Evaluation board speeds up display development

Starter packs for graphics display designers are available from Electronic Assembly, a company, which specializes in industrial displays. The packs contain an extensive development toolkit for users of displays supplied by this manufacturer, providing a user-friendly path to production-ready products. Besides the display, which may be selected by the user, the packs contain everything required for development and test. Other than the starter pack, the only thing needed for complete the development of the display including the software is a PC. The main item in the starter pack is the evaluation board, which holds the display and contains the peripheral circuitry. A number of pushbuttons, LEDs and potentiometers are mounted on the board to connect the inputs and outputs and simulate input signals. An USB cable is also included to connect the board to the PC. Besides providing data connectivity, the cable also supplies power to the board. No separate power supply is needed. A number of LEDs are mounted on the evaluation board to display and monitor data traffic and voltage levels. The evaluation boards are tailored to the specific display. The displays are supplied as well along with a touch pad for finger-tip control. A buzzer is included on the evaluation boards so that the user can monitor touch pad functions during the development phase. Another major item in the toolkit is the DVD which contains Windows drivers, a source text editor, a compiler and various sample programs. A number of useful PC tools to support development of the display application are also on the DVD:

• EA LCD Terminal organizes the transfer of data and commands between the PC and the evaluation board.
• EA BitmapEdit provides simple image editing functions and supports animation development for the attached display. The range of functionality is tailored to Electronic Assembly's eDIP display series.
• The EA Instrument Editor gives developers a handy way of creating dial instruments that are shown on the display.

Five additional adapter boards for very simple interface implementation are also included. The user can choose between RS-232 (two different versions), I2C, SPI and RS485. The article numbers for ordering the evaluation kits including monochrome and color displays in various sizes are EA EVALeDIP128-6, EA EVALeDIP160-7 and EA EVALeDIPTFT32. More information is available at: www.lcd-module.com