will this graphic VFD work?

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Hi Kersing,

Sorry but all that happens is that "Volume" flashes by very briefly and very faint, then disappears. Nothing else

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

What are you using to supply the display with power? The display, once initialized, requires 500-600 mA to function. Do you have a multimeter? If so, can you check the voltage supplied on pins 1 and 2.
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Ah, I think you are correct. I get between 4.5-4.85V only. I might be running with too long wires. Now I actually get the A blinking.

But why is the A not staying lit up? or for that matter, my "volume" sting, why does it go blank?

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

Does the A replace the volume string in the upper left corner? If so the display could be resetting somehow. The code is designed to (slowly) fill the entire display with 'A'.
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Yes that is exactly what is happening, the A is blinking on and off in the upper left corner. and the "blinking" isn't regular either, the on/off times are fluctuating.

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

To me this looks like a power issue. According to the data sheet "At power on rush, more than 2times current of above table should be expected. Provide the quick rise type power supply (<100msec.)." The table lists 500-650mA with all pixels off. Can you supply handle the initial 1000-1300mA??
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by Benj »

Can you supply handle the initial 1000-1300mA??
Not sure if your using this or not but an EB006 and Matrix PSU will not handle these types of currents...

The 7805 on the EB006 is specified at an amp but really with the significant voltage drop your realistically looking at 500mA before the regulator starts to get really warm. Dropping the PSU voltage to 9V or 7V should help to give you more current to play with.

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

I will change out my current power source to my ATX power supply, it should be able to get the job done.

I'll let you know how it works. Thanks.

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Sorry for the very late reply but now I have tested with my powersupply (ATX from a computer) and it works. I could not feed the display from the breadboard so I had to feed it directly from the ATX power supply which also feeds the breadboard with the PIC etc on it.

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Writing characters works but when I try to use the graphic macros like "Draw Line", "Draw Box" etc, it doesn't work at all :(

I just tried the "Draw Line":

StartX: 1
StartY: 1
EndX: 50
EndY: 1
On: 1

All I got on the display is a "2" in the top left corner.

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

According to the data sheet this display does not support the graphics commands like lines, pixels and boxes. Only characters and bit images.
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

:) I just thought Noritake's datasheet wasn't any good :)

darn it. But do you think you can help me with a modification to your custom component?
I would really like to try using the "user windows" function of the display
Also I would like to be able to use the scroll function in a particular user window which I think is supported (I might have understood the datasheet incorrectly)

So macros needed would be "specify user window", "select user window" and "scroll display" which would only affect the selected user window.
Also might be good to be able to select base window.


Oh and also a write custom character and print ASCII. That way one can draw a line or box if needed.
Thanks a million!

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Another macro needed is "Print Number"

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

I think the functions you mention are available. However I do not have much time to spare for the next week and a half, so it will have to wait a bit.

You could take a stab at it yourself:
- Add the desired name to the list of MacroNames preceded by the next unused number (15=CurrentWindowSelect)
- Add a line with the same number to the MacroReturns list (15=void)
- Add a line with the same number to MacroIsPrivate (15=0)
- Add a block like:

Code: Select all

[MacroParameters_CurrentWindowSelect]
Count=1
1=window

[MacroParamTypes_CurrentWindowSelect]
1=char
- Add the code to the end of the file

Code: Select all

void CurrentWindowSelect(char window)
{
/*Macro_CurrentWindowSelect_Start*/
        writechar(0x1f);
        writechar(0x28);
        writechar(0x77);
        writechar(0x01);
        writechar(window);
/*Macro_CurrentWindowSelect_End*/
}
You will need to consult the documentation for the codes (the 1fh 28h 77h ... sequences) and 'borrow' some of the existing code if you need to split coordinates in high/low parts.

If you do not want to edit the C code directly, another way to do it is to select the Custom component and use 'Custom code' to 'Customize the Component Code'.

PrintNumber could be implemented in your flow chart by converting the number to a string and printing the string :)
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Thanks Kersing.

I was up all night working on this and actually did all commands from flowcode using the "PrintChar" macro and in fact did the numberTo$(String) conversion and that works just fine.

What I discovered was that while using the scroll display function of the VFD, the display cannot perform anything until the scrolling has ended. I am using two different User Windows and only want to scroll the lower window. It works but as I said, the display is unresponsive while scrolling and that just isn't an option.
Scrolling one character at the time is working exactly like it does when using a regular character LCD/VFD which is HD44780 compliant but will never be as smooth as scrolling one pixel at the time.

I have an old Logitech Squeezebox (the classic one) that has a VFD display from Noritake. I am very curious as to how the engineers/software-developers made that display scroll text that smooth and still display other information which is also updated very fast and still be very responsive over all. Granted I don't know what other hardware the Squeezebox is running, it is probably not even a PIC but I would still be very interested in knowing more about it.

I will try to do a manual scrolling rutine that inrements the text one pixel at the time instead of one whole character for smooth action but I think it will take up to much processing time to be able to achive a smooth flowing scroll and still be able to run the rest of the code for other functions to work properly.

I might have to find another display to be able to do what I want or use two PICs

It might still be a good choice for a large VFD for another project and since it works good and most of the work has been done by you already, I definitely think it should be included as a component in FC V6 as Ben had offered previously in this thread.

Thanks again Kersing.

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

Glad you were able to implement what you needed in flow code.

Noritake have several VFD series. One of them (-3900 series) allows high speed parallel access to the display memory allowing for over 20 fps update rates for a 512x32bit display (measured value). The disadvantage of these displays is the significantly higher price.
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

I was actually looking at the 3900B series this morning to see if I could make heads or tails of the functions and how to program it. If I was to use one, and I would like to if it can do all that it seems to be able to do at first glance, I would definitely need a custom component for it because it seems much more komplex than the 7000 series display. Without this custom component I would not even try to use the display as my coding skills are not at that level yet. Or maybe there is an OLED out there that is quick enough, has the needed functionalities and about the same size as the 140x16J-7000 display I have (I wouldn't mind a higher resolution but physical size should be about the same)

I did briefly look at EL display panels but they are VERY expensive and seem overly complex. But they look good.

I really hate how LCD's look :)

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Do you have an example of how to display a bitmap on the display and how to write to design the bitmap and store it on the PIC?

Maybe I can then use that to do scrolling etc.

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

Sorry, can't share the bitmap code as it is a commercial project for a customer.
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

Ok, no problem.

I'll see if I can figure it out over the weekend. Do you know how fast I can update the display with a new 140x16 bitmap?

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by kersing »

Sorry, don't know. Haven't timed that series.

Simple test to see how fast it can be done is to position the cursor at the home position and loop 10 times while sending
1Fh 28h 66h 11h 8Ch 00h 02h 00h 01h FFh FFh ... total 280 times FFh
1Fh 28h 66h 11h 8Ch 00h 02h 00h 01h 00h 00h ... total 280 times 00h

After the loop display:
1Fh 28h 66h 11h 02h 00h 02h 00h 01h 00h FFh FFh 00h

This should set all visible pixels on followed by all pixels off 10 times and stop with just two column used in a pattern so you know when to stop you stopwatch. Or if you have an oscilloscope available, loop the first two lines continuously and set an unrelated bit before the first line and reset it before the second line. Use the scope to measure the times taken.

Please share the results once you have them.
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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

So there might be light at the end of this tunnel :)

The display does seem fast enough (so far)

I have never used a graphics display before so it took some doing using the Real-time Bit Image Display function and writing the code for the bitmap images.

Here are two videos that I shot just now. It is pretty self explanatory.

First one has a 20ms delay between updates and the second one has a 2ms delay.

The camera in my phone isn't any good so the display is too fast for it to capture these updates accurately. The 2ms video looks strange, and to a degree so does the 20ms video but it looks better in real life.

Here is the 20ms one:
http://youtu.be/gB5w5KtwYQg

and here is the 2ms one:
http://youtu.be/Cd97LevOV0E

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by hyperion007 »

And here is one I did just for the hell of it :)

http://youtu.be/-5MLNDvyUAY

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Re: will this graphic VFD work?

Post by dazz »

Hi
That last one took me back to my misspent youth, one of the best graphics ever invented

Regards
Dazz
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