VFD interfacing some help needed

[djkrugger]

Hi!
I'm just starting this project, i got a beautifull futaba 2x20 VFD wich is 7.5 x 2.5 inches! (NA202MD13AA) according to futaba scarce info it is LCD emulator but it got no processor onboard only the output drivers (OKI C1162 & C1164) wich are MPX data input. I had been able to identify the connections on the module (CK, Data, /CS = Strobe). I suspect it is for some OEM application maybe for a POS, is there any way to interface with this big beauty?

[lazybones]

Did you try the futaba website?
http://www.futaba.com/products/display_ ... /index.asp

I couldn't find an exact match, but if you pick one with similar characteristics to your display, they should have the same or similar pin out.

[djkrugger]

i'd try even to contact futaba technical support, but got no answer to date, iwas able to find the pinouts of the module by my own deduction with the ICs datasheets and following the circuit, but i need to make some type of backpack.

[RitchieB]

Was there any success using this display?

I ask, because I am pondering buying one, and keeping it to one side until I've had a little practice on the cheap LCD panel that I've bought, being a complete newb, I don't want to blow a brand new board!

Anyway, I may grab it anyway. For the record I came across THIS PAGE, seems to hold some details, including a pinout diagram?

Any ideas? How hard would this be to do? I'm not particularly good at soldering, but I know a man who can (as well as following circuit diagrams).

Regards,
-Ritchie.

[djkrugger]

It seems right, but i don't know if the code that guy wrote is capable of communicate with LCDsmartie i will assemble the thing and make some experimentation with it, i did not give up yet!!

[gillunu]

anybody used these?
http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ebay192lp9.jpg
they are cheap ($5 on ebay) and big 7"x2". It seemed easy - has a 4 pin rj45 like connector - 2 wires are +12V and GND and the 2 other should b RxTx for serial. Tried everything could find on the net and still nothing. When u power it up displays U001 but no matter what soft I tried I could not get the thing to change that. These are PointOfSale customer displays - all Walmarts and other retail stores use'em.
I want to use one with my MCE computer - I do have a VFD now that works in MCE with FrontView - those guys do not support their soft anymore. Any ideea would help.
I have quite a few of these so if you want to try anything let me know - I can send you one.

[Fixxxer]

anybody used these?
http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ebay192lp9.jpg
they are cheap ($5 on ebay) and big 7"x2". It seemed easy - has a 4 pin rj45 like connector - 2 wires are +12V and GND and the 2 other should b RxTx for serial. Tried everything could find on the net and still nothing. When u power it up displays U001 but no matter what soft I tried I could not get the thing to change that. These are PointOfSale customer displays - all Walmarts and other retail stores use'em.
I want to use one with my MCE computer - I do have a VFD now that works in MCE with FrontView - those guys do not support their soft anymore. Any ideea would help.
I have quite a few of these so if you want to try anything let me know - I can send you one.

Sorry for replying so late, but I hope that I can be of some assistance... I actually work for IBM in the Retail Point Of Sale support & development group. I work on the software side of things, so I don't know a whole lot about the hardware, but maybe this info will help a little.

The display that you're asking about uses RS485 to communicate with the POS terminal (cash register). It connects to the terminal via the #4 RS485 port. You see, each POS device uses a different type & shape of RS485 connector. For example, the POS keyboards attach to the #5 port, cash drawers attach to the #3 port, and these VFD displays attach to the #4 port.

It looks like you've already got the pinout (located here), but if you need any more info on these, you can probably find it on our POS knowledge base:
http://www2.clearlake.ibm.com/store/sup ... ebase.html

[gillunu]

Thank you for the answer Fixxer - looks like you are the best support for my problem = software IBM POS. I was hoping for a driver for this or a program that can help me display something on it. When I power it up it only shows U001 and the 5 or 8 softwares I tried to send some data to it did nothing. Also serA and serB are Rx and Tx ?
Seems odd to me that nobody wants a big display for their HTPC - after all if u have a dedicated PC connected to your TV it's like 10 ft away so all the "regular" displays are too small - at least for me.
I would rate my computer skills above average - but in the field of serial port communication and VFD displays I need help.
Let me know if you used these or want to - like I said - I'll send u one free.

[gillunu]

I was so happy someoane that knows answered this post I did not really read it - so RS-485 - that means the serial port won't do nothing to it.
Is there any way to change controller chip ?
I did search the knowledge base and found nothing for M202MD08A or 1P00A288-01 - I know they have this in like 3 formats - serial, 485 and parallel - are those components installed already ? I see onboard a 10 pin connector place and 3 uninstalled chips - so I guess that's where the other interfaces will go.
Well, maybe someone will have an ideea - it must be like 1 milion of these out there

[Fixxxer]

The good news is that we do supply Windows drivers for these displays (SEE HERE and HERE). The bad news is that, since that display uses RS-485 communications, you'll need to have an RS-485 port for those drivers to work.

The other good news is that we offer the same VFD display that you have in a USB model. If you could get your hands on one of those, you shouldn't have any problem connecting it up to your computer with the aforementioned drivers. They use a powered-USB connector that has two rows of pins (See page 8 and the bottom of page 31 in THIS PDF and read some more about it HERE). The top half is a standard USB connector, and the bottom half has four pins that supply 12V to the display. If you look at that PDF that I linked to before, your (USB) display would plug into one of the blue/green (12V) powered-USB ports. The red port that you see is 24V and only works with our receipt printers. So, if you had one of our USB displays, you could connect it to your PC with a USB cable connected between the top half of the connector and your PC's USB port, but you'd still have to supply 12V to the bottom part of the connector for it to work.

Hope this helps!

[gillunu]

Thanks Fixxxer for the detailed answer.
I am familiar with the powered USB connectors and I know that IBM has a usb POS customer display - so do logitech and many others - I wanted to use the 10J0267(8) because they are so cheap and available ($5 shipped - compare to $125 for USB).
I also tried an rs232 to rs485 converter ($5) - what I actually want is a dll for lcd smartie so I can output the winamp data - I know I should try the API stuff and write some code but that is a little too hard for me.
Maybe I could do a Hyperterminal session and run some AT commands ?
I did try the POS soft and nothing - there are so many versions and all require restart plus I'm sure this thing can work with the POS soft - it does in all the stores I see it - I need it to work with LCD smartie - I know I'm asking too much.

[djkrugger]

I'm back!
I found some info about rs485 here:
http://www.arcelect.com/485info.htm

[gillunu]

that is the problem even with the 232 to 485 converter you need to send an ID command first. see more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rs485