Electronic – Graphical equivalent to HD44780 LCD controller

displaylcd

The Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller is an extremely common character-mode LCD controller. Though I believe it is now discontinued, compatible controllers are used in many hobbyist and commercial grade LCD displays that are very widely and cheaply available. Interfacing instructions are also widely available.

I would like to know what an equivalent controller might be for graphical LCD displays, such as a 128×64 pixel display. Something widely and cheaply available to the hobbyist, that is reasonable to interface with from a MCU, either parallel or serial.

Possibilities include the KS0108 (parallel) and ST7565 (serial), but neither seem to be as popular as the HD44780.

Best Answer

The SED controllers and the KS controllers are the most common graphical LCD controllers. For smaller LCD sizes they often include the drivers, memory, and controller, so a single chip can do everything. They are popular enough that they are being cloned by other manufacturers, so the command sets for some chips very closely relate to one of these two.