000:
Thanx U guys for the info... Appreciate it..
Problem is when I try to go into any other form of communication (non i2c) I am running out of I/O pins.So I think I might need to rethink about the project and maybe redo the designwork a bit...
If you decide to do this without costing all your pins, I have a proven method that can both save a ton of your pins and a ton of your arduino sketch space, for a small price:
Use the phi-panel serial LCD keypad panel. It is my design by the way. You use two serial lines (soft or hardware) to connect to this panel, you send in info to display. The on board firmware can render select menu just like the phi-menu or the new phi_prompt. You save ton of sketch space on arduino by not having to include liquidcrystal or phi_prompt, just have some strings in the sketch and send to the panel so the panel handles all button pushes and return a choice you make. Your arduino can do other things while waiting for a user response. The basic solution is only $12 and sparkfun's serLCD can't compare with 10% what my panel does and costs twice as much.
There are three models:
backpack with keypad connector and compatible with 16x2 or 20x4 displays
compact panel with 16x2 display and integrated keypad
full panel with 20x4 display and integrated keypad
I'm not ashamed of advertising my design. A lot of people like these and they become returned customers. It's just that not many know of the panels.