Issue 132 July 2001
Liquid Crystal Delight

Start • Working Glass Hero •Quarter Horse •Software To Boot •Widge Warrior •Highway Star •Beta Site •Take It Easy •Sources & PDF

TAKE IT EASY
It’s a work in progress, but even as I finish this article, progress is being made. The latest version of the tools includes a serial protocol simulator (see Photo 4) and the compiler, for example, now allows a single function button press to perform multiple actions (e.g., switching pages locally and invoking a remote procedure on the host). I even hear they’re doing away with the dastardly DIP switch.

Judging by the rate of progress, by the time you read this, many of the glitches should be history. In any case, warts and all, Amulet is on to something. It was quicker and easier to get going than the alternative of rolling my own display from scratch.

Whether it’s a single LED, full-blown VGA, or, in Amulet’s case, something in-between, just remember that embedded systems, even ones in the attic, need a way to tell you what’s going on.