Has anyone used this with their prop? (terminal display)

turbosupra

Or anything like it?

I'd like to have something a little closer to the terminal windows application, rather than the 4 line LCD that Parallax sells. Having a handheld terminal piece of hardware with the ability to send a DTR command and CLS command would be ideal actually.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-8-TFT-LCD-module-LCD-sys-info-display-temperature-fan-AIDA64-LCD-Smartie-/121004607232

StefanL38

Hi Brad,

the one you linked to has a usb-interface 320x240 pixels and colors

Serial RS232 would be much easier for the prop.

I did a quick research at parallax and sparkfun

parallax has this one http://parallax.com/product/28080

sparkfun https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11677

found this at ebay SPI-serial interface.
I haven't done much with SPI yet. So maybe somebody with SPI-experience can chime in and write a guess about how
much effort it would be to write the SPI-driver?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-4-240x320-SPI-TFT-LCD-Serial-Port-Module-3-3V-PBC-Adapter-Micro-SD-ILI9341-/321496984303?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4adab6aaef

best regards

Stefan

User Name

@turbosupra:

Any special reason not to use something like these? They work great with composite video objects in OBEX.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Inch-TFT-LCD-Car-Rear-View-Camera-DVD-VCR-Auto-Color-Monitor-2-Video-Input-/300935364518?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4611253fa6
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Car-Reverse-Rearview-Monitor-Color-Camera-DVD-VCR-Remote-Control-4-3-TFT-/380973730791?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58b3cdcbe7

Duane Degn

I agree with Stefan, that particular display doesn't look like it's a good match for the Propeller.

These aren't color but for $5 I think they're a great deal.



I show one being powered from a Prop's I/O pin in this thread. There's also a link to the product in that thread.

Rayman makes and sells boards for some nice screens. Here's a link to his website: http://www.rayslogic.com/

I used one of his touchscreens in my robot remote project.



Small TVs with composite input is another option. One problem with using a video display is they tend to use a lot of memory. I often end up using a second Prop as a graphics slave if the program doesn't have enough extra memory to support a video driver.

Edit: The link User Name provided is a good example of a display which uses composite video.

turbosupra

Thanks everyone.

I'm looking for something cheap and plug and play as I'm trying to debug something and do not want to have to debug the debugger so that I can do what I originally intended.

I would also like one that does not need an additional cog, on top of the full duplex serial method needing a cog ... is this possible?

Duane Degn

turbosupra wrote: »

Thanks everyone.

I'm looking for something cheap and plug and play as I'm trying to debug something and do not want to have to debug the debugger so that I can do what I originally intended.

I would also like one that does not need an additional cog, on top of the full duplex serial method needing a cog ... is this possible?

Is full duplex serial sending the debug information?

Debug screens with the least overhead for the Prop will likely be a screen which accepts serial input. A terminal window on a PC is is my usual debug screen.

Alternatively you could use a second Propeller to receive serial data from the first Prop and output text to a TV or VGA monitor. Phil has code to use with the Propeller Backpack which acts as a display for data received over a serial connection.

T Chap

You would need to define cheap. I like the Newhaven 4.3 Capacitive touch display. It is a nice looking color display. Rayslogic.com has a controller for it and test code. You could be up and running in an afternoon with your own simple text areas for feedback, and setting up the touch zones are rather easy as well. It is a very good invenstment of time and energy to get one of these type of touch LCD displays up and running, as you can then migrate it to many other uses very quickly. I wouldn't call it cheap, as the LCD is 58 and the controller is 20+. It will require a cog, as any graphics driver will. There are certainly cheaper LCD screens. The resistive touch is much cheaper but does not respond to touch anywhere near as nicely. The nice thing about the Newhaven is that there are a number of us on here that use it and there are existing plug and play demos. You go off into ebay world and find yourself with a cheap display but spend a 100 hours trying to figure it out.

BTW, it is not clear what your "does not need an additional cog, on top of the full duplex serial method needing a cog" discussion is really pointing to as a problem. There are 4 port serial objects if that helps that allow rx/tx on 4 sets of pins that require only 1 cog.

turbosupra

I should state that I need this (at the moment) for an automobile. I doubt it can be powered by the prop power supply, so 12v power would be excellent. I cannot put a VGA monitor in the car though.

I'm about out of COG's or am out for this project (I have to double check) so using a cog for serial debugging, a cog for FDS and a cog for a video driver is not ideal.

I'm not opposed to touch screen, especially if it is tried and true.

StefanL38

Hi Brad,

if you just need some debugtext how about a 4 Lines

DavidZemon

turbosupra wrote: »

Thanks everyone.

I'm looking for something cheap and plug and play as I'm trying to debug something and do not want to have to debug the debugger so that I can do what I originally intended.

I would also like one that does not need an additional cog, on top of the full duplex serial method needing a cog ... is this possible?

I don't think anything exists that satisfies your requirements. You either spend at least one extra cog (and lots of memory) on VGA display or you get a much simpler display. If you have SPI devices on your system already, an SPI display would work great since it can share the bus.

Just to clarify, you're in Spin/PASM right, not C/C++?

Duane Degn

What are the bauds you're using with the serial drivers you're presently using? As TChap suggested, you could use a four port serial object if you don't need high bit rates on multiple lines.

I take it the serial debugging you're doing is at the PC?

The driver used for serial debugging could be used to output data to a display. A second Propeller and a TV could act as a terminal window.

turbosupra

The 16 line unit looks good Stefan.

Do they sell it stateside and did you happen to see how much it was? I couldn't find the price with a quick google search.

StefanL38 wrote: »

Hi Brad,

if you just need some debugtext how about a 4 Lines

turbosupra

Yes, just spin and pasm. I don't mind a simpler display, but I want the ability to display at least 40 characters and 15+ lines (or be able to scroll up and down after I've stopped the serial feed)

SwimDude0614 wrote: »

I don't think anything exists that satisfies your requirements. You either spend at least one extra cog (and lots of memory) on VGA display or you get a much simpler display. If you have SPI devices on your system already, an SPI display would work great since it can share the bus.

Just to clarify, you're in Spin/PASM right, not C/C++?

I'm using 115200, and right now debugging to a laptop while driving, but that's not ideal.

Duane Degn wrote: »

What are the bauds you're using with the serial drivers you're presently using? As TChap suggested, you could use a four port serial object if you don't need high bit rates on multiple lines.

I take it the serial debugging you're doing is at the PC?

The driver used for serial debugging could be used to output data to a display. A second Propeller and a TV could act as a terminal window.