Jeff,

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 10:16:42 -0400, Jeff Galinat wrote:

>...<

LCD 6 o'clock & 12 o'clock specifications...

>   I think it refers to the optimum viewing angle but I am not sure what it means exactly. 

I think I understand now, following a clue from another poster (sorry, I forget who!) having tried looking at 
a calculator and changing its pitch angle, the display is quite distinct when seen from "below" (6 o'clock) as 
you would normally look at a calculator, but it begins to fade as you go over the top towards looking down at 
it (12 o'clock).  I'd never considered this before, assuming the angles were symmetrical, but it seems to be 
legible from about 15 degrees above the lower horizon to about 15 degrees past (above) zenith, so this is 
obviously a 6 o'clock display!  Other commercial devices I have with LCDs (weather monitor, clocks) seem to 
have symmetrical viewing angles, so it seems there are three types.  I can't think of many situations where 
you'd be looking down at an LCD, needing the 12 o'clock version.  So that's my "you learn something every day" 
item for today!  :-)

> The serial LCD modules are hand assembled by me on prototype 
> board connected as a daughter board to the LCD's 1x14 header. It took a 
> little time to make the first 2 or 3 but I got better at it. I built 10 as 
> an initial trial for sale at the Trenton Computer Fest in NJ 2 weeks ago and 
> priced them at $20.  I set up a demo using a Basic Stamp with display 
> scrolling effects.  I sold out of the 10 in about 4 hours.  These are based 
> on the PIC16F84a which has been superceded by newer PICs now but I bought 50 
> off of eBay a while ago for less than $1 each so that's what I'm using. 
> Here's a picture of the board: http://www.towacoimaging.com/ser_lcd1.jpg
> I am not much of a programmer and never learned ASM or C, but the Serial LCD 
> code was only a few lines in PicBasic Pro

OK, thanks for that.  A question about the picture:  How do you do the connection to the LCD?  You seem to 
have some sort of socket or pin-strip, but with the plastic housing obscuring the copper track - how did you 
solder it?  (This is a problem I often have with single-sided boards which need off-board connectors facing 
the "wrong" way).

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


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