Jim:· Great to hear someone else got a screen working!·
Especially, since there's no formal documentation yet...
Any chance you can post a photo of your setup?
I suppose the main thing is to remember that the sync and color pins have to be in a certian order and on certain pin groups, just like with VGA.· I think that's the only gotcha here...
Yeah, I did have to consult the Demo Board's circuit to see how the VGA pins were aligned. You may want to add that info to your driver pin definitions to make it more clear.
I'll post some pics later today.
One thing I think would be really cool is to come up with a form of a dialog screen for getting user input. I'm thinking of a simple (So to speak) dialog interpeter that can present a numeric/alphe-numeric keypad and a place for field input. This way, you would not burn up ram with all the code to inteript button presses. These dialogs could be loaded in from SD card along with images for the actual buttons and screen elements. You could create an endless GUI this way.
Came across my first bad display the other day... Not too bad, considering it was about the 200th one I've tested... Failure was actually kinda interesting. The touchscreen itself was in perfect shape. Somehow the TFT glass underneath the touchscreen got cracked. No way to tell it was bad until you actually turned it on.
@ Jim: I was thinking about something similar for getting input. I'd like to build a sort of CAN debugger for our Solar Car and it would be useful to have a way of entering new ID's and such....
Speaking of pin alignment for VGA output, I'm guessing I can't use these screens on the Demo board directly?
Raf
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You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
I bet you could line up the VGA pins one one side of the Prop on the Protoboard, but you still need a few wires...
And, be careful not to connect to the VDD,VSS holes in the corners of the Protoboard...
Jim is using the Protoboard, if I'm not mistaken?
@ Ray:
I was thinking about the Demo Board. It's got a VGA socket built in, so I would have to tap into that, right?
Raf
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
I think I ordered Matt's breakout, so I should go back and read the doc for that first...sorry for uninformed questions [noparse];)[/noparse]
Raf
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You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
How many total pins will be needed to do full 24bit color? I'm guessing 24 for RGB and 3 or 4 control lines. Just wondering if a single Prop could drive the full color display and 4 pins for an SD card interface. I'm looking to create a smart serial driven display that could use bitmaps from an SD card. I guess I could cut the color level down to 16 bit from 24 bit.
mctrivia said...
24 colour pins + 9 control pins.
scl,sda can be shared with eeprom
bl,don can be combined together and forced to 1 rail.
pi can be left disconected
so that is 32 pins minimum for 24 bit colour so it can be done with a prop alone if you want to try.
But the biggest problem is lack of memory of the Propeller I. Am I wrong?
Think I'm sold out again [noparse]:([/noparse]
Well, after I process the current orders, that is...
Had to cancel some orders that weren't paid to make room for the last orders...
I owe my supplier another PSM module, then I'll ask for some more displays. But, my price is likely to increase somewhat [noparse]:([/noparse]
What about a 12 bit interface? I'm not sure I even know what I'm talking about, but with 24bit you are basically driving each color to 256 different levels, so wouldn't 12 bit bring down the pin count and let you drive the color to 128 different colors? I'm only looking at this from the point of bringing in a BMP from an SD card and dumping it on the display. The BMP's could even just be 16Bit. Instead of trying to have the Prop keep a copy of the graphics memory, it simply just copies pre made images and fonts from the SD card. I know this would not be fast,, but for many applications that want fancy colors and images it would be ok. You still could address the display on a pixel by pixel to draw simple shapes in any of the 12bit color, just rely on the SD card for the high color content.
16 Bit mode make make more sense because you would have less math to do when decoding the BMP. You would simply just copy the bytes to the output ports.
Sorry, I had a lapse in math memory. 12bit color would give 4096 colors. I think the 16bit mode would be best if pulling from an SD card.
Ray,
In your driver, do the Hsync & VSync have to be pulsed at a specific rate. Or can they simply be pulsed at any rate to allow the slower SD card to write the bytes at the speed they come off the SD card at? That's the only way my approach would work. The prop would not have enough memory to drive the display much higher than your 6bit mode otherwise. I'm trying to leverage the mass storage of the SD Card.
Screen resolution is 480x272. It looks pretty good at 14 fps. Below that, the flicker is obvious, but otherwise still looks good...
You can just vary that pixelclock number above to play with it... I think 20_000_000 gives about 60 fps (This is the VGA setting).
PS:· I mailed you 40 displays today, under our agreement from a few weeks ago.· It was a little painful, seeing as I only have 40 or so left, just enough to fill existing orders.· And, any new ones I get are likely to cost me more...
I know these displays were not intended for "PC" use, but is it possible to hook these displays up to a computer via RGB? I would guess I would need a VGA to Digital RGB converter. For that matter I would love Composite! :-D That would save on wires for sure!
People have been asking for the 6-bit photo code...· Unfortunately, it's not in very good shape yet.
It shows a fullscreen 6-bit photo directly from a file on the SD card.· Currently, it just barely works· and is unstable in x and y and has very low refresh rate...
But, here's a first look at it anyway.· Also, here's the Windows App I use to create the data files for the SD card.
Also, here's another screen shot.· Note that the camera photo looks much·better than it does in real life.· Also, I've done some Photoshop error diffusion magic to optimize the result...
looks cool. pretty impressive considering it is only 6 bit colour. I am working on a 16bit single cog version but I am using 4 latches and a RAM module to make that happen.
Hehe I like the image you're doing the demo with [noparse]:)[/noparse]
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
Comments
Especially, since there's no formal documentation yet...
Any chance you can post a photo of your setup?
I suppose the main thing is to remember that the sync and color pins have to be in a certian order and on certain pin groups, just like with VGA.· I think that's the only gotcha here...
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My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
I'll post some pics later today.
One thing I think would be really cool is to come up with a form of a dialog screen for getting user input. I'm thinking of a simple (So to speak) dialog interpeter that can present a numeric/alphe-numeric keypad and a place for field input. This way, you would not burn up ram with all the code to inteript button presses. These dialogs could be loaded in from SD card along with images for the actual buttons and screen elements. You could create an endless GUI this way.
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Jim Fouch
FOUCH SOFTWARE
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Jim Fouch
FOUCH SOFTWARE
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Andrew Williams
WBA Consulting
WBA-TH1M Sensirion SHT11 Module
Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge, Mar 20, 2010
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My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
Speaking of pin alignment for VGA output, I'm guessing I can't use these screens on the Demo board directly?
Raf
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
And, be careful not to connect to the VDD,VSS holes in the corners of the Protoboard...
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
@ Ray:
I was thinking about the Demo Board. It's got a VGA socket built in, so I would have to tap into that, right?
Raf
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Jim Fouch
FOUCH SOFTWARE
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My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
Raf
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
Ray I have not yet received bill for the screens
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24 bit LCD Breakout Board coming soon. $21.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
How many total pins will be needed to do full 24bit color? I'm guessing 24 for RGB and 3 or 4 control lines. Just wondering if a single Prop could drive the full color display and 4 pins for an SD card interface. I'm looking to create a smart serial driven display that could use bitmaps from an SD card. I guess I could cut the color level down to 16 bit from 24 bit.
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Jim Fouch
FOUCH SOFTWARE
scl,sda can be shared with eeprom
bl,don can be combined together and forced to 1 rail.
pi can be left disconected
so that is 32 pins minimum for 24 bit colour so it can be done with a prop alone if you want to try.
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24 bit LCD Breakout Board coming soon. $21.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
But the biggest problem is lack of memory of the Propeller I. Am I wrong?
Matthew you have new mail.
Well, after I process the current orders, that is...
Had to cancel some orders that weren't paid to make room for the last orders...
I owe my supplier another PSM module, then I'll ask for some more displays. But, my price is likely to increase somewhat [noparse]:([/noparse]
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
I think 16 or 18 bits would be pretty straightforward, using 3 cogs, one for each color...
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My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
16 Bit mode make make more sense because you would have less math to do when decoding the BMP. You would simply just copy the bytes to the output ports.
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Jim Fouch
FOUCH SOFTWARE
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24 bit LCD Breakout Board coming soon. $21.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
Ray,
In your driver, do the Hsync & VSync have to be pulsed at a specific rate. Or can they simply be pulsed at any rate to allow the slower SD card to write the bytes at the speed they come off the SD card at? That's the only way my approach would work. The prop would not have enough memory to drive the display much higher than your 6bit mode otherwise. I'm trying to leverage the mass storage of the SD Card.
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Jim Fouch
FOUCH SOFTWARE
I think you can turn that down to at least 500_000, if you want to go slower...
That's my plan too [noparse]:)[/noparse]
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My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
What is the screen res
What is the lowest possible refresh rate to still get a good pick.
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24 bit LCD Breakout Board coming soon. $21.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
You can just vary that pixelclock number above to play with it... I think 20_000_000 gives about 60 fps (This is the VGA setting).
PS:· I mailed you 40 displays today, under our agreement from a few weeks ago.· It was a little painful, seeing as I only have 40 or so left, just enough to fill existing orders.· And, any new ones I get are likely to cost me more...
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
24 bit LCD Breakout Board coming soon. $21.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
It shows a fullscreen 6-bit photo directly from a file on the SD card.· Currently, it just barely works· and is unstable in x and y and has very low refresh rate...
But, here's a first look at it anyway.· Also, here's the Windows App I use to create the data files for the SD card.
Also, here's another screen shot.· Note that the camera photo looks much·better than it does in real life.· Also, I've done some Photoshop error diffusion magic to optimize the result...
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
My Prop Info&Apps: ·http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htm
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
24 bit LCD Breakout Board coming soon. $21.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
You've got to play the game.
You can't win.
You can't break even, except on a very cold day.
It doesn't get that cold.
~Laws of Thermodynamics~
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http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite
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