Let's start our project by connecting the 16x2 character display to the Raspberry Pi and show some text on it using Java. When looking around on the Internet for a 16x2 character display, this will often be a HD44780-compatible one. These displays are quite affordable and are used in a lot of projects. Before we attach this display to the Raspberry Pi, we need to check what kind of backlight is being used as there are both LED and EL types. In our schematic and connections, we will be connecting a LCD with an LED backlight.
The character display has a parallel interface, which means we will need a lot of pins to connect the display. We will be communicating in 4-bit mode with the display so we do not need to use all the pins that are available. The pin setup of this kind of display is mostly as follows, ordered by pin number:
- Ground
- 5V VCC, (not 3.3V)
- Contrast...