I am looking to install a LCD display into a machine that I just finished up building. The LCD is the last thing I have left before I consider the project completed. I've been looking at some of the pre-made kits on the market and they don't really have what I want so I have opted to build/compile my own. I do have a few questions that I would appreciate any help with. 1. Can someone point me in the direction of all the items I need for the kit. (any links would be appreciated). 2. Do I still need a driver if I'm using "smarty" ?? Thanks in advance for the comments... Sammy
Welcome to the boards. You'll need: -an LCD that has the HD44780 controller chip or compatible -a parallel cable wired up to drive it like this schematic: (http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/1495/ee_lcd.html) -connection to +5V from your PSU -your parallel port and that's about it, I believe. LCD smartie drives parallel LCDs directly, but you may need a utility called port95nt.exe under NT-flavored Windoze.
try here for a decent premade kit with instructions.... I've gotten this one and its not too bad to put together if you have minimal soldering skills... Crystal Fontz 636 Parallel LCD took me about a hour to wire it up... and for $30 its not a bad 16x2...
I'm currently running XP so I imagine that some others are out there running it as well. My main concern is just getting the thing up connected ect ect... I'm going to be purchasing a Crystal Fontz LCD (20x4), but where do i purchase the controller? Hitachi I believe makes one.... Instead of using my parallel port I could use a com into a usb correct? I guess that's where I'm the most confused.... I don't really care for any of the "premade" kits that are out there because I'm looking for a little bit larger LCD... Sammy
Matrix Orbital do a variety of sizes (20x4 being one of them) with serial support already built in. And of course, if you have a serial LCD, you can run LCDC written by Mat-d-Rat, forum regular. If you're determined to build your own, have a word with CheeseMan - He's the resident expert on LCD's & VFD's, and has a tutorial on his site for wiring up a parallel display
(woo I'm back! Reinstalling XP really isn't fun...) I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'pre-made kits on the market and they don't really have what I want', what do you want? MO displays (www.matrixorbital.com) are about as advanced as you get (keypad, gpo's, software contrast/backlight control, graphics is you want them... I could go on) and they are serial plug-in and go lcds. If you're after as cheap a display as money can buy then you can get cheap parallel displays from most electronics shops. The other thing to consider is software, as the good man linear says if you're using win XP you'll need to install port95nt.exe if you're using a parallel display - though in win XP LCD Smartie crashes more often than an old lady in her lada, and this is a real downer for parallel lcds. If you go via the matrix orbital route then your in support heaven - with some lovely apps at your disposal. One of them, lcdc is particularly great Cheers, r.
Re: Re: N00b to LCD's... Help is appreciated Hrm, must be a parallel issue. I've never had Smartie b0rk on my Matrix Orbital under XP. It does need to be closed manually before I do a shutdown, but that's the only glitch I hit. Interesting to know though.
Re: Re: Re: N00b to LCD's... Help is appreciated There are a whole host of issues which can seemingly appear at random - -cpu usage goes up to 100% for no reason, -crahses hideously when changing display type, -can complain every 10s about there being no disc in a drive you're not asking it to check - this is setup specific, depends on your hdd/cdrom layout. There's quite a few more too - most of them can be avoided by deleting and reinstalling when they crop up. Defo worse for non mo dislays as you're forced to change the display type, which it really doesn't like. In general I wouldn't recommend the use of smartie in XP, though I do use it myself Cheers, r.
I think I understand now... By premade kits I mean something like this http://www.caseetc.com/cgi-bin/caseetc/EC-396.html . I'm currently looking at three different models. I would like any recommendations that you guys may have. http://www.crystalfontz.com/cgi-bin/pricing.pl?product=634 http://www.matrixorbital.com/products/glk12232-25.htm http://www.matrixorbital.com/products/lcd2041.htm I'm not so concerned about the cost... I'm more concerned about getting the thing to run ect ect.... Thanks for all the help fellas... It's appreciated.. Sammy
MO's 12232-25-wbl and a brother to the 204 are both reviewed on my site (see sig) - both lovely displays. I've done quite a bit of work with the graphic (see some of the others guides), it take a little more work to setup (uploading fonts etc.) but when it's going it's great and effortless The 204 is superb - almost all software works with it, there's not much you can;t do with it (and setting up is no more difficult than pluggin it in). As for CF I've never had one to play with - their main software support comes from lcd driver which is very dated now. LCD Smartie will work with it - I think, not sure if it works with all cf displays though... Cheers, r.
Thanks for the help! I broke down and purchased the MO 12232-25-wbl (graphic display) because it wasn't that much more than the other models... I'm now eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new toy.... The wife is sure going to like this purchase... Oh well... I can probably come up with an excuse that I needed it for my next projectc or something... Cheers! Jeremy
