Controlling a color graphic LCD, Epson S1D15G10 Controller, with an ATMEL AVR ATMega32L

February 14th, 2006

One of the visitors of e-dsp site sent me an e-mail asking me if I could create a project where we use the LCD display from a cell phone. At first I thought it was a great idea but I already ordered another graphic LCD display to play with it. However I gave it a try, I ordered the display that is used in some of the Nokia models, and I am not sure in which one.

I ordered the LCD from SparkFun Electronics and the PCB board for it so I don’t have to solder on the small connector (I think it is not also possible to solder anything to the connector). Whatever, after a week and a half it arrived. I had a spare ATMega32L-8PI and I decided to give it a try.

Bunch of parts, quarz, ATMega32L-PI8 MCU, Nokia LCD 6100, capacitors, voltage regulator TC12643.3VAB Microchip, PCB board
Bunch of parts used in this little DIY project: 4MHz quarz, ATMega32L-PI8 MCU, Nokia LCD 6100 with Epson S1D15G10 Controller, capacitors, voltage regulator TC1264-3.3VAB Microchip, PCB board…

Scheme of the project (click on the scheme to enlarge it)

I took a Perf Board and wired everything according to my schematic. I used the TC1264-3.3VAB voltage regulator from Microchip. When I was done with the soldering I found some code online by Thomas Pfeifer for the Nokia 6100 display but for the Philips PCF8833 controller. I tried it for this display but it didn’t work.

LCD Nokia 6100 wired with the MCU ATMega32 but it doesn't work
Nothing works however it is not time to give up

However SparkFun was giving away the source code for the Epson S1D15G10 controller but it was written for the Philips ARM LPC2138. I modified both codes and believe it or not I got it working.

LCD Nokia 6100 wired with the MCU ATMega32 AVR from Atmel it works
It works, it displays a square in different colors (huh 2 AM)!

LCD Nokia 6100 wired with the MCU ATMega32 AVR from Atmel better results
Here I made the square with one color!

Here is the part of code that makes the square

// draw a multi-colored square in the center of screen
for (i = 0; i < 4096; i++){
LCD_put_pixel(i, (i % 64) + 32, (i / 64) + 32);
}

The new written code uses the GNU-GCC AVR compiler, so you don’t have to buy it you can just download it, it is free. Long live the GNU, HIP HOP HUREY, HIP HOP HUREYYY . It is still under development but works fine, you can download the code and play with it. Good luck with it.

You can download the LCD Code here.

Entry Filed under: Electronics, DIY

85 Comments Add your own

1. Richard | | February 17th, 2006 at 5:45 pm

Slight oversight in your schematic - the reset switch in this location will actually short out the voltage regulator! Pin 2 of the switch should be connected the other side of the pull-up resistor.
2. Refik | | February 17th, 2006 at 7:31 pm

Dear Richard,
Thank you for the comment! However I checked it twice and it is fine, I cheked AVR schematics on other web sites as well. Maybe my schematic drawing is bad and it looks that it is a short circuit but it is not. Anyways thank you for checking it …
3. Art | | February 20th, 2006 at 7:41 pm

I got one for ya. I have a friend’s old motorolla cell and I believe it is a cameraphone. Any clues on how to go about interfacing that?

thanks
4. refikh | | February 21st, 2006 at 12:33 pm

Huh, that one might be hard. You have to find the datasheet of its controller (LCD controller) and see if it is hard to interface it. If it is not you should give it a try. However I recommend you to play with LCDs you can find on the market and buy easily like this one, you will find on the internet other people using it as well. Thanks for the comments Art .
5. philipp | | February 24th, 2006 at 2:24 pm

hello
i just want to make a soo soo simple homemade water heater but i dont know bout that
i think thats easybut i dont know.
thanks
where can i found a site about that.
6. Refik | | February 24th, 2006 at 6:29 pm

Dear Philipp,
Not sure if I can help you there out but did you try to look for Peltier elements?? Look for it on google, maybe it is the next step in your project. Good luck! Thank you for the comments
7. mo_akbari | | February 26th, 2006 at 10:08 am

hi:
please mail:
Controlling a color graphic LCD, Epson S1D15G10 Controller, with an ATMEL AVR ATMega32L
8. De4Th | | March 4th, 2006 at 11:22 pm

hi, maybe can u upload compiled script? :/ my C++ skill is low :/ thx, if u can send me via email. big thanks!
:)
9. tom | | March 5th, 2006 at 1:15 am

do you think it’s possible to seperate the lcd from it’s backlight safely?
that would make it vey useful in combination with a slide projector ,
pretty much the size of a slide.
10. Andrew | | March 5th, 2006 at 3:54 am

now make it again using a SMT Mega32L and make a watch!

:P

–neg
11. Long Nguyen | | March 5th, 2006 at 5:35 am

I think you’d better drive a driver for the LCD and include it into the Code field. Then it can display any thing you want
12. LNguyen | | March 5th, 2006 at 5:37 am

I think you’d better drive a driver for the LCD and include it into the Code field, then it can display anything you want
13. Andre | | March 5th, 2006 at 2:46 pm

Pretty neat I’ve got some Samsung E700 OLED displays here, has anyone had any success in getting these to work?

-A
14. osha | | March 5th, 2006 at 3:03 pm

i want to test some image (my own picture ) on lcd how i can add it on my code?

i work with lpc21xx
15. [ Bronx Webblog ] »… | | March 6th, 2006 at 1:18 am

[…] Vielleicht wollen die einen oder anderen ja mal ein kleines LCD in Ihren Rechner basteln oder haben anderweitig für ein LCD Verwendung. Verdrahten der Hardware ist ja schön und gut, aber wer schreibt denn bitte mal einen ausführlichen Workshop darüber, mit welchem gecode man direkt solche Displays ansprechen kann. Gibts es mittlerweile nicht sogar schon Bausätze für die Displays? …naja, etwas ist ja immer! Viel Spass beim lesen… […]
16. Gasper | | March 6th, 2006 at 6:58 am

Hi,

I was wondering if there was a way to take this lcd, and mirror the lcd from an ipod. I already have an ipod hookup in my car, but I would like to install a tiny lcd at eye level, so i could see the ipod screen and still focus on driving.

any ideas?

thanks
17. refikh | | March 6th, 2006 at 5:19 pm

Dear De4Th,
you can get the compiler that compiles this code at this address. If you have any troubles downloading it let me know and we will arrange something.
18. refikh | | March 6th, 2006 at 5:20 pm

Dearm Tom and Gasper,
I haven’t tried it yet, I am not sure if it can be done but a great idea to try it .
19. refikh | | March 6th, 2006 at 5:25 pm

Dear Osha,
I would use the USART that comes embedded within most AVR microcontrollers and send from the PC each pixel’s color value. A suggestion would be to make a software that automatically does it for you!
20. refikh | | March 6th, 2006 at 5:26 pm

Bronx Vielen Dank fuer den Link
21. johnny | | March 7th, 2006 at 12:09 am

I was going to extend the wire leads on an lcd display for a digital video camera to make the viewfinder into a monacle. do you think i will run into resistance issues extending it from 5 inches to about 3 feet?
22. tiago | | March 7th, 2006 at 12:46 am

is it possible to connect a mobile phone lcd to a pc so it can be used as a small monitor? thanx
23. bryon | | March 7th, 2006 at 6:54 pm

Hi,
Have a look at this site: http://www.display3000.com/html/with_muc.html

The have color (65k), 132×132 displays that have integrated AVRs. Commands are sent serially.

They have great prices too. Around $70 for the ATMega8 equipped display.

Oh, I am not affiliated with them.
24. osha | | March 10th, 2006 at 3:49 pm

in spark fun code example what the meaning of the pagset,caset

and what mean this:
spi_command( PASET ); /* page start/end ram */
spi_data( 2 ); /* for some reason starts at 2 */
spi_data( 131 );

and:

spi_command( CASET ); /* column start/end ram */
spi_data( 0 );
spi_data( 131 );

2)what the meaning of p17,p16,p14,p….,p10

in pageset ,?

thanks
25. osha | | March 10th, 2006 at 11:56 pm

another Q:

ABOUT WHAT # OF iterations INDICATE:
for(i = 0; i
26. osha | | March 10th, 2006 at 11:57 pm

for(i = 0; i
27. SpazGhost | | March 12th, 2006 at 6:17 am

Would it be possible to use something like this hooked to a gumstik like device? You’d have a really interesting little server on your hands with something like that.
28. F. Eko Mujiyono | | March 20th, 2006 at 5:09 am

I have an erstwhile LCD from Toshiba tecra 8100, Can I use for something useful. I like to use to watch TV or Video. Is any device I can built bu my own to drive this trash?
29. osha | | March 29th, 2006 at 10:32 pm

i have problem in lcd please any one solve it quiqly:

i bought lcd from sparkfun and i have lpc2138
and when i test code from spark fun there is no any aoutput on lcd ,the only color display on lcd is blue(backlight)

what problem ?
30. refikh | | April 4th, 2006 at 5:22 pm

Dear Johnny,
I am not sure if you will have issues with the resistance. The only way you will find it out is to check it yourself.

Hey Tiago,
it can be done but I guess it will require some good coding skills .

Hey Osha,
I think the code is well documented.

SpazGhost,
I love your idea, I had something similar in mind to make some really neat ARM application with uClinux , would be lovely!

Dear Mujiyono,
I guess it can be done, however you will need to find the datasheet for that LCD. Watching TV or Video could be done however I believe most of us would get stuck with encoding the signal to something useful for the LCD.

Hey osha,
I am not sure about your problem. Did you ask on sparkfun forum? I haven’t played with the LPC2138, but blue means power is there. Check how you wired it and if the signal is being sent correctly! Not sure how to help you really…
31. Richard Cooke | | April 29th, 2006 at 12:18 am

I’m new to the AVR parts and I don’t quite see how you managed to use the SPI port to talk to the Epson controller chip since according to the datasheet it is expecting a 9 bit serial stream and the AVR works in 8 or 16 bits.

Thanks,

Richard
32. Last » Blog Archive… | | May 21st, 2006 at 12:13 pm

[…] Controlling a color graphic LCD, Epson S1D15G10 Controller, with an ATMEL AVR ATMega32L […]
33. Gabriele Giottoli | | May 30th, 2006 at 10:11 am

Hi,

Iìm testing nokia lcd with epson controller with a pic 18f4520
20 Mhz and initially all is good. after two days display is frozen.

I tried other two display and … nothing.

All connections are good.

I changed some instruction in the init process.

There is anyone with my problem ? I think that may be an eprom/ram misconfiguration.

Thanks in advance.
GG
34. Badshah | | June 22nd, 2006 at 5:20 am

Salam (peace)
I am searching for a library which would enable the use of more complex display patterns on these type of graphic LCD displays.
Did you make your own library or were you able to get it from someplace?
keep up the good work,
regards
Badshah
35. Mayank Mevada | | July 5th, 2006 at 1:54 pm

Hi,
Its good.
Plz share information with others. Do u interface it with 8052?
36. Kiranjeet | | July 6th, 2006 at 11:05 am

I’m not able to download the zipped code file from this site. can somebody be kind enough to forward it to me…
37. hadi | | July 25th, 2006 at 6:26 am

Hi
please mail:
controling lcd1*16 and lcd 64*128 in avr studio
38. RT | | July 31st, 2006 at 1:22 pm

i have one “dallas maxim DS80C410″ 8-bit micro controller. is it possible for me to work on any nokia models as said above?
39. kal-el | | August 27th, 2006 at 9:43 am

i’m looking aroung the net to help me in my thesis i need to run a colored graphic lcd using a picMICRO can you give me a site that would help me in creating my program

can you give me an idea of the cheapest graphic lcd where i can display a picture and the name and would it be possible to interface a hardisk to a pic so that i would be able to use a large database???

hoping to see your reply

thanks in advance
40. Ronaldo | | September 14th, 2006 at 1:53 pm

osha,
Can you get to work your lcd sparkfun.and lpc2138?
I worked LCD 6100 and sparkfun pcb with LPC2106.
41. upesh Patel | | September 22nd, 2006 at 1:31 pm

send me circuit of color lcd interface with
atmega32
42. atomic | | September 29th, 2006 at 11:55 pm

I’m a total newb at this. Can any one help me find a good microcontroller for this project?? Please leave a link, I’m a total newb
43. Jasper | | September 30th, 2006 at 2:17 pm

Hello there! Wonderful little doodad this LCD. Maybe you can answer one question for me! I cannot get this LCD working but I’m wondering if my pinout is correct. I have the backlight on what I THINK is pin 9 and 10 (9 is - and 10 is +)

THere are tiny little silkscreen numbers on the LCD connector (the one ON the lcd, yea, that TINY one) that give pin 1, 5, 6 and 10. The pinouts on sparkfun lack a drawing to show which pin is which. Any ideas? do I have to enable the backlight in software?
thanks!
44. Jasper | | September 30th, 2006 at 2:18 pm

Sorry I should have specified that the backlight does NOT light for me with 5-7 volts on pins 9,10
45. mohammad | | October 9th, 2006 at 1:56 pm

hi
PLZ send this document to my Email.
PLZ send me Graphic Display Driver/C sorce code
to:
olala_1364@yahoo.com
tanQ
46. Nek Debaggio | | October 10th, 2006 at 8:29 pm

Dear Refik,

Could you play mpeg(video) on the Nokia LCD 6100 with Epson S1D15G10 Controller that you used above. I am trying to read an mpeg file(video) from flash memory and then play it on the LCD. Any ideas anybody?
47. dav7 | | November 17th, 2006 at 3:51 pm

Hi all,

I have been mentally noodling an idea to make a really really tiny PC (like a little over 2×1 inch) with an LCD touchscreen. I would like it to have an OS and run little apps and all that sort of thing. I don’t expect any of it to be easy but I am willing to try. I just need some help with where to actually start…

(please send any comments to asmqb[at]bigpond.com and replace the [at] with a real at sign.)

thanks in advance.
48. funkey | | November 29th, 2006 at 2:11 am

hi all,
I have got a nokia 7620’s lcd,i wanted to driver it with 89C52..
Anybody know the IC driver?is it also the enpson’s IC?
49. soory | | December 10th, 2006 at 9:53 am

I have a project with atmega128
i want to play grafic lcd 128X64
please guide me
50. Optixx » Blog Archi… | | January 6th, 2007 at 11:52 pm

[…] Finally i threw some code together using the init commands found in this project. Added support for receiving images via uart and wrote an little python client for sending images. […]
51. atryd | | January 7th, 2007 at 1:53 am

anyone tryed to interface lcd from any type of Pocket Pc - they are cheep now and to get lcd wouldn’t be a problem the main thing is how to do anything on them - displaying a picture for example like on picture frame
52. mochen | | February 6th, 2007 at 10:30 pm

tanks
53. Anand | | February 8th, 2007 at 12:04 am

hi, I wanted to know in the circuit what does IC2 represent? is it voltage regulator? also, what is the range of the load resistor R1?
54. homerus | | February 19th, 2007 at 9:14 pm

Hey guys,
Any of you knows if it is possible to connect such an lcd to my laptop, in order to run it as a sidshow monitor?
cheers
55. Anand | | February 19th, 2007 at 11:13 pm

Can anybody help me with this error that I found after compiling the code with CodeVisionAVR.

Error: …code\MyLCD\headers\headers.h(7), included from: test.c: can’t open #include file: macros.h

Error: …code\MyLCD\Source\test.c(1): the program has no ‘main’ function
56. MANOJ | | February 23rd, 2007 at 2:52 pm

hi,
i am trying to interface lpc2129 with pcf8833 for nokia 6610 graphical lcd. is it possible to use built in SPI of lpc2129? or shall i go for GPIO pins?

please help me ,
thanks ,
manoj
57. farzad | | February 25th, 2007 at 8:46 pm

hi
i wanna drive a graphic lcd by ATmega32 OR 16 (by codevision software).please help me.
58. zoamoar | | February 28th, 2007 at 10:17 pm

is the connector the same as in the picture of thomas pfeifer?
http://thomaspfeifer.net/nokia_display_6.jpg

Thomas has the philips chip, and I have the epson chip, like this page.
59. stanly | | March 3rd, 2007 at 6:13 pm

Helloo all
I just try to puting image to lcd as atmel but ı cant succes yet only ı just see lcd light is on
ı m not thinking there are any wrong about code. ı just use 8952 familiy ı just using kiie c .
but ı m not sure about connections
1 VCC-Digital (3.3V)
2 RESET
3 SDATA
4 SCK
5 CS
6 VCC-Display (3.3V)
7 N/C
8 GND
9 LED GND
10 LED V+ (6-7V)

ı just used this connection
could you pls say ı m wrong or not about connection
60. Pulak | | March 12th, 2007 at 11:07 am

need color display of 4′’ by 3′’ in size with full module like controller/ connector / base etc for making some experience with display. plz. give some advice.

mail me
pulakpurkait@gmail.com
61. ali | | March 16th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

please send me

software +pcb for contoroling a color graphic lcd
62. sarathy | | April 4th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

Hello to all
i am trying to work out the graphical icd with controller ic T6963c.
i’m sure about my coding but not sure in proper initializing. plz tell how to do it?
Thanks
63. Jello | | April 5th, 2007 at 11:25 pm

Hi,
Nice work!
I am also using the SparkFun break out board using Header1.
Did anyone using this breakout board have to set the jumpers to get it to work?
Thanks!
64. Montoya | | April 10th, 2007 at 7:36 am

Jello: No, if you test the jumper sockets you will find that they are already jumped. Just make the connections on Header1 and you should be able to get a working display.

e-dsp, could you explain the indexing scheme you used for colors? It seems like there are 256 colors but I don’t know how to tell what’s red, blue and green. I’ve been using trial & error to find colors.
65. T Bush | | April 18th, 2007 at 2:47 am

Greeting! I envy your ability to do this kind of stuff and had a question I thought one of you might be able to answer. Is it possible to make one of these with a simple ‘video in” for viewing images?
66. praveen | | April 24th, 2007 at 12:03 pm

hi,

i’m trying interface GLCD with atmega16/32. pls, anybody send me documents and code library for this. thanks.
67. koosh | | May 3rd, 2007 at 7:48 am

Hi can anyone send me full shematic and code for atmega 32 by mail thanks
68. praveen | | May 6th, 2007 at 6:44 am

please send me

software +schematics for contoroling a color graphic lcd with atmega32/128

praveen_cpp@yahoo.co.in
69. Marius | | May 7th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

please send me

software +schematics for contoroling a color graphic lcd with atmega32/128

cj04vsv@yahoo.com
70. kool | | May 10th, 2007 at 8:35 am

Hi can anyone send me full shematic and code for atmega 32 by mail thanks ——– s3140675@yahoo.com.au
71. aida | | May 17th, 2007 at 7:47 am

hi,i would like to ask if you have any codes generated using mikroc software for the nokia 6100 lcd..and do you have the software to transfer images into codes?
72. bharat | | May 29th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

i am using the atmega16 for lcd interface and using the code given above .but i am not getting the display of square in lcd .can anybody tell me what to do
73. Nordin | | May 30th, 2007 at 3:14 pm

Hello friends,

Where can I find a connector or like some people say “breakout box” for the 6100 lcd? I have a bunch of those lcd’s, but don’t have something to connect it to my uC r8c/13.

If some guys want to put images on the lcd, the fastest and easiest way is to copy a 16 bit image bmp data to your source. You need to remove the overhead that belongs to the bmp file-layout and that must do the trick.

But a more proffessional way is be able to read from an SD card and than display the image. To make it possible to write or read data to/from the SD card, you can find a lot of stuff on this link: http://elm-chan.org/fsw/ff/00index_e.html
74. sunny | | May 31st, 2007 at 6:45 pm

HI is there any way you can make a video controller board for a 1.8″ xga lcd panel. i have an xga panel but need a controller board through which i can feed images.
75. Guru | | June 2nd, 2007 at 2:20 pm

Hey guys,
If you haven’t noticed Refikh stopped replying April 4th 2006. You aren’t going to get your answers here right now. And you seriously need to stop spamming the comments -_-. I, too, have a problem with getting the lcd to work, the backlight is turning on, but the square won’t appear. But I’ll figure it out eventually. And also, almost half of your demands are for code and schmatics. Its on the site itself and i downloaded it fine so either you are a n00b, or you are… a n00b. Figure it out yourselves.
76. loeto | | June 5th, 2007 at 10:23 am

Trying to use nokia knock lcd display and the Atmega32 but its me hard time,can anyone help me with this
77. manfredi | | June 12th, 2007 at 7:25 pm

cool
78. vikram | | July 6th, 2007 at 8:22 am

HELLO SIR ..
I HAVE GONE THRU ALL THE DETAILS GIVEN BY U ABT NOKIA LCD…
ITS REALLY HELPFULL
I HAVE WRITTEN MY CODE TO DIPLAY SOME GRAPHICS ON IT..
BUT I CANT FIND THAT DELAY.H HEADER FILE
CAN U PLEASE MAIL ME THAT …
AND ONE THING MORE I AM USING ATMEGA16 ….
SO IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE IN THE CODE..
PLZ REPLY………

MY E-MAIL ID IS … vicky.rkn@gmail.com
79. mekdes | | July 12th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

when we interface the LCD with atmega32 at stk500 board the LCD does’t powered on but we program our atmega32 what is the reason behined the LCD for not powering ON please tell me
80. Interfacing Nokia 6100 co… | | August 5th, 2007 at 10:13 pm

[…] As there are two types of displays: with Epson chipset(S1D15G10) and Philips(PCF8833), he wrote code for Philips chipset. Firmware is written in AVR-GCC language where image can be uploaded via serial cable. Also there are few videos view sample video on how it works AVR-3D-Engine. […]
81. Karl Kristian Markman | | September 4th, 2007 at 8:25 am

How to tell if there is a Epson or Phillips chipset on it ??
82. Mori Nice | | September 6th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Hi. please help me at Graphic Projects. Very Thanks
83. rawan | | September 27th, 2007 at 9:39 am

how to build circuit that control the traffic light
84. Nickolay | | October 1st, 2007 at 5:07 pm

I can’t see where are the values of C1, C2 and R1 if you please can tell me. Thanks
85. manu | | October 2nd, 2007 at 2:19 pm

Sir,
I am trying to interface Nokia 6610 LCD with LPC2129(ARM 7)
Cav u please give me the example code if you have….

thanks&Regards
manu