What is the recommended way to solder an lcd onto a performance board along with a nano?
I mean are there any recommended pathways? It seems kind of complicated because of the crossings of so many paths. Here is a drawing and my perfect board
Solder on an I2C backpack and then it's just a matter of 4 wires.
That's not an option but thanks
Use the front of the perfboard to do vertical runs, and the back to do horizontal runs. You can do it just like you drew it.
The top wires will go through the board, and leave them hang out the back a bit. When you put the back wires on, I put a small (very small) hook on the end, and pinch it onto the wire that hangs out. A small touch of solder and clip it off with fingernail clippers finishes it off.
Thanks, ill try that today. I was wondering if there was some kind of software that would help you do that. I have Fritzing but it doesnt really do what I need. I would like to give it the components and have it arrange the solder paths for me, front and back like you said, so that I know how to solder.
Thanks
And you can change the pins in a way they match better. For example
D12 <> Data7
D11 <> Data6
D10 <> Data5
D9 <> Data4
D8 <> Enable
D7 <> RS
Or even line it up completely
D12 <> Data7
D11 <> Data6
D10 <> Data5
D9 <> Data4
D4 <> Enable
D3 <> RS
Septillion, how do you mean?
Oh you mean I can change them in code from:
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);
to
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 7, 6, 5, 4);
Yeah, you tell the library which pins to use for the LiquidCrystal-object lcd. You can use what you like.
ok so wait...im confused. Normally I have:
LCD ------- MCU------MCU'
Vs ----------GND -------GND
Vd ----------5V ---------5V
Vo ----------Pot --------Pot
Rs ----------D12 -------D12
Rw ---------GND -------GND
E -----------D11 --------D11
D0
D1
D2
D3
D4 ---------D7 ---------D4***
D5 ---------D6 ---------D5***
D6 ---------D5 ---------D6***
D7 ---------D4 ---------D7***
A -----R----5V -----R---5V
K ----------GND -------GND
These * are the ones I can change by:
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 4, 5, 6, 7);
But pins RS-D12 and E-D11 still have to cross the 4 data lines, right?
Why? It's YOU who assigns pin 12 to RS and pin 11 to Enable...
But if you do
LiquidCrystal lcd(2, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12);
All connections are straight over.
Oh ok, I thought pins 11 and 12 were special on the mcu because they were MISO and MOSI pins but i guess that doesnt make sense because were not using SPI.
They are indeed special pins for SPI. But you're just using them as IO 
