Has anyone tried using this chip for an led matrix?
it has 16 common drivers and 40 segment drivers giving a matrix of 640 led's or 8 char x 2 line or 16 char x 1 line display, i realise it cannot drive leds directly and would need transistors to drive the 40 segments,
the best part of it would be you could talk to it as if it was an lcd,
just a thought anyway.
You might be interested in Evil Mad Scientist's Peggy:
Hey I have a JHD162A, Is it compatible with the HD44780??
Any spec sheets?
Well it has 16 pins, the last two being for the backlight. I didn't get any datasheet with it. And probably it was 'MADE IN CHINA', so I didn't understand what was written behind the LCD. Only the number JHD162A could be understood by me 
Yes the JHD162A is based on the HD447800. It follows the "standard" pinout for similar LCDs. (I just hooked up a JHD162A last night and am using it right now.)
1 VSS
2 VCC
3 VEE
4 RS
5 R/W
6 E
7 - 14 DB0 - DB7
15 LED+
16 LED-
Hey thankyou very much! ;D
Well I have one more query...I have seen somewhere here in this forum(sorry I don't remember the post) that we have to plugin a 12v adaptor in addition to the usb, for the blocks to be shown on the screen. Will it work with a 9v too?
Thanks for the Peggy link James, The idea of using the HD44780 was that the interface bus is already there and people can treat it as if it were an lcd, well i've lifted a couple of HD44780's and will solder one to a breakout board as soon as it's etched
@P18F4550... yeah, I understand. I just though it would be of interest. The more I think about the HD447800, it would be very cool to control a bunch of LEDs. Post updates on your progress!