GCBASIC documentation
GLCD Overview

This section covers GLCD devices that use the SSD1289 graphics controller. The SSD1289 is a 240 x 320 single chip controller driver IC for 262k color (RGB) amorphous TFT LCD.

The GCBASIC constants shown below control the configuration of the SSD1289 controller. The SSD1289 uses a 16-bit parallel data bus, not SPI; the tables below show the required pin constants.

GCBASIC supports 65K-color mode operations.

To use the SSD1289 driver simply include the following in your user code. This will initialise the driver.

    #include <glcd.h>
    #DEFINE GLCD_TYPE GLCD_TYPE_SSD1289          ' <<< the constant that selects this controller driver
    'Pin mappings for the 16-bit parallel bus
    #define GLCD_WR     porta.0           'example port setting -- Write strobe
    #define GLCD_CS     porta.1           'example port setting -- Chip select
    #define GLCD_RS     porta.2           'example port setting -- Register select
    #define GLCD_RST    porta.3           'example port setting -- Reset
    #define GLCD_DB0    portd.0           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 0
    #define GLCD_DB1    portd.1           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 1
    #define GLCD_DB2    portd.2           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 2
    #define GLCD_DB3    portd.3           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 3
    #define GLCD_DB4    portd.4           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 4
    #define GLCD_DB5    portd.5           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 5
    #define GLCD_DB6    portd.6           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 6
    #define GLCD_DB7    portd.7           'example port setting -- Data bus bit 7
    'Data bus bits 8 through 15 must also be defined for a full 16-bit bus

Key line: #DEFINE GLCD_TYPE GLCD_TYPE_SSD1289 — tells <glcd.h> to compile in the SSD1289 driver rather than any of the library’s other supported controllers; unlike most other GCBASIC GLCD drivers, this one talks to the panel over a 16-bit parallel data bus (GLCD_DB0 through GLCD_DB15) rather than SPI, so no clock or data-in/data-out pins are needed.

The GCBASIC constants for the interface to the controller are shown in the table below.

The GCBASIC constants for control display characteristics are shown in the table below.

The GCBASIC commands supported for this GLCD are shown in the table below.   Always review the appropiate library for the latest full set of supported commands.

The library predefines the named colors below as 16-bit RGB565 values (5 bits red, 6 bits green, 5 bits blue). Pass any of these constants, or your own custom 0x0000-0xFFFF value, as the colour parameter to GLCDCLS, Box, FilledBox, Line, GLCDDrawChar, or GLCDDrawString.

      SSD1289_BLACK   'hexidecimal value 0x0000
      SSD1289_RED     'hexidecimal value 0xF800
      SSD1289_GREEN   'hexidecimal value 0x07E0
      SSD1289_BLUE    'hexidecimal value 0x001F
      SSD1289_WHITE   'hexidecimal value 0xFFFF
      SSD1289_PURPLE  'hexidecimal value 0xF11F
      SSD1289_YELLOW  'hexidecimal value 0xFFE0
      SSD1289_CYAN    'hexidecimal value 0x07FF
      SSD1289_D_GRAY  'hexidecimal value 0x528A
      SSD1289_L_GRAY  'hexidecimal value 0x7997
      SSD1289_SILVER  'hexidecimal value 0xC618
      SSD1289_MAROON  'hexidecimal value 0x8000
      SSD1289_OLIVE   'hexidecimal value 0x8400
      SSD1289_LIME    'hexidecimal value 0x07E0
      SSD1289_AQUA    'hexidecimal value 0x07FF
      SSD1289_TEAL    'hexidecimal value 0x0410
      SSD1289_NAVY    'hexidecimal value 0x0010
      SSD1289_FUCHSIA 'hexidecimal value 0xF81F

For a SSD1289 datasheet, please refer here.

This example shows how to drive an SSD1289 based Graphic LCD module with the built in commands of GCBASIC.

Example:

    ;Chip Settings
    #chip 16F1937,32
    #config MCLRE_ON

    #include <glcd.h>

    'Defines for SSD1289
    #define GLCD_TYPE GLCD_TYPE_SSD1289
    #define GLCD_WIDTH 240
    #define GLCD_HEIGHT 320

    'Pin mappings for the 16-bit parallel bus
    #define GLCD_WR porta.0
    #define GLCD_CS porta.1
    #define GLCD_RS porta.2
    #define GLCD_RST porta.3
    #define GLCD_DB0 portd.0
    #define GLCD_DB1 portd.1
    #define GLCD_DB2 portd.2
    #define GLCD_DB3 portd.3
    #define GLCD_DB4 portd.4
    #define GLCD_DB5 portd.5
    #define GLCD_DB6 portd.6
    #define GLCD_DB7 portd.7

    GLCDPrint(0, 0, "Test of the SSD1289 Device")          ' <<< the GLCDPrint instruction
    end

Key line: GLCDPrint(0, 0, "Test of the SSD1289 Device") — once the 16-bit parallel bus is fully wired and GLCD_WIDTH/GLCD_HEIGHT are set for the 240x320 panel, drawing commands like GLCDPrint behave the same as on any other GCBASIC-supported GLCD.

See Also:

Supported in <GLCD.H>