[EE] ARM with LCD controller recommendation

[M. Adam Davis]

Does anyone have suggestions for an ARM processor with an LCD
controller (color QVGA or VGA) ?

I'm just doing a broad search at the moment.

Thanks!

-Adam
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[Philip Pemberton]

M. Adam Davis wrote:
> Does anyone have suggestions for an ARM processor with an LCD
> controller (color QVGA or VGA) ?

If you want to widen the net a bit, you could use a non-LCD ARM CPU, and add a
RAM and a CPLD to do the LCD driving. I've got some Verilog code here for an
LCD driver that should be able to handle most displays up to around 800x600
without any problems.

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[M. Adam Davis]

If that's less expensive and/or consumes less power than an internal
LCD peripheral, then sure. I'll be looking at those options as well.
External RAM and a CPLD or LCD controller are going to add to the
cost.

-Adam

[alan smith]

I believe Actel has a new FPGA with a soft ARM in it, not sure if they have the LCD
interface but suppose it could be done in the FPGA portion of it.

Thanks!

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[William Chops]

On Sep 11, 2006, at 6:31 AM, alan smith wrote:

> has a new FPGA ...

FPGAs do not generally have the low current consumption of a
micro with built-in LCD controller. Or rather, a significant
subset of micros with built in LCD support are specifically designed
for low power consumption (battery power devices.)

Does it have to be an ARM? The MSP430 series being discussed in
another thread includes devices with LCD controllers, and they
ARE aimed at (very) low power applications.

BillW

[M. Adam Davis]

It doesn't have to be an arm, but it requires a significant amount of
computing power - enough power to run voice recognition, for instance.

Lots of nice things about the ARM that don't readily apply to other chips:
Second sources available
Lots of competition = low prices
Lots of industry acceptance = good tools, software
Wide variety (can trade off power, efficiency, cost)
etc.

So I'm looking mostly at ARM, but if I can get everything I want in
another chip I'll certainly give it a good hard look.

At this point I suspect I'm going to be looking at ARMs with LCD
controllers, as well as ARM and seperate LCD controller solutions.
Requires more chips since memory can't be shared, and many LCD
controllers require SRAM instead of cheap DRAM, which jacks up the
cost another few dollars - I'd rather have it on chip and spend a buck
or two more than off chip and spend 2-3 dollars more.

-Adam

[alan smith]

True on the power consumption, but I was told yesterday a new family of very low power, comparible to Coolrunner, is out by the end of the year. Should be interesting

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