LCD Smartie is a Windows application that shows news, email, system information, and more on an external LCD screen. It supports many USB and serial port USB. Sep 17, 2009 - Character LCD screens that scroll information are a popular case mod. They're usually controlled through a parallel port, serial port backpack, or USB backpack.

Small character LCDs can show new mail stats, system performance, news feeds and more. The USB and Serial LCD backpack connects HD44780-compatible character LCD screens to your USB port. It has a few nice features that set it apart from the serial-only LCD backpacks available for the same price: • USB and serial control of characters LCDs • Supported in common software (LCD Smartie, LCD Proc) as 'matrix orbital' display • Adjust backlight from software, optionally contrast • Couple extra pins for buttons • 500mA fuse • USB upgradable.

Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Overview A PIC 18F2550 receives commands from a USB or serial port and displays data on HD44780-compatible character displays. It understands the Matrix Orbital command set supported by popular open source programs like (Windows) and (Linux). External displays are common in lots of projects where a secondary display is useful or cool, such as case mods. Almost every open source hardware shop sells some type of display controller. How To Program Caddx Nx 8e. We set out to kick it up a notch, and build the ultimate LCD backpack controller.

• USB control and power is a must for use in a modern PC. We brought it to a MINI-B jack, and also a breakout header for direct internal PC connections • We retained the simple 5volt serial control that all the other guys use too • Software backlight dimming • Optional software contrast adjustment via a hardware hack • Same price as other serial-only LCD backpacks! Hardware Click for a full size schematic image.

Schematic and PCB were designed with the freeware version of. Grab the latest files from the. PIC18F2550 The LCD Backpack uses a 8bit microcontroller (IC1) with USB.

It's powered directly by the USB 5v power supply. For extra protection, we added a 500mA fuse (F1). Each power pin is decoupled using a 0.1uF capacitor (C4). The internal 3.3v USB power supply (VUSB) gets a 0.22uF capacitor (C3). An external clock is provided by a 20MHz a quartz crystal (Q1) and two capacitors (C1 and C2). The ICSP programing connection is brought to a header for easy development.

The MCLR (RESET) programming pin is connected to the power supply through a diode (D1) and 10K pull-up resistor (R1). The diode stops the 13volt supply using during programming from damaging the rest of the circuit.

Download Sri Lanka District Map Pdf. HD44780 LCD compatible header An HD44780-compatible character display, with our without backlight, connects to the long header on the edge of the PCB. The LCD backpack uses the full 8bit data mode, both read and write are supported. The pins: are data (D0-D7), Reset (RS), Read/Write (R/W), and Enable (EN).

• Adjustment The adapter features software and manual backlight adjustment. Contrast is adjusted manually, but an optional hack can enable software contrast adjustment. Backlight The backlight is software dimmable. The dim command sent from control software sets the backlight brightness. A 100ohm potentiometer, labeled BACKLIGHT, can add a resistor to the backlight if your LCD requires it. Please check the datasheet to see if a resistor is required.

The backlight is software dimmable. The PIC hardware pulse-width modulator controls the backlight through transistor (T1) with 1K base resistor (R2).

Interpreter Preparation Program Ccbc. Contrast Screen contrast is adjusted through a 10K potentiometer (CONTRAST). An optional hack enables software contrast adjustment. We didn't know if software contrast adjustment would work for every LCD, so we used a solder jumper to make it a hackable feature.

To enable software contrast adjustment: • Cut the trace between pads 2 and 3 of the solder jumper (SJ1) • Solder pads 1 and 2 together The PIC's second pulse-width modulator (CPP2) is now the power source for the contrast. This feature is largely untested. IO pins USB & Serial LCD Backpack breakout pins Label Function RB5 IO (buttons, etc) RB4 IO (buttons, etc) VCC +5V output GND ground RX serial data in (or IO) TX serial data out (or IO) -- -- GND USB ground VCC USB 5V input D- USB data - D+ USB data + Pins along the bottom of the board provide access to extra features. RB4 and RB5 are IO pins with interrupt features for buttons. RX and TX are a 5volt serial UART for normal serial control (or extra IO). The USB connector signals are also brought to a header for direct connection to a computer motherboard. PCB We used the freeware version of to make the schematic and PCB.