I ran into this awhile back, when I pulled a 24 X 2 LCD (a 24208) from a scrapped KVM switch array. In one of the tutorials, it suggests adding a female IDC connector, with the pins to the prototyping place on a protoboard. the one I had, had a 14-pin right-angle male IDC pin header on it already, and connected to the main board of the KVM, with a ribbon cable, to another female IDC connector.
This kluge might be a little more practical.....
If your display has the 2X7 grid of dots, solder in a 14-Pin header (or 2x 7-pin headers after a shield project leaves a little extra.)
Now, on a short strip of 14-wire ribbon, crimp on a female IDC plug to one end, then a 14-pin DIP header to the other end.
Result: a adapter with the IDC on one end, and a IC-Chip like DIP header on the other end. Now.. the fun...
It depends on the maker of the DIP header. Some put pin 1 at the upper-left, some put it at the lower left.
The one I got, the DIP pin1 was wire 2 of the cable. So now, 14 becomes 1, 1 becomes 2, 13 becomes 3, 2 becomes 4....
in other words, the connections are 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 on the upper end, and 2,4,6,8,10,12,14 on the lower. simply plug the DIP header into a breadboard, and wire the pins using the two sides, instead of all inline.
I was quite surprised, the pin-out of the LCD was still the standard 1-14 of the 1602 display. So, hooking it up was a breeze, just a matter of changing the connecter.
Stephen (gelfling6)