dhenry:
Can I use it with no backlight? And is it easily readable in bright sunlight?
You can experiment since you already have one. Generally, the positive types (lights going through the pixels, like white-on-blue) don't work without backlight. The negatives (reflective. lights got blocked by the pixels) work without backlight.
I don't have the black-on-green. I only have the white-on-black, which is basically not readable at all without backlight. I am asking if the black-on-green will work with little to no backlight. From what you are saying, it will, thanks.
dhenry:
Or does anyone know of a good, reflective LCD display that is serial-enabled for Arduino?
Parralex (?) has them. and I am sure New Heaven has them too. However, they are generally quite expensive and it makes more sense (and more fun) to program an avr that functions like a serializer.
The ones at parallax look to be very similar to the Sparkfun models, and basically about the same price.
The ones at New Haven also look similar, and maybe slightly cheaper. However, it looks like they are mostly (if not all) RS232 as opposed to TTL. I assume they can run on TTL signal voltages (in RS232 data format). I have an RS232 output algorithm for VFD's, but it would be nice to simply plug and play using the serial library for fast/dirty projects, without re-inventing the wheel.
Does anyone know whether one brand or the other works better with no backlight and/or in direct sunlight?