How to Use a Screen to Display CPU Temp (not thermistor)?

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In short, I want to use a screen to display CPU temps as reported by software (or hardware, technically) from my motherboard. A screen is easy, the hard part is controlling the screen.

I want to use a screen (LCD, TFT, OLED, I’m open to anything but right now mostly looking at RGB negative 20x4, for blue to match my pc build theme) to display CPU temps, as reported from the motherboard (ie either pulling from software like cputemp, hwinfo, etc, or straight from the hardware, the cpu, etc), NOT a thermistor (you can’t use a thermistor on a chip anywhere close to accurately, and closest is to mill it, assuming you have an IHS, which I dont).

I’ll be putting it inside my windowed case, but if I could find a screen with 4x1 or 5¾x1⅝" vieweing or active area that would be perfect as I could mount it in a 3.25/5.25 bay. Cutting a spare bay cover is not an option, as my Bitfenix Shinobi case has a ‘Sofplastic’ coating so any cutting into the panels looks awful (I could put u-trim on it, but that’d look like crap… i mean if I can’t find a screen in those sizes, don’t worry, and I’ll play with cutting the bay covers anyways). This is not a necessity, as mounting inside my case will still look awesome… just preferable.

I know I2C is a challenge as my Z87X-UD3H/i7-4770K motherboard does not have an I2C port (besides messing with the ram modules but obviously that’s not possible), but what about a I2C to USB adaptor?

Besides insanely overpriced, garbage Matrix Orbital screens, the closest I could find to my needs were:

http://www.adafruit.com/products/784

http://www.adafruit.com/images/medium/ID784blue_MED.jpg

As in, it comes with a USB backpack, and then I simply use LCD Smartie software to tell it to report cpu temp from a program like hwinfo. Adafruit doesn’t sell this USB backpack on it’s own. However I’d prefer 20x4 really, and I want to know how to do this without having to buy a ready-kit.

I mean, can I buy an adafruit trinket/gemma/arduino thing to control an LCD? I’m already using a trinket for momentary servo control (push to open side panel, push again to close side panel) but I’m not sure if it has enough resources on it to also control the LCD with input from the motherboard.

Thanks.

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There must be a thousand of those CD drive bay temperature/voltage displays out there, and dirt cheap too.

Reinventing the wheel is all fine and/or dandy, but why? Especially at those prices.

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Er…

First off, those CD drive bays use thermistors, and I already stated the problem with them. They also do not state voltage, they only state fan speed, RPM maybe, and temps as reported from a thermistor, which you cannot use on a chip like the CPU because the heat is already dissipated on the heatsink.

Secondly, they aren’t really dirt cheap. The NZXT sentry 2 is ~$25, (sure, dirt cheap). the bitfenix recon is ~$40 (a bit pricier, and I’m actually using it in this build), I think there’s a few other expensive choices but they aren’t even worth mentioning.

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Did you look at the tutorial on how to use on of these displays? Adafruit has many good ones.

Also, did you do any Google searches on using these displays? There is tons of info out there.

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Adafruit has a tutorial on how to use their USB + Serial Backpack Kit with 16x2 RGB, which doesn’t exactly tell you how to do it, as it’s essentially a plug-n-play unit. If I was able to buy the backpack on it’s own, that’d be cool, which you can’t (which, as others have remarkedon adafruit forums, is very odd, they only have an i2c kit, but if i can use a i2c to usb, that would be cool, if it works?). If I could use an arduino or trinket/gemma, that’d be cool too but I don’t know if that’s possible (all the arduino stuff shows needing some other component too).
On top of that, that kit is only for a 16x2. I’d rather use their 20x4 RGB Negative than the 16x2, really. If it’s really just impossible to set up a screen to my motherboard, then so be it, I’ll buy the 16x2 kit, but I’d rather pick a screen, and then be able to buy some microcontroller or backpack or whatever I need, as necessary.
I mean it’d be super simple if adafruit sold the backpack thing on it’s own, but they don’t.

> Also, did you do any Google searches on using these displays? There is tons of info out there.

I know this will just completely shock everyone, don’t have a heart attack now, but I did. I’ve spent weeks searching, googling, on how to do this. In fact, a couple of the top results have people literally saying ‘it’s impossible’. Which of course, isn’t true, there’s always a way to do it, it’s just a matter of how expensive and time consuming. If I have to hand make an OLED screen, then so be it, but there’s a goal here, and I need help reaching it. It’s a very simple goal, but surprisingly very little info on how to do it.

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Belial88:
I mean, can I buy an adafruit trinket/gemma/arduino thing to control an LCD? I’m already using a trinket for momentary servo control (push to open side panel, push again to close side panel) but I’m not sure if it has enough resources on it to also control the LCD with input from the motherboard.

I believe you've answered your own question. If you have an Arduino of some sort to do your door, then it's only a question of I/O pins (there's always an option there) and software. If you have SW running on the PC that can send the desired info, it should be do-able at the Arduino end. What Arduino do you have and what's your desired display ?
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I didn’t answer my own question. I have an adafruit trinket, but I’m currently using it to control a servo with a momentary switch (first push open, 2nd push close). I’ve been told that I might not have enough memory or pins left to do 2 more things (lcd + input). I could buy an lcd and try, but all the stuff I see on arduino lcd seems to need another thing, a backpack or lcd controller of some kind between the lcd and arduino.

My desired display atm is probably a 20x4 negative RGB LCD, but I’m open to TFT, OLED, anything. I’m looking for a good, darker blue text on black in terms of color (but I’m fairly open, i mean a tft could output any color), and I’d prefer a 4x1 or 5¾x1⅝" active/viewing area screen (but I have yet to find one, crystalfonz,adafruit, sparkfun, etc that comes close).

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I’d ditch the Trinket for something like this and use it for both tasks.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11098

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Belial88:
Er…

First off, those CD drive bays use thermistors, and I already stated the problem with them. They also do not state voltage, they only state fan speed, RPM maybe, and temps as reported from a thermistor, which you cannot use on a chip like the CPU because the heat is already dissipated on the heatsink.

Secondly, they aren’t really dirt cheap. The NZXT sentry 2 is ~$25, (sure, dirt cheap). the bitfenix recon is ~$40 (a bit pricier, and I’m actually using it in this build), I think there’s a few other expensive choices but they aren’t even worth mentioning.

Errr...second off...

Sure, a lot of them use external thermistors, or tap off the tach output of the fans, or tap off the various rails on the PSU…

However, there are a number of boxes out there that run software on the machine and send all that info, including a lot of whatever else you want to throw out there, over a USB link, to the external display.

And define dirt cheap?

Your time & money developing the hardware, software, etc. for this application can’t/won’t come close to what’s out there on the open market.

“Oh, well, I’m going to do this in my spare time and buy cheap parts and build it all myself”

Ya, heard that one a thousand times…and 999 out of those times, they end up buying the “whatever” anyways…

You’ve spent weeks searching and a couple of the top results is people saying that it’s practically impossible to do?

I’m calling B.S. on both points. For those in the know, it’s trivial from both a PC programming standpoint and a hardware development standpoint to do what you want to do.

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Mee_n_Mac:
I’d ditch the Trinket for something like this and use it for both tasks.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11098

For the price of that, I can get 2 trinkets! Space isn’t a huge concern, these micro arduino-esque boards are so small that they’re all more than small enough to fit behind the motherboard panel. Even as cramped as it is behind there, I can still hide a 100+ quarter sized pieces of plastic. Hopefully I can do both tasks on the trinket, if not I’ll consider either buying another trinket or buying a slightly larger micro-board and selling off the trinket.

Can I use an arduino thing to hook straight up to the lcd/screen and then hook the mc to the mobo to provide values to the lcd? dont i need some backpack thing?

However, there are a number of boxes out there that run software on the machine and send all that info, including a lot of whatever else you want to throw out there, over a USB link, to the external display.

And define dirt cheap?

I have not seen any. Dirt cheap is under $20, over $50 is a bit ridiculous, over $75 is absolutely absurd even for something that is 100% perfect (perfect size, perfect display for what I want, easy control).

Your time & money developing the hardware, software, etc. for this application can’t/won’t come close to what’s out there on the open market.

I don’t know what you mean by this, a custom built thing will always be WAY better than anything on the open market (i mean you could literally build whatever it is that’s on the open market for just 1/4th the cost…), and secondly, what I’m looking for absolutely does not exist below $100 (which is ludicrous) and even the $100+ Matrix Orbital displays are pieces of crap (not paying $110 for an ugly, steel, 16x2 micro green no backlight lcd…). And they don’t come anywhere close to being ~$20.

Worst case scenario, I can buy that 16x2 RGB Negative LCD + USB Backpack kit on adafruit for ~$24. I’d rather a display that was a bit larger (not even more pixels, just viewing/active area so it could fit in a 3.5 or 5.25 bay), and that I could get the microcontroller on it’s own instead of in that negative LCD kit.

i mean I could literally just buy that kit, scrap the 16x2, and buy some 20x4 that’s a little bigger, for under $40. But I don’t think it’s worth paying that much for it. I mean putting that 16x2 just inside my computer case would be very cool, I was just hoping either for something a bit bigger, or putting it in my 3.5/5.25 bay.

Seriously, that 16x2 RGB kit is very ideal. I’m really just asking how to do this, rather than a plug and play kit. After all is said and done, there is a very high likelihood that I’m just going to buy that kit, and be extremely satisfied. I have 2 very simple questions, and am having trouble getting an answer:

1. Can I use any arduino or trinket/adafruit or etc microcontroller, to straight attach to the LCD and to the motherboard, to display my software/hardware CPU temps (and other system values)?
2. Is there any USB LCD backpack that I can buy on it’s own, like the one supplied in the discussed 16x2 rgb adafruit kit? And then I can just hook that straight up to the mobo right?
3. Can I use an i2c to USB adaptor to solve the issue of all screens using i2c? I see adafruit has an i2c lcd backpack, could I use that with a usb adaptor straight to pc?
Very Simply, I want to use a ‘screen’ to display my CPU temps as reported by the hardware itself, to the motherboard (or software values pulling from said sensors). How in the world do I do this. HOW do I do it. Not ‘buy this and plug it in and play’, I’m literally asking a very simple question of HOW. Arduino? i2c to usb adaptor? lcd backpack?

I didn’t come here to be attacked, I assure you I’ve spent a ton of hours searching this topic, and have not gotten help on it further than ‘i2c is incredibly complicated and you can’t directly connect it to your motherboard/computer’ and ‘this adafruit kit will work’.

You’ve spent weeks searching and a couple of the top results is people saying that it’s practically impossible to do?

I’m calling B.S. on both points. For those in the know, it’s trivial from both a PC programming standpoint and a hardware development standpoint to do what you want to do.

I am shocked at how rude you are to someone interested in this community. Here you go, top results on ‘how to use an lcd screen to monitor cpu temps’:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1381544

Looking for control panel with CPU/GPU temp display

I use a Scythe 5.25" LCD unit, in which I just attach the probes to the CPU before I mount the HS, GPU (remove cooling assembling, attach the thermistor to the core with supplied tape, reattach cooling) and just attach another one to your motherboard wherever you feel you want to monitor the temperature

i’m not sure how there’d be any other way to do it

http://forums.evga.com/tm.aspx?m=1260241

LED display for CPU temperature?

those are great, and I had seen them on new egg, but as I mentioned above, I was hoping not to have a bunch of wires going everywhere, so I was looking for a display that did not use temperature probes.

Ahh, well that’s not possible to my knowledge… It’s that or nothing I think… I just check mine at idle, and load, then I just run my rig. They shouldn’t ever change too often.

I assure you, I have done a ton of research into this.

Oh, here’s my thread that’s been active at the adafruit forums asking the same question. I thought the sparkfun community might be a better community, silly me:

http://www.forums.adafruit.com/viewtopi … 02cf64ae95

There are zero guides on how to do this out there. I’ve searched, I’ve read every guide. No, the adafruit tutorial merely show show to do it if you buy their kit, but what if I want to use a screen other than the 16x2, where do I get a USB LCD backpack? Because no one else in the world sells it, packaged or otherwise. There’s a ton of tutorials showing how to do it with highly inaccurate thermistors. I’ve seen guides on how to use matrix orbitals.

But no guides on how to hook up any screen I choose - LCD, TFT, OLED, etc, which are all i2c - to a microcontroller or backpack or whatever I need, to read values from the motherboard.

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Please attribute your quotes properly. I did not post that which you’ve seemingly attributed to me.

If you don’t want to spend the $20 and toss the $8 away to get a workable solution, fine by me. Next time think everything through until all your goals are realized. Your shortsightedness isn’t my problem. Your thread will live as a good example of what I try to teach re: setting some system requirements before rushing out to buy parts.

Have a good day and hope it all works out for you. Post pics or it didn’t happen.

RE: your questions

1. Can I use any arduino or trinket/adafruit or etc microcontroller, to straight attach to the LCD and to the motherboard, to display my software/hardware CPU temps (and other system values)?

Yes, I’ve given you one.

Hopefully I can do both tasks on the trinket, if not I’ll consider either buying another trinket or buying a slightly larger micro-board and selling off the trinket.

Perhaps but the memory space will be tight w/a Trinket and expanding the free pins will cost more than $12.

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Belial88:
I have not seen any. Dirt cheap is under $20, over $50 is a bit ridiculous, over $75 is absolutely absurd even for something that is 100% perfect (perfect size, perfect display for what I want, easy control).

4 square inches of PCB at OSHPARK = $20 right there. You're at your budget limit. Unless you plan on making a wheelbarrow full.

Add some parts. You’re out of your budget limit.

I don’t know what you mean by this, a custom built thing will always be WAY better than anything on the open market (i mean you could literally build whatever it is that’s on the open market for just 1/4th the cost…)

Right. Your time and effort are worth exactly zero.

Worst case scenario, I can buy that 16x2 RGB Negative LCD + USB Backpack kit on adafruit for ~$24. I’d rather a display that was a bit larger (not even more pixels, just viewing/active area so it could fit in a 3.5 or 5.25 bay), and that I could get the microcontroller on it’s own instead of in that negative LCD kit.

i mean I could literally just buy that kit, scrap the 16x2, and buy some 20x4 that’s a little bigger, for under $40. But I don’t think it’s worth paying that much for it. I mean putting that 16x2 just inside my computer case would be very cool, I was just hoping either for something a bit bigger, or putting it in my 3.5/5.25 bay.

LCDs all over ebay... I got a couple of touchscreens, one RGB 800x480 (ok, that's bigger than a drive enclosure, throwing out a point), $50. Another one, 2.2" RGB touchscreen, 160x128 I think, cost me about $30 for 3 of them IIRC. And then there's the freebie 122x32 VFD module I just got, for, FREE.

Seriously, that 16x2 RGB kit is very ideal. I’m really just asking how to do this, rather than a plug and play kit. After all is said and done, there is a very high likelihood that I’m just going to buy that kit, and be extremely satisfied. I have 2 very simple questions, and am having trouble getting an answer:

You're asking all about using Arduino's, Trinket's, AdaFruit, etc.

If you’re asking about those, then interfacing directly with a motherboard is beyond your capabilities.

1. Can I use any arduino or trinket/adafruit or etc microcontroller, to straight attach to the LCD and to the motherboard, to display my software/hardware CPU temps (and other system values)?[/quote]
Not easily, not at Arduino “speeds” for one thing.

> 2. Is there any USB LCD backpack that I can buy on it’s own, like the one supplied in the discussed 16x2 rgb adafruit kit? And then I can just hook that straight up to the mobo right?

What makes you think this is possible?

> 3. Can I use an i2c to USB adaptor to solve the issue of all screens using i2c? I see adafruit has an i2c lcd backpack, could I use that with a usb adaptor straight to pc?

Can you write a program to send data out to a USB endpoint?

> Very Simply, I want to use a ‘screen’ to display my CPU temps as reported by the hardware itself, to the motherboard (or software values pulling from said sensors). How in the world do I do this. HOW do I do it. Not ‘buy this and plug it in and play’, I’m literally asking a very simple question of HOW. Arduino? i2c to usb adaptor? lcd backpack?
>
> [/b]

Already told you. You use Windows, Linux, whatever, to pull the info from the OS, and dump that out a USB (or serial port, or USB-serial port adapter).

> I assure you I’ve spent a ton of hours searching this topic, and have not gotten help on it further than ‘i2c is incredibly complicated and you can’t directly connect it to your motherboard/computer’ and ‘this adafruit kit will work’.

I2C is NOT incredibly complicated. What IS complicated is figuring out HOW you want to do it and when you are willing to increase your ‘dirt cheap’ limit above $20.

> I am shocked at how rude you are to someone interested in this community. Here you go, top results on ‘how to use an lcd screen to monitor cpu temps’:
>
> http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1381544

Oh…the hardforums…now there’s a prime resource…NOT!
That’s a prime resource…for the script kiddie that’s having trouble getting the latest game to run at 1 more FPS or getting that last 1Mhz out of their GPU.

> I assure you, I have done a ton of research into this.

In all the wrong places…

> Oh, here’s my thread that’s been active at the adafruit forums asking the same question. I thought the sparkfun community might be a better community, silly me:
>
> http://www.forums.adafruit.com/viewtopi … 02cf64ae95

Another prime place for script kiddies…

> But no guides on how to hook up any screen I choose - LCD, TFT, OLED, etc, which are all i2c - to a microcontroller or backpack or whatever I need, to read values from the motherboard.
[/quote]
And you probably won’t find EXACTLY what you want in one place, all neat and tidy, just for you.
You gotta break it down into pieces.
The only obvious way I can see getting this done is to do like I was saying (not saying it’s the only way, but it’s the way I’d go if I wanted useless information like that), let the OS do the hard work of grabbing the data, dump it out the USB (either as a HID or serial via a USB-serial converter), display it on an LCD (whether it’s a serial backpack type or a graphical LCD with it’s own micro controller).
How do you think remote system monitoring is done via the 'net? Magic?
No. They’ve got specific software running in the background, grabbing all the data, putting it all in nice packets, and sending it over the 'net.
You might find somebody to hold your hand while you realize that you can’t build whatever-it-is for $20, but it won’t be me.
And I’d doubt it’ll be much of anybody else either…
EDIT: Just took a quick look at NewEgg to see what’s out there. $65 for the most expensive one. Ya, you might get away with a cheap $10 LCD, maybe $10 worth of mounts, cables, etc. Doubt it, but it might happen.
How long is it going to take you to learn how to program Windows, Linux, MAC OS, etc. to send the data out there? And once you’ve figured out how to program Windows/Linux/MAC OS/etc., how long is it going to take you to figure out how to get all that data out of the OS?

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Please attribute your quotes properly. I did not post that which you’ve seemingly attributed to me.

If you don’t want to spend the $20 and toss the $8 away to get a workable solution, fine by me. Next time think everything through until all your goals are realized. Your shortsightedness isn’t my problem. Your thread will live as a good example of what I try to teach re: setting some system requirements before rushing out to buy parts.

Have a good day and hope it all works out for you. Post pics or it didn’t happen.

? I did not attribute any quotes to you that weren’t you. I’m here to get help, but the people here are quite rude and unhelpful. There is no shortsightedness here, only someone who wants to learn. Yes, I’d rather not spend $40, not $20, to buy a $24 kit + $15 LCD that is not even the optimal screen. For the perfect screen, that fits in 5.25 or 3.5 bay, sure I’d be willing to do that. But otherwise, on thanks, I’ll just buy the $20 kit and use the 16x2, it’s really not a big deal.

  1. Can I use any arduino or trinket/adafruit or etc microcontroller, to straight attach to the LCD and to the motherboard, to display my software/hardware CPU temps (and other system values)?

Yes, I’ve given you one.

No, you didn’t. You said you’d ditch the trinket. You didn’t explain that the arduino-style MC is capable of directly linking to the i2c screen, and taking input from the z87 motherboard and sending it to the LCD screen.

So could I just buy another trinket and do these 2 tasks (lcd + input)? I know you said you recommend ditching the trinket, and I very well may just buy the one you linked to do both my tasks, but I’m curious on just what exactly I’m looking for (do i need x amount of memory, or a pin count, or something here?).

I found a guide here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Connect … /?ALLSTEPS

But it says it will only be 4 bit (is that bad?),and doesn’t say if it can hook up to the pc. Can I use something like LCD smartie, or do I need to code something?

Perhaps but the memory space will be tight w/a Trinket and expanding the free pins will cost more than $12.

What about a backpack unit? how much would it cost?

4 square inches of PCB at OSHPARK = $20 right there. You’re at your budget limit. Unless you plan on making a wheelbarrow full.

Add some parts. You’re out of your budget limit.

I don’t know what you are referring to with ‘oshpark’, but my budget isn’t limited here. But given the fact that 16x2 RGB Negative Kit is on adafruit for $25, it’s going to be hard to justify spending much more than $25. I just want to use a screen to show my CPU temps, it’s really not that complicated. But somehow, it is.

Right. Your time and effort are worth exactly zero.

i do not mod or build my personal compute for monetary gain, so yes, I would consider my time and effort worth exactly zero, as I enjoy doing this stuff. I know that might surprise you, but I like hacking ,modding, etc with electronics and computer components. I would love to learn the world of arduino, MCs, etc, but a lot of people in this community seem offended that you don’t know exactly how to code an arduino on day 1.

LCDs all over ebay… I got a couple of touchscreens, one RGB 800x480 (ok, that’s bigger than a drive enclosure, throwing out a point), $50. Another one, 2.2" RGB touchscreen, 160x128 I think, cost me about $30 for 3 of them IIRC. And then there’s the freebie 122x32 VFD module I just got, for, FREE.

Thanmks, I’ll look into ebay more.

And you probably won’t find EXACTLY what you want in one place, all neat and tidy, just for you.

You gotta break it down into pieces.

That’s exactly what I want. The 16x2 rgb negative adafruit kit is ‘all neat and tidy’, but I want to at least know how to buy the parts on their own. I mean I’d rather have a 20x4 negative rgb w/usb kit than the 16x2.

The only obvious way I can see getting this done is to do like I was saying (not saying it’s the only way, but it’s the way I’d go if I wanted useless information like that), let the OS do the hard work of grabbing the data, dump it out the USB (either as a HID or serial via a USB-serial converter), display it on an LCD (whether it’s a serial backpack type or a graphical LCD with it’s own micro controller).

Right, I figured I’d pull just software data like from HWinfo or coretemp using LCD smartie through usb. I’m just a bit confused on how to do that.

You might find somebody to hold your hand while you realize that you can’t build whatever-it-is for $20, but it won’t be me.

And I’d doubt it’ll be much of anybody else either…

I never asked anyone to keep it at $20, I don’t know where you get that from. And I can do it for $20, the adafruit 16x2 rgb negative kit I linked in the OP. Unfortunately, the USB backpack adafruit sells isn’t sold on it’s own, so I need to buy an expensive, overkill arduino thing instead, it sounds like (which I didn’t know until now, I thought you needed an MC + backpack).

Just took a quick look at NewEgg to see what’s out there. $65 for the most expensive one. Ya, you might get away with a cheap $10 LCD, maybe $10 worth of mounts, cables, etc. Doubt it, but it might happen.

How long is it going to take you to learn how to program Windows, Linux, MAC OS, etc. to send the data out there? And once you’ve figured out how to program Windows/Linux/MAC OS/etc., how long is it going to take you to figure out how to get all that data out of the OS?

What? All I need is the LCD, and then I stick it inside my computer. There is no mounting needed, do you even read my posts? And I could also mount it on a spare blank bay cover, just cut a hole in it and tape/glue/etc it on behind, if I wanted to go that route. If I could find a 5.25 or 3.5" bay sized screen, I could literally just tape/glue/etc behind my 5.25 to floppy bay adaptor or remove a blank 5.25 bay cover and put it behind it (wouldnt care if it’s permanent, though I can even do it non-permanently).

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As for the software, as I understand, I can just use LCD Smartie program (I know I can do it with that 16x2 RGB negative usb kit that adafruit sells for $25, for example).

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Belial88,

There is no need to keep flagging posts as being rude. I’m not going to delete them because there is nothing blatantly bad going on here. There are some passive-aggressive comments on both sides but nothing that warrants moderation.

-Bill

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Belial88:
No, you didn’t. You said you’d ditch the trinket. You didn’t explain that the arduino-style MC is capable of directly linking to the i2c screen, and taking input from the z87 motherboard and sending it to the LCD screen.

OK, let me be as explicit as I can. Buy the MCU I linked to (or it’s equal). It can directly interface to and control any character display you’ll find. It’s quite likely there will be pre-tested source code (aka a library) to run on the Arduino to control the display.

Buy a blue 20x4 display. I happen to like OLEDs for their contrast and daylight readability. They are more $$s and sometimes the init routine timing is slightly different from standard LCDs. So try to find one that’s been successfully used w/it’s code published. One example might be;

http://www.newhavendisplay.com/nhd0420d … -5917.html

Get a 5v display, get a 5v MCU, since you’ll be powering them from the USB 5v.

Buy a USB cable with the proper connectors at each end. This may be hard to find as the mobo is just a header of pins. You may have to hack a cable to add a mobo compatible connector.

Install the LCD Smartie SW as instructed over at Adafruit. Code up the SW needed for the Arduino to take the data from Smartie and make it appear pretty on the display. Add your servo code as well … or don’t. Make a choice.

I note “support_bill” over at Adafruit has suggested pretty much the same for the same reasons.

When you multi-quote and only the top quote is attributed, the rest aren’t, the assumption is all the quotes belong to the named poster. When you switch to quoting another poster, it’s good etiquette to name that poster & quote. You didn’t.

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It can directly interface to and control any character display you’ll find. It’s quite likely there will be pre-tested source code (aka a library) to run on the Arduino to control the display.

Is this because it’s special, or because any arduino-style thing can do it, save for the trinket, gemma, etc because they have too little RAM and slots on them?

Don’t particularly need daylight readability, but yea an oled is definitely on my short list. The one you linked is 3x1, so not quite 4x1 (which is fine, like i said, perfect would be 3.25 or 5.25 bay size, but otherwise any screen is fine and i just stick it inside my case instead of in a bay, it’s not such a big deal).

Buy a USB cable with the proper connectors at each end. This may be hard to find as the mobo is just a header of pins. You may have to hack a cable to add a mobo compatible connector.

yea i would have no problem hacking a solution up just to attach to a header. I have a usb device using only 1/2 on the header, so i might mate it into that header.

When you multi-quote and only the top quote is attributed, the rest aren’t, the assumption is all the quotes belong to the named poster. When you switch to quoting another poster, it’s good etiquette to name that poster & quote. You didn’t.

I thought the thread was small enough that id’be clear that the rest of the quotes was just to the guy above me, i apologize. Next time I’ll just remove names completely.

Thanks, I didn’t realize I could just use an arduino-style MC to do this. I thought I needed some special arduino to lcd interface backpack thing. Is it a plug and play kinda thing, ie just hook it all up, hook lcd to arduino-thing, arduino to pc via usb, and then run lcd smartie, or is there some sort of arduino set-up stuff I have to do? The tutorial on adafruit made it seem very plug-and-play with smartie.

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Belial88:

It can directly interface to and control any character display you’ll find. It’s quite likely there will be pre-tested source code (aka a library) to run on the Arduino to control the display.

Is this because it's special, or because any arduino-style thing can do it, save for the trinket, gemma, etc because they have too little RAM and slots on them?
The MCU that's the brain of the Trinket is just too limited, not enough flash, SRAM and pins to control most displays w/o more hardware (ie - a "backpack") and even then, just not enough memory. The MCU on the Micro has enough of all of the aforementioned. There are many other MCU choices that are equally capable but since you're already in Arduinoland w/the Trinket...

Belial88:
Is it a plug and play kinda thing, ie just hook it all up, hook lcd to arduino-thing, arduino to pc via usb, and then run lcd smartie, or is there some sort of arduino set-up stuff I have to do? The tutorial on adafruit made it seem very plug-and-play with smartie.

The hardware is pretty plug but you'll need to program the Arduino to make things play. Similar to that needed to control the servo, but more. I know nothing re: LCD Smartie. Have you programmed the Trinket yet ? The underlined above raises some concern. It's not trivial if you have no prior programming experience. Not all that hard if you've done even just simple BASIC programs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated … nvironment

http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Introduction

http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Environment

http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/HomePage

http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/LiquidCrystal

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OK some 30 mins of Googling tells me this re: Smartie. It was originally a program that controlled the parallel port which in turn was connected to the LCD display. FF to today and there’s a “plug in” that formats the data to be sent over the USB in a standard way. You find Arduino code, already written, that knows how to take that data and manipulate the Arduinos I/O pins to control the display. In effect the Arduino emulates an old LPT port and it’s hardware. You are restricted to certain displays unless you want to write your own Arduino program. Stick to displays that have compatible controllers in them, wire it “properly” (as reqd by the code) and you shouldn’t have to write the code for the Arduino, just find it and D/L it to the Arduino.

http://waihung.net/lcd-smartie-through-arduino/

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,8355.0.html

http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/Ncr4X … tieAdapter

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Thanks so much for your input, I really appreciate it. My servo trinket stuff came in, let me get a bit of experience with that and then I’ll come back to this.

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Actually I want to start this project plan back up. I think the display I’ll be going with is:

http://www.adafruit.com/products/498

20x4 RGB Negative

For a blue text display, basically.

So I know I just get a microcontroller and it’ll work. So I guess I get the Pro Micro for my microcontroller (and then maybe use that too for the servo mod of earlier). Then just simply plug and play for LCD Smartie. Actually I might go with the arduino micro for being a blue PCB for aesthetics… not sure where I’ll put the MCU (either in the open on my pc or hidden) at the moment.

However, I’d like to combine my voltmeter mod of earlier, and just use it on the other 2 lines of this display. I’ve seen some stuff saying the arduino can be a voltmeter itself, but the wiring is really complex and lots of resistors and stuff, the code seems kinda complex, and I’m not sure on the resolution. I think the max range is either operating voltage (3.3 or 5v depending on the MC i think) or 9v, either way that’s way more than ~2.8v, but I’m not sure on accuracy. So yea - can the accuracy be near .01v, can the resolution be .01v, and can it accept 2 voltages to measure.

Can all these things be done on the Pro Micro/arduino micro? (momentary servo control, 20x4 lcd display, input from lcd smartie, and input from 2 voltages)? If so, I’ll use it instead of the trinket, and I think I’ll use my trinket for another mod.