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A project log for avr-lvds-lcd binary-clock

A dead laptop's LCD, An ATtiny85, two 74LS86 XOR chips, and my first binary-clock

eric-hertzEric Hertz 01/20/2015 at 00:460 Comments

This system could easily be developed as a kit... Just solder-up some through-hole components and connect it to an LCD...

Do you think people'd be interested?


While working on this project, I've also been in-contact with someone interested in LCDs who happens to also have a (young) kid... It occurred to me that this entire system could probably be thrown into a kit with an LCD for around $20-30 in parts. (So, I guess I'd ask, maybe $50?)...

It'd consist, maybe, of an unpopulated PCB, an already known-functional display, backlight-driver, a preprogrammed AVR, and the other support-components.

...

I'd been *trying* to make the LCD-driver software step-by-step enough that most interested tech-savvy folks could get the system working with whatever random LCD they have laying around... but that's a bit of a stretch, as different displays have different characteristics. I know the system inside-and-out, and it usually takes me two to three days to get a new display working. (OTOH, I do take the slower-route, as doing-so helps to figure out its unique characteristics that could be taken-advantage-of for new design-ideas... as well as also being slowed by spending a bit of time revising the "step-by-step" instructions as I go).

That level of dedication is probably hard to come by, as most people with that level of tech-skills are probably out developing/hacking their own projects...

But, if I settled on a particular display, then I could leave coding to the "advanced" users, if they chose to go that route... So, then, kit-wise, probably a 7-8y/o could assemble this... and then even code up their own ideas later down the road. It's an idea I'm mulling over.

I'm definitely open to thoughts!

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