Just an LCD?
Liquid Crystal Displays, everybody’s got one, and you want to
get your hands on one too. Well if you’ve done your research,
you’ve no doubt ably come to the conclusion that there are numerous
choices to make and many questions to ask. What manufacturer do I
use? What Software do I want? Do I want wide voltage? How many lines
should I get? Character or Graphic? LCD or VFD? How many GPO’s?
Parallel or Serial? It’s enough to completely discourage you
from going any further.
Well fret no more! Our friends over at Matrix Orbital and LCDC have
come up with a package that answers almost all these questions for
you. In fact, the only thing they haven’t done is come over
and installed it for you.
I’m talking about the brand new MX212 Series LCD Package.
It’s a virtual one stop shop of everything you need to get
started.
Included in this bundle is:
• An LK202-24-USB LCD (Available in
WB,GW,R and IY (Pics Below)
• A bay insert (Available in Black, Beige, and dare I say
it? *Alum coming soon!?* (Pics below)
• A 3ft USB cable attached to LCD
• An eCD complete with Manuals, Setup guides and of course
the all powerful Character LCD software, LCDC
• Four screws (they will be attached to the bay insert)
So let’s take a look at what makes this new
contender so special; The LK202-24-USB. The first of the Matrix
Orbital displays to run without the use of an RS232 cable. This
one of a kind display has these following features to boast:
• 20 column by 2 line text display
• built-in font with provision for up to 8 user-defined characters
• Speeds from 1200 bps to a lighting fast 19.2 Kbps over RS232
• Power AND Communicate over USB
• Use up to 100 modules on the same USB Host
• Fully buffered so that no delays in transmission are ever
necessary
• Add your own Splash/Start-up screen
• Use our "Remember" functions to save settings
• Software controlled contrast
• Software controlled backlight brightness
• Backlight with configurable time-out setting up to 180 minutes
• Use up to a 24 key keypad with a 10 key buffer.
• Six general purpose outputs for a variety of applications
(3 high , 3 low)
• Horizontal or Vertical bar graphs
• Power and data from one USB cable
• TX/RX activity led headers (for those who like flashy lights)
The LK202-24-USB has six general purpose outputs. These are provided
to control relays or other electronic devices. This allows external
devices to be turned on or off using your PC or controller and software
commands. That’s right; you can control everything from case
fans to cold cathodes to even your desk lamps! If you’ve followed
my article on installing a color video module into your case, you
can also use the GPO’s to control that!
There are2 types of GPOs on this bad boy, low and high power. GPO
1, 2 and 3 are referred to as Low Power GPOs and are capable of
sourcing +5V at 20mA which is limited with a 240 ohm current limiting
resistors. GPO 4, 5 and 6 have no current limiting resistors and
offer an optional +12V power through the white floppy connecter
located bottom left of the display.
GPOs 4, 5 and 6 can control 12V or 5Vdevices depending
on the jumper selection. Maximum allowable current is 750 mA per
GPO at 12V and 750mA a 5V, which allows the GPOs to be used for
controlling fans, stepper motors, etc. directly without the need
for a relay in many cases. When using the high power GPOs with +5V
selection, note that the USB host can provide a maximum of 500mA
on a high power host; and 150mA on a low power host. The +12V line
will be taken from your systems power supply so need not be concerned
with using more current then the LCD can handle. But exercise caution
with the +5V line. Damage may result to your Motherboard or USB
controller and will not be covered under any warranty from Matrix
Orbital!
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