How a Character LCD works Part 1

The 8-Bit Guy · 1.3M views · 2017-04-26 · 13:59

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

The 8-Bit Guy explains how character LCD screens work and how to control them directly, first part of a series.

On Hacker News

HN commenters recommend the series as an approachable demonstration of the simple standardized interface used by character LCDs.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2018–2022

Topics

Embedded systems & DIY electronics Demoscene & retrocomputing Electronics & circuit design

What people said

Nr7 · 2019-02 · Recommendation
The 8-Bit Guy on Youtube made a great video series on character LCD screens and how to run them. In the first video he shows how to drive one manually using just switches: [VIDEO] In parts 2 and 3 he shows two ways how to drive them with a C64: [LINK] [LINK]
Read the original HN comment ↗

loudthing · 2022-06 · Reference
Reminds me of the 8-bit guy's device he created for manually programming character lcd displays. [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

rwmj · 2018-09 · Reference
If you don't need actual HDMI and a regular monitor then there are other solutions which are more like what you describe: Firstly there are simple character LCDs which all have a standardized and simple electrical interface[1] for sending ASCII characters and control codes. Then there are bit-addressable colour displays that let you send drawing commands, eg: [2] [3] [4] [1] [VIDEO] [2] [LINK] [3] [LINK] [4] [LINK]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by The 8-Bit Guy, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks

SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources