Questions on character LCD's

UltraMan · 10-10-2001, 05:16 PM

I'm putting together a little mp3 player and want to have a 16 or 20 x 2 character LCD, like the kinds from crystalfonts. I know they interface with the parallel port, but must you solder right to it? or can you buy lead pins or something from an electronics store? Which plugins work with parallel LCD's? I like the one from lcdriver.pointofnoreturn.net but i'm not sure if it works with the parallel port. I'd really appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction to get started. Thanks.

UltraMan · 10-10-2001, 05:18 PM

lcdriver.pointofnoreturn.org
sorry about that.

Meatballman · 10-10-2001, 05:52 PM

lcdriver.pointofnoreturn.org

moahdib · 10-11-2001, 01:30 PM

well plugins all depends on what you want to display. If it's just winamp stuff you can just get a cheap LCD from eio and make the connections by soldering onto a parallel connector. THis takes a lil bit of skill I suppose.

If you want to avoid all the soldering and want to display more than just winamp stuff like computer stats, voltage, temperature, etc... you can get a serial matrix orbital LCD which will run you about $50 for a 20X4 like the one I have. Just connect a cable from the LCD to serial port. With these you can also connect a keypad.\

It's all up to what you wnat and how much skill you got

If you are looking for a 20X4 Matrix Orbital LCD lemme know . I have a couple of them I am selling for $50 + shipping.

don't forget the search button...this has been talked about a 1000 tiems before.

catdog · 10-16-2001, 03:35 PM

I used a 16x2 from BGMicro (model 1020, $5.95, bgmicro.com) and then used an IDE cable for the connection. That way the soldering was done on the IDE cable wires and not the LCD.

If you get this LCD make sure you get the recommended dioed for the backlight(I think its a 1N4001). Otherwise the unit gets too hot and changes the contrast to where its unreadable.