Which display do you usually use, for your projects? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: beginner_max
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 08:58:40 pm
content: Which display do you usually use, for your projects?And why?LCD 16x2, graphic LCD, TFT or other, and which exactly?Everytime an other?

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 09:30:47 pm
content: Quoteyes,all depends wot yer after displaying.One project here is using a 16 x 2 lcd,another a 8x7 segment led and an other 1 bi coloured led

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 09:38:21 pm
content: When I was programming the Ubicom SX-28 micro I used a 16x2 LCD display. Once I figured out a couple of "gotchas" in the initialization sequence (had to insert some NOPs and had to repeat some data OUTs), it was really easy to use the display.I even uploaded some custom characters to the LCD to do some primitive animation on the display. Not hard to do.

author: beginner_max
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 09:53:35 pm
content: I think I will use 128x64 at most in the future Grafik LCD, sometime 16x2 and really rare TFTs, because is hard to use it on Breakboard, but 128x64 is neraly easy somtimes more easier in Spi mode with only 3 cables then 16x2LCD

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 10:16:33 pm
content: HD44780 compatible 2x16... actually 1x8, 2x16, 2x20, 2x32, 2x40, 4x16, 4x20 (80 characters max) have served the industry for over 4 decades now. They offer the ultimate in availability and interchangeability for character based displays. The only reason not to use them is if your application is better suited to 7 segment LEDs or requires graphics. There are several graphical LCD controller ICs, not too many but not universal like the character ones.Edit: Yes, SPI interface displays can be easier to prototype or take less I/O pins.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 11:03:25 pm
content: buydisplay.comThey also have an ebay store for small quantities. Lots of options. Decent support (especially compared to aliexpress).Use the tech with the minimal overhead that still works for what you need. If you just need a number, even consider 7segment on the board.Stay away from RGB parallel and all the high speed digital stuff (DSI, MIPI) unless you absolutely need that. Even getting one of the SPI displays configured and up and running is non-trivial. Just a heads up.

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 11:49:24 pm
content: Yeah, the HD44780 compatible clones are brilliant because they're a standard that lots of people make to. They're ugly, they're power inefficient, their raw interface is archaic and you have to be careful of variants (PCF I2C chips vs micro at different max I2C speeds, 3.3V vs 5V, contrast manual adjust versus auto); but the list of headaches is known and stable. Every platform has a library to drive them. Your product isn't screwed if one supplier stops making them.Other screens are more beautiful though

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 11:53:03 pm
content: Nokia 5110 (compatible) 84x48 LCD are everywhere, as low as $1, low power, easy to drive. Has to be better than a 2x16 text display in most applications...Though these days 0.96" 128X64 OLED full colour are basically the same price.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 12:03:43 am
content: Quote from: brucehoult on March 08, 2025, 11:53:03 pmDo those have a text mode, or do they only operate in pixel-addressable graphics mode?I guess even if so it wouldn't be all that hard to roll your own character generator ... been there, done that.

author: MarkF
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 12:05:47 am
content: I've been using theWaveshare 1.5inch RGB OLED Display Module, 65K RGB Colors, 128×128, SPIfor small displays.It uses the SSD1351 display driver and you can download Adafruit's graphics library to quickly get up and running.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 12:08:30 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on March 09, 2025, 12:03:43 amYou need to include a font bitmap in your code. NBD, there are libraries for it, most fonts are under half a k in size.e.g.https://github.com/gavinlyonsrepo/NOKIA5110_TEXT

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 07:12:47 am
content: Quote from: brucehoult on March 09, 2025, 12:08:30 amLibraries are more for high level language programmers, and we recently learned that ,besides being to lazy to read all the replies to his own question, he is an assembly language programmer._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As for displays it all depends on ones needs for a particular project. If some text is sufficient the HD44780 compatible displays are great. There is a I2C module available to make them I2C driven, so less wires are needed.See this link for both the I2C module as several types of the displayshttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007758009506.html.Than there are loads of SPI driven LCD graphical panels ranging from <1 inch to 4 or 5 inches.https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-spi-display-module.html.For systems that have interfaces for 24 bit RGB digital input LCD panels you can use the bigger displays like 7 inch 800*480 or 1024*600.https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005006362847545.html,https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007469511380.html. These are just random picks to give an idea.I have played with all of the above mentioned types of displays. Why, well for the fun of hobby and to build things that need to give some sort of feedback to the user.There are so may options to choose from that, without more information, it is hard to answer your question.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 07:25:58 am
content: Quote from: pcprogrammer on March 09, 2025, 07:12:47 amLibrary functions and data objects are just as easily and interchangeably created and used in assembly language as in C -- or at least the ratio of difficulty is not any different than asm vs C in general.Code:char myfont[] = {0xff, 0x81, ...}... is not inherently easier or harder than ...Code:myfont: db 0xff, 0x81, ...

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 09:52:38 am
content: Quote from: brucehoult on March 09, 2025, 07:25:58 amCalling a function in a library from assembler is not as simple as in C, where you have the definition of the function with its parameters given. The compiler takes care of the hard stuff of where the parameters need to be put. In assembler you have to do this yourself.But this is off topic for this thread.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 10:15:30 am
content: Quote from: pcprogrammer on March 09, 2025, 09:52:38 amThat is a difference between C and asm. It is not a difference between using a library function and a local function in asm.Mate, I write asm all the time, for several different ISAs. I call back and forth between C and asm in different libraries. It's just not that hard.Here is something I wrote off the cuff in a couple of minutes and posted three hours ago:https://old.reddit.com/r/RISCV/comments/1bj0gcc/how_to_do_bare_metal_in_milk_v_duo/mgte51c/

author: luiHS
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 02:10:27 pm
content: Mini TFT displays with 2 data lane MIPI interface for playing videos with SMT32H7 microcontrollers. I use 3.97" rectangular, 3.4" square and 2.36" round models. Resolutions vary from 320 to 800 pixels.Also 11.6" TFT displays with HDMI interface for Raspberry.

author: bobxyz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 03:22:37 am
content: Quote from: beginner_max on March 08, 2025, 08:58:40 pmThat's a great question! There are no wrong answers, but all can learn from everyone's choices.I have an old Volvo 245 station wagon and have been playing around for several years with adding a digital dashboard gauge. There's limited space behind one of the original dashboard blanking plates to add the display, so this has been the primary constraint -- it needs to fit the available space. I'm working on the 3rd revision of this project now.The first revision used a 2.2" 320x240 color TFT LCD display, with a 5volt SPI interface, mated to an Arduino 32U4 ProMicro. This barely fit the available space. This one used a hand-wired prototype on perf board. From this, I learned that the ProMicro over SPI wasn't fast enough to update the display to my liking.The second revision switched to a smaller and lower resolution 1.44" 128x160 TFT LCD (Deek-Robot brand on ebayhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/310787649226). The reduced 128x160 resolution, with some careful coding, allowed the display to update fast enough for me. I did a JLCPCB circuit board to prototype this version. I liked the final packaging, but the text was a little too blocky (up-scaled 5x7 font) and I was running out of code space on the ProMicro. I also ran into a weird problem that the LCD display disappeared with my polarized sun glasses. I think this was an artifact of leaving the screen protector plastic in place instead of peeling it off. I also did a MegaSquirt/MaxxECU CAN bus dbc version of this display. See attached pics.I'm working on the third revision now. It uses the same 128x160 display, with the built-in 5v-to-3.3v SPI level translators, but I switched to a RP2040 processor module. The RP is nice in that it has lots of code space, is much faster, and allows drag-and-drop reprogramming. To update code with the previous revision required setting up the Arduino environment, or a separate reprogramming environment. The new RP will show up as a USB storage device if you hold the Boot button during power-up. If you then drag-and-drop an update file onto the USB storage letter, it will automatically reprogam itself. This is really nice to allow non-tech folks to update the firmware without needing to know anything about the development environment.If you have room for a larger display, there are cheap Touchscreen TFTs readily available. A friend sent me this link for a 2.8" TFT touchscreen with a ESP32 processor - it looks fun, but I haven't tried it.https://randomnerdtutorials.com/lvgl-cheap-yellow-display-esp32-2432s028r/

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 03:42:20 am
content: Hmm usually they have banana jacks that plug into a meter or oscilloscope

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 03:52:02 am
content: I’ve been thinking recently that “someone” should write some code for one of those cheap chips that emulates an i2c character displays (eg 16x2 chars), but uses an i2c graphics display (oled or tft) as the actual display. The latter are cheap and available in a pleasant variety of sizes, but managing the bitmap in popular 8bit projects can be problematic.(Adding to the paradox of peripherals with more compute power than the “main” cpu. But … who cares?)

author: elektryk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 07:41:18 am
content: Quote from: beginner_max on March 08, 2025, 08:58:40 pmBasically yes.My recent project is based on STM32H7 (LTDC) and 480x272 TFT, but I also had simple projects for which 7seg was enough.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 08:02:05 am
content: for those people sick of readouts, how about a library that lets you use a XY scope to see microcontroller display?its actually useful, imagine you can probe random microcontrollers and see what their doing on a scope

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 10:13:30 am
content: I'm involved in an OSHW project and we originally started with HD44780 based text displays. Later on we added support for various LCD/OLED graphic displays after users were asking for more fancy displays. I've written a simple UI framework including display drivers supporting about 15 different display controllers (HD44780, common LCD and OLED controllers, and even VT100 serial terminal) using multiple interfaces (parallel, I2C, SPI). Users can choose the display they prefer or whatever they find in their drawer.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 06:24:36 pm
content: QuoteSounds nice! Link and/or project name, please?

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 07:10:29 pm
content: Transistortester m-firmware:https://github.com/madires/Transistortester-Warehouse

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 07:51:00 pm
content: I like LCD displays from DOG as they work with 3.3V and serial interface. Most of newer 16/2 displays too work with 3.3V but not all of them.

author: elektryk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2025, 09:31:28 pm
content: There are also OLED displays in this series.Standard SSD1309 controller which requires external boost converter.https://www.tme.eu/en/details/eaoledl128-6lwa/graphical-oled-displays/display-visions/ea-oledl128-6lwa/

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 05:27:28 pm
content: I always reach forBuyDisplay/EastRising IPS display modulesfirst, usually the2.4"or2.8"320×240 ones, with capacitive touchscreen.As a hobbyist, Ireallyappreciate the way BuyDisplay/EastRising provides sufficient datasheets without registration and all that mess. They also sell at eBay and AliExpress, making it easy for me to get one-offs.I do also have small I²C and SPI OLEDs, too.

author: ZGoode
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 05:33:08 pm
content: Seconding the BuyDisplay LCD's. I'm a big fan of their small monochrome panels. NominalAnimal makes a good point that their datasheets and examples are pretty good and you don't have to dig around too hard to find them.I also really like the Pervasive epaper modules. They have some pretty good tutorials and github examples

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 07:25:09 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on March 11, 2025, 05:27:28 pmThe shop on Aliexpress:https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1103833921The fact that they have the datasheets available is indeed a big plus.