Mike Watson wrote:
>I have a program that outputs an address to the display then a
>character to all 128 possible display positions, but only the
>left hand 8 digits have characters in them.
>
> o Do the displays need to be initialised as 1 or 2 lines (does it
>   make any difference) ?
>
>( Other info:  I have r/w tied low, the display is a known working
>display )

Hi Mike,

Yes, the LCD *has* to be initialized to 2 line.  The 16x1 is actually
configured as 8x2 with two different lines.  The reason for this is the
44780 can only access up to 8 characters columns of data at a time (if you
go further than that another chip is required).

Configuring the display as 8x2 eliminates the need for the second chip.

Good luck,

myke

"I was well aware that the processes of puberty are often fatal to psychic
power."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle