lcdout 4bit v 8bit bus

[retepsnikrep]

Thanks Darrel on final question.

How do the code space requirements differ between say the lcdout command driving 8 bit bus and the debug command driving an output at 9600,8,N,1

I already use debug as my serial lcd driver and use it many times throughout my programs just worried about the impact of lcdout using more code space?

[Darrel Taylor]

The library code for LCDOUT is smaller than DEBUG since it doesn't have to do all that timing.

But once the code is in the library, there is no difference since the actual instances of the commands in your program use calls to the library code. Modifiers like DEC, HEX, STR will use additional common library routines that are the same for both commands too.

[Charles Linquis]

I normally drive LCDs in 4-bit mode, since I can always use the extra pins. I'm also in a noisy environment. I generally use a ribbon cable of 28" or so between the PIC and the LCD. Every once in a great while, I have the
sync problem that Darrel mentions. Most of my code runs on a 1 (sometimes 2) second main loop that is timed by an interrupt-driven counter. Every minute (30 program loops), I set the variable
flags = 1. This is an internal PBP register that forces complete re-initialization of the LCD on the next LCDOUT. This re-syncronizes things, but remember that this reinitialization takes a long time (150mSec if I remember corectly - but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong).