Hi i come from planet simple :oops: im only used to picaxe. can some one please write a step by step guide on programming these backpacks s the datasheet is not at all clear. also i guess they are not really interfaceable with pic chips.
Many Thanks
Andy
Even reply if you dont have a clue it is nice to talk 
SPI (also known as Microwireâ„¢) is a pretty simple serial interface. I think most of the 18xxx PICs have a hardware SPI interface and most of the 16xxx PICs don’t, but I could be wrong.
Even if your PIC doesn’t have an SPI interface builtin, it’s easy to implement an SPI master in software (bit-banging), since the master doesn’t have any tight timing requirements. (This is unlike async serial. Async serial doesn’t have a separate clock line, so you have to be careful to get each bit out at the right time even if your controller is servicing interrupts.) The PIC is the master and the serial-LCD-backpack is the slave. The main difference is that the master is in charge of all timing, and initiates all requests to the slave (the slave only speaks when spoken to).
Here’s a [faq page about SPI which might help. Maybe someone has some example code for whatever compiler or development environment you’re using. Hope this helps.](notitle)
yea that helps a bit but the backpack has an onboard atmega8 and some inputs for switches i think. there description is not very clear and ther isno help on how toactually program it thanks again