Smoothieware does not have an option for driving character LCDs with Parallel interface. It can only drive graphical SPI LCDs. This is probably due to lack of GPIO pins (Ethernet functionality is using a lot of GPIO…)
Smoothieboard developer offers an add-on board, that can translate the SPI-bitstream to I2C-LCD or to (The more common) parallel-LCD.
This board has a complex shape and fits only on Smoothieboard. The firmware is open source, called Universal Panel Adapter (UPA) and is available in Github
UPA firmware can be used with Arduino boards or a plain ATmega328 microprocessor.
On this small project prj_UPA_minimal, we deploy UPA firmware on a minimal and tidy hardware implementation, to be used with a 3D printer controller with SPI only GLCD interface like n-PRO-3DP, SmoothieBoard and other boards driven by Smoothieware.
With the UPA minimal Board, common 20x4 LCDs can be used with Smoothieware.
The Board is developed in iterations: starting with a Breadboard 1st iteration, a perforated-board 2nd iteration and a PCB 3d iteration
Block Diagram
1st iteration: with Arduino-Nano on breadboard, to be replaced with the Minimal version
2nd iteration: Minimal Schematic implementation in a 43mm x 33mm n-Blocks perforated board
3nd iteration: Minimal Schematic implemented in a 43mm x 33mm n-Blocks form factor PCB UPA-DIP
Integration: 3D model of a 3Dprinter controller with UPA-DAP
Testing 3d iteration PCB
- Connected to a smoothieware controlled board (n-3DP) ✔️
- Display is working ✔️
- Encoder is working ✔️
- 3D printing is working ❌
Arduino IDE 1.8.11
To have a succesful compilation with Arduino IDE 1.8.11, for the Parallel LCD, I did the following:
- Included all dependencies in the project folder
- Changed some instances like #include <Encoder.h>, to #include "Encoder.h"
- Replaced all references to wiring.h with wiring_private.h
Links:
- http://smoothieware.org/panel
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42826755/wiring-h-missing-in-arduino/42827754
- https://github.com/nikoschalikias/firm-universal-panel-adapter
arduino-cli 0.1
My intention was to use a windows command file to automate the building process from command line.
Then I discovered the arduino-cli, which seems to work smoothly, so
I managed to build with arduino-cli (easier than using the IDE) as below:
I downloaded the Nightly Windows 64 bit binary here at 'Download a nightly build' section
and
copied arduino-cli.exe to project folder root (temporary). It is 12MBytes so I excluded (added to .gitignore) it from version control.
Then following arduino-cli getting started, I set up the arduino environment...
arduino-cli config init
probably above is not needed.
Install avr tools...
cli core install arduino:avr
...then list the installed platforms...
arduino-cli core list
F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal - Copy>arduino-cli core list
ID Installed Latest Name
STM32:stm32 1.8.0 1.8.0
arduino:avr 1.8.2 1.8.2 Arduino AVR Boards
esp32:esp32 1.0.4 1.0.4
...And finally compile:
arduino-cli compile --fqbn arduino:avr:uno prj_UPA_minimal.ino
Sketch uses 4802 bytes (14%) of program storage space. Maximum is 32256 bytes.
Global variables use 1336 bytes (65%) of dynamic memory, leaving 712 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.
Arduino IDE 1.8.11
Uploading to Microprocessor (ATmega328AP) Flash is accomplished with AVRDUDE, which comes with Arduino IDE:
In my installation avrdude.exe is here: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avrdude"
The configuration file for AVRDUDE is here: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf"
and is created from Arduino IDE
I call burn-hex.cmd with content:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avrdude" -C "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf" -v -p atmega328P -c stk500v2 -Pusb -U flash:w:"F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal\prj_UPA_minimal.ino.standard.hex":i
This creates below output on the screen or in a file using burn-hex.cmd > a.txt 2>&1
F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal>"C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avrdude" -C "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf" -v -p atmega328P -c stk500v2 -Pusb -U flash:w:"F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal\prj_UPA_minimal.ino.standard.hex":i
avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf"
Using Port : usb
Using Programmer : stk500v2
avrdude: usbdev_open(): Found AVRISP mkII, serno: FFFFFFFFFFFF
AVR Part : ATmega328P
Chip Erase delay : 9000 us
PAGEL : PD7
BS2 : PC2
RESET disposition : dedicated
RETRY pulse : SCK
serial program mode : yes
parallel program mode : yes
Timeout : 200
StabDelay : 100
CmdexeDelay : 25
SyncLoops : 32
ByteDelay : 0
PollIndex : 3
PollValue : 0x53
Memory Detail :
Block Poll Page Polled
Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
eeprom 65 20 4 0 no 1024 4 0 3600 3600 0xff 0xff
flash 65 6 128 0 yes 32768 128 256 4500 4500 0xff 0xff
lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
efuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
calibration 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
Programmer Type : STK500V2
Description : Atmel STK500 Version 2.x firmware
Programmer Model: AVRISP mkII
Hardware Version: 1
Firmware Version Master : 1.17
Vtarget : 3.5 V
SCK period : 1.00 us
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.01s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e950f (probably m328p)
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as FF
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as DE
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as FD
avrdude: NOTE: "flash" memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be performed
To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal\prj_UPA_minimal.ino.standard.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (4802 bytes):
Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.36s
avrdude: 4802 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal\prj_UPA_minimal.ino.standard.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal\prj_UPA_minimal.ino.standard.hex:
avrdude: input file F:\prj_soft\repo.arduino\prj_UPA_minimal\prj_UPA_minimal.ino.standard.hex contains 4802 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.28s
avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 4802 bytes of flash verified
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as FF
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as DE
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as FD
avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK (E:FD, H:DE, L:FF)
avrdude done. Thank you.
It is possible while the avrdude works OK to start having trouble, not recognizing AVRISP-mkII USB port having a message as below:
avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf"
Using Port : usb
Using Programmer : stk500v2
avrdude: usbdev_open(): did not find any USB device "usb" (0x03eb:0x2104)
avrdude done. Thank you.
I was able to fix this issue with Zadig as suggested here, replacing WinDriver with libsub for AVRISP-mkII
In device manager AVRISP mkII should appear not under Jungo, but under libusb as below:
Below is a copy of the README file from wolfmanjm firmware: universal-panel-adapter
Using a cheap Arduino mini pro, uno or nano this sketch allows you to interface a panel like Viki or a Parallel LCD with encoder via SPI.
Specifically used for running I2C and parallel panels on a Smoothie compatible board.
Prebuild bianries ready for upload to arduino are:-
- viki_panel_adapter.hex for viki/panelolu2
- parallel_panel_adapter.hex for parallel LCD
Default Wiring is as follows:-
SDA -> A4
SCL -> A5
ENCA -> D2
ENCB -> D3
Gnd -> Gnd
+5v -> +5v
4 RS -> D9
5 RW -> A0
6 EN -> A1
11 D4 -> D5
12 D5 -> D6
13 D6 -> D7
14 D7 -> D8
1 gnd
2 +5v
3 contrast
15,16 backlight power (on some)
Encoder is connected to Nano
ENCA -> D2
ENCB -> D3
Click -> A2
MOSI -> D11 : 0.18
MISO -> D12 : 0.17
SCK -> D13 : 0.15
SS -> D10 : 0.16
BUSY -> D4 : 2.11 (or 1.30 on Azteeg X5) (And set panel.busy_pin in config to that pin)
add this to your config file on smoothie
panel.enable true # enable panel
panel.lcd universal_adapter #
panel.spi_channel 0 # spi channel to use (0- MISO 0.17, MOSI 0.18, SCK 0.15, SS 0.16)
panel.spi_cs_pin 0.16 # spi chip select
panel.busy_pin 2.11 # busy pin NOTE 1.30 on Azteeg X5
For compiling the following Arduino libraries are needed
- Encoder library from http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_Encoder.html
For Viki and I2C based panels
- LiquidTWI2 from https://github.com/lincomatic/LiquidTWI2
For Parallel panels
- LiquidCrystalFast from https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_LiquidCrystal.html