Sebastian Garcia wrote : > I need general information about particular LCD modules (1x16) that got > only 12 wires (total). > The modules I got are the EPSON model: EA - C20017AR - S (I've rescued > them from old Siemens pseudo-digital phones model T16 D) I got a similar display very cheaply from a surplus dealer a few months ago. (Fir UK readers who might be interested - it was 'Taurus' at Leicester radio rally) It looked useful, because it's much smaller than typical LCDs - only 22mm (7/8") tall, but I couldn't find any data on it, and it took a while to get it working. Note that it's actually 1x20, not 1x16. Mine's actually EA-C20017AR. I don't know what the 'S' that yours has means. It has an epoxy blob covering the controller, a couple of surface-mount discrete components, and a 2x6 array of pads to connect the host. Some of the pads (1,2,11,12) are numbered, in a VERY tiny font, on the back of the module. Here's a diagram : make sure your mail client is set to use a fixed-width font. (back of pcb, lettering right-way-up) +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2 1 | | EPSON EPSON o o | | P300011700 EA-C20017AR epoxy C o o | | 8822B8 blob o o | | R o o | | o o | | o o | | 12 11 | + --------------------------------------------------------------+ The resistor is used for the oscillator Most simple dot-matrix character displays use a controller based on the Hitach 44780 - this one uses the Seiko-Epson SED-1200, which is quite different. There are data sheets for a SED1200F controller on Seiko's website, but they don't describe it's use in the EA series LCDs. The pads 1-12 correspond to the following SED-1200 pins : 1 Vdd +5v 2 Vss 0v 3 Vlcd (Vdd-4 to Vdd-5.5) 4 Clock Max 3.2MHz 5 /CS 6 A0 7 /WR 8 /RD 9 D3 10 D2 11 D1 12 D0 Note the requirement for a clock, unlike the 44780 : 1 - 3MHz seems to be recommended, slower for low power and faster for higher command execution speed. I won't describe all the programming here (though I can send you some sample 8051 code that performs simple operations) - it's along the same lines as the 44780, though the actual commands are different, so read the data sheet. As with the small 44780-based modules, it's necessary to initialise it as a 2-line display. I used the commands 0x10, 0x10, 0x13, 0x0d, 0x80, 0x04, 0x0e to initialise it with the cursor invisible. > Also I need general information about the way to drive big LCD modules with > only 8 wires, like the Samsung model: UG - 24B09 - GNBR9 - A950512ME. Sorry. Don't know anything about these. -adrian