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Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/2/2009 11:36 AM (GMT -8)

I just managed to get Bean's monochrome LCD working with the Prop!

This is a very handy little display. Runs entirely with just a 3.3V supply. The yellow backlight LEDs are in parallel, so you just need a single external resistor to set the LED current. Needs 13 pins (8 for data, 5 for control).

It's also supposedly transreflective to work well outdoors, but today isn't a good day to test that here...

The icons are also very handy!

I bought five for $1 each from Terry Hitt (Bean) at the Expo.

Update:

Just shipped the first 6 breakout boards with displays to Gadget Gangster to sell.

Check out these photos:

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Post Edited (Rayman) : 11/13/2009 12:45:52 AM GMT

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mikediv
Registered Member

Date Joined Dec 2007
Total Posts : 455

Posted 10/2/2009 3:50 PM (GMT -8)

Ray you seem to have a special love for displays, did you see the the post from the guys trying to get the Peek display to interface to the prop?? I am trying to get a few if you would like I will send you one to see if it can be done???
I can get one for sure form OBC but it would be awesome if we could get you on board. Let me know

Bean (Hitt Consulting)
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Jul 2004
Total Posts : 5761

Posted 10/2/2009 4:52 PM (GMT -8)

Raymond,
You are no doubt the LCD master !!
I can't believe you got them working.
Nice job.

P.S. I'll send you a PM soon.

Bean.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Does that byte of memory hold "A", 65, $41 or %01000001 ?

Yes it does...

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/2/2009 5:11 PM (GMT -8)

Thanks Bean!

These are some really nice displays you found!
This could be the very lowest cost, high-quality displays available for the Prop...
The icons are a really cool feature.

Mike: I pretty much have my hands full here, sorry...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/7/2009 4:28 PM (GMT -8)

Just attached the datasheet to the top post!
(Note that this isn't the exact datasheet, but it's the closest thing
the manufacturer has.)

I'm thinking of making a breakout board for it that will attach directly the Prop Platform
that Jon made and Gadget Ganster sells.

If there's room, I'll try to make it so that one can drop in a Prop to the board too...
You could then turn it into a serial display for ~$10 extra...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/7/2009 4:30 PM (GMT -8)

The backlight is just 4 LEDs in parallel, drawing 80 mA max...

I'm trying to come up with the best way to control it...
Could just use one resistor for a fixed current...
Or, could use 2 Prop pins to control the current...
Or, maybe add in a transistor and have it controlled by a single Prop pin...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/7/2009 4:32 PM (GMT -8)

I suppose I need to find a nice 6x8 font for a 4 line display...

Or, should I do 8x16 or so for a 2 line display?

I could use the ROM font for a single line display...
Also, there's Clemen's "secret font", but I think that's 8x12...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/7/2009 4:36 PM (GMT -8)

Any interest out there in this display?
I think I could sell the display+breakout board for ~$10.
With a Prop, it'd be ~$20...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

blittled
Extreme Experimenter

Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 76

Posted 10/7/2009 6:26 PM (GMT -8)

I'd be interested in the display with prop. I also bought a display from Bean so I'll have a spare display. Would it be hard to solder the LCD onto a unpopulated breakout board with a 15 watt Iron from Radio Shack? If not I'd like to get a breakout board minus the LCD too.

What electronics need - MORE POWER!!!!!!!

WBA Consulting
aestheticacoustics.com

Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 341

Posted 10/7/2009 7:25 PM (GMT -8)

I'd be interested in two without the prop. I assume you are working on a complete driver?

I have a couple Transflective Hantronix "chip-on-glass" ~2"x3" displays in my project pile but I need to figure out how to talk to them (which means it will be a while). They are in small handheld devices now without any backlight and they look excellent in all levels of light. They have a small ribbon connector which means a breakout board is needed as well.

Andrew Williams
WBA Consulting
WBA-TH1M Sensirion SHT11 Module
Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge, Mar 20, 2010

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/8/2009 2:07 AM (GMT -8)

Just posted the datasheet for the LCD's driver IC to the top post...

blitted: The LCD connects to the breakout board with that flexible cable...

WBA: I am going to work on the driver... Need to think about what people would want in a driver... This is a "graphical" LCD, but I'm not really sure how great that is... I have a feeling people would just want to show text on the screen...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/8/2009 6:30 AM (GMT -8)

Got the ROM font working on it! Can fit 7 characters...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Shawn Lowe
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2004
Total Posts : 322

Posted 10/8/2009 6:41 AM (GMT -8)

I'd be interested at $10.

Shawn Lowe

When all else fails.....procrastinate!

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/8/2009 7:07 AM (GMT -8)

Shawn: Good to hear! I think it's possible by making 3 adapters to a board and then cutting them apart myself to bring down the PCB cost...
In principle, all you need is the board with the fpc connector and one resistor for the backlight (assuming you want the backlight on all the time).

Right now, I'm contemplating on whether or not I should try to turn this monochrome display into a grayscale display...
I think I can update the whole screen at 260 Hz... At 256 Hz, I could do 256 shades of gray...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Jim Fouch
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2004
Total Posts : 158

Posted 10/8/2009 7:40 AM (GMT -8)

I'd really be interested in one w/ a prop. How may spare prop pins would we have to play with? Maybe a small prototyping area too?

I'll even throw in and design a water proof enclosure..... yeah I got a new laser cutter and am looking to make somethig cool w/ it.

Jim Fouch

FOUCH SOFTWARE

Jamesx
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 123

Posted 10/8/2009 8:15 AM (GMT -8)

I'd be interested in a couple units, w/ prop onboard. A little prototyping area would be great, too.

Jim

WBA Consulting
aestheticacoustics.com

Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 341

Posted 10/8/2009 8:16 AM (GMT -8)

Rayman; I was thinking text display with possibility of some basic graphics (that can probably be done with a handful of graphic fonts). I might change my interest to 1 with prop and 1 without.

The Hantronix displays I have are HDG12864F-1 (128x64 pixel) with chip on glass controller chip. When I went to find the datasheet on my computer, I found an appnote I downloaded back in April from Hantronix that actually uses the Basic Stamp SX for a demo. Forgot I found that. Maybe I will have to brew up a breakout board sometime so I can re-purpose the case that they are currently in (it's extremely nice)

Andrew Williams
WBA Consulting
WBA-TH1M Sensirion SHT11 Module
Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge, Mar 20, 2010

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microcontrolled
My head is SPINing.

Date Joined Oct 2008
Total Posts : 867

Posted 10/8/2009 9:28 AM (GMT -8)

Good! I am another fellow display lover....

What expo did you get them at? I didn't see those at UPENE. And Bean can tell you, I spent a LOT of time at his stand!!!

Computers are microcontrolled.

Robots are microcontrolled.

I am microcontrolled.

But you can call me micro.

Want to experiment with the SX or just put together a cool project?

SX Spinning light display

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/8/2009 11:22 AM (GMT -8)

Yep, it was UPENE... He had a lot of stuff out, so it may have been easy to miss...

I guess the nice things about this display are that it's small and works directly from the Prop's voltage...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

FredBlais
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2008
Total Posts : 53

Posted 10/8/2009 1:21 PM (GMT -8)

Rayman said...
Just posted the datasheet for the LCD's driver IC to the top post...

WBA: I am going to work on the driver... Need to think about what people would want in a driver... This is a "graphical" LCD, but I'm not really sure how great that is... I have a feeling people would just want to show text on the screen...

Drawing lines, rectangle, circles, plotting, and maybe a function similar to pix where we can put custom graphics would be really great.

at 10$, with a driver, sounds great :)

Roger Lee
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2008
Total Posts : 82

Posted 10/8/2009 7:15 PM (GMT -8)

Microcontrolled said...
What expo did you get them at? I didn't see those at UPENE.

They might have been in a box under the table. I think I remember Bean telling me something like
"No data sheet, I haven't gotten them to work" (or something like that).
It's quite possible I'm mistaken, this may not be the same LCD.

Who in their right mind would buy something like that?

I guess now we know who, don't we. Great job Rayman.

Bean (Hitt Consulting)
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Jul 2004
Total Posts : 5761

Posted 10/9/2009 3:05 AM (GMT -8)

Roger,
Yeah, I was selling them for $1 or $0.50 or something like that. I had tried to get them working, but couldn't.
Raymond told me that he was going to get them working, and he came through.
I have send all the units I had to Ray (about 100).
If anyone purchased these at the show they can thank Raymond for finding the correct datasheet for them.

Bean.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Does that byte of memory hold "A", 65, $41 or %01000001 ?

Yes it does...

microcontrolled
My head is SPINing.

Date Joined Oct 2008
Total Posts : 867

Posted 10/9/2009 1:09 PM (GMT -8)

I was crazy enough to buy that color LCD without a datasheet for a doller WITHOUT A BREAKOUT BOARD! If anyone comes up with a datasheet for them please let me know.

Computers are microcontrolled.

Robots are microcontrolled.

I am microcontrolled.

But you can call me micro.

Want to experiment with the SX or just put together a cool project?

SX Spinning light display

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/9/2009 4:39 PM (GMT -8)

I think the color LCD is just RGB driven, like a VGA monitor... The code I have for my new touchscreen LCD (PSB) would probably work with a few adjustments...
But, I'm not really sold on the value... That display will likely need a few other chips to make it work... And, it's very small...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

Rayman
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408

Posted 10/10/2009 3:20 AM (GMT -8)

Actually, thinking some more about it, there could be cases where a very small color LCD is useful... Maybe I'll look into those other LCDs later...

My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm

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