Color Graphics LCD info

[bwhiten]

I am thinking of using a Microtips MTF-T035DHSLN style display in a project, driven by a dedicated PIC. First off I haven't been able to get a datasheet request response from Microtips. The only similar datasheet I can find is for the MTF-T057 and it does not show a common/recognizable controller type. If anyone has any info on these displays I could use the help. Second, I did some research here but did not see any specific information on PIC drivers/code written to take advantage of the multi-color aspect of the LCD and wondered if anyone has a link or some code that I could use as a starting point.
Thanks.

[PCM programmer]

This website has a link to a 47-page spec that has the SPI timing diagrams.
http://www.armadeus.com/wiki/index.php?title=MTF-T035

[bwhiten]

Thanks. That is the data sheet I was looking for. I haven't had much luck with Microtips service. Looks like the there is no high level controller on board so I will need to generate all the timing myself. May not be possible with a PIC but I didn't want to spend the money on an FPGA or CPLD.

[Douglas Kennedy]

320x240 at a refresh rate of 60 hz is 4.608 million pixels per sec.
A PIC at 10 mips will give you 2 instructions per pixel. I suspect if the PIC can handle this that will be just about all it will be able to do.

[bwhiten]

Thanks for the encouragement! Realistic actually. Is 10 MIPs the fastest PIC available? I haven't checked through all the datasheets at this point.

[kevcon]

Displays like this have very sensitive timing and you will most likely not be able to do it with a PIC. Altera and Xilinx have some low cost chips and free development software.

[bwhiten]

Yes, I did a 1/4 VGA cockpit display interface for SAAB nearly 10 years ago using a Lattice CPLD and Altera 8K series. I may back down on this and use a monochrome graphics display with standard controller like the MTG-32240xxx that uses the SED1335.

[rberek]

I'm at the Microchip MASTERS conference right now, and just attended a 4 hour class on driving colour touchscreen LCDs. We had a 320x240 Microtips touchscreen QVGA LCD being happily driven by a PIC24, showing animations, sliders, radio buttons, etc.

There seems to be no problem having having a 16-bit PIC drive such a beast. In fact, there will be a PICTail Graphics module available in a few months, with that display.

r.b.

[bwhiten]

rberek,
Can you get the model # of the display and the PIC? I believe color enhancement would truely help sell the project I have in mind so I would like to pursue it further. Thanks for the encouragement.

[rberek]

The display was a Microtips MTF-T022BHNLP and a PIC24FJ128GA010

Note though, that this display is in short supply, which is the reason that the Microchip PICTail board is delayed. Mouser carries this display but I do not believe they have stock

r.b.

[bwhiten]

Thanks. They do carry it and it is on backorder. They also have a couple of other sizes but with different interfaces. Their part numbers are very difficult to decipher. Too many options I suppose.

[kevcon]

That's a cool little display; you could probably drive it with an 18F part too.

[Douglas Kennedy]

[bwhiten]

I did some research and that display appears to have some type of controller included. Some of the larger ones don't. That was my point about the data sheets and part number scheme from Microtips. Difficult to interpret.
On another point the PIC24HJ series claims 40MIPS so that would appear to be the best bet if I proceed.

[kevcon]

There's no way one PIC could handle the timing signals and fetching the bit data, but what if you had two pics?

One could handle the timing signals and another would supply the bit data.