New VFD Arrived

My EMAX POS pole displayed arrived the other day and the VFD is huge! The spec sheet says it is 15 x 4 cm - much larger than I imagined. It is a parallel Samsung VFD, which connects to a board that translates the RS232 and AEDEX protocol used in some cash registers. There is not serial interface on the VFD unfortunately.

The protocol was very simple to figure out, and after some cable modifications, I got it running using Zterm. Now I am going to start trying to get the LCD Kit to work directly on the VFD, without the other board. I'll keep everyone posted.

Just Bought a VFD from ebay

I just bought a VFD from ebay. It is a 20x2 model, though I have seen some nice 40x2 models pop up at a decent price. It is from a point of sale display, so I don't really know exactly what I'm am getting. It was cheap though, so if you want a good price on a VFD, look for surplus POS displays. Mine was 99¢ plus shipping.

Since it is from a POS machine, it probably uses serial input, but like many of the Noritake VFDs, it might have parallel too. If so, I will try it with the parallel adapter and let everyone know my results.

Ultimately, I would like to get this working with LCDproc, and write a Growl plugin to connect with LCDproc. That way, I would not have to write any more code for formatting data for the LCD/VFD. This should open a lot of doors for people wanting to use LCDs on Mac OS X.

GrowLCDisplay plugin now available!!

Try the GrowLCDisplay plugin for Growl that allows you to send Growl notifications to your Mac OS X USB LCD Kit!!!

Update!

All known bugs have been fixed!

Download the latest version now.

Check out a screenshot.

Post a writeback if you try it or have any problems.

Latest LCDproc Working

I managed to get the latest LCDproc compilied and running on Mac OS X. After creating a darwin specific file for getting machine statistics, nearly all of the features work correctly. You can test out the features using the built in text and curses drivers.

Update!

LCDproc has integrated my changes into their source tree. You can find it in the latest LCDproc download.

1. using the terminal, cd into the extracted source directory
2. type the command: ./configure
3. type the command: make
4. edit the LCDd.conf file to use the curses or text driver.
5. type the command: server/LCDd -c ./LCDd.conf to start the server
6. open a new terminal window, cd into the same directory and type the command: clients/lcdproc/lcdproc C T M X D B K U P &
7. When you are done, exit the programs by entering the command: killall LCDd; killall lcdproc

The lcdproc client has many options but that should show you quite a few of the screens. Hopefully I will find some time to write a driver for the USB LCD Kit if there is some interest.

Command Line Tool Updated

I recompiled the tool to run on earlier versions of Mac OS X. I tested it on 10.2.8 with no problems.

Mac_OS_X_USB_LCD.tgz

Update!

I have posted the updated source for most of the command line tool. It does not include commands specific to the USS720 chip, as I am working on a library for that functionality in the future.

stdinToUSBLCD.c

LCD Housing

Currently, the USB LCD Kits do not come with any sort of housing or case. However, I have been doing some experimenting and have found a very neat way to house the LCDs:

(Note: this procedure can be adapted to work with most character LCDs that you want to mount externally, regardless of the source.)

Parts:

1. Mac OS X USB LCD Kit
2. 1593TBK or 1593QBK (slightly deeper) Hammond project box
3. Small machine screws as long as the project box is deep.
4. a Decora style light switch plate
5. short piece of double stick tape
6. some wire (single strand wire like in cat 5 cable is easiest)

Procedure:

USB printer adapter preparation

1. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut around the edge of the Belkin USB parallel adapter from the kit. It is easiest to cut into the adapter on the seam on the edge.
2. Peel back the brown cover and peel away the copper tape and the clear substance that is on the board resembling hot glue.
3. Cut off the centronics port by scoring the pins where they contact the PCB, and bending it back and forth, or with a small wire cutter.
4. Remove the USB B port by desoldering the pins and the ground wire and pulling it off the PCB.
5. Cut the USB cable leaving the amount of cable you need connected to the USB A (rectangular) cable end.
6. Strip back the rubber insulation and push the shielding to one side. Then strip a small amount of insulation off of each of the 4 wires.

This leaves you with just the PCB from the parallel adapter which is tiny compared to the adapter itself. You may want to cut a cheaper USB cable instead of the nice Belkin one included in the kit.

Project box preparation

1. On the larger side of the the 2 piece box (we don't need the side with the battery door), clip off the 4 bits of plastic on the inside sides of the box.
2. Cut off the 2 screw riser posts in near the middle of the box.
3. cut off the board riser blocks in near the middle of the box
4. place the decora cover over the box, center it and mark where the 2 holes on the plate should be oriented on the box.
5. drill the holes through the box.
6. notch the small end plate on one side where the cord will come through.

Assembly

1. (If you want a strain relief on the USB cable, remember to put it on before you solder.) Solder the four wires and the shield of the USB cable to the small end of the USB adapter PCB. The wire pads are marked with the color of the wire.
2. Using about 3/4 of an inch of wire , solder the pads of the USB PCB to the rear pads of the LCD following the wiring of the adapter cable included in the kit.
3. Place some double stick tape on the back of the USB PCB and mount it to the LCD.
4. Place the LCD in the box and hot glue the end plate of the box in place, aligning your USB cable with the notch you made in the plate.
5. Using some machine screws, attatch the Decora switch plate by threading them through the box into the small holes drilled earlier.

Conclusions

This project box is perfectly sized to to hold the display, and just deep enough to hold the PCB also. The deeper box is a little better suited to getting everything in there. The Decora switch cover is absolutely the right size for the 16x4 LCD display, and is available in many colors and materials. Most of all, the parts for the housing cost less than $6.00. I have a brushed aluminum plate for my powerbook and a white one for my iBook. You an even get clear switch plates for a hi-tech look.

Pictures to come!

LCDproc Server running LCD on Mac OS X

So I managed to get the LCDproc server working with my LCD kit using Mac OS X! To get this to work, you basically need to compile the LCDproc server (server only, the clients have not been ported yet), then set up the text driver, and pipe the output of the LCDproc text driver to my test program. The result is that LCDproc displays the server screen on the attached LCD!

I will work on porting some of the clients in the coming weeks so that it actually displays useful information, but a major stumbling block has been overcome!

Command Line Tool Updated

I made an update to the command line tool and instructions. The update adds some more features and increases compatibility with the LCDproc text driver.

The instructions and updated command line tool are available here: Mac_OS_X_USB_LCD.tgz

New LCD Ideas Using Nokia LCDs

http://serdisplib.sourceforge.net/ser/pcd8544.html

This should be pretty easy to integrate with the Belkin USB->Parallel adapter on a mac.

In other news, I STILL haven't received the cables I ordered, so I'll keep on it.

LCD Group Buy Update

The correct cables are in the mail, so I will let everyone know when everything is ready to go.

If you are buying your own cable, you need the ones that have the cable as a separate piece. Most of the ebay vendors show a picture of the right one, but give you one with an integral cable. I tried using the ones that have the cable all as one piece, but they use a different chip and different voltages, and I couldn't get it to work properly.

Thanks for your interest!