Matrix design?

I have a VFD Matrix that has 5 "Rows" and 7 Columns of each color (green/yellow), this gives me 70 pixels. See attachment for graphic

Its controllable through a special 20-bit Shift register. When i shift out 20 bits, the least significant one, is PIN1 on the 20Pin Shift-register.

I tested a few basic functions here, but now i wanna start to make it on a PCB and use it for display something.

For programming, i wonder if there is a way to wire it up that is especially useful / not usefull?

What wiring makes sense? Maybe someone could help me here who has experience with matrixes.

I would wire up like this:

Pin 1 (bit 1) ... Row1
...
...
...
Pin 5 .... Row 5
Pin 6 .... ColGreen1
Pin 7 .... ColGreen2
.....
....
....
Pin 12 ... ColYellow1
Pin 13 ... ColYellow2

matrix.png794×575 5.19 KB

Are you testing it on a breadboard now? It's best to get a working design before you create a PCB.

Were you testing the basic functions using the shift register or by connecting individual pins?
I don't know how much current a VFD requires on the input pins, are they buffered?

As you shift your patterns through the shift register you might lose contrast in the result -
You could either test whether this is visible,
or alternatively does your shift register have an output-enable pin?

Got a datasheet? Part number? Anything more helpful?