Introduction to 4D System's OLED Technology by MetkuMods

OLED Technology by 4D Systems

Author:	Aki Korhonen
Published:	25.06.2009
Product manufacturer:	4D Systems
In English Suomeksi

Conclusion

Both of the modules are very nice and relatively easy to use. They were both fast to get into use after taking them out of the package, although the bigger module had a wrong firmware in it. First it looked like it was working normally but the touch panel just wouldn't work. Fortunately it started working by just loading in the latest firmware from the product page of the module. It would still be best if the module is shipped with the right firmware right from the start, but accidents happen.

Hopefully the bigger display would also get a serial platform firmware later as it would be handy in some cases too. The smaller module is easy to hook to a microcontroller and showing all kinds of information on it is a breeze as all the hard work is done in the module and the microcontroller doesn't need any additional heavy libraries.

The 4DGL language for the displays is a nice feature as it's possible to develop all kinds of graphical applications for the display modules within minutes. The syntax of the code is easy to learn if the user has even some former coding experience. The usage of memory cards is also made very easy as all the dirty work is hidden under the hood and easy to use functions are given for the programmer to work with.

The display modules might not be the cheapest solution for displays to projects, but they are definitely the easiest way to get 65k colors for you to use. If you need a small info display for your microcontroller project the modules with Goldelox processor and serial platform firmware are a nice combination for that purpose. All the software for the modules are Windows based at the moment, but it seems to be possible to run the software under Wine on Linux, just make a web search with keywords "4DGL linux" and you'll find information on how to set things up.

In short: well worth checking out.

Special thanks to TIGAL for providing the product samples.