Intro: I am just starting on a long-term personal project. I want to make a OBDII reader similar to the ScanGauge but in my own cool way. I am planning on using the Optimum Mini 3 because I have only one set of working screens and 2 working PCBs for it. I can afford to damage one PCB and still be good. The device is essentially a set of 3 OLED displays mounted on 3 buttons. Looks cool and isn't made anymore but when it was made it was kinda overpriced.
The Optimus has 3 screens 96x96 pixel w/ 16 bit color. Eg. it takes quite a bit of memory to store these colour graphics. My project would need to store the pictures/fonts/transitions and anything else I want to show in some kind of flash memory. I think the best solution for my problem would be an SD/MMC card and interfacing it to a micro-controller using SPI.
I am planning on using MSP430 micro-controllers for the wrong reason: 1) I can get free samples 2) I already own a programmer... *I haven't selected which one in particular but something that can handle 1x SPI + 1xUART(communicate with the Optimus Mini 3) + Memory Controller build in would be nice. I think I will need to use the memory controller and external memory of some small size because the images can get quite large( 442368 bits / ~ 55kbytes to store all of it).
Question 1: What microcontroller would you recommend that can handle external RAM or have > 55Kbytes of RAM. It would be nice if I have a frame buffer for all 3 screens. If not, something with about ~18kbytes in order to be able to handle one screen at a time. I saw that the PIC18F8527 has a built in memory control unit which makes it kind of appropriate for my purpose. Any others?
Question 2: Is there a library out there that can interface the MSP430 with a SD Card formated using the FAT file system? I didn't find any packaged ready solutions, only reference implementations for embedded platform that can be customized to be used for the MSP430.
Question 3: Any general advice !??
The Optimus has 3 screens 96x96 pixel w/ 16 bit color. Eg. it takes quite a bit of memory to store these colour graphics. My project would need to store the pictures/fonts/transitions and anything else I want to show in some kind of flash memory. I think the best solution for my problem would be an SD/MMC card and interfacing it to a micro-controller using SPI.
I am planning on using MSP430 micro-controllers for the wrong reason: 1) I can get free samples 2) I already own a programmer... *I haven't selected which one in particular but something that can handle 1x SPI + 1xUART(communicate with the Optimus Mini 3) + Memory Controller build in would be nice. I think I will need to use the memory controller and external memory of some small size because the images can get quite large( 442368 bits / ~ 55kbytes to store all of it).
Question 1: What microcontroller would you recommend that can handle external RAM or have > 55Kbytes of RAM. It would be nice if I have a frame buffer for all 3 screens. If not, something with about ~18kbytes in order to be able to handle one screen at a time. I saw that the PIC18F8527 has a built in memory control unit which makes it kind of appropriate for my purpose. Any others?
Question 2: Is there a library out there that can interface the MSP430 with a SD Card formated using the FAT file system? I didn't find any packaged ready solutions, only reference implementations for embedded platform that can be customized to be used for the MSP430.
Question 3: Any general advice !??
