Really big LCD's for Arduino

Hi!

I managed to get my Hitachi compliant 4*20 LCD screen about to work. I am thinking of a device that could be used by elderly people, and it would beed bigger screen. Do you have any hints, where I could get bigger LCD screen with big letters (and it also would be possible to read that in dark)? The characters would need to be big.

Thanks for info,

Jukka

Look at multiplexing leds. This might be the route to take. Have fun

The "big font" at http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1245352653 looks like it only has numbers, but you might be able to use those elements to construct letters too.

You might also try a graphics font with a graphics LCD, briefly discussed at http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1256700778/.

Finally, is 60cm tall large enough for the letters? You could make your own with the instructions from SparkFun at 12ft GPS Wall Clock - SparkFun Electronics. :wink:

At some point you can start looking at LCD video monitors, and one of the arduino shields capable of generating Video, like the telemate shield: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1240539968

Or for VGA output: http://store.fungizmos.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=290

So, how big do you want it?

I have some 8" 640x480 LCDs that not only have a controller and a serial interface, but a Pentium CPU and an operating system ;D

I bought several of the Stylistics with the idea of turning them into "CAR PCs" with a big GPS display and music player. They actually work pretty well for that purpose, but a new generation of cheaper GPS systems with sexy female voices and better software kinda killed the product idea.

The model I have is the one with the "transflective" gray-scale screen that works well in sunlight, or at night with the backlight. They'd make nice displays for embedded projects, as long as there's AC power around: their batteries have pretty much died of old age, and are too expensive to replace.

If anyone's interested, drop me a PM or email.

Ran

i bet theyt cost alot :o

Have you considered something like a GLCD, 128x64 has the equivilant of 8x20 display, and it is easy to make some large fonts for them. Not to mention greater flexibility with UI and positioning of text / graphics etc. Search for KS0108 on ebay, I bought a 192x64 a few days ago, but I haven't tested it yet. I will try to reply with results from that.

Alternativley you could build a custom display using a bunch of Shift Registers as Ben Heck did

See Wiring Shift Registers - YouTube Shift Register ASCII character test - YouTube and BPP display done - YouTube.