I can get a hold of a programmer to upload the code ... but how do I use one of those ... and is it possible from Ubuntu?
You will probably have to ask the person from whom you get the programmer. You may be better off actually doing the programming with the computer that is normally used with the programmer since it will have any required drivers already installed.
Basically you want to unzip the file you located and use the .hex file that you find.
Don
Well, one thing you can do, if your up for it, is put a FET (transistor) on one of your controller I/O pins and use it to turn power on and off to the LCD display. That way your controller can power up while the LCD display is off.
You can then power the LCD display on, wait 250 milliseconds (you need to send it before the splash screen is over which is the first 500 milliseconds of boot-up), then send the baud rate reset command (0x12) to reset the display to 9600. Then you can reset the baud rate for whatever you want.
A good FET might be a Supertex Inc. VN3205N3-G.
He needs to activate his flux capacitor first.
Don