No, I actually meant it, Steve. Careful or I'll start waxing nostalgic for my old NorthStar Horizon CP/M machine. Or the Amdahl 470 that replaced the IBM 360 that ran my first APL programs.
--Doug On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 12:13 PM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > Roger/Sarbajit- > > Doug's comment that "this" is what keeps him on the FRIAM ist was probably > only partially "tongue-in-cheek". > > This level of geekery is surely near and dear to half of our hearts if the > other half naturally sit and puzzle at our arcane mumblings... but in > defense of the other forms of geekery (including philosophical > maunderings), it's all good. I really appreciate the level of engagement > and interest across a broad range of topics that can be found here. > > I *do* have at least 3 of these devices (or nearly) in my collection of > "stuff", the more obvious being the digital readouts on my Sony Amp and my > Sony CD changer as well as a (longer version?) on a rack-mount USB > keyboard/trackball system designed for use with rackmount clusters. > > I was expecting Sarbajit to remind me about some really obvious digital > readout that is *even* more ubiquitous that I hadn't thought of. Like the > car odometer or radio tuner... but they all seem to be of a species of > semi-special displays.. probably not custom per model or even manufacturer, > but clearly evolving and changing often. On the other hand, their > interface might very well *BE* a superset or variant of what you describe > here! > > - Steve > > Another mystery of these displays was solved for me the other day when > Bunnie took his Media Lab visitors to a direct chip bonding shop in > Shenzhen. On the back of the bog standard LCD display there will often be > a dome of black epoxy in place of a chip. I thought they were hiding the > chip, but in fact the dome covers a piece of raw silicon integrated circuit > glued to the board and wired to the board with tiny wires. > > -- rec -- > > http://learn.adafruit.com/character-lcds/overview > > http://www.freaklabs.org/index.php/Blog/MIT-Media-Lab-Shenzhen-2013/MIT-Media-Lab-Shenzhen-2013-01-22-Chip-on-Board-Bare-Die-Attachment.html > > freaklabs.org is off-line at the moment, but that looks like the right > posting. Lady Ada's tutorial gets to the 8/4 bit bus after several pages > of prelims. > > Steve > > > Being a devotee of ancient computing devices myself, I was responding to > Doug's TRS-80 ascii comment > > here's what a 16x2 LCD module looks like > > http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hN2n9HggfCw/T2TOHEMIAsI/AAAAAAAAAAc/LrJ6uy2cNrs/s1600/lcd162b-yhy.jpg > > These critters are so ubiquitous that you fail to see them. These modules > have an 8 bit data bus to communicate with Z-80s, 8085 etc (nowadays though > PICS, AVRs and ATMELs). They also have a facility to split the 8 bit data > into 2 successive nibbles of 4 bits (ie 4 pins + 2 control pins= 6 pins). > This allows for instance a 12 or 14 PIC (with 8 - 10 I/O lines) to be used > to implement very small devices. The design advantage ot using these > standard displays versus dedicated/custom displays is that they have no > end-of-life problems. They were available 20 years ago and still seem to be > going very strong with prices falling to @ US$1 per unit > > Sarbajit > > > > > On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 11:31 AM, Douglas Roberts <[email protected]>wrote: > >> You see, this is the kind of material that keeps me on FRIAM. >> >> --Doug >> >> >> On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 11:29 AM, Roger Critchlow <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> The interface to the bog standard LCD display can use either 8 or 4 bits >>> parallel, which only changes the number of outs you need to do to fill the >>> line buffer, which has an 8 bit byte for each character The 8 bit >>> character ROM often has fascinating character sets in the high half >>> depending on where the surplus came from. >>> >>> -- rec -- >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 11:16 AM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Sarbajit - >>>> >>>> Can you elaborate? I think this one just flew past me... 2 lines of >>>> 16 characters with only 4 bit indexing (alphabet of 16 characters?)... >>>> This sounds like (much) more than a digital watch (do those even exist >>>> anymore?) or even a calculator (only 1 line?). >>>> >>>> I feel like you handed us a riddle like the sphynx! >>>> >>>> I tried a massive, brooding, indifferent posture to Dougs posts on >>>> this one, but I could only hold the pose for a few seconds before breaking >>>> into a belly laugh appropriate only for the Buddha or Santa Claus. >>>> >>>> - Steve >>>> >>>> Just to update fellow FRIAMers. >>>> >>>> The most common standard display device in the world today is the 16x2 >>>> character LCD display. The vast majority of installations use it in 4 bit >>>> mode. >>>> >>>> On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 12:08 AM, Douglas Roberts <[email protected] >>>> > wrote: >>>> >>>>> As a courtesy to our old-fashioned (to put it politely) FRIAM list >>>>> members who are still reading email on their TRS-80 ascii terminals, I >>>>> will >>>>> supply a synopses of the material contained in that new-fangled url >>>>> thingie >>>>> below: the article discusses a massive, indifferent, brooding silence. >>>>> >>>>> You're welcome. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ============================================================ >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ============================================================ >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>> >>> >>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> *Doug Roberts >> [email protected]* >> *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*<http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> >> * >> 505-455-7333 - Office >> 505-672-8213 - Mobile* >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > -- *Doug Roberts [email protected]* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*<http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> * <http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile*
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