I2C Display

Pretty graphical simulators are all very well when developing circuits using microcontrollers, but sometimes there is no substitute for a proper display connected to real hardware. LCD panels based on the Hitachi HD44780 controller are popular as they are cheap and, at least in principle, easy to use. Unfortunately they require a large number of control signals, which in turn means bulky cables and losing the use of many of the microcontroller’s I/O pins. Here we present a solution to the problem in just three characters: I2C!