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[on:]

After some revision, here is my version 2 shown on a 20X4 character LCD, works on other sizes too but 20X4 is big and makes lots of nice shows.

A couple of sample pictures:




Video:


The code and the example from the videos, with instructions are all posted on my blog:

http://liudr.wordpress.com/libraries/phi_big_font/

[Reply #1 on:]

That inversed one is really hard to read :p

[Reply #2 on:]

That inversed one is really hard to read :p

Just a perk, which I wish HD44780 had for regular characters, you can see inverted characters after reading inverted for a while but they're poor to begin with. The best inverted characters are displayed using rows 1 and 2, while rows 0 and 3 are filled black boxes, like the hello. The point of the big fonts is to be able to see the normal characters from far away.

[Reply #3 on:]

The point of the big fonts is to be able to see the normal characters from far away.

Still not convinced by the inverted ones.

I need to write myself some for numbers only - Hopefully I can think up a nice font for it.

[Reply #4 on:]

The inverted fonts are NOT good!

If you have a 20X4 display you could probably use all 4 rows to display 4 numbers in good resolution, with 5*7 dot matrix font. With two rows and three columns it's the best I could come up with, which is 3*5 dot matrix font.

[Reply #5 on:]

Nahh it's just a 16x2 and you will be reading it from 500mm away or so but for it still needs big numbers

Seen any good curvy large number fonts? - numbers only...

[Reply #6 on:]

If all you need is numbers, you can start from this one from sparkfun.com contest:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Music-Playing-Alarm-Clock/

You only have 8 choices of building blocks plus blank and black. I went and created a 3*5 font so I can do all characters not just numbers, which makes the numbers look less good.

[Reply #7 on:]

Yeah I did remember and go on a hunt for this: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1265696343/0
Going to take a look at your character print functions though

[Reply #8 on:]

Yeah I did remember and go on a hunt for this: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1265696343/0
Going to take a look at your character print functions though

You're welcome to take it and replace my dot matrix shapes and  character definitions from mine and replace with yours.

[Reply #9 on:]

I had a play with yours and couldn't get it to work on my 16x2 - is it a bit funny about long cables? (normal LCD stuff only just works) or might I have been doing something wrong.

I'll try on my 16x4 later (which isn't on a long cable )

[Reply #10 on:]

mowcius,

The sample code is for 20*4 only, it will mess up on your 16*2 or 16*4. I'll update my code to do 20X4 and 16X2 once I get some time.

Cable could be a problem but how long is yours? I used some 9" cable I cut out of a floppy cable and it works fine.

[Reply #11 on:]

Well I did modify your code and it still didn't want to work - I think I might have done something wrong somewhere though.

My cable is *ahem* about 4 foot

[Reply #12 on:]

mowcuis,

I've updated my library to have a define to enable 16X2 display demo and 20X4 display demo:

http://liudr.wordpress.com/libraries/phi_big_font/

The library is the same, just the sample code showcase V3 includes basic features for 16X2 display as well flashy features for 20X4 display.

Give it a try.

BTW, my record is 18 inches of 40-wire IDE hard drive wire. The display is flawless. I don't have anything 4 foot long LOL

[Reply #13 on:]

Haha I'll give it a try - thanks.