> Basically something to display text in a vehicle that is easy to read in all
> light conditions and will not dissapear if the car stands in the direct
> sunlight like some LCD displays do.
Some LCD displays do.  Others don't, they are loaded with a LC fluid
that still has some contrast at high temp.  The ones I use are
rated -30 to 60 deg. C.  The only disadvantage of wide-temperature
range LCD is that you will need a negative bias supply to get enough
voltage across the glass.

You should be able to find a standard LCD with about the display
layout you want.

But, with a PIC pin you can generate a square wave to do a charge
pump, so the extra hardware (assuming you have a spare pin) is only
two capacitors and two diodes.

Backlight is needed for nighttime.  My car-stereo LCD slaves the
backlight brightness to the panel lights so it goes to "dim" when the
lights are on.  I would prefer a front panel control since I drive
with headlights on often in daytime.  I think it's "transflective",
meaning a percentage of the ambient light is reflected, plus the
light from the backlight comes through.

------------
Barry King, KA1NLH
Engineering Manager
NRG Systems "Measuring the Wind's Energy"
Hinesburg, Vermont, USA
barry@nrgsystems.com
"The witty saying has been deleted due to limited EPROM space"