Alphanumeric Character LCD on BeagleBoard

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#1

All,

I need to interface an LCD to the BB-xm. The LCD need not be anything fancy, and ideally a simple alphanumeric LCD panel - something like this.
I have come across a lot of projects which use more sophisticated LCDs - but nothing which uses a character LCD.

Has this been done before ?
And if not, what is the cheapest LCD panel I can interface to the BB-xm ?

best regards,

#2

We use CrystalFontz.com for our LCDs. The have USB-based LCDs which will talk to the BeagleBoard. They have a huge variety of LCDs, both character and graphic displays, with/without keys, various sizes/rows/columns, etc.

I’m not affiliated with them in any way, but I do recommend them for their price and selection.

-Eric

#3

If you use a parallel LCD interface of 4 bits I think it will use 7 to 8 gpio.
I have used serial LCD in the past that work well but cost a bit more.

If you have a compatible parallel LCD phanderson http://www.phanderson.com/lcd106/lcd107.html
has a inexpensive solution to go serial.

Even Sparkfun has a inexpensive solution to serial,
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9568

Serial ports are available on the Beagleboards. You might need voltage translation.

And I see others have recommended possible solutions to you.
If you dont have a clue how to interface to the beagleboards then google can be quite helpful.

djlewis

#4

I’ve done it before. Check out my post:

http://www.nunoalves.com/open_source/?p=198

#5

Nuno: Thanks for the suggestion - will definitely look into this option.

@ djlewis: When you say serial ports are available in the BB, what ports are you exactly referring to ?
The “Serial Port” given in the BB-xm datasheet seems to refer to interfacing with a PC.

I am also looking at the following options:

  1. The EA - 017-9UKE seems to be ideal for my purpose. But I am clueless on how to integrate this with the BB. the datasheet says very little.
  2. The DLP-MAV-LCD-1 also seems to be a good option. It requires a 5-pin, TTL serial header for communication. I believe there is no direct inferfacing with the BB-xm. But is it possible to set this up using a serial port as djlewis suggested ?

Best regards,

#6

NEWHAVENDISPLAY.COM (no affiliation, they just have good stuff)

Good selection of LCD Displays Both character and graphic. Many of
their displays have an option/version that drops right on to an SPI or
I2C bus. really easy to drive that way, just simple bus commands to
an address.

Eric