Alternative to AVR Butterfly?

Building the board to your specification is not a problem, but minimum cost of LCD is $2000.

ya sure i can build a board according to your specs for as low as $100. please send me your detailed spec for the design

If you are freaked out by the immense complexity of programming the Butterfly's LCD, then add a $5 16x2 alpha LCD to the Butterfly and your job is done. The ATmega169P can run at 5V.

I should add that I'm not looking for an LCD exactly like theirs. All I need is the ability to display about 6 digits.

That's a thought. Or I may use a low-cost alpha LCD and a microcontroller and make my own board.

Isn't the world of design wonderful.

$5 16x2? Where?

Mouser has a $6 8x2. Almost got it, but no spec sheet to be found

*anywhere*, and I'm a beginner...

Thanks,

Michael

Do you want some 16x2 LCDs? How many? Where do you live (country)? 5V or 3.3V? I'm putting together a care package to give to the EE department where I study, I could probably liberate something for you.

Sure, two (in case I break one while studying it), California (United States), 5V, wow, really? Thanks...

What country are you in? And why are you giving them to the EE department instead of selling them and donating the proceeds to charity, just curious?

Thanks again,

Michael snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com

Email me your details. You will need to pay postage, which will probably be about $4. But let me first check that I haven't already packed the LCDs.

I'm in New York. I'm giving a fairly large assortment of unwanted through-hole parts and surplus bits of various types to the EE department for the students to play with in labs and personal projects. I can think of no cause more worthwhile, nor one in greater need of charity, than the study of science and engineering in North America.

If this is for a hobby project you can use one scrapped out of a fax or older HP laser printers. They usually have a HD44780 or compatible on there which provides a four-bit interface, plus some control lines. The character sets are already in there, you just send over the ASCII in nibbles. AFAIK most can also be connected 8-bit for byte transfers.

Since you already have an LCD I guess there are enough free port pins. If not you could hang something like a 74HC164 and go serial.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

[I'm in the UK, and have no direct experience of the US education system. My comments are based on what I see happening from this side of the pond.]

I have developed a similar perception, namely that science and technology education appears to have been gradually de-emphasised in the US.

It seems self defeating to me, as it seems that a country's general leadership is based on it's technological leadership.

So why is science and engineering been de-emphasised in the US ?

Or is my perception wrong ?

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world

Pick your reason(s); there are several believable theories.

1. Anti-science theocracy in the White House.
2. Nonsensical "No Votes From the Ignorant Left Behind" edumacation legislation that rewards faked test scores, not good learning. That's fine for philosophy or Trivial Pursuit but in science or engineering, people who don't have a thorough understanding of what they're doing stand out a mile - and they're dangerous and useless.
3. Shrinking job prospects. This is a vicious circle; outsourcing removes incentives to enter the field in the US, which reduces the pool of talent, which encourages/forces venture capital to invest overseas, which removes local incentives, which reduces the pool of talent...
4. Hysterical anti-science green lobby throwing roadblocks ahead of development. Let's see that happen in China.
5. Urban youth culture. Science and math aren't cool. Gang signs, narcotics and rape are cool.

Sounds great! However, my concern would be if whoever ends up in charge of them will believe in their importance to the same degree that you do. I'd think there's a substantial risk that someone will before long decide to "clean up" and dispose of them, either in the dumpster, or to one lucky student thus excluding the others.

The Mega169 of the Butterfly can contole a certain number of segments. You just need an LCD that fits. On a second thought, I guess the average LCD may be controllable with this controller.

Rene

--
Ing.Buero R.Tschaggelar - http://www.ibrtses.com
& commercial newsgroups - http://www.talkto.net

How is science/engineering education doing over in Europe? In particular, in Great Britain, France and Germany?

I sat in a class once (Personal Finance) at my university (UC Davis), and the professor started the lecture by congratulating us on getting accepted, saying that only 10% or so of high school students are accepted to the University. Kinda makes you wonder what happened to the other 90%.

Here are some stats on the graduation rates on UC Davis.

So let's see, for '05-06, 573 engineers graduated out of 5901 total bachelors degrees earned, yields about 9.7% graduating engineers.

So, let's round that off... 10% accepted to uni, 10% graduating as engineers, gives oh, what, 1% of the general population making it through the grinder and getting the BS in engineering.

Makes us feel so special... (big cheesy grin)

Now, looking at the table, there are others who make it too: doctors, lawyers, even the physical science folks.

Michael

My first day in college physics, the professor told us to look at the person to the left and the person to the right - say hello and remember their face, because by the end of the semester, both of them will probably have dropped out.

A stunt pulled off by professors from the EE division at my alma mater (RWTH Aachen, Germany), on a somewhat regular basis, too. And the scary thing is they were absolutely right about it!

In the science/math department where I eventually graduated such first year drop-out rates would have been considered disastrous. EE professors, on the other hand, could barely contain their pride about that figure. They considered it a glorious achievement. But that was before freshman numbers dropped by roughly a factor of 5 over the course of a few years. They began to miss the cheap labor from thesis work soon after, and started to reconsider their "achievements".

Cheerful fellow! Was he correct?

For some real fun - try taking a C programming class (filled with freshmen) while you're a senior.

I did just that during my senior year (and *after* taking the C++ class. Class was just too full.) Just needed a Mass Transfer II class to graduate... and of course everything's offered only once a year. Took a C programming class, just for the credits (and the easy A). Oh, the joy. Freshmen with attitude, giving the professor a hard time. I remember one exam - I got 47 out of 50. A bit miffed that I made three bonehead mistakes on the exam. Most of my classmates were happy to get 20 out of 50.

Final exam, had to write some routines... I wasn't sure if c = a[b()] would compile, so I just expanded it: i = b(); c = a[i];

After the exam, tried it out, and my original thought was right.

Michael