LCD Displays. What's the difference?

Ezsynn

Okey, One question.
What is the difference between normal LCD Displays and Parallax LCD Displays?
The reason I'm asking this question is that shipping costs too much.
And I'm looking for alternatives to parallax products. (Except for BS2)

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BWIN ON DA POWAH WIFIN U!!!
(This means the Plutonium Isotope Nuclear Fission And Fusion Reactor Battery Pack you've been hiding inside your jacket!!!)

SRLM

The Parallax LCDs are nice because the base price is cheap, documentation is well done, and they are serial. Parallel LCDs are a lot cheaper in $, but more expensive in programming time and I/O pins. If you wait for daily deals to roll around, you can get them fairly cheap.

PJAllen

Somebody said...
The Parallax LCDs are nice because the base price is cheap, documentation is well done, and they are serial.

Excuse me, but Parallax offers both "parallel LCDs" and "serial LCDs."· Both types are·well documented.

A parallel LCD requires several I/O pins.· A serial LCD·uses only one, but·it has a (much) higher price for that convenience.· SEROUT statements do not come without an EEPROM (programming space) burden of their own.

There isn't anything special about Parallax's parallel LCDs, other vendors'·should work out fine, but you shouldn't expect their operation to be supported by Parallax.

Ezsynn

PJ Allen said...

Somebody said...

The Parallax LCDs are nice because the base price is cheap, documentation is well done, and they are serial.

Excuse me, but Parallax offers both "parallel LCDs" and "serial LCDs." Both types are well documented.

A parallel LCD requires several I/O pins. A serial LCD uses only one, but it has a (much) higher price for that convenience. SEROUT statements do not come without an EEPROM (programming space) burden of their own.


There isn't anything special about Parallax's parallel LCDs, other vendors' should work out fine, but you shouldn't expect their operation to be supported by Parallax.

So there's no difference between parallax and "generic" LCD Displays?

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BWIN ON DA POWAH WIFIN U!!!
(This means the Plutonium Isotope Nuclear Fission And Fusion Reactor Battery Pack you've been hiding inside your jacket!!!)

Franklin

That would depend on which Parallax display and which "generic" display. And don't forget to factor in the support you get with the Parallax products.

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- Stephen

Mike Green

What you pay for when you buy a Parallax product manufactured by someone else:

1) The hardware itself. The bits and pieces including the cost of finding a source for the product, shipping to Parallax, and testing to make sure it works.

2) The cost of handling. This includes having to pay up front for the goods, warehousing them, and packaging for shipment

3) The cost of support. This includes having to write documentation, learning materials including tutorials, sample programs, telephone and internet support, etc. Parallax guarantees what they sell. That means that they will either help you to get a product working the way it's supposed to work or replace or repair it if necessary.

When you buy a Parallax product manufactured by Parallax you also have:

4) The cost of development including time and effort spent in design, debugging of hardware, debugging the manufacturing process including assembly

Parallax products are intended for the hobbyist and educational market. That means that they need to be easy to use, with good understandable documentation. Parallax often takes a base product, like an LCD, and adds a controller that makes it easy to use. Sometimes they partner with an existing manufacturer to provide a modified controller that's simpler to use than the normal manufacturer's unit or is a better match for use with the Stamps.

Post Edited (Mike Green) : 3/9/2009 2:11:16 PM GMT