Controlling a TFT LCD with a PIC

[KansaiRobot]

Hello and thanks always

I am interested in learning how to control a TFT LCD with a PIC (or similar controller, it can be AVD)
is there any resource that you know that I can read?

Also, does it necessarily require a controller? A LCD provider I am talking to, told me his products dont come with a controller since they are "parallel RGB interface"....

I also heard that microchip provides some libraries for this but that they dont work for many controllers.

Also I notice that some manufacturers (microelecktronica) provide their own libraries but I dont know if they are free or propiretary...

Any advice on this will be greatly appreciated

 

[Ian Rogers]

Again... Controllerless or controller???

If you plan to use a controllerless system you need to manage the screen... You'll need a BIG micro... A good deal of ARM chips provide an LCD interface... Microchip's pic32 can do controllerless but takes up timers and other resources..

If you buy a screen with a "Built in" controller... SSD1963 or other.. You just tell the controller what to do..
Some have onboard memory and SD interface which makes it far easier for you!! Way back during the PC revolution, the displays had a special card (still do ) which will do all the mundane stuff...

MikroC provides low level access to controllers.... But there are MANY examples on the net... I have mono graphical libraries that I use with MikroC... for several different controllers..

 

[MrAl]

Hi guys,

This has been interesting for me too. I might want to try this soon also, but i dont want to go with that "TFT shield" they make because it covers the whole Uno board.
Something stand alone, maybe with some sort of serial interface.

 

[Ian Rogers]

4D systems do a serial TFT and all the libraries for arduino!! 4.3" and 3.2" screens

 

[KansaiRobot]

Again... Controllerless or controller???

If you plan to use a controllerless system you need to manage the screen... You'll need a BIG micro... A good deal of ARM chips provide an LCD interface... Microchip's pic32 can do controllerless but takes up timers and other resources..

If you buy a screen with a "Built in" controller... SSD1963 or other.. You just tell the controller what to do..
Some have onboard memory and SD interface which makes it far easier for you!! Way back during the PC revolution, the displays had a special card (still do ) which will do all the mundane stuff...

MikroC provides low level access to controllers.... But there are MANY examples on the net... I have mono graphical libraries that I use with MikroC... for several different controllers..

Well, I found out that talking about TFT Screens and Touch panels are two different things. So this thread is only or the TFT LCDs and how to control them.
It seems that without a controller it is a big mess, so I guess I am going to go for a controller if I can find a cheap LCD in the market (I searched....)

Last time, we talked about touch panels and there I am still between the option of controlled/controlless since it seems the 4 wire implementation is rather simple. (I actually already has the algorithms in my head...)

I wonder if there is any tutorial or application note dealing with LCD control....

 

[Ian Rogers]

What size???

For a one off you are better grabbing one off MikroE's web site... Ready to go!!

At RS here in england we can get these.. Displaytech LCD Display!! There is a RAIO RA8872 graphics controller
and a MAX11802 touch controller..
Best thing is they have 0.1" DIP connectors... Very easy to interface... Because some other screens come with miniature ribbon cables!!

RAIO RA8872 I think is equivalent to the SSD1961...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

There are load's of low cost TFT's available, here's a selection from Bangood:

https://www.banggood.com/buy/tft-module.html

Pretty well all have Arduino libraries available for them.

I've also just build the TFT component tester kit, works really well:

https://www.banggood.com/DIY-M12864-Graphics-Version-Transistor-Tester-Kit-LCR-ESR-PWM-p-986954.html

 

[MrAl]

Hi,

Yes very interesting. I see a lot of them for the Mega however. The Uno shield takes up the whole top of the board which i wanted to get around. I think it takes up all the pins too

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi,

Yes very interesting. I see a lot of them for the Mega however. The Uno shield takes up the whole top of the board which i wanted to get around. I think it takes up all the pins too

They aren't all shields, some are plain TFT's - as is the one on the component tester I built, and if you download the documentation it only uses a VERY small number of pins.

 

[KansaiRobot]

RAIO RA8872 I think is equivalent to the SSD1961...

Thank you. I am just checking the display you show me and I found they sell it here too. Yes, they say the controller is RA8872 but now reading the datasheet it says it is the SSD1961 so it seems they should be equivalent...

and reading the datasheet, they say the communication protocol they use is 8080/6800 parallel... so I guess it is another thing to learn really quick