Hi, Bob, 

that sounds quite well. I hope that more people will order your board so your effort would bring some profit to you. 

I think it would be good to mention it at Vintage Synth yahoo group and Backlighting yahoo group. I can do it if you haven't this opportunity and want it, and maybe add some link to your web page if you plan to prepare simple basic info about it Just let me know please when to start with such small promotion.   

Best regards.

Daniel Forro

Hi Daniel,

Well, I will certainly put the code and a schematic on my web site.

I can offer a small pc bd with the PIC, plus ribbon cable connectors for

the connections to the pcb and the display.  I could arrange the display

connections so that the board would plug onto displays that have the 16

pin (14 plus backlight) in a row, as many do.  Even that is tricky, as some  

displays use a dual-row header along side the display, while some have the  

14/16 pins along the top edge and others along the bottom.   I can try to lay  

out a board that will work with any of these three.   

But picking a display that is the right color, and the right size to replace

the original is tough.   Also, that would require removing the original  

display, which means removing the pc bd as well.   So for now I will

leave all of that up to the user.  

Bob

---

From:   "Daniel Forró   danforcz@...   [oberheim]" < oberheim@yahoogroups.com >
To:   oberheim@yahoogroups.com  
Sent:   Tuesday, January 13, 2015 11:00 PM
Subject:   Re: [oberheim] Re: Matrix-6 display replacement project

Hi, Bob, that's great news! Thank you for your effort. Let us know please when you want to offer finished board with installation manual, I'd like to get one as a reserve for my M6R.

At least I suppose you will make separate interface board, connected with those 5 wires to M6R, and with another 14 wires to any standard display. Am I right All the other necessary modifications in the instrument - placement of the interface board and display - is upon customer, is it so  

All the best!

Daniel Forro

On Jan 14, 2015, at 10:17 AM, Bob Grieb   bobgrieb@...   [oberheim] wrote:

Hi to anyone interested in the Matrix 6 replacement display project.

I have made some progress in the last few days.   I now have a 16x1 line std LCD module

echoing what is on the display of my M6R.   My LCD is not backlit, so the current

drawn by the LCD plus the PIC is just 2.7 mA.   Once a backlight is added, that will go up

a lot, of course.   The display uses 5 connections to the M5R display board:

+5V

Gnd

DCLRb

DCLKb

DDATA

I just have ribbon cable tack soldered onto the pcb for these currently.   Since my  

VFD display is working fine, I did not remove it or try to fit the LCD in its place.

The circuit is just an 18-pin PIC chip, a 10K resistor and a 0.1 uF cap to bypass power

to the PIC.   I am using a solderless breadboard currently, and have not designed any sort

of pc bd.

I will probably work on this a little more to clean up the code, but for now that is where

I am.  The code should work with any 16x1 LCD module that uses a 44780-type controller chip.

Most of them do.    This is the cheapest kind of LCD.   Most people would probably want

a backlight.  Many of the newer modules have one that can be powered directly from 5V,

unlike the older ones that required an external current-setting resistor.  Of course if the backlight

draws 50 mA, then it's up to the M6R supply to provide that extra current.

      Bob

---

From:   "Dave Garfield   daveogarf@...   [oberheim]" < oberheim@yahoogroups.com >
To:   " oberheim@yahoogroups.com " < oberheim@yahoogroups.com >  
Sent:   Friday, November 21, 2014 7:30 PM
Subject:   Re: [oberheim] Re: Matrix-6 display issues

Hi Bob and other Oberheimers,

In response to your inquiries about the form(s) of the Matrix-6/-6R displays, I thought I'd throw in my tuppence, albeit a bit late...

1) Does the replacement display need to fit where the other one was, even if that means having to de-solder the VFD

A replacement with a minimum amount of fuss or modification would be the best.

2) If not, then how/where is the replacement display mounted

Nahhh; let’s try for a replacement display that’s at least to the same size as the original.

 

3) What would be a reasonable target for the cost of the display

Uhh, judging from the previous display replacements that I’ve done (Korg Wavesation A/D, SDD-3300 Triple Delay), I’d say $50 to $100 USD.     On the other hand, as Daniel Forro said:

I don't think price could be a big issue for somebody with defect display and not usable instrument.

4) Does color matter     Should the replacement be blue, for instance, or could it be any color

I’d love to see the colors as close to the original, if at all possible.

Probably if I had a Matrix 6 with a bad display it would be easier to make the decisions, since I would have a real need.     I have both a 6 and a 6R, and both displays are fine.

Me too – but I’m betting that eventually they will decline or go out altogether.     In such case, having a replacement at the ready would be a boon, assuming that others love their Matrixes, -6 and -6R, as much as I love mine.

Hope this will smooth your decision-making processes a bit...

Dave Garfield

On Friday, November 21, 2014 5:48 AM, "Martin Ator   cyllall@...   [oberheim]" < oberheim@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

So would an HD44780 compatible VFD take up less space than a backlit LCD

On Friday, 21 November 2014, 12:35, "Daniel Forró   danforcz@...   [oberheim]" < oberheim@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

 

Maybe it's not necessary to interface to T6963 (and compatible) standard, that's for graphic displays.

For Matrix 6 character display would be enough good, this is HD44780 standard...

Daniel Forro