Shop OBEX P1 Docs P2 Docs Learn Events
BS2 and TWO LINE LCD — Parallax Forums

BS2 and TWO LINE LCD

joeleo1926joeleo1926 Posts: 7
edited 2005-09-29 22:37 in BASIC Stamp
I have a TWO LINE LCD. Can it be used with a BS2 to display anything?

joeleo1926

Comments

  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2005-09-23 06:37
    joeleo1926 -

    Sure, so long as it complies with the specifications of an HD44780 (or equivalent) LCD. Although they are no longer in production from what I'm told, the HD44780 LCD's still seem to be the most popular and readily available on the surplus market. Often you can see the chip number on the back of the LCD pcb.

    You might be able to use another type, but you'd pretty much be on your own to determine how to drive it. Additionally, almost any serial LCD is compatible with the PBASIC Stamp.

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-09-23 14:31
    Bruce,

    ·· I don't know about Hitachi's chipset, but the equivalent ones are still in production.· If they weren't, we probably wouldn't be able to offer our own Serial LCD Display.· I think they'll be around for a while.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2005-09-23 15:26
    Chris -

    I'll say this - you're very consistant. You questioned the discontinuance of the HD44780U chip the last time I mentioned it as well. All I can say is read it and weep:

    http://america.renesas.com/fmwk.jsp?cnt=discontinued_products_02.htm&fp=/products/lcd/child_folder/&title=Discontinued products

    Indeed there ARE newer, drop-in replacements which Hitachi makes, that will operate with the same set of instructions, and electrical characteristics as the HD44780U chip.

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates
  • Tom-Matrix OrbitalTom-Matrix Orbital Posts: 38
    edited 2005-09-23 16:34
    joeleo1926,

    It is still unknown if the display is a serial or parallel display. What kind of display do you have?
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-09-23 17:04
    Bruce,

    ·· If you re-read my post you will see that I said, "Equivalent" chipsets are still being made.· I said I didn't know about the HD44780 chipset.· I just didn't want people to think that character LCDs are not going to be around once surplus is gone, because that's simply not the case.· No attack on your post was intended.· =)·


    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2005-09-23 18:16
    Chris -

    We're both saying the same thing, so I'm really not sure what this dialog is all about <sigh>. I suppose we could both quit tapping our toes if we could get a response back from the original respondant as to what kind of LCD he actually has smile.gif

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates
  • joeleo1926joeleo1926 Posts: 7
    edited 2005-09-24 06:41
    Regards the BS2/LCD questions, I'm just getting my feet wet on the BASIC STAMP microprocesser. I've ordered parts to build a BS2 programmer but haven't recieved them yet. At some point I'd like to introduce a serial or parallel (?) LCD but I noticed there are no "advanced" commands for the BS2 as with the more advanced BS2's. Will I still be able to program the LCD's with only the commands available to the BS2?..........Is this querry windy and concise enough?

    If all this can be done where can I find some code showing how to do it?

    joeleo1926@yahoo.com
  • ForrestForrest Posts: 1,341
    edited 2005-09-24 12:36
    It's fairly simple to use a parallal LCD with a regular BS2. Check out Stampworks experiment #11 from here www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/sw/sw.asp

    There also some old Nuts and Volts columns that use a parallel LCD available here www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/nvcolumns/Nuts_Volts_Downloads.asp
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-09-24 21:59
    While there are no commands specific to talking to Parallel LCDs on the BS2, it can be easily enough done.· As for serial displays, you just use SEROUT.


    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • Tom-Matrix OrbitalTom-Matrix Orbital Posts: 38
    edited 2005-09-26 16:14
    If you are using a Matrix Orbital LCD, you can get the examples of using the display with the stamp at http://www.matrixorbital.ca/appnotes/basic_stamp/
  • knightofoldcodeknightofoldcode Posts: 233
    edited 2005-09-29 21:31
    Bruce Bates said...
    Chris -

    I'll say this - you're very consistant. You questioned the discontinuance of the HD44780U chip the last time I mentioned it as well. All I can say is read it and weep:

    http://america.renesas.com/fmwk.jsp?cnt=discontinued_products_02.htm&amp;fp=/products/lcd/child_folder/&amp;title=Discontinued products

    Indeed there ARE newer, drop-in replacements which Hitachi makes, that will operate with the same set of instructions, and electrical characteristics as the HD44780U chip.

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

    Bruce,

    I'm probably wrong here, but on the page mentioned, I only see the HD44780U mentioned. Not the HD44780. I suspect the difference in the two is that the U is the Japanese version. I suspect that the HD44780 is still in production, from what I've seen, based on the page you mentioned.

    But as I said, I'm probably wrong here somewhere. [noparse];)[/noparse]


    Knight.
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2005-09-29 22:11
    Knight -

    Were that to be the case, then one ought to be able to find a data sheet for the HD44780 on the Hitachi web site. I would challange anyone to do so, unless it's filed under discontinued chips.

    I couldn't find it, maybe you'll have better luck. I looked 2 months ago, and again the other day, just in case I missed it the first time. The reason why I did so, was a comment on another forum where someone suggested it had reached end of life.

    It certainly doesn't surprise me since the newer Hitachi chips,which are plug-in replacements (from what I'm told) will handle parallel OR serial access, by the SAME CHIP!

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates
  • Robert KubichekRobert Kubichek Posts: 343
    edited 2005-09-29 22:37
    Bruce Bates said...
    Knight -

    Were that to be the case, then one ought to be able to find a data sheet for the HD44780 on the Hitachi web site. I would challange anyone to do so, unless it's filed under discontinued chips.

    I couldn't find it, maybe you'll have better luck. I looked 2 months ago, and again the other day, just in case I missed it the first time. The reason why I did so, was a comment on another forum where someone suggested it had reached end of life.

    It certainly doesn't surprise me since the newer Hitachi chips,which are plug-in replacements (from what I'm told) will handle parallel OR serial access, by the SAME CHIP!

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

    Try the links below:

    web.media.mit.edu/~ayah/documents/hd44780u.pdf
    ouwehand.net/~peter/lcd/lcd0.shtml#TOC

    It looks like what you are looking for..

    Bob N9LVU scool.gif

    Post Edited (Robert Kubichek) : 9/29/2005 10:41:10 PM GMT
Sign In or Register to comment.