How to Use a Nokia Color LCD!

by CalcProgrammer1

270K39559

Intro: How to Use a Nokia Color LCD!

Nokia manufactures a wide variety of cell phones and many of their cheaper phones contain simple LCD's which may be used in microcontroller projects.  There is one particular LCD model that is used in a wide variety of their phones and is often referred to as simply a "Nokia LCD", or "Nokia 6100 LCD".  I used to use a Nokia 2600 phone and whenever I upgraded I took the Nokia apart to remove its LCD.  This LCD appears to be the same one that is sold as "Nokia 6100 LCD" and I was able to get it up and running with a bit of work using an AVR.

SparkFun sells them if you do not already have one,
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/569

You will need some sort of breakout board in order to connect the display.  Sparkfun sells several (a standard breakout, an Arduino shield, an Olimex module, etc) as well as the bare surface-mount connector.  Since all of SparkFun's boards include the LCD, I just bought the connector and made my own breakout board since I already had the LCD.

The connector:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/570

STEP 1: LCD Connector and Breakout Board

If you don't have a breakout board, you need to first make some sort of connector for the LCD.  My first attempt was to solder thin magnet wire to each leg of the connector with a fine-tip soldering iron.  This took several tries but eventually I got it connected.  I then applied generous amounts of super glue to make sure it wouldn't come apart and soldered on some thicker wires to connect to the microcontroller.

For cleaner and more practical uses, I eventually made a small breakout board for the connector that can be printed and etched using the laser printer toner transfer method.  Make sure not to put too much pressure on the transfer or the traces can be pressed together.  If this happens, you can try cutting the toner away with a sharp knife, but you'll probably end up breaking the toner trace and have to start over.

I hand-soldered the connector to the finished PCB and then added some breakaway pin headers so that the board may be breadboarded or socketed into projects while being easily removable.

STEP 2: Electrical Interfacing

After you have a breakout board for the LCD connector, you must connect it to your circuit.  There are 10 pins on the connector, one is unused.  The LCD has four control signals (Clock, Data, Reset, Chip Select), two 3.3V inputs, two grounds, and a backlight input.  The LCD driver circuitry runs on 3.3V as do the control signals.  However, the backlight requires a higher voltage around 7V.  Using a 1K ohm resistor between the backlight power and a 12V power supply seems to work well, the voltage is around 6-6.5V which makes it bright enough to use.

Pinout:
1:  Vcc (3.3V)
2:  Reset
3:  Data
4:  Clock
5:  Chip Select
6:  Vcc (3.3V)
7:  Unused (Not Connected)
8:  Ground
9:  Ground (Backlight LED -)
10:  Backlight LED +

Since the LCD protocol is 9-bit SPI, you cannot use the hardware SPI interface found on many microcontrollers (including the AVR series microcontrollers) as they often only support 8-bit mode.  This means that you will probably have to implement a software SPI output.  Electrically, this means you can connect the four control lines to any unused I/O pins on your microcontroller.  Your microcontroller must be running at 3.3V to connect the lines directly, otherwise add 10K ohm resistors on each line to limit the current going into the LCD.

STEP 3: LCD Protocol - Initialization (Phillips PCF8833 Only!)

The LCD has many functions that are available by sending commands over the SPI interface.  The important ones are explained here and will allow you to get your LCD up and running.  A full set of commands is listed in the PCF8833 datasheet here:

http://www.nxp.com/acrobat_download2/datasheets/PCF8833_1.pdf

The 9th bit is the command flag.  If set to 0, the data byte is interpreted as a command.  If 1, the data byte is interpreted as data.  Data may be sent after issuing an appropriate command.

Before you can write to the LCD, it must be initialized.  First, the Reset line must be pulled low for around 100ms and then raised high again.  The Reset line must remain high during operation.  Then, a sequence of commands must be sent, in the following order:

SLEEPOUT (Hex 0x11) - Exits LCD sleep mode

BSTRON (Hex 0x03) - Turns on booster voltage

COLMOD (Hex 0x3A) - Sets pixel format to the following data byte
Data 0x03 - The pixel format 0x03 is 12 bits per pixel

MADCTL (Hex 0x36) - Sets several LCD params - [<Mirror Y>, <Mirror X>, <Vertical Write>, <Bottom to Top>, <BGR/RGB>, -, -, -]
Data 0xC0 - Flips display upside down (my LCD was mounted upside down), uses RGB color format

SETCON (Hex 0x25) - Set Contrast to following data byte
Data 0x40 - This contrast value works fairly well for my LCD, adjust if yours does not display well

DISPON (Hex 0x29) - Turns on display

STEP 4: LCD Protocol - Drawing (Phillips PCF8833 Only!)

Continuing with the protocol, once the LCD is initialized it is ready to draw.  Drawing works by first defining a region to draw and then streaming pixel data to fill that region.  It is confusing at first, but if done properly is more efficient than pixel-by-pixel drawing.  A region is simply a rectangular area on the screen.  We'll say it begins at point (X1,Y1) and ends at point (X2, Y2).  Once defined, the LCD controller will fill in pixels from left to right starting at (X1, Y1).  When it reaches the edge of the region, it will jump to the next line [in my example, (X1, Y1+1) ].  It does this until it reaches (X2, Y2) at which it stops accepting data.  If you only want to draw one pixel, you simply set (X1, Y1) and (X2, Y2) to the pixel you want to draw.  This defines the region as a single pixel.  Any data sent after the first pixel's worth of data is discarded.

To define a region, you must send these commands in the following order:

PASET (Hex 0x2B) - Page Address Set
Data Y1 - The starting Y position
Data Y2 - The ending Y position

CASET (Hex 0x2A) - Column Address Set
Data X1 - The starting X position
Data X2 - The ending X position

RAMWR (Hex 0x2C) - RAM Write - Start sending pixel data after this command

<Pixel Data> - Formatting described below

After the screen is ready to accept pixel data, you must send color data for each pixel in order.  In the default color mode (0x03, 12 bits per pixel) color data uses 12 bits.  This means that you can send 2 pixels worth of data for every 3 bytes.  If you are only sending one pixel, you only need to send 2 bytes.  The 2-pixels-per-3-bytes format is shown below:

RRRR GGGG | BBBB RRRR | GGGG BBBB

If only sending one pixel, you may use this format instead:

XXXX RRRR | GGGG BBBB (X means "don't care", can be either 0 or 1, these bits are discarded)

In C, you may use this code to output 2-pixels-per-3-bytes format, color1 and color2 are 16-bit values (ints in AVR GCC)

(color_lcd_send_data(char dat) is a function that outputs a data byte to the LCD)

color_lcd_send_data(color1 >> 4);
color_lcd_send_data(((color1&0x0F)<<4)|(color2>>8));
color_lcd_send_data(color2);

This code is simplified for 1-pixel-2-bytes format for single-pixel writes:

color_lcd_send_data(color >> 4);
color_lcd_send_data(color<<4);

STEP 5: AVR - Outputting 9-bit SPI With Inline Assembly

To implement the 9-bit protocol using an AVR, I found a nice ASM function in the SparkFun example code.  I modified the code some to clean it up and adapt it for the Phillips controller.  This ASM code is more efficient than using regular C and allows faster LCD writes.

It uses ATMega168 pins 11, 12, 13, and 14.
11 - Data
12 - Clock
13 - Chip Select
14 - Reset (not covered by this function)

void soft_spi_send_byte(char cmd, char data)
{
     // enable chip_sel
    asm("cbi %0, 7" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send the command flag bit
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 0" : : "a" (cmd));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send Bit 7 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 7" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send Bit 6 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 6" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send bit 5 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 5" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send bit 4 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 4" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send bit 3 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 3" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send bit 2 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 2" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send bit 1 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 1" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // Send bit 0 of data
    asm("cbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("cbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbrc %0, 0" : : "a" (data));
    asm("sbi %0, 5" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
    asm("sbi %0, 6" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));

    // disable chip_sel
    asm("sbi %0, 7" : : "I" (_SFR_IO_ADDR(PORTD)));
}

The following defines are used to make sending data and commands easier:

#define color_lcd_send_cmd(cmd)    soft_spi_send_byte(0, cmd)
#define color_lcd_send_data(data)    soft_spi_send_byte(1, data)

STEP 6: Drawing Rectangles

Rectangles are incredibly useful.  You can draw one big rectangle to clear the screen, use them for menu elements, indicators, check boxes, frames, text backgrounds, and much more.  Thankfully they are easy to draw on the Nokia LCD's.  All you need to do is define a region the size of the rectangle and fill it in with a solid color.  The following AVR C code (using the functions described in the last section) will do this.

void color_lcd_draw_rectangle(int color, unsigned char xs, unsigned char ys, unsigned char xe, unsigned char ye)
{
    color_lcd_send_cmd(PASET);
    color_lcd_send_data(ys);
    color_lcd_send_data(ye);

    color_lcd_send_cmd(CASET);
    color_lcd_send_data(xs);
    color_lcd_send_data(xe);

    color_lcd_send_cmd(RAMWR);

    unsigned int half_rect_area = (((unsigned int)(xe-xs+1)*(ye-ys+1))/2);

    for(unsigned int i = 0; i < half_rect_area; i++)
    {
        color_lcd_send_data(color>>4);
        color_lcd_send_data(((color&0x0F)<<4)|(color>>8));
        color_lcd_send_data(color);
    }
}

It starts out by defining the region using CASET and PASET, initiates a RAM write, and then fills the region with a solid color.  Since the three send_data lines actually fill 2 pixels instead of 1, the for loop only has to count to half the rectangle area.

STEP 7: Text!

Although this is a graphical LCD, it is still useful to be able to print text to it.  Unlike character-based LCD's, graphical LCD's do not contain a character map or font table or anything.  To print text to a graphical LCD, you must define your own font table in your code and then print it character-by-character using the table.  In my code, I have provided a font table (one that I converted by hand because I couldn't find a good program to do it for me).  The font is 6x8 which should allow you to fit plenty of text on the screen.  I have provided functions for printing characters as well as strings.

Each byte of the font table represents one vertical column of the font.  The MSB is the bottom pixel while the LSB is the top pixel.  Since each character is 6 pixels wide, a 6-byte offset is used to find characters in the array.  The array begins at decimal value 32 which represents the first printed ASCII value (space) and continues until decimal value 126 (~) which is the last printed ASCII value.

The code for this one is relatively long with the font table, so I'm not going to paste it here.  The complete code is available for download at the end of this Instructable.

STEP 8: Menus

With rectangles and text down, we can begin making truly useful stuff.  Menus allow users to select from a large number of options with only a few buttons (Up, Down, and Select are common).  To make a menu that looks good, you need to format your screen and text properly.  I wanted a single title line and the rest to be menu entries.  The LCD is 130x130 (usable) pixels in resolution.  This means that I have 130 vertical pixels to divide up into menu lines.  Since my font is 8 pixels tall, I decided that using 10-pixel-tall menu lines would be good.  This gives a 1 pixel border around the text on top and bottom, 13 total menu lines (1 title + 12 entries), and up to 21 characters per menu line.

To make the menu system more portable, I built its functionality into a single function which takes a handful of arguments.  This function will draw the menu and allow the user to select an option.  The function returns the index of the selected option.  To make the code reusable, all menu text is loaded from an array.

This is the function prototype:
char print_menu(char menu_text[][22], char menu_length, char starting_position, int title_color, int title_bgcolor, int entry_color, int entry_bgcolor, int highlight_color, int highlight_bgcolor);

menu_text - an X-by-22 character array.  Each row is one menu line (the first line is the title).

menu_length - The number of lines in the array, not including the title line

starting_position - The index of the entry to start on (the first index is 1 as the title line is technically index 0 but cannot be selected)

title_color - The title text color
title_bgcolor - The title background color

entry_color - The entry text color
entry_bgcolor - The entry background color

highlight_color - The highlighted entry text color
highlight_bgcolor - The highlighted entry background color

Note:  All colors are 16-bit values in 0x0RGB format

The actual code is not posted because it is long, it is included for download at the end of this Instructable.

STEP 9: Drawing Optimizations

When drawing moving objects on the LCD, you can greatly speed up the frame rate and eliminate screen glitches by only redrawing the moving parts of an object rather than redrawing the entire screen or entire object.  For instance, if a ball is moving across the screen, rather than redrawing the entire ball you can just draw the pixels along the edge that has moved and clear the pixels on the edge that has moved away.  Techniques such as frame buffering and double buffering can be used, where a new frame buffer is compared against an old frame buffer and only differing pixels are written to the display.  However, given the limitations of AVR and similar 8-bit microcontrollers, these techniques are probably out of range.  If you are using an ARM or other 32-bit microcontroller with a higher performance CPU, more RAM, etc. then you can take advantage of double buffering for a much more efficient screen drawing system.

STEP 10: Drawing Pictures Using the Serial Port

It is actually very easy to draw full color photos on the LCD!  I simply used the serial port to transfer the image from the PC to the AVR which displays it on the LCD.  To convert the image into the correct format, I wrote a small application in Visual Basic (VS 2010) that takes a 130x130 .bmp formatted image and transforms it into the 12 bit per pixel color format needed to display on the LCD.  The Visual Basic VS2010 project is included with the code package at the end of this Instructable.

The serial port uses 115200 baud which is very fast for a microcontroller.  This enables a quick transfer of image data to the microcontroller and it can draw a full 130x130 image in less than 1 second.  To do this, the microcontroller must be running at around 20MHz (it must be exactly 20MHz to use the code unmodified, but it may work at 16MHz if the baud rate calculation is changed).  A MAX232 level shifter is used to convert the RS-232 signal into a 0-5V TTL signal.  Although the ATMega168 is only running at 3.3V, the inputs are 5V tolerant so you may connect the 5V signal to the Rx pin and it will still work.

STEP 11: The Code - for AVR Studio 4 (AVR), Keil UVision 4 (8051)

I have posted example code for both AVR and 8051 microcontrollers as I have used the LCD with both.  The code was originally written for ATMega168 based on the SparkFun examples for both the LCD and Arduino LCD Shield.  I added text and menus then ported it to 8051 for use on my 8051 project board.  I then revised many systems which have been backported into the AVR code.

58 Comments

venubhw 3 years ago

How come I can connect sd card holder to insert and use sd card

rafael5597 6 years ago

Hi CalcProgrammer1,

You still have the breakout PCB design file? If yes, you can share with us? Thanks!

rafael5597 6 years ago

Hi CalcProgrammer1,

You still have the breakout PCB design file? If yes, you can share with us? Thanks!

bayuhnr 7 years ago

How modification (MADCTL) data

NativeTexan71 9 years ago

Thank you for this instructable. I'm an accomplished mechanic with custom fabrication for various component and systems for race cars. I'd like to tackle a screen / illumination project on an 02 GM Tahoe. Specifically the GM message center and prnd321 / odometer screen / display. All other regularly running interior / dash lights have been switched to blue led. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to change the colors of these 2 displays also to blue to match as best as possible to the blue led color. I have a spare dash cluster to use while this project is underway. Thanks in advance for any light :) you can shed on this

SianaG 7 years ago

Have you had luck with your project? I am not familiar, but it appears the display in such vehicles is usually not an LCD of any kind, but a vacuum fluorescent discharge tube display, VFD. It's a collection of thin shaped glass vacuum tubes that are coated with a Luminophore on the inside that determines their colour; correspondingly, while they can be manufactured in various colour, their colour can not be changed afterwards. I am not aware of any possibility to get a custom one-off VFD made for you.

It's possible to reverse engineer the signals driving the display, and then create a drop in replacement, based on a microcontroller interpreting the signal and driving a graphic display of some kind, an LCD or OLED. With OLED, there is the question of suitability to vehicle use. The displays aren't intended to run for hours on end, they degrade with use. Also their brightness is typically 10 times weaker than VFD. Also very few colours are available, you may be stuck with a colour that is more similar to that of VFD blue than your chosen LED blue. With LCD, there is an aesthetic issue with lowered contrast and potentially bad viewing angles. Monochromatic LCDs usually allow replacement of LEDs lighting them, and also LCDs with adjustable RGB backlight are available. An advantage of using a graphic display on a microcontroller is that you are not stuck with static symbols, you can adorn them with effect graphics, such as the frame of PRNDL gliding across the display or magnifying the currently active mode, beautiful, easily legible font for your odometer, etc.

I think the most promising course of action is getting an SMD LED display custom fabricated. You can likely drive them with simple electronics just to reduce the current and voltage from the original VFD signalling. While you can get numeric 7-segment LED indicators, you may need again signal re-encoding with programmable logic ICs or such, and there's a possibility of colour mismatch. What i'm thinking of being most promising, is laser cutting a light barrier from black Delrin or acrylic. That can then do everything at once, both your PRNDL and your numbers. You can fill it with diffuser epoxy and set it on your custom designed LED board. You'll need a manufacturing technique like that anyway for your custom elements, and if it's automated, it won't matter whether you're doing a tiny element or a whole screen at once, and it won't matter whether you're cutting a handful of shapes into it or a hundred, and you get a uniform result.

Do you have a photograph of your display at hand so i know whether i'm thinking in the right direction? I am thinking of a display which has PRND321, a set of 7-segments for odometer, a couple of extra symbols around, but no text capability. If you have text dot matrix display which has distinct single-pixel spaces between the characters, it's likely an HD44780 signal-compatible VFD, and you can get HD44780 LCD replacements. They come with width of 8, 16, 20 and 40 characters and height of 1, 2 and 4 lines.

NativeTexan71 7 years ago

Thank you Siana!

I could not find pictures I took when I disassembled. I attached some I found online and believe it to be a VFD. On this one, It turns out the illumination color is by a colored thin plastic film on the panel. Illuminated without the panel and it is white.

Very simple for me to experiment with colored translucent films cut old out and install desired film for desired color.

The "Message Center" appears to be an LCD it illuminates 2 colors, orange for some advisements, red for others i.e. low battery. I would like to change the color to blue or maybe green when it lights up as part of normal starting and vehicle going thru its checks. Any thoughts you have on this would be greatly appreciated.

The other project revolves around installing an aftermarket car stereo. It has (1) auxiliary 3.5mm input audio source option on the back. I have more than 1 aux audio source I would like to use. The stereo also has an audio video 3.5mm jack. (4 contact points vs 3 on the stereo aux input. I've pinned out the correct wires and can use the audio video source for audio only and the audio plays just fine when I select audio video input from the source selector on the front of the radio... However the screen displays "No Signal" even though the audio source plays thru it just fine. I realize this is because it is receiving no video signal. What I am wondering is if there is a manner in which I could provide a static image of my choosing or creation to put on a thumb drive or other media, power it and feed it to the video side of the audio video input. So that when I select audio video input it will not display "No Signal" and would display an image while utilizing the other audio source to play music from. Thank you if you have any insight into this area.

Thank you again Siana! for your detailed and lengthy reply and information

Brandon

SianaG 7 years ago

Curious. I have not considered the possibility that they would use a colour gel to tint the display. Or that one could do that afterwards.

Message center is a monochrome graphics LCD. You shall probably find some SMD LEDs on the board beneath it, that can be replaced. I am not familiar with specific display model employed, nor are there any data sheets - it has apparently been manufactured by Optrex Corporation, Japan, specifically for use by a division of General Motors, and has not been available generally or used anywhere else. Most companies wouldn't be caught dead ordering or a 45x28 LCD. For reference, the display model designation is DMF-50796H. If it's anything like i imagine it to be, there should be a metal shield retained by twisted tabs on a PCB, and merely removing the shield should give you access to the LEDs.

An interesting hack, with possibility of grand destruction, is inverting the LCD. On top of the glass is usually a polarization film that can be peeled off and replaced with one mounted 90° off-angle. Tough luck if the filter is instead sandwiched between glass layers.

Apropos generating an NTSC composite static picture. There are a few possibilities that i have in mind.

The simplest is probably taking the logic board from an old digital photo frame. This seems like the ideal use case for these devices, as they are really intended to cycle between images in their intermal or external storage. Ones manufactured before 2006-ish often have a composite display inside of them, and correspondingly also have an AV-out socket with the same signal. Sometimes, same trick can be applied to portable DVD players from that early era, if they have a USB or SD card socket, and you can remove the drive. Newer devices always drive the display digitally, but if there's an AV-out socket, you can still use them, but they can be extremely rare, it seems they died out 5 years ago. Challenge will be finding a device with AV-out, and one that doesn't have an annoying splash screen and goes straight to picture viewing.

The cheapest possible hardware is Raspberry Pi Zero, although the availability is TERRIBLE. It has composite AV out on an unsoldered header pin. Challenge will be developing a custom operating system which boots in a fraction of a second and then just sits there displaying an image, by stripping away everything possible and rewriting the boot system. This kind of software job is actually right up my alley. Maybe they're losing money on it, i don't know, something like $10-$15 would seem like a more reasonable price than the $5 they officially offer it for, but even a full Pi isn't all too expensive. As to Pi alternatives, there's C.H.I.P. which is "$9" but so far vapourware, and Orange Pi which is like $25 and actually available, but as these are based on basically undocumented Chinese ICs, it might be difficult to cut the software down. It might seem cruel to chop down a fully featured computer as a single picture generator, but can't argue with the prices. All kinds of nominally simpler devices that i considered reprogramming for the purpose would end up being similarly or more expensive anyway, and much more effort.

Then there's a bunch of possibilities with custom hardware, but honestly they don't seem all that attractive. Luckily the PAL/NTSC colour encoder ICs no longer cost $20, so at least it's not insane. Or maybe i.MX233.

What is it that you're imagining? If a black screen or simple black and white low-resolution text will do, i think that's something i can probably do on a $1 board :)

cmaurer4 7 years ago

Need an idea on nokia x2-01 screen

arnaldocm 7 years ago

Congratulations for the very detailed and explanatory post, surely you are helping many amateur electronics enthusiasts and professionals alike.

NishantC2 8 years ago

Dear friends,i have nokia 2600c2 and nokia 2700c mobile. I need lcd datasheet used in these mobile. Do any budy have any idea where can i find it. I tried google but no use.

Abd933 8 years ago

I have nokia 3250 and nokia 1208 screen how can i use it and how to know the connector diagram

BrunoARG 9 years ago

Hello, I found out that which I was using was not a PCF8833 driven display but a ST7628. I wonder if the connector pinout is the same in both display types.

I read that it can be easily controlled via any 3 wire interface (which I am planning to software implement with a sort of loop till get a kind of 9-bit serial with enable/disable) in the datasheet, but as it's the driver datasheet it only shows the whole driver IC pinout instead of the 10 pin nokia LCD connector. I don't know how to connect it, I am afraid of damaging it. The display is currently working (with the phone) so if I could connect it, then it should work or show anything more than a black background.

By the way, where can I download the SMD connector to DIP layout from?

I would be thankful if you could help me with all that.

john619 12 years ago

i am doing a project on high speed photography controller. in which i have to interface nokia 6100 lcd with the ATMEGA 32 IC for setting parameters. i have the nokia 6100 LCD, but have few questions
1.how do i turn the display on?
2.could you please give detail description as to which pin is connected to which component.
3. the detailed driver circuit.

my e-mail id is: johnmarshall619@gmail.com
awaiting immediate response. thank you.

CalcProgrammer1 11 years ago

I posted the pinout as well as the commands. The circuit is described above as well, it's pretty simple if you take the time to look at the documentation of the LCD and read through the code. Note that Instructables is not in any way a professional help organization for your immediate needs, and no, I will not contact you in dire emergency because you didn't read the code or pinout all the way through, because you would've learned all 3 of those things by doing so. Plus, no two setups are exactly the same, you can't expect me to spit out your particular circuit...you have to do some of the work yourself!

kevingamer 9 years ago

bro can u get me the pcb for connector that showed in finger pic

designermx2 11 years ago

Hi, i'm using a arduino mega and can't use this. The pins that was used on arduino was pwm 5-6-7-8 (data ,clock, chip select, reset). It 's right?
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