New DIY Handheld Computer

[granz]

Wow, that's a LOT smaller than I thought.

We shall see, hopefully it will be big enough to use.

[Chris Savage]

Wow, that's a LOT smaller than I thought.
We shall see, hopefully it will be big enough to use.

Have a look at this tutorial (not done yet) on Savage///Circuits. You can see a larger font being used on the one display. It's quite readable, IMHO.

[granz]

OK, in your tutorial, the LCD is more like what I was expecting. The one from your Arduino Blaster article shows a blogger's video (first video on that page) where the LCD is about 1/4 the size of the one in your tutorial. That smaller one, from the video, is the one that I was worried about being too small - the bigger one in your tutorial is what I think that I ordered.

I checked my Amazon order, and they look to be about 1.25" X 1.25" (or there abouts.) I think that this size will go well on my handheld. For now, though, I will continue design for both that LCD as well as the Nokia 5110 display.

[Chris Savage]

OK, in your tutorial, the LCD is more like what I was expecting. The one from your Arduino Blaster article shows a blogger's video (first video on that page) where the LCD is about 1/4 the size of the one in your tutorial. That smaller one, from the video, is the one that I was worried about being too small - the bigger one in your tutorial is what I think that I ordered.

In the Arduino Blaster article there are photos of the original parts as well as the ones I used. As for the tutorial, I completed it tonight so that you could see some examples of text on these displays in different fonts. You can see more as well as graphics in the Arduino Blaster article. Let me know if you have more questions about these displays for use in your project.

[Jason D.]

Looks like all those things require electricity, I wasn't sure if a steady supply of power was available to you after such an event. I think a drone would be important also, not everyone would have wireless communication knowledge but you could fly a note to their doorstep up to several miles away. I think micro communities, good neighbors,would be a person strongest alley to survive such an event.

Jason, are you the "ElectronsRfun" from the ZappBots forum? I haven't heard from that Jason for quite a while.

Yes Granz it is I, Jason, Electrons R Fun. Lisa is still alive and I still take care of her. Lisa's illness is beyond my ability to help her with electronics anymore so I concentrate on building things so I can take her places in our Jeep. I can post a few projects because they do have electronics on them but not sure if those projects fit Chris's website model.

[Chris Savage]

I can post a few projects because they do have electronics on them but not sure if those projects fit Chris's website model.

I'll answer with this...the old website (at its peak) had nearly 1500 members. I had moderators, and there was an attempt to keep things "on topic". Most of those people are long gone. Not even on the Parallax Forums anymore. This forums is much more relaxed. If you have projects you want to share, that's what this forum is for. 

[JKnightandKARR]

This giving me ideas for my PipBoy 2000 kit I got off Ebay years ago.  Wanna make a functional one.

[granz]

Yes Granz it is I, Jason, Electrons R Fun. Lisa is still alive and I still take care of her. Lisa's illness is beyond my ability to help her with electronics anymore so I concentrate on building things so I can take her places in our Jeep. I can post a few projects because they do have electronics on them but not sure if those projects fit Chris's website model.

Glad to hear from you, it has been quite a while. Also, glad to hear that Lisa is with us (rather you,) how far did you get with L.I.S.A.? Was Lisa able to use it?

[Jason D.]

Lisa used the L.I.S.A alarm for a long time, the device was about 90 percent reliable for us, but Lisa also used it to wake me up several times a night which became unsustainable. I also made a switch for Lisa, which use's infra red light on some old safety glass's. I let Chris see that device work through a video I keep on my Drive account. In the video Lisa shows how she can ask for coffee, which I call the elixir of productivity. I do think a device can still be built to help Lisa, but it is my belief, the device would have have to use a camera that monitors her eye, she is down to only one theses days, but also would need to determine if she is asking for help or doing something else, like just looking at you as you speak to her. I have simply found that a human being is far superior over a machine because we can apply intuition.

Finding time to learn and build all this just seems insurmountable, so I became a cello student and play for Lisa, it's free music therapy. I also take her on Jeep trips, such as the image I use for my profile picture, Lisa is in the Jeep with me in that snow picture. And now I'm going to get things ready to take Lisa to the Grand Canyon on the first of January. 

Happy New Year to eve to Everyone.

Jason

[granz]

These cheapie displays are also covered by PicoMite BASIC built-in commands. It looks like this is the way to go, for now. Any other thoughts?

OK, I (finally) set up the beginning of a prototype of my handheld control system. It uses a Pico (of course    ) W, and the LCD that I ordered (https://www.amazon.com/Hosyond-Display-Self-Luminous-Compatible-Raspberry/dp/B0BFD4X6YV?th=1). It does not have the hex keypad, nor any external connectors, yet.



The LCD is IIC, and the System Clock (SCL) is connected to GP2 (pin 4,) while the System Data (SDA) is connected to GP3 (pin 5.) So, from scratch (fresh Pico) we would use:

Code Select Expand

OPTION SYSTEM I2C GP2, GP3
OPTION LCDPANEL SSD1306, L
FONT 1
text 1,1,"Hello"
text 1,12,"There"
text 1,24,"Savage Circuits"
Of course, this would work with a plain Pico, as well as the Pico W. Also, I have seen (I'll have to hunt down where) a way to place text on the screen without regard for the font (except for the size of each text character.) This would allow the programmer to use a larger font, if necessary.

The display with FONT 1, looks like it will give about 5 lines of about 16 characters each. That should be good enough for a simple control language (maybe based upon the CardIAC language mentioned earlier.) There are other font sizes, and I could use one of them, if language development deems it necessary/preferable.

Next up, let's add the keypad.

[JKnightandKARR]

Nice.