Interfacing SCAM chips

Archiver

In the February 2000 issue of Nuts & Volts magazine, I read an article on a
PIC-based servo control chip called the SCAM chip from National Control
Devices. These 8-pin devices can control 2 or 3 servos, from commands
passed down a serial input line. The article had a sample program in visual
basic which allowed for control of these chips. The tech literature on
these devices state that they are electronically "compatible" with the Basic
Stamps, but no sample code was given, as they had not actually tested these
devices together.

What I'm wondering is if anyone out there has actually mated these SCAM
devices and the Basic Stamp. If so, any information would be most
appreciated before I go plunging headlong into territory which may well have
been traveled before. Why reinvent the wheel when we already know that
square ones don't work, eh?

So has anyone done any work with these?

Also: I recently rediscovered some nifty 4-digit alphanumeric LED displays
with onboard driver electronics. Unfortunately, there is no logo, on them,
and the only marking they bear is "DL1416". They're 20-pin devices with 0.1
inch spacing, but the drivers and displays make them quite a bit wider than
a chip with 20 pins usually is (the whole thing's about 1 inch square).

I did a quick scan of one, since the image can describe it much better than
I can:

http://home.earthlink.net/~pkinnes/xfer/images/parts/LED_Display.jpg

Anyone ever hear of these beasties? Any info would be greatly appreciated,
as I hope to use these in a display unit for a robotics project.

Thanks!

-- Patrick Innes
KC5UGQ
______________________________________________________

Archiver

Sure seems like that might be a Simens part number. Couldn't find anything
current though. Might look at http://www.infineon.com/us/opto/id/content.htm
(they have become infineon in this product sector).


Nothing that matched exactly, but maybe it will give you a start.

Regards,

Al Williams
AWC
*Expand your I/O with a PAK-IV I/O Coprocessor.
http://www.al-williams.com/awce

Archiver

>Also: I recently rediscovered some nifty 4-digit alphanumeric LED displays
>with onboard driver electronics. Unfortunately, there is no logo, on them,
>and the only marking they bear is "DL1416". They're 20-pin devices with 0.1
>inch spacing, but the drivers and displays make them quite a bit wider than
>a chip with 20 pins usually is (the whole thing's about 1 inch square).
>
Try searching http://www.findchips.com/ and you will find the chip.
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