SparkFun Forums

[robodude666]

Hallo,

I have been looking around for a while and I have some questions about LCDs. Lets start from the beginning. My name is robodude666 and I need an LCD I am going to be using the Basic Atom Pro as my microcontroller. I am looking for an LCD that has color, graphics and if possible touchscreen (as easy to use as possible. Hopefully not the type that sends you bunches of bits.)

I month or so ago I noticed the ezLCDs (mainly the ezLCD-004). The 002 and 004 popped out at me the most because of the touchscreen, and the bunch of commands for drawing stuff, and the sort of easy connection to a micro. However, the price $200-400 is WAY too much for an LCD.

I have been looking at SparkFun's LCDs and have found the following LCDs as possibilities:
Color LCD 128x128 Nokia Knock-Off
Graphic LCD 128x64 CFAX w/ EL Backlight and Touchscreen
Graphic OLED Color Display 128x128

Has anyone tried to connect these LCDs to a micro that uses basic? I know the Nokia Knock-Off LCD has been attached to a basic stamp before because there is an example code of it on the site. The OLED LCD looks interesting, however more expensive. It seems to be exactly the same as the nokia lcd except it has a lot longer PCB and higher price.

The CFAX LCD is what interests me the most! It has touch screen, graphics (however, not color?)

Is there a way you can use the Sony ACX705AKM-7? That is the LCD used by the ezLCD. Can it be used with a Basic micro?

Well, anyways... What I am trying to get to, is can you guys suggest what a good LCD is with color and graphics (touch is a plus).

And now for my long list of questions:
1) Is there any "common" ways to connect an LCD? I know that gnd goes to ground and power goes to power. But like, I seen a lot of LCDs with data 0, data 1, .etc

2) Holy batman! It just came to me. The OLED lcd is a graphic lcd and the nokia one isnt?

3) Pretend that you are working with a graphic LCD. How would you get the graphics onto the LCD? Say the LCD is connected to a micro, not the computer. Would you turn the graphic into a large array with a color of the pixel for each spot in the array? Or is there an easier way? Some sort of memory IC which can hold graphics?

So, yes.. I am totally lost in the current stuff I can get. Any help will be greatly rewareded with the warm feeling in your heart for helping out a fellow person

-robodude666

[wittend]

I have most of the displays you mention, and they cover a lot of territory as far as complexity is concerned. Basiclly, you get what you pay for (at least among these options). First, neither the Color LCD (Nokia Knockoff) nor the OLED provide touch screen capability. I don't believe CFAX does, either. They are *very* small - intended for cell phones. They are both really cool in their way, but require a good bit of code to look good. The Nokia type seems to have a huge following in northern Europe, so there is code available for almost every processor. The OLED is less widely used, so there is less hacker documentation floating around. But it is pretty. I dont have the CFAX, but there seems to be reasonable support for it.

Regarding the EZLCD, I purchased an early one with the 3.5" Sony display. I too was appalled that I spent so much for it, but in retrospect I feel that I got a lot for my money. It is a different animal than the other described. They have created a complete controller that allows any processor to send relatively simple commands to do pretty high level things - draw circles, arcs, text, and to load bitmaps. It has interfaces for RS232, I2C, and *perhaps* SPI. It uses an Atmel ATMega128 and a dedicated controller chip, and generates all necessary voltages from a single supply. It has documentation. On top of that, when I recieved the display & 'evaluation' board, I realized immediately that it was really a nice little general purpose development board for Atmega chips, with rs232 level shift, a sd-flash socket, an ICSP connector, etc. The quality is good through out. It wasn't something that I exactly needed, but it took some of the sting out of the price.

From my perspective, if you are starting out you should first implement an interface to a 2x16 or 2x20 text LCD, and then see where you want to go from there. If you are patient and really into cool stuff in small packages, then you might consider one of the cell phone displays, but it is a good bit trickier to get results. On the other hand, if you can stomach the cost, the ezLCD will give you impressive results quicker than the other options. I think that developing an interface for the Sony ACX705AKM-7 de novo is probably a recipie for frustration unless you really know what you are doing.

Good luck!

-- Dave

[robodude666]

Thanks for the reply.

The CFAX LCD does have touchscreen.. But it doesn't have color, which is a must. I am tired of looking at grayscale and colorless LCDs!

I know for a fact I won't develope a board for the sony LCD because it will be a pain in the arse.

The small cellphone LCDs look nice but I havent seen any other example code other than on sparkfun.

The uLCD seems to be like the best choice. In a week or two a new OLED uLCD will be coming out which will have a super thin board that fits directly under the LCD with a cm or so of pcb sticking out from above and below the LCD. It will go for aroud $78 USD. Think I will go with it. It has pretty simple commands. Just send a hex value followed by dec values. Only thing I dont understand is how to display a graphic I want. Says somethng about data for every pixel. What if its a graphic to cover the whole screen? Damn, thats a lot of pixels! Very long string.

-robodude666