 (also backlighted) for a mere €4.50. Now my question is this: They both use a 44780 controller, can I run them in parralel? Asin both are connected to 1 parralel port. If so, I assume that the 1x16 LCD will only display character 1 thru 16 of the top row of the 2x20, or is there a problem with that? Who wants to help an LCD n00b out?
Give it a shot. Theoretically, it would do what you described. My only concern would be fanout. I'm not sure how much current the parallel port data bus can source.
I haven't seen any LCD app that can drive 2 different sized LCD's in a single instance. Best to try the forums and ask the authors. However there are LCD apps that can be launched twice, but need a second port ofcourse.
Na my plan was to hook both up, with the program outputting 2x20 info. I'm just wondering if that won't screw up the 1x16's output because you'd be feeding it too much data.
Best to ask that question to the authors, i do know it's possible to drive 2 identical displays at once. Or else just give it a try
It won't screw up the displays, and should work fine so long as your pc is writing to the displays. If for whatever reason your application reads back any data from the display it may cause problems however...
Allright then. So if there's a problem, just use different software. Got it! By the way, what's the most resource-friendly parralel software? I am using my palm as an emulator right now, and SmartieLCD is eating up resources like hell. I tried the crystalfontz freeware app but I get a problem with ntdll.dll, and I can't overwrite that
