LCD Text Display

LCDs based on the Hitachi HD44780 chip are very popular for use with microcontrollers. I have a few displays of this type, and I use them with the Atmel AVR ATmega8 and ATmega32 chips. The basic interface is an 8-bit parallel bus, with control signals and timing very similar to the Motorola M6800 1MHz bus. There are eight data lines, a read/write signal, an enable signal and a register select signal — all very familiar to anyone who's used a 6800, 6809 or 6502.

Photos of the display connected to the Arduino are in this Flickr set.