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Hey all, looking for an LCD to spit out some basic system information, preferably that uses i2c or SPI and that someone has some experience with as I'm not a master arduino -> Netduino driver porter.
To that extent, has anyone seen a comparable library to https://code.google.com/p/u8glib/ floating around for netduino? I don't care about graphics, just need text.
The second option is a bunch of LCD's based on sainsmarts i2c interface, ex:
One of the best libraries around is Mario's LCDBoost: http://tinyclr.it/th...lcd-module.aspx
For that you drive the bare LCD through SPI via a shiftregister but the lib is like gdi+ and as fast as it gets.
Also, take a look at this post driving a bare LCD via a pcf8574 i2c io expander which is about the same as the one in your 2nd link: http://forums.netdui...-and-ir-remote/
As for the graphical LCD in your first link, I don't know yet since I got one of those laying around but haven't had the time to play with it. Mine does not have a backpack so I intend to use Mario's lib and a shiftregister since It requires speed.
In general everybody (including me) seem to run their LCDs in 4bit mode, it's about time someone tried the 8 bit mode which would be about 2 times as fast. Why don't you pick up the glove?
In general everybody (including me) seem to run their LCDs in 4bit mode, it's about time someone tried the 8 bit mode which would be about 2 times as fast. Why don't you pick up the glove?
I picked up my 2nd link, see what happens on the 4/8bit.
(i have some of the nokia ones, spi and very easy to use - the one with white backlight are better!)
Don't particularly care about $10 more cost while building a system that could cause $20k->30k in damage if it goes wrong. This one includes the i2c backpack, which your first link does not. Also, as an amazon prime member there is something to be said for free 2 day shipping vs 3 weeks from china. That being said I'll likely pick up one of the Nokia ones too, as I see the article on the wiki makes it look pretty easy to use.
Yeah, shipping from China can be a real drag.
Good luck with the LCD and please report back on your findings, I'm pretty sure you can use Mario's lib with that one too even though it's I2C and not SPI. You can probably just alter a few things in the "HAL".
Of course, how silly of me. I was keen on knowing how many IOs the controller chip has in order to see if it can do 8 bit transfers while also controlling the E, RW and RS pins.
I got my LCD in today. I can't read the chip on the backpack but I'll get a photo taken and adjust levels until I can later. I haven't had any luck with getting it to do anything after my 5 min setup attempt.
but haven't gotten it to go as of yet. I'm using NooM's i2c class so I think I'll use the const's that they've listed out nicely and work on an 8 bit version, as it appears everything should be good to go for 8bit, to me. I need time to study the information on the controller which looks to be this:
[color=rgb(78,40,0);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;font-size:13px;]My LCD2004 has the [/color]PCF8574AT[color=rgb(78,40,0);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;font-size:13px;] controller made by NXP, an 8-bit I/O converter for the 2-wire I2C bus. The PCF8574AT listens to the Arduino quickly on 2 lines, then spreads that info across 6 lines for the HD44780. This means the display will only take 2 pins instead of 6, and these aren't even commonly-used pins -- all 13 of the pins I like to use are still available. A dial potentiometer, to dim the display, is built in. A [/color]data sheet[color=rgb(78,40,0);font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;font-size:13px;] is available.[/color]
I'm also using the pcf8574 in my projects. For my CD player I'm using four of them, one for the LCD and another three for the IDE interface.
While the pcf8574 is an 8 bit io expander, there are 11 pins in d0...d7, E, RW and RS. RW is only necessary if you need to read from the LCD but it's still 10 pins so I wonder if/how they solved that. You probably need to invest another pair of Netduino pins. I'll be following this with interest.
I'm also using the pcf8574 in my projects. For my CD player I'm using four of them, one for the LCD and another three for the IDE interface.
While the pcf8574 is an 8 bit io expander, there are 11 pins in d0...d7, E, RW and RS. RW is only necessary if you need to read from the LCD but it's still 10 pins so I wonder if/how they solved that. You probably need to invest another pair of Netduino pins. I'll be following this with interest.
I haven't a clue, frankly. I wouldn't follow too closely, I'm far from capable, despite my willingness. The backpack appears to work well for others, not sure why everyone forces it into 4bit mode though. I'm planning to take a closer look Friday night and see if I can get some basic functionality going sending 8bit with NooM's i2c library and the information I can get from the 4bit drivers.
