I need to play with Nibbles, am i on the right track?

[OldMarty]

Hmmm, i'll need to read all that a few times to sink in lol

Basically, i have 4 variables i'm using, but i'm only using data in the LSB of each variable, so the values only range from $00 to $0F, technically i'm only using the LSB value of 0 to F within the code.

I'm currently using(wasting) 4 ports, but only using 1/2 of the port to wire to external LEDs. my code and concept works, but now i'm trying to clean it all up by placing all 4 nibbles across only 2 8bit ports, freeing up the other 2 ports for more I/O pins etc.

At all times, i need to only send info to each 1/2 of a given port WITHOUT corupting or moving bits on the other 1/2 of the port.

Just looking to find a clean way to achieve this.
Marty.

[pedja089]

If that is case, then try this
Create subroutine to set 2 ports like this:
UpdateLed:
PORTB= ((HI_nibbleB<<4) & %11110000) | (LO_nibbleB & %00001111)
PORTC= ((HI_nibbleC<<4) & %11110000) | (LO_nibbleC & %00001111)
RETURN

Do what ever in main loop update variables and then CALL UpdateLed, and that is all.