From a talk for BarCampNYC4 - Sunday, May 31st, 2009. Describes how to construct a small auxiliary text display for connecting to a computer's USB port.

1. SIMPLE SERIAL DISPLAY YOU CAN BUILD THIS ON YOUR OWN – NO SOLDERING REQUIRED

3. NYC Resistor – Hacker Collective in Brooklyn

4. This presentation is located on Slideshare.net under my username, “wwward”

5. Twitter @wwward

6. Just about everywhere as “wwward” except for that guy with kids on Flickr – I'm wwward0 there.

8. Rich computer displays are great for conveying COMPLEX information, but it is hard to beat an “oh shit” light for telling you what matters quickly. Leverage novel ways of conveying information to reduce the attention cost of “digital” situational awareness.

10. If your code can write to a serial port, it can use the Simple Serial Display for text output

11. No soldering required if used with a breadboard

12. Process reporting, display tweets, CPU load

13. Keep important information visible while your screen drops to power-save mode

14. Component Overview LED Serial LCD Display USB to Serial Converter Resistor Breadboard

15. Components: USB to Serial Power Serial Control Line (RTS) Data (RX)

16. Components: Serial LCD ** Most LCD Displays are “parallel” - but this one has a serial to parallel “backpack” +5 Volts, Ground, Data

17. Components: LED Resistor limits voltage through LED 4-legged 5mm LED

18. Try Other Displays Image from sparkfun.com “Huge” mono dot-matrix 160x128 Sparkfun.com model LCD-08884 ~$70 Image from sparkfun.com Color 1.7” OLED Graphic Sparkfun.com model LCD-08543 ~$80 Image from sparkfun.com 20 char x 4 row text Sparkfun.com model LCD-00462 ~$33 ** The OLED model may require a minor 5 volt to 3.3 volt adjustment on the serial lines

20. Caveat: No-soldering implies that your Arduino Mini Serial already has the pins attached

21. Caveat: Some serial displays use SPI rather than RS232, this is an important distinction, so read the specifications before buying.

22. Tip: The newer Arduino Mini Serial adapters can still be used, but won't provide a pin for the LED.

23. Tip: There is another control pin (DTR) available for a second LED! Read the spec sheet!

24. Tip: Several cursor and screen controls involve sending control characters

26. LCD 16x2 w/Serial Backpack Sparkfun.com LCD-00812 ~$25

27. Breadboard, LEDs, wire, and Resistors Radio Shack, Sparkfun.com, Superbrightleds.com, etc. ~$10 or so for breadboard, wire, cheap LED, resistor. (This LED is hf5-y5590 @ Superbrightleds resistor should be 140 or 150 ohms. When buying, find out the LED's voltage drop and current limit, the circuit source voltage is 5v, use a web based LED calculator to determine the appropriate resistor value for the LEDs you buy.) * There is a newer Arduino Mini Serial that lacks the RTS control pin for the LED – and some may require soldering pins to the bottom, hunt around for the original model! ** Buy a cheap multimeter while you're at Radio Shack, you'll need it for troubleshooting!

29. groups.google.com/group/nycresistormicrocontrollers

30. Sparkfun.com Tutorials

31. Contact Me: [email_address]

32. Follow Me on Twitter: @wwward

33. Read my Blog: wwward.typepad.com