Futaba-corp

[achituv]

Hi!

I'm trying to utilize LCDSmarite to operate a VFD mad by FUTABAcorp,

Printed on PCB: M202SD08G

The VFD is 2x20, and has 4 chips onboard:
- Futaba 5P0 0A002
- Japan 9327 HN27C64FP-20T
- Toshiba TD62C949RF
- Toshiba TD62C950RF

various manuals for VFD with similar SN's suggest it is capable of both
serial and parallel operation, the cable that came with it is parallel, has 8 wires - wired to parallel port wires 1-8.

I modified ULCD_HD to fit my device and it seems to work EXCEPT:
1) I see nothing on the 2nd line!
I don't know how other devices work, but this one simply writes on the 2nd line any character after the 20th (chars 21-40). I am certain that my "set position" function is correct, what else could be the problem?

[EDIT: I checked the "continue on next line" checkbox, this causes text to blink once in a while on the 2nd line, I suspect that this is caused by the fact that my VFD automatically scrolls-up the lines (2nd moves to 1st and then cleared) whenever a character is written to position 40).
It seems likely that there is a way to override this behavior - as if this was "hardwired" they wouldn't need the pixel at that character... as whenever you write to it - it is cleared, and the entry is moved up one line...]

2) Hebrew RSS feeds are translated into strings of question marks,
My VFD has a fixed charset with chars 176-202 replaced by hebrew characters, the question is - where is the feed translated into ascii (what unit / function)?

Thanks,
Tal.

[limbo]

If the screen you trying to use is an LCD emulator you just have to connect the screen to the parallel port...
However you can find out more info on futaba site.
There is a guide to find out the decode LCD part number
http://www.futaba.com/products/display_ ... /index.asp or you can send an Information Request Form.

[achituv]

Hi limbo, and thanks!

I did send an information request form - but there are still two annoying problems:

the first has to do with the screen, and the second with LCDSmartie design:

1) th screen automatically "scrolls up" the two lines (so that the first disappears, and the second becomes first) whenever something is written to the 2nd line's last character (position (20,2))

I can't belive that this behaviour cannot be disabled - because otherwise why would they even put the florescent on that spot?

2) Where do RSS feeds get translated into ASCII text? I want to correct a bug with hebrew there...

Tal.

[limbo]

I think that for the first issue its responsible the screen module...




The following quote is not confirmed but I think is the way that Smartie works

Lcd Smartie sends a character refence id (i'm not sure that is the ASCII code) to screen module and screen displays the corresponding character in reference to the build in character map...

Can you send me an hebrew rss adress to check it with my smartie?

[achituv]

Here's a link

http://net.nana.co.il/RssService/?sid=10

Anyway - the problem is that the string received in the display module is already "????????", I need to know where the feed is parsed and converted into the string to be sent to the device.

Tal.

[limbo]

Do you have also "????????" to virtual display?

[achituv]

Yes indeed, I do receive "??? ???"'s in virtual display

Tal.

[limbo]

I think is something with the decoding of the Hebrew characters inside LCD Smartie. (not sure)


Unfortunately we have no answer...

We have to wait for a reply by clansley

[Section8]

1) th screen automatically "scrolls up" the two lines (so that the first disappears, and the second becomes first) whenever something is written to the 2nd line's last character (position (20,2))

I can't belive that this behaviour cannot be disabled - because otherwise why would they even put the florescent on that spot?

Tal.

I have a (very) vague recollection of reading about this function on a lcd article many moons ago. There was a command code to switch off the vscroll function but obviously this will vary from device to device.

I recommend trying to find the datasheet for the controller chip.

[achituv]

Indeed, 0x17 disables VSCROLL.

Tal.