LCDInfo.com

Hi,

I've had the good(?) fortune of getting 4 of these VFD's for free. Unfortunately I can find little info on these anywhere on the web.

It is a 20x2 module with a serial interface as well as a parallel one. I've wired the serial port (as my PC has no internal LPT port.... yet) and have been able to send it characters using info I've kinda deduced from the web after days of searching. (9600kbps, 2 stop-bits, no parity). Aparently it's supposed to have jumpers for this, mine doesn't.

I've also been able to get the partial spec-sheet from noritake's website. From which I've been able to find the control characters(Which I've confirmed by sending them to the serial port), as well as the pinout's for the parallel interace.

What I have also gathered (from trying various programs) is that there is no support for this module, but some packages (most notably this one), have partial support for similair (in model number, anyways...) displays. I have seen the thread about a plug-in for T23A displays, will definately try it tonight. I only found this particular site today. But I'm guessing that the T23A is a graphic VFD, and not a character one. (which this is)

Now, serial at 9600 is kinda slow, combined with the compatability problems cited above (nothing I've tried works properly), it looks like my best option is to buy a PCI Multi-IO card (to get a LPT port on the inside of my PC, my motherboard sucks in retrospect) , and wire the 16-Pin parallel interface on the display to that. Hopefully there is more software support for that interface...

Problem is that I've noted in my searches of the web that it is known that these(well, the SCPB series anyway) modules are NOT HD44780 compatible. Which would have been the ideal.

So here is my question: Does anyone know what interface/protocol they DO use? And is LCDInfo compatible with this? If not, is there any other software that is compatible with this?

Please don't be scared of technical answers... I have driven 44780 LCD's from PIC's before, I have a fairly good idea of how they work.

If it helps in any way, I'm adding here all the details I can gather from the module itself:

Manufacturer: ISE Electronics Corp (Looks like they changed name to Noritake, but I may stand corrected)
Some number just below the manuf. name: PW-230-101
Model Number: CU20026SCPD-T20A 3B3N
Notable(i.o.w. Big-ish) chips on the PCB include: SED2000F, SED2032Fob (the ob is a subscript), and a motorolla M37450E4FP

Thanks for any help.

T23A is a 4x20 character display and to my knowledge the commands and interface should be compatible with T20A. But I've never seen a T20A so I can't be sure. T23A also has a serial mode but I haven't tested it yet and the T23A driver for LCDInfo only supports parallel mode.

The interface/protocol they use is Noritake's own and I think used only in the SCPB series. You can find some datasheet for the same family here:
http://www.vfdworld.com/index.php?page=usingyourvfd

I can't say for sure but I think LCDInfo should work with the display in parallel mode using the T23A driver as long as the interface is same as for T23A.

Thanks for the link. It was quite helpful.

It looks as if the program on that site supports these modules in parallel mode.... will try that too.

Looks like I'll have to settle for parallel mode, then.

Edit: ugh, wrong button (meant to hit New Thread), sorry. >_<

I too have one of these displays. I have got it working on a microcontroller with the parallel interface. First thing to say is "wow, the interface is slow"

Anyway, I am having trouble figuring out the control commands. Every datasheet I have read seems to be wrong. In particular, escape codes don't seem to work at all.

My display is an older ISE electronics model. Does anyone have an accurate datasheet for it?