I saw that some people were able to use a SPI display and a SD card (SPI too), so that data from the SD card is sent directly to the display, without the need for the microcontroller to work with this data. The microcontroller only works with data access and pulse clock to synchronize the SD card and the display.
Considering a display with parallel bus, with controller SSD1963 (16 bits of data bus). I believe it would be possible to use a CF card (compact flash) which also has 16 bits of data bus. To transfer data directly from the CF card to the display. This could save a lot of unnecessary operation for displaying images, thus reducing the loading time of the image.
I would like to experiment with Arduino Mega or DUE.
Could anyone suggest a library for read access to a CF card?
Or do you know if it would be possible to adapt the SD card library to operate with the CF card?
rtek1000:
I saw that some people were able to use a SPI display and a SD card (SPI too), so that data from the SD card is sent directly to the display, without the need for the microcontroller to work with this data. The microcontroller only works with data access and pulse clock to synchronize the SD card and the display.
Please link to that! Never saw that, would be cool
CF is based on the PCMCIA (People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms) standard. That's basically an extension of the PC motherboard bus. Simulating that with an Arduino is likely impossible. Even a Pentuim can't do it on its own: it requires a "chipset" of helper chips to run the motherboard bus.
Even SD direct to display seems unlikely. You need MOSI commands to go to both devices (select a file and select a place on the screen to write the image) then switch the SD card's MISO to go to the display MOSI.
MorganS:
CF is based on the PCMCIA (People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms) standard. That's basically an extension of the PC motherboard bus. Simulating that with an Arduino is likely impossible. Even a Pentuim can't do it on its own: it requires a "chipset" of helper chips to run the motherboard bus.
Even SD direct to display seems unlikely. You need MOSI commands to go to both devices (select a file and select a place on the screen to write the image) then switch the SD card's MISO to go to the display MOSI.
Hi, I am not convinced of this, it seems that the CF card can operate in 3 different modes.
The CompactFlash Storage Card functions in three basic modes: 1) PC Card ATA using I/O
Mode, 2) PC Card ATA using Memory Mode and 3) True IDE Mode, which is compatible with
most disk drives.
I'm not convinced either. A CF card can operate just like an IDE drive by using a $2 CF<>IDE adapter and I ran a laptop on an 8Gb CF card out of a camera for years. I have never looked, but there is surely some discussion on using IDE drive with Arduino in the Storage Forum.
A quick read of the section on the electrical interface looks like almost all of the 50 pins on the card are used. Depending on the mode, you can ignore some of the 12 address lines OR some of the 16 data lines but not both.
An Arduino Mega would be totally occupied driving that interface.
Nice one. Only 16 pins plus power and data. The "manual" is a bit thin. No clues on how you would access the data on the card. I guess you just have to read the big specification.
Nick_Pyner:
Reply #11 is what I was talking about. If Arduino can handle an IDE drive, it can handle that. That adapter plus CF card is a drop-in replacement.
