27220 Parallax Inc, 27220 Datasheet - Page 83

• Manufacturer Part Number: 27220
• Description: BOOK STAMPWORKS
• Manufacturer: Parallax Inc

Specifications of 27220

• Accessory Type: Booklet
• Product: Microcontroller Accessories
• Lead Free Status / RoHS Status: Not applicable / Not applicable
• For Use With/related Products: StampWorks
• Lead Free Status / RoHS Status: Lead free / RoHS Compliant, Not applicable / Not applicable

Using Character LCDs · Page 73
Using Character LCDs
While LEDs and 7-segment displays make great output devices, there will be projects
that require providing more complex information to the user. Of course, nothing
beats the PC video display, but these are large, expensive, and almost always
impractical for microcontroller projects. Character LCD modules, on the other hand,
fit the bill well. These inexpensive modules allow both text and numeric output, use
very few I/O lines, and require little effort from the BASIC Stamp. And since the
introduction of the BS2p, character LCD instructions have become part of the PBASIC
2.0 and later 2.5 languages. That said, we can still use the stock BS2 to drive these
versatile displays and the experiments that follow will demonstrate how.
Character LCD modules are available in a wide variety of configurations: one-line,
two-line, and four-line are very common. The number of columns (characters) per
line is also variable, with 16- and 20- character displays being the most common and
popular.
The datasheet for the parallel LCD (2 lines x 16 characters) included in the
StampWorks Kit is available for download from www.parallax.com.
The LCD module connects to the PDB by a 14-pin IDC header (X1). The header is
keyed, preventing the connector from being inserted upside-down.
Initialization
The character LCD must be initialized before displaying characters on it. The projects
that follow initialize the LCD in accordance with the specification for the Hitachi
HD44780 controller. The Hitachi controller is the most popular available and many