Programmable Dot Matrix Display System

[cwt]

Hie out there~!

Currently im working on my final semester project called [glow=red,2,300]Programmable Dot Matrix Display System[/glow]. I hope i can get some guidiance from here. My project will not include any microcontroller and PICs. :-\

Basically, my thing will work like this: User key in something in a textfile, then the messages will be send out thru a serial port to the external circuit for displaying purposes. At the same time, user is able to control the number of repetition and the frequency of the displayed characters from an interfacing program.

Now i need some information on the driver chip that drives the column of the 8x8 dot matrix array. Is there any driver chips that is suitable for those arrays?? ???

Thanks!! :D

[ante]

Cwt,

Welcome to this community!

This document will hopefully answer your questions.
http://www.codemercs.com/Downloads/AN1.pdf

Ante ::)

[cwt]

HI there...
Currently i need to shift my serial data input from computer to parallel output data. At the same time, i need to have the start and stop bits being removed. So is there any suitable way to do so?
Probably a UART? Is there any of that will perform what i need in the cheapest possible way?
Thanks~!!! ;D

[MP]

If you just want to line the bits up into a parallel port you can use a microcontroller. In this case, you would strip the additional bit in the program and send the data bits to an 8 bit port.

MP

[cwt]

Yup, what you said is what i wish to do with my serial data.

At first i want to use a 8-bit serial shift register to do the shifting, but it is quite tedious and complicated due to the timing issue. So now i plan to go for UART. I think that is cheaper than microcontroller. ;D

[MP]

Perhaps you would not mind sharing the end result with the community. I am sure there are others here who would also be interested in such a project.

MP

[cwt]

Sure MP...
Such an honor..
;D

[cwt]

Hi out there... ;)
I have something to ask about my programming stuff. Currently i am using visual basic 6.0 to do my programming.

What i want is like that: ::)

Base on an ASCII character, my program will able to find the pattern that represent the character and display it on the dot matrix array.

How am i going to store all the patterns for each of the ASCII character? ???
Eg. for the character 'A', the equivalent display pattern is [c1,b7,77,b7,c1].
*Note: all display pattern is in hex.

How am i going to retreive the pattern for each ASCII character? ???
Eg. for the character 'A', the display pattern [c1,b7,77,b7,c1] will be send out to the dot matrix array.

Thanks!! 8)

[Ldanielrosa]

There are some legacy character generator chips out there, I saw a spec sheet for one a few years ago. You're going to have an easier time programming your own set on an EPROM of some sort. You're going to have to come up with some addressing hardware though.

I am curious. What issues forbid a microcontroller for this project?

[cwt]

Cost forbid me from doing so.
So i use software to replace those. This includes storing those ASCII symbols.

[cwt]

Hi..
Currently i am at the stage of shifting serial bits into parallel bits. I am using an UART PC16550D to do the shifting. I have a few doubts.

Besides taking care of the serial input pin and parallel output pins, what other pins should i included? ???

Here is a diagram of the chip.

http://www.beyondlogic.org/serial/serial.htm#8

Thanks! ;D