Newbie with lcd PIC ic interface.

[HommerSimpson]

Hi everyone.. Nice fourm you have. I have decided to teach myself electronics.. I mainly want to learn how to interface LCD's that are in cell phones and other devices and use for differant things example.. small night vision scope. small tv screens.. so I want to know what family of PIC I should use. If there is any that will work with most any lcd's. And what PIC ic's should i get to control small stepper motors.? I just orderd A ICSP Adapter ZIF Kit w/ PICkit 3 USB Programmer with ICSP14 ICSP20A ICSP28 ICSP40.
I just spent the budget on that.. but still need chips.. so what are the cheapest and best to get to play with ? and from digkey ? or mouser?
Thanks for any and all help in Advance :}
Greg

 

[mister_e]

From LCD to LCD, you may/will find difference. There's at least 2 different type of LCD: Graphic and Alphanumeric. The alphanumeric tend to use a really popular controller type: Hitachi 44780. For this one you'll find tons and tons of code example. Should you decide to use a C, Basic compiler, most will have a built-in command to drive it directly.

For graphic type... there seems to have some popular model, and still you can find a lot of information on this forum and on the web.

For both type, you want to know the part #, from there you should be able to find some datasheet.

most PIC16 & PIC18 would work, if you need to do something more sophisticated such as driving a QVGA lcd, then you want to use the PIC24 or DsPic familly... PIC32 if you really want to be overkill and never miss "power"

I usually order from Digikey, they're really fast. Mouser is also good place. Their pricing is also really fine, sometimes better than Digikey but, depending where you live, their shipping rate could be tad higher than Digikey. You want to compare your order on both places

Microchip offer some free samples, you may want to check this out.

Let's see what the other will suggest.

HTH

 

[HommerSimpson]

Thanks for the info. So what is the Most Common PIC chips that people use. ?

 

[Ian Rogers]

Any Pic with plenty of IO lines you'll need approx 12 for graphic and at least 6 for alphanumeric and 4 each for steppers. If you want to go graphical may I suggest pic18 or bigger with about 4k of ram. If its a alphanumeric you can get away with the good old pic16f877a...

 

[mister_e]

PIC18 family are really common, quite capable of many things, and for sure, a good start.

Why not using a big one to start, says 40 DIP model for easy prototyping and have plenty I/o to "mess" with? PIC18F4580 is the first that spring to mind right now.

 

[be80be]

I would used a 18f4520 there a lot of code for it on the net and it's a real work horse

 

[Ian Rogers]

I use the pic18f4520 for normal products and the pic18f4620 for graphical products (4620 has much more ram)

 

[HommerSimpson]

thanks so much everyone. I will be ordering some chips soon.. Was going to last night but decided to wait and get more information. Besides the pickit 3 wont be here for a few more days. Thanks again...
Greg

 

[HommerSimpson]

QVGA is what I am wanting to play with. Small lcds out of cells 8 inch lcds and maybe wider. maybe even old laptop LCD screens. I am fixing to order from mouser or digkey but every time I search I see so many different ones that it gets confusing. Now IM very new with all this and coding is not something IM good at. But can learn. IM taking this very serious as I have always wanted to learn how all this works. I included a Picture of my Lab I have put together. Including Air & a vacuum desoder gun using a A/C vacuum pump and small 2 gal tank. Web cam turned into a microscope. Ele panel to all the soldering irons and two dimmer switches so I can control temp. IM taking this very very serious as my legs just dont work very well anymore so I have to do something that does not require a lot of lifting and leg work. So this is what I have decided to learn. BTW. I have been a Mechanic for 30 years. So this is all new for sure. although I do grasp a lot of how this works. I just have issues putting it into words sometimes so bare with me. O and IM Poor LOL so I have to spend very very wisely...
Thanks
Greg

**broken link removed**
what I am playing with right now AT89C51 because I Had it
**broken link removed**

 

[HommerSimpson]

This is what I ended up ordering. Should keep me busy for awhile learning... What is the easyest way to burn these up ? And what is the easyest way to protect them ?
Thanks
Greg

Mouser #: 579-PIC16F1937-E/P
Mfr. #: PIC16F1937-E/P
Desc.: Microcontrollers (MCU) 14KB Flash, 512B RAM 256B EE LCD 1.8-5.5V
1 $3.02 $3.02 1

Mouser #: 513-NJM2296D
Mfr. #: NJM2296D
Desc.: Video ICs 5-in 3-out Switch
1 $1.94 $1.94 1

Mouser #: 579-PIC16F684-I/P
Mfr. #: PIC16F684-I/P
Desc.: Microcontrollers (MCU) 3.5KB 128 RAM 12 I/O
3 $1.58 $4.74 3

Mouser #: 562-Q2Z116-6N36
Mfr. #: Q2-Z-1/16-01-QB6IN-36
Desc.: Heat Shrink Tubing & Sleeves 1/16 6IN 36PC BAG
1 $1.15 $1.15 1

Mouser #: 595-MAX232NE4
Mfr. #: MAX232NE4
Desc.: RS-232 Interface IC Dual EIA-232 Driver/ Receiver
3 $1.16 $3.48 3

Mouser #: 579-PIC18F4580-E/P
Mfr. #: PIC18F4580-E/P
Desc.: Microcontrollers (MCU) 32 KB FL 1536 RAM 36 I/O
1 $7.04 $7.04 1 Pending