New hardware device - game score keeper

It was only a few days ago that this prototype was a whimsical idea and now it's sat on my desk, all lit up and working. It's taken a few micros to get here (see previous posts about how plugging a chip in the wrong way round is not a good idea!) but my new Game Score Keeping Device is almost ready to put into a housing and try out for real!

The LCD display includes a backlight
but this photo shows that the contrast
needs some adjustment!

This early prototype uses a 16F628A chip, not one of the bigger, beefier 18F series. In fact, the functionality and data storage have had to be simplified to get everything to fit into the massive 2k program memory space! Now when a game starts, you simply move the cursor over the two existing team names to change them. In the 18F series, a database of existing team names can be used to select a name instead of having to type one in every time.

Although ideal for prototyping, the 2k program limit in the 16F is already causing a few problems (functionality has had to be reduced to get the code to compile!). The final version will definitely use the 18F series chip for a couple of reasons:

First, you get an enormous 24k of program memory. Seriously, that's a lot of programming space. Plus connection to the PC can be made using onboard USB instead of serial (the 16F has a built in USART but no USB). And you get more eeprom memory space. And - most importantly of all - the 18F series is also available as 18LF which means is supports lower voltage operation (2.5V) so the whole thing will be able to run off just two AAA batteries, instead of the four it takes now.