Thinking of a new gadget...

[Csory_imp]

Thank y’all for your kind words

A simple “yee-haw” message would suffice then - as per Cormanus?

[Cormanus]

If graphics are hard to manage, “yee-haw” would be perfect.

[Lord Popgun]

If it doesn’t have a thyratron, traveling wave tube, and a flux capacitor—well, I’m not interested. Cause when I hit 88MPH I want to see some YEE-HAW!

Just kidding of course. It is cool.
When you get done, post up a schematic and you’ll flip out 99% of the board!

[GoldOxide_imp]

You have a strong fan base Csory. Don't forget to show how a consumer will install the magic gadget.

[Cormanus]

Milor' Popgun, you forgot to stipulate that had to be made from Unobtanium.

[Csory_imp]

Perhaps I should've better explained design constraints and considerations...

(a) form factor: wanted something as unobtrusive and nondistracting as possible. Creating something that is as small as it can be (within my design and building skills, yet remaining legible) was definitely a goal. The only place on the CB1100's instrument cluster available (at least to my eyes) was right above the small Honda logo. This defines the gadget's exterior dimensions.

(b) reliability and sunlight-visibility: optimal solution would be a trans-reflective LCD, with back lighting. This is the same display type Honda uses. However, I was unable to get hold of any right-sized such displays, and don't have the financial resources to have one manufactured... I have a candidate in my project box, but it is much wider (1.5x or so) than the current display. Second best was the LED display - good visibility, quite rugged, and available in different colors and sizes. Went with this one.

( c) ease of use: 7-segment displays don't require the computing and memory capacity graphical displays do. Maybe I could squeeze in a larger microcontroller and have a graphical OLED display, but that would be a can of worms. OLEDs, so popular these days, are prone to burn-in and fading over time, not really UV proof, and have lower surface brightness than LEDs. Also, just could not find anything with the right size

(d) limitations of the selected display module: the 7-segment display I went with is really just what the name says. It can show 3 numbers, with decimal points between them, and nothing more. (Actually, 7 tiny glowing bars and a dot per number). You can imagine how easy it is to make "graphics" with this - or just a proper "w" letter...

Conclusion: I'll finalize the gadget using this type of display and see if it works okay. If I'll ever have the feeling that a graphical display would significantly improve user experience, will go and make another prototype...

[max]

Csory, how does the micro drive the led driver ic, ascii or something that resembles alphabetic and numeric input with a location?
Didn't feel like looking up the datasheet on the driver.

[Bazbro_imp]

Perhaps I should've better explained design constraints and considerations...

(a) form factor: wanted something as unobtrusive and nondistracting as possible. Creating something that is as small as it can be (within my design and building skills, yet remaining legible) was definitely a goal. The only place on the CB1100's instrument cluster available (at least to my eyes) was right above the small Honda logo. This defines the gadget's exterior dimensions.

(b) reliability and sunlight-visibility: optimal solution would be a trans-reflective LCD, with back lighting. This is the same display type Honda uses. However, I was unable to get hold of any right-sized such displays, and don't have the financial resources to have one manufactured... I have a candidate in my project box, but it is much wider (1.5x or so) than the current display. Second best was the LED display - good visibility, quite rugged, and available in different colors and sizes. Went with this one.

( c) ease of use: 7-segment displays don't require the computing and memory capacity graphical displays do. Maybe I could squeeze in a larger microcontroller and have a graphical OLED display, but that would be a can of worms. OLEDs, so popular these days, are prone to burn-in and fading over time, not really UV proof, and have lower surface brightness than LEDs. Also, just could not find anything with the right size

(d) limitations of the selected display module: the 7-segment display I went with is really just what the name says. It can show 3 numbers, with decimal points between them, and nothing more. (Actually, 7 tiny glowing bars and a dot per number). You can imagine how easy it is to make "graphics" with this - or just a proper "w" letter...

Conclusion: I'll finalize the gadget using this type of display and see if it works okay. If I'll ever have the feeling that a graphical display would significantly improve user experience, will go and make another prototype...

Ha! "...will go and make another prototype..."!!
Just like that! Beautiful!

[Csory_imp]

To further elaborate, please take a look at this picture below. The smaller display module is the aforementioned 0.92" 128x32 graphical OLED, the larger one is the smallest transreflective COG (ultra-thin) LCD I found. The LCD would definitely have to be bar mounted, competing for space and attention with GPSes, phones etc. The OLED might be squeezed in above the Honda logo, but the housing would have to be significantly wider (hence, a bit out of proportions and with less flowing outlines). The caliper is to illustrate the required width of the housing for this graphical OLED.

+1: Sentimentally, the CB is a retro machine - I'd be very careful to add anything overly modern-looking to it

Csory, how does the micro drive the led driver ic, ascii or something that resembles alphabetic and numeric input with a location?
Didn't feel like looking up the datasheet on the driver.

The [url=https://datasheets.maximintegrated.com/en/ds/MAX7219-MAX7221.pdf]driver IC is connected to the micro via I2C bus. It can be set up either as a decoder (basically BCD), or pass-through. I use it as pass-through so that it can display anything non-numeric too. Commands are passed to it in the form of "chip x, digit y, value z" - which will turn on one or more segments of a digit y of the LED chip x. (Value z is a binary mask for the 7 segments and the decimal point of that digit). There are a few more commands for adjusting brightness, testing segments, setting decoding width etc...

[max]

Yup, got it, just asking so i did not make any "impossible to input" request, by the way i'm for the third option or a variety of it, close encounters of 3rd kind, can still remember that one, made an impression on me, nice movie, and i'm with you on the choice of the led display