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?

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

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,

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 ?

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

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

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?

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

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?

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!

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.

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. :/

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.

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?

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

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.

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!!!

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

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

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

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?

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

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?

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. :)

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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: 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: 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.

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'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?

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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).

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

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

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

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.

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.

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 :(

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.

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.