Support for a 14 segment display on BS2

dbrake

Is the basic stamp 2 able to support a 14 segment display using MC14489 LED Multiplexer.

If so, how many can it support at one time.

If not, can anyone advise me on how I would be able to do this. Even this means I buy another component to support this.

I have found a device that can support a 14 segment display - this is a MAX6954.
The link is below - would this be compatible to support use with the BS2?

www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm/appnote_number/3211

Thanks

Mike Green

The MAX6954 communicates with the microprocessor using a "protocol" called SPI that uses 4 I/O pins: chip select (CS), data input (DI), data output (DO), and clock (CLK). There are all kinds of examples in the various Stamp tutorials and in this forum on the use of SPI, so I won't go into that other than that it uses the SHIFTOUT and SHIFTIN statements with the DI/DO/CLK pins to actually transfer the data. These three pins can be shared (common) among any number of SPI devices with a practical limit of perhaps 20 depending on how far apart the devices are. The CS pin is a "per device" pin. You can use a separate Stamp pin for each device or you can use an external "selector" like the 74HC154 for up to 16 devices using 5 Stamp pins.

Look at the description in the Stamp Basic manual of the SHIFTOUT/SHIFTIN statements for a start.