PicoLCD

The folks at Mini-Box were kind enough to respond with both schematics and source code for my PicoLCD 20x2 display. The Mini-box page lists it as "out of stock" and they have several snazzier products now but this is the one that I have.

Now I can do something fun with it. Well. Let's say "More fun." I was already able to get it going on 8track with the generic lcd4linux program, but I want to be able to use all the extra ports on it. What I have in mind requires programming the actual board.

Some specs:

LCD: 20 characters wide, 2 rows, with backlight
CPU: Microchip 18F4550 (Microchip page)
This chip has 32K of Flash, 2K RAM, a 13 channel 10-bit ADC, a couple comparators, and of course the 11Mbps USB port.
One bit switch
64k EEPROM
IR port

There are many interesting features on this board considering on the surface it's just a 20x2 LCD. A companion product from Mini-box is a board with buttons and an IR receiver on it. I don't have one of those, and it would not fit in 8track anyway.

One bit switch NC7SZ384: The board has connectors for "power in", "power out", and a "power button". The power in and and out are wired up to the switch. The "power button" is simply connected to a port on the CPU.

to be continued