Color LCD 128x128 Nokia Knock-Off

Replacement: None. We are no longer carrying this color LCD in our catalog. This page is for reference only.

Finally! Color LCDs you can afford and play with! Yet another product based on an SFE customer request, this 128x128 mini color LCD is a perfect match for your next portable application.

What we've found over in China is a 'copy' of the Nokia LCD found in models 6100, 6610, 7210, 7250, and 5100. We don't know what phones it fits, and we don't really care. This inexpensive LCD comes with a powerful white LED backlight and a relatively simple serial interface. It's a 9-bit interface, so beware. But we were able to get the LCD up and running on a LPC2138 with a few hours worth of work.

Please note: This LCD is meant to replace a broken screen in a cell phone. The connector (both on the LCD and on the PCB) was not designed for multiple attachment/detachment. Please secure your LCD in place with double stick tape to prevent stress on these connectors. This LCD is small! Please see the comparative photos. With that said, it is still superbly readable at arms length (cell phone technology).

We've got the LCD and example C code for $15. You really can't say no! We even sell the loose connector for $2 in case you are worried about soldering the tight 0.5mm pitch.

Note: This shield uses the Epson S1D15G10 or Philips PCF8833 controller (we cannot guarantee which one you will receive. Please see Jim Lynch's tutorial below as to why.

Frame Dimensions: 1.35x1.58"

Active Display Dimensions: 1.2"x1.2"

Pin Out (use the numbering visible on the display connector):

  1. VCC-Digital (3.3V)
  2. RESET
  3. SDATA
  4. SCK
  5. CS
  6. VCC-Display (3.3V)
  7. N/C
  8. GND
  9. LED GND
  10. LED V+ (6-7V)
  • LCD Logic - 3.3V @ 2-3mA
  • LED Backlight - 7V @ 40-50mA (very bright)
  • Full 4,096 Color Display
  • Uses the Epson S1D15G10 or Philips PCF8833 Controller (we cannot guarantee which one you will receive, please see Jim Lynch's tutorial below as to why)

Color LCD 128x128 Nokia Knock-Off Product Help and Resources

Core Skill: Programming

If a board needs code or communicates somehow, you're going to need to know how to program or interface with it. The programming skill is all about communication and code.

3 Programming

Skill Level: Competent - The toolchain for programming is a bit more complex and will examples may not be explicitly provided for you. You will be required to have a fundamental knowledge of programming and be required to provide your own code. You may need to modify existing libraries or code to work with your specific hardware. Sensor and hardware interfaces will be SPI or I2C.
See all skill levels


Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping

If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.

3 Electrical Prototyping

Skill Level: Competent - You will be required to reference a datasheet or schematic to know how to use a component. Your knowledge of a datasheet will only require basic features like power requirements, pinouts, or communications type. Also, you may need a power supply that?s greater than 12V or more than 1A worth of current.
See all skill levels


Comments

Looking for answers to technical questions?

We welcome your comments and suggestions below. However, if you are looking for solutions to technical questions please see our Technical Assistance page.

  • isokar / about 8 years ago / 1

    Hi there. Is it possible to remove the back of the screen to "customize" the backlight? or is it all assembled and glued or something like that?

  • JaimeSamayoa / about 16 years ago / 3

    Hey cool my Image Converting software is linked here on this site! I hope everyone is having fun using it and making some really cool interfaces, animations, and games. I look forward to hearing about all the things this helps creates.
    So far this is my favorite LCD screen. Thanks SparkFun for providing us with some great stuff to work with!
    Jaime Samayoa
    http://www.Random-I.com/NokiaLCD

    • RonnieM. / about 15 years ago / 1

      can you tell me what to do with the code that your program gives and ,if needed, where to get a driver for it. am i supposed to program the chip based on that or save that as a file then compile the driver ???

  • eddiem / about 15 years ago / 2

    My PCB, trackball and firmware is working.
    Eagle files are online.
    http://nerdipedia.com/tiki-index.php?page=Nokia+LCD2
    I also wrote a menu system for it.
    http://nerdipedia.com/tiki-index.php?page=micro+menu
    I'll put some source online at some point.
    Eddie,

  • mikeselectricstuff / about 16 years ago / 2

    The latest batch (green PCB on back of connector, white resin around chip) of these appear to have a different controller - displays garbage on software that worked OK with last 2 versions - anyone know what's changed ?

    • We've noticed this as well and are working on a solution. Right now when running the EPSON controller firmware we seem to get some limited success if that helps you at all.
      We'll let you know when get a new controller interface running.

      • ian @ hackaday.com / about 16 years ago / 2

        The new batch (red tab, green connector PCB, white potting, winter 2008/9) has some non-minor differences with the previous EPSON LCDs. It works with the current SFE code. I noted these differences:
        *The newer LCD doesn't support the DATCTL color mode (byte 3) 0x01 (8bit) or 0x04 (12bit/pixel, 2bytes per pixel). It does support the 12bits/2pixels/3byte mode (0x02).
        *The newer LCD does not seem to respond to the column/page settings (flip and rotate) in DACTL byte 1, bits 0-2.
        *The newer LCD needs a higher/greater contrast value to eliminate the off-blue hue. 35 on the old screen is 40-45 on the new one.
        *The newer LCD seems to generally be lower-quality than the previous ones I've ordered from SFE. I get horizontal banding in the image that may be due to a missed setting, but it's good enough to live with.
        *I couldn't find a 'common ground' configuration that works with both models. I had to compile custom firmware for each version.

        • dstahlke / about 16 years ago / 1

          Here is what I have observed regarding the new Epson display (Red tab on protective cover, green connector, white potting, ordered March 2009):
          * The DATCTL byte 1 options are not ignored, they are just a bit more mysterious. I had to use mode zero in order to get proper operation.
          * DATCTL byte 1 bit 0 is a complete mystery to me, things don't work right when it is set but I can't figure out the pattern
          * DATCTL byte 1 bit 1 causes the cursor to start at the leftmost column of the window, then iterate to the rightmost column, then iterate in the leftwards direction. This does not seem useful to me.
          * DATCTL byte 1 bit 2 causes the cursor to iterate along a column instead of along a row, which is consistent with the datasheet
          * There may be some strangeness if odd numbers are used for window bounds
          * It is possible to set a single pixel in 12-bit mode. It seems that two pixels need to be sent (24 bits) and the first is ignored. If you try to just write 16 bits it will work, but every third column of the display will have one color component wrong.
          * Hopefully I should have a good library written up in a few days, if you are impatient send me a message and I'll post the code.

  • Member #7228 / about 18 years ago / 2

    Nice little color LCD. 256 color mode is a piece of cake. 4096 color mode you must set two adjacent pixels at a time. Contrast setting is touchy. If you don't get anything on the display try a different contrast setting.
    Terry Hitt
    Hitt Consulting

  • Member #557622 / about 10 years ago / 1

    How can I write a text in this display using the mikroC? I found nothing on the internet.

  • Member #87570 / about 11 years ago / 1

    Any suggestions on a good way to mount this thing?

    The above suggestion to use double sided tape only appears to touch the outside edges, the backside is concave. I bought the thinest double stick foam pad I could find, but it doesn't let the panel sit flat, and it needs to to keep stress off the connector.

    Any other suggestions?

  • Member #265380 / about 11 years ago / 1

    Any idea when this will be in stock again? Thanks!

  • Member #486470 / about 11 years ago / 1

    This screen is perfect for my project I am working on, but I am confused as to how to input a signal. Does it require a microcontroller or processor or can I input an analoge signal into it?

  • virtualguy / about 11 years ago / 1

    I should point out to anyone trying to talk to this display with a PIC or any hardware SPI port, the interface is 9 bits and using a 16 bit interface and hoping it will only pick up the last 9 bits WONT WORK. I've had numerous attempts over the last few years to get this display and finally in a last ditch effort I resorted to bit banging and was rewarded with something other than a blue screen!

  • Seth K / about 11 years ago / 1

    How does this display perform without the backlight? Is it still somewhat readable? I'm hoping to use this as a display on a project both for its small package and the fact that it's fairly low power.

  • Member #138684 / about 13 years ago / 1

    I just finished a board with the connection stated above, but I didn't get the backlight going on the first test. What i found is that the connections stated above is wrong! on mine, VLED is pin marked 1. This means I ran 7 volts to the VCC on my first test! don't know yet if display is busted. Going to test it now and I do really hope that it has survived. But first I haveto redo my board. :/

  • Member #219629 / about 13 years ago / 1

    Hi everyone. So I just got one of these, and then I saw the pin outs, and said wow, they are so tiny. So I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this, and could help give any information about how to get those tiny pins to be soldered to a PCB. Unfortunately, I can't lay hold on the breakout board for this LCD, and besides, the product page is "showing red".

    So please, any info on how to go about this would be much appreciated.

    • MikeGrusin / about 13 years ago / 1

      This is exactly why we offer breakout boards, but if you want or need to DIY, we've got a series of tutorials on surface-mount soldering that may help you. Good luck!

  • FLgilbert / about 13 years ago / 1

    I am looking for the power consumption when inactive, since I would use this screen in a battery-powered gizmo.
    The Epson controller Datasheet says 1-10 micro-Amps in sleep mode. Does this include everything, or only the controller?

  • rub0t / about 13 years ago / 1

    Frame Dimensions: 1.35 x 1.58" x ?
    anyone know the height?

  • CalcProgrammer1 / about 14 years ago / 1

    I have an old Nokia 2600 phone that I don't use anymore so I tore it apart and found a screen that looks very similar to this one. I bought the connector here and soldered some wires to it to see if I could get my LCD working.
    I'm using the example provided on the Arduino LCD Shield demo with a bare ATMega168 and was able to get the display working after changing some things. I finally figured out it is probably based on the Phillips controller. However, blue and red are backwards from the example code (LCDClear(BLUE) makes it red, LCDClear(RED) makes it blue, green works normally) and it wouldn't print the SparkFun logo until I changed ENDPAGE and ENDCOL to x and y respectively in LCDSetPixel.
    It is a nice little LCD though and easy to use after modifications, if you have an old phone lying around you might already have one. If I need another I will definitely buy one here.

    • CalcProgrammer1 / about 14 years ago / 1

      After some more work I got text working, wrote a simple menu interface, and have an option to send pixel data over serial. I then wrote a simple VB app to use 130x130 bitmap images to draw pictures to the LCD. I'll post my complete code when I'm done with it, I'm using ATMega168 though I also plan to port it to 8051.

  • Ohh and BTW, if you are a PIC32 fan, I migrated some libraries for this LCD.
    http://goo.gl/2O33S

  • Hello, I am looking for the life time of this LCD. How many hours will it work until it fails?
    I can't find that info anywhere, does anybody know it?
    Thanks!!!

  • pvk_vicky2000 / about 14 years ago / 1

    Hi all,
    in the Christmas tree example a font table was given so as to display characters right side up
    can anyone tell me how to change that table so that characters appear 90 degrees rotated
    eg: input in program ->P output in LCD-> P rotaed in 90 degrees clockwise direction

  • Member #172591 / about 14 years ago / 1

    Is it possible to run QT/X11 applications on this display via a Gumstix?

  • unebonnevie / about 14 years ago / 1

    Is this LCD also the one used for the Nokia 6800 cell phone?

  • Argon / about 14 years ago / 1

    so i tried the jim lynch tutorial and i can send commands. when i try to draw i get garbage on the screen. this was all done on a 16f628a@4MHZ Pic microcontroller.
    screen goes from black to white.
    I tried a different microcontroller (16f877a @4MHZ) and the PIC 16F87x code for CCS Compiler. still the commands work but i get garbage on the screen(black to white). and the micro controller doesnt turn on all the time.
    what am i doing wrong?

    • Argon / about 14 years ago / 1

      nevermind again :)
      i figured it out. lcd works perfectly now! alittle slow but my chip is clocked @4mhz!
      Jim lynch tutorial was a big help!
      -Argon

  • fb / about 14 years ago / 1

    Hi guys,
    I'm using the LCD display in a project. I used the Excellent Tutorial by Jim Lynch and my LCD is working.
    BUT
    the problem is .... it's really SLOW
    It takes ages to display string or clear the screen (and I mean really slow... like 1.5 minutes or so :S)
    I'm using the LCD with epson controller but using xilinx spartan-3E board and 32-bits microblaze processor. The main bus clock is 80 MHz, and the data transferred to LCD using xilinx SPI core. The bus frequency ration to the SPI clock is 16.
    Can anybody help me with this... the functionality of the LCD is crucial to my project since the actions are menu driven through the LCD :S

  • guruflorida / about 14 years ago / 1

    One more thing. I have also noticed the boost converter for the LED is hot!! It seems the switcher circuit is not tuned right, or the inductor is under-rated. The LED drive does take a lot of current, It overheats a 3.3v regulator very quickly too, so it may be just an under-rated inductor. I tried both 3.3v and 5v for VBatt with the same scorching results.
    SparkFun: any suggestions about this scorching inductor?

  • guruflorida / about 14 years ago / 1

    I have a Red PCB and Green sticker tab and a GE hologram. For those with the common blue screen you may just need to adjust your contrast. 45 worked for me.
    However, the graphics are still garbled, I can just read some text in the demo so it's close. I can see it only erases 2/3 of the screen. I believe the controller wants "2 in 3" mode (2 pixels in 3 bytes) and the code is outputting in 1:1 byte:pixel mode.
    Anyone else in the same boat as me?
    This appears to be an epson as the code that almost worked is for epson controller.
    I'll probably get it working after I dig into the driver some more...too tired now. :)

  • NickinVegas / about 14 years ago / 1

    It's hard to see in the picture. Can the leads be soldered, is there a pre-fabricated connector that works, or, how would I go about connecting the to a PCB?
    Thanks in advance,
    Nick

    • Pearce / about 14 years ago / 1

      Although technically I believe it's possible, it would be insanely difficult to solder directly to the board. It's made to work with the LCD-00570 connector.

  • nzsmartie / about 14 years ago / 1

    Hey, Whats the thickness of this LCD screen?

  • I managed to make my lcd work but with a big problem... it is always blue!
    As soon as it's turned on, the LCD shows a blue screen, even after it is initialized by the MCU.
    Every color I send gets mixed with blue. For example, if I send a LCDClear(RED) it shows as purple.
    LCDSetPixel(BLACK...) shows blue aswell.
    Could it be that my LCD is damaged?

  • eddiem / about 15 years ago / 1

    My epson type display also seems to ignore flip and rotate. Has anyone made any progress on this?
    ian @ hackaday.com: The new batch (red tab, green connector PCB, white potting, winter 2008/9) has some non-minor differences with the previous EPSON LCDs. It works with the current SFE code. I noted these differences:
    *The newer LCD doesn't support the DATCTL color mode (byte 3) 0x01 (8bit) or 0x04 (12bit/pixel, 2bytes per pixel). It does support the 12bits/2pixels/3byte mode (0x02).
    *The newer LCD does not seem to respond to the column/page settings (flip and rotate) in DACTL byte 1, bits 0-2.
    *The newer LCD needs a higher/greater contrast value to eliminate the off-blue hue. 35 on the old screen is 40-45 on the new one.
    *The newer LCD seems to generally be lower-quality than the previous ones I've ordered from SFE. I get horizontal banding in the image that may be due to a missed setting, but it's good enough to live with.
    *I couldn't find a 'common ground' configuration that works with both models. I had to compile custom firmware for each version.

    • Toe007 / about 13 years ago / 1

      Thank you Eddiem for the pointers above.
      This really is a right mess! SFE should make some effort to resolve what they are selling...
      I ordered a number of these displays for a project earlier 2011. They came with:
      GE label on front,
      Green tab,
      Green PCB,
      GE128128-ROHS written on the back.
      At first I thought these were the GE12 units described in various forums (which use the Philips PCF8833 instruction set). Note: I gather GE8 uses the EPSON instruction set.
      With no success using Philips instructions, I assumed EPSON S1D15G10 controller, and so wrote new code around this, and managed to make some headway to display a bitmap, however the display appear to not work correctly, with many commands having no influence. I have tried all settings for DATCTL Parameter 3: 8bit/1pixel/1byte-> 0x01: Type A (12bit/2pixel/3byte)-> 0x02: Type B (12bit/1pixel/2byte)-> 0x04. Type A comes closest to working, but as others have noted, colours are not true. I found setting VOLCTR P1:39 and P2:3, worked best to get contrast and colour close to RED (0x0F00) - although it still looks like magenta.
      The DATCTL Parameter 1 does not seem to work to flip display - I have been tring to flip it through 90 degrees.
      Finally I ordered another Nokia LCD off the internet - there is a general consensus that a brown PCB signifies Philips PCF8833 controller (or the LEADIS LDS176 clone). I have had no problems getting my code to work fine on this, and can manipluate the orientation of the display correctly.
      Decided to come back to the SFE units determined to get them working, and have now spent many frustrating hours with commands just not behaving per the S1D15G10 or S1D15G00 data sheets (which I should point out are written in horrifically cryptic Japanese/English and contain many mistakes/typos).
      It hope SFE will see from all the comments on this forum that they have a measure of responsibility to their customers to at least determine what controller are in each batch of these displays they sell! They give great service most of the time, but this particular issue they should get to grips with, and have separate part number(s) for the Nokia GLCD with Philips / Epron / xx controllers.
      My suspicion is that there is not just the two variants of EPSON and Philips! The latest 2011 displays (which I purchased on two occassions - green tab/green PCB) seem to use a controller based on EPSON but not fully compatible.
      If anyone can shet more light on what it might be (and if there are any "special" or different commands to those in the datasheet), it would be most appreciated.
      Thanks.

      • KerwoodDerby / about 13 years ago / 1

        I've had a blast with the Phillips versions using Lynch's code, and just recently tried out these "new" Epson displays.

        For what it's worth, I found I couldn't write the pixels in the "Type A" style of 3 bytes for 2 pixels, and ultimately had to hack the code to accommodate "Type B" style of 2 bytes for 1 pixel, with 4 bits wasted per pixel. This works, quite well in fact.

        Regarding display rotation, I'm afraid I've only been able to do that at compile-time with #defines for RASET and CASET, in addition to offsets and sign-changes for the coordinates, as appropriate to produce the desired behavior.

  • eddiem / about 15 years ago / 1

    Thanx, I didn't try using the MOSI as bi-directional. I've now written the code to be conditionally compiled for one type or another. I don't think I'll bother redoing it.
    g4ry: Approximately 6 months ago I wrote code to autodetect whether the module was Epson or Phillips in firmware. All you have to do is send the ID request byte (0xDA), then flip the MOSI (treat it as MISO) and clock a couple byte reads. If it replies, it's a Phillips, if it doesn't, it's Epson. It really is that simple. I can't remember the actual byte that it replies with, but the Phillips always replies with something, while the Epson never replies.
    I would post the C code, but unfortunately it was done for a company, and I am not allowed. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks though :) Hope this helps.

  • g4ry / about 15 years ago / 1

    Approximately 6 months ago I wrote code to autodetect whether the module was Epson or Phillips in firmware. All you have to do is send the ID request byte (0xDA), then flip the MOSI (treat it as MISO) and clock a couple byte reads. If it replies, it's a Phillips, if it doesn't, it's Epson. It really is that simple. I can't remember the actual byte that it replies with, but the Phillips always replies with something, while the Epson never replies.
    I would post the C code, but unfortunately it was done for a company, and I am not allowed. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks though :) Hope this helps.

    • g4ry / about 15 years ago / 1

      Obviously, using a soft SPI was the key, giving full control over the MOSI line.

      • Member #215074 / about 14 years ago / 1

        Hi g4ry, I was trying to write a code to auto detect the driver type too. What I did is to send a command to 0xDA, and receive the byte in data(). One dummy one actual byte. Below is my command.
        command(0xDA);
        data(b1);
        data(b2);
        return b1;
        However the philips controller seems no response afterall. I am not sure whether it is coded correctly. Also, I am not too sure about flipping the MOSI to MISO, how do we achieve that? Do we read data directly from MOSI?
        Hope you can help, it is important for my project, thanks!

  • eddiem / about 15 years ago / 1

    eddiem: _eddiem: eddiem:
    I'd expect that the controller could be identified in software if display readback is implemented (unlike the ex256).
    snip snip..
    later..
    I thought I had read somewhere that the MISO pin was there but not connected. I don't see anything in the epson datasheet to indicated it is possible to read the device in serial mode - but I haven't looked closely. _
    Once I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken.
    The philips controller does have the ability to identify itself in the serial mode. Provided SDout has been connected we should be able to write code to sort out the "which controller do we have" mess.

  • eddiem / about 15 years ago / 1

    eddiem: eddiem:
    I'd expect that the controller could be identified in software if display readback is implemented (unlike the ex256). Most of the difference are in the reset code and given enough program space both could be catered for. I imagine nokia phones would support either controller or they would have a spare-parts nightmare.
    I should add. Speaking for myself - I'd pay a few bucks extra to be able choose the type.

    I thought I had read somewhere that the MISO pin was there but not connected. I don't see anything in the epson datasheet to indicated it is possible to read the device in serial mode - but I haven't looked closely.
    Is the NC pin really NC?
    A tame mobile phone tech might be able to tell us how they cope with the different controllers. Do they have a have the same issues?
    There could be some trick we don't know about - for example the NC pin might have a function we don't know about.

  • eddiem / about 15 years ago / 1

    eddiem: If the colour of the ribbon+connector is a reliable indicator of controller type (green=epson,brown=philips) it should be possible to sort them easily at SF.
    I'd suggest they be split into two different products.
    I have one of each, I've coded for epson and would happily buy more to avoid having to code for both types.
    Most of the examples are for epson type.
    I'd expect that the controller could be identified in software if display readback is implemented (unlike the ex256). Most of the difference are in the reset code and given enough program space both could be catered for. I imagine nokia phones would support either controller or they would have a spare-parts nightmare.

    I should add. Speaking for myself - I'd pay a few bucks extra to be able choose the type.

  • eddiem / about 15 years ago / 1

    If the colour of the ribbon+connector is a reliable indicator of controller type (green=epson,brown=philips) it should be possible to sort them easily at SF.
    I'd suggest they be split into two different products.
    I have one of each, I've coded for epson and would happily buy more to avoid having to code for both types.
    Most of the examples are for epson type.
    I'd expect that the controller could be identified in software if display readback is implemented (unlike the ex256). Most of the difference are in the reset code and given enough program space both could be catered for. I imagine nokia phones would support either controller or they would have a spare-parts nightmare.

  • JoeWightman / about 15 years ago / 1

    I've just had one of these delivered to the UK and I've had no luck at all getting it to work. I've tried a variety of external power supplies and cannot get a response from the display. So far I've not managed to get the backlight working either. Has anyone bought one of these recently and had trouble getting started with it?

    • zayour / about 15 years ago / 1

      dear i got one too and same problem.But after searching and waisting days i found that the pin numbering on lcd is wrong, pin 1 is 10 and pin 10 is 1.so inside of pin 10 this is pin 1 which is vcc pin 9 is pin 2 which is reset and so on. hope to be helpfull

      • rohitdesa / about 12 years ago / 1

        I can verify the above comment. Pinout is silkscreened wrong on the LCD. Follow Jim Lynch's pinout to the 'T' http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/Nokia%206100%20LCD%20Display%20Driver.pdf Sparkfun fellas - you'd save a lot of people from burning their LCDs if you add this disclaimer.

  • merge / about 15 years ago / 1

    here are nice little low cost lcd. http://j.mp/bTwhtg

  • ahambone / about 15 years ago / 1

    I am having the hardest time getting anything to run on my LCD from my Arduino MCU. It powers on up to a deep blue color which looks good but none of my commands have any effect. My unit, an SFE LCD + Break Out Board ordered Jan 2010, is a red PCB and the LCD arrived with a protective coating with a Red tab and a hologram sticker that says "GE" in capital letters. Jim Lynch's tutorial (which is excellent) mentions GE-8 and GE-12 stickers but my LCD didn't come with either. I've tried several permutations against my LCD with both variants of the Epson and Philips startup sequences with no luck. I've also loaded Cosmin Gorgovan's library with no luck. In the interest of time does anyone know what controller the "GE" sticker, Red TAB on protective coating + Red SFE breakout PCB uses? Thanks!

    • HansDR / about 15 years ago / 1

      Did you manage to get it working in the end? I have the same problem, except I'm using an ARM microcontroller. I ordered my LCD screen plus breakout board in Feb 2010. It's pretty much the same except the protective cover has a green tab. The only thing that works is the back-light. It doesn't respond to any command.
      Hans

      • HansDR / about 15 years ago / 1

        Wrong again. The problem was bad 3.3V and ground supply resulting in data corruption. Hence, the need for CS to be deasserted every time so that it syncs up. With a stable supply and ground, it works properly without CS being deasserted for every sent byte.

      • HansDR / about 15 years ago / 1

        Replying to myself. I managed to get the LCD to work. The problem was with the SAM7's SPI hardware not deasserting the chip-select line between transfers. See my post in the support forum for more details:
        http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=20207&p=95052#p95052

  • Hobbles / about 15 years ago / 1

    Any way to use i2c or 2-wire with it, im just learning about i2c and that would be pretty neat if you could use it with this.

  • Cosmin / about 15 years ago / 1

    I wrote an Arduino library that should be easy to use. The code is hosted on github: http://github.com/lgeek/Arduino-Color-LCD

  • Hobbles / about 15 years ago / 1

    I got the one with the green pcb so i have to solder to where the connector goes and tried three times its just to tight for me. It says you guys sell the connector, does it have a bigger pitch, where on the site is the connector.

  • zayour / about 15 years ago / 1

    i got one from that little LCD. its EPSON controller and i went on interfacing with it. till now no code or any firmware succeeded. plzzzz help! till now my lcd is black what i should do? i am interfacing with atmega8L.10x for help.

  • schult / about 15 years ago / 1

    I just picked up one of these displays with on a breakout board. It has a controller that is semi-compatible with the Epson controller. Here's the scoop:
    I'm able to draw to it just fine, and mirroring/rotation work.
    There is no 8-bit color. Only Type A 4096 color mode exists -- DATCTL byte 3 seems to be completely ignored.
    The 0,0 position of the display is offset by 2 along the y-axis (page address). Some mirror settings appear to alter the 0,0 offset.
    The colors are washed out, even after adjusting the contrast. It may be that the backlight is too bright, but I can't test that theory without pulling the display off of the breakout board -- something I'm not eager to do.

  • Arkon / about 15 years ago / 1

    Above says to use the numbering visible on the display connector, but everything seems to suggest this is inverted from the way described everywhere else? (i.e. pin 1 on the silk of the flex_pcb is really LED V+) is this correct?

    • vpapanik / about 14 years ago / 1

      I confirm this, the numbering should be inverted, ie 1->10, 2->9 etc.

  • TheDirty / about 15 years ago / 1

    The connectors on these are pretty fragile. Just trying to normally unplug the LCD ripped the connector right off of the FPC. Now its useless to me before I even got started.
    http://www.higginstribe.com/z8e/20090627-broke-6100-001.jpg

  • bode / about 15 years ago / 1

    I ordered two of these in late April, and they are the Epson-derived controller. I followed all the instructions but it wasn't until I found dstahlke's comments that things actually blitted correctly. I highly recommend his code for this generation.
    Also, I'm using the breakout board, and like others I found the inductor gets hot enough to burn, especially with +5v coming in. Less hot at 3.3v, but still.

  • dstahlke / about 16 years ago / 1

    Driver for new Epson displays (bought in March 2009, red tab on cover, green PCB):
    http://www.stahlke.org/dan/nokialcd/
    Supports scrolling, but no screen rotation. Tested on ATmega168 and dsPIC33FJ128GP. Might work with Philips too, untested.

  • Jerome / about 16 years ago / 1

    hi, any idea what type of controller has the LCD with blue tab on the screen protector ? bought in March.

  • eddiem / about 16 years ago / 1

    I had a problem with single pixel writes on my sam7ex256 board. I replaced the LCD with one from SF and it was the same. I did find sending 3 bytes of data instead of 2 seemed to fix it.
    I seem to be sending GB 0R GB which doesn't make a lot of sense. It is possible the first byte is ignored - more testing needed. I'm not seeing any double pixels. I've tested most colours on different backgrounds and so far so good.
    My code is in FORTH but the principle will be the same in C.
    My page is here http://nerdipedia.com/tiki-index.php?page=Nokia+LCD
    Eddie.M.

  • zbaird / about 16 years ago / 1

    I've had mine (2) for a while, so they're Epson. In 12 bit mode they always write two pixels, starting at the even address. This messes up the pixel count in Jim Lynch's excellent tutorial, so the rectangles don't fully fill. A four pixel line starting at an even address will take 2 writes, fitting perfectly, while a four pixel line starting at an odd address will take 3 writes, and stick an extra pixel both before and after the line. The total write count needs to consider this odd/even orientation.
    Otherwise a nice little display, not too hard to get working, even when driven by an underpowered AVR Butterfly.

  • Gabe / about 16 years ago / 1

    GOD! WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING HERE! :-D
    So it was actually quite easy with Ian's tip, and a good look at Jim Lynch's code.
    So here it is, libs for an Atmega324p, but should be portable to pretty much anything with a PORTD (and even that can be fixed if you want to dig in).
    The main difference is the use of 12-bit 3byte/2pixel output instead of pixel per pixel coloring (8bit 1byte/pixel mode).
    Any questions, feel free to ask (e-mail in source).

  • Gabe / about 16 years ago / 1

    Ok, I get it, I'll do it myself :-D (1/2 way there, I'll post a link when complete).

  • Gabe / about 16 years ago / 1

    I'd also be down for some working libs for the latest version of the LCD SFE sells.

  • bpeone / about 16 years ago / 1

    Does anybody have example code for the latest displays with the red tab.

  • ferch / about 16 years ago / 1

    My last displays (not from sparkfun) have a epson-controller. It was much too bright, contrast control did not work.
    I discovered that it works if you connect 1 with 6 but not connect the two pins to any supply.
    Now contrast works, all colors fine!
    I measure 1-6 to GND 2.85V. Seems that LED V+ supply the whole display.
    PS: I have 100nF from 1-6 to GND.

  • nokiaLCD / about 16 years ago / 1

    Now I'm planning to sell original development board
    with this LCD. Can I expect to buy no matter what amount
    of this LCD in the future?
    I'm afraid of out of sale.

  • Randall / about 16 years ago / 1

    I was thinking of getting one of these based on this cool tutorial: http://www.reifel.org/PICUserInterface/
    But it seems the units SF currently has in stock have the Epson controller while that code was written for the Philips controller :(

  • foolsday / about 16 years ago / 1

    Has there been any progress on identifying the LCD driver for this part? I didn't read the comments until after I purchased mine. Without a driver part number this isn't worth $20.

  • grasshopper / about 16 years ago / 1

    The picture showing the pin location is in correct. I made a circuit board based on the location of pin 1 and it is inverted.
    Please make the correct change.

    • vpapanik / about 14 years ago / 1

      I confirm this, the numbering should be inverted, ie 1->10, 2->9 etc.

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