Support for Genovation 2x16 LCD (w/20 key keypad)

[grantb3]

I think I posted this in the wrong place, so I copied it here...

Hi,

Is there any chance to get a new LCD added to the hardware list? Who do I talk to about that?

I use a Genovation MiniTerm 901 which is a 2 line by 16 character LCD and it has 20 programmable (hardware keys). It looks kind of like a pin pad. It connects to the PC using either RS232 or USB virtual serial, so it's very similar to LCDs you already support. The command set for the LCD is different though. Here are some of the basic commands (the command prefix is '@' (0x40):

S / 0x53 Scroll/wrap
C / 0x43 Clear LCD screen
P / 0x50 Position LCD cursor
M / 0x4D Mask user input
K / 0x4B Next Key press clears LCD
R / 0x52 Preset LCD Rotation String
V / 0x56 Rotating String Velocity
G / 0x47 Graph value (bargraph)

Everything else is just interpreted as character data to the LCD.

http://www.genovation.com/900.htm
http://www.genovation.com/files/MiniTermPro.pdf

The 901 is a 2 line version of the 900.

Please help!!

Thanks,
G3

PS. I can write some software (C++ Builder so could try it myself, but I don't know where to start).

[mattcro]

Hi G3 and welcome!

Your best bet with that display is to try writing a driver (aka plugin) yourself, since you're probably the only person with one of those displays and Smartie (unless you have some spare displays to tempt the programmers here!). It's not that hard, and there are already some drivers written in C that you can probably adapt. They are mostly in Visual C++ 6 or .NET, but I guess you can use the source and create a DLL project (not sure of the Builder specifics).

Have a look at the source code for the Sparkfun and JW002 drivers and others in the plugins forum sections. There's also a good post explaining the functions in the driver here

[grantb3]

Your best bet with that display is to try writing a driver (aka plugin) yourself, since you're probably the only person with one of those displays and Smartie (unless you have some spare displays to tempt the programmers here!).

OK, I will look at doing it myself. I use them in installations I am contracted for, and LCD Smartie would be great for some of them. I probably could spare one unit to someone in the USA (I don't want to deal with the hassle of shipping international). So if there is someone with a good track record of making decent display driver/plugins, let me know.

One thing I noticed with some of the examples is the poor method of receiving keystrokes (would hold up the thread if the serial input buffer was empty). That would be unacceptable.

[grantb3]

I placed my plugin in the announcements area.