[Techtoolslist] Looking for a 9100A VFD display

[Andre Huijts]

Here's just an example of a modern VFD:

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/14282.pdf

It requires only 5V power supply, has built in RS-232 interface (looks like you can directly connect the Fluke, the levels it understands as high and low for RS-232 can handle TTL levels.

It also shows the characters it can display in the table...ASCII plus more.

Not saying it's 100% compatible but it should do the texts, wonder about inverse characters though. It's also a lot smaller but this is just an example.


By the way, I included a picture of the display in the mail but it was probably too big:
http://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6456.0;attach=11418;image

Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPad

> Op 18 aug. 2015 om 00:55 heeft Andre Huijts <a.huijts at upcmail.nl> het volgende geschreven:
> 
> Oh.....yeah understand what you mean now John, I wrote something about what characters the DM256X26GB could display, but indeed this old display is a "dumb" device unlike the modern displays that have built in serial (or others) decoding....essentially with a modern version you wouldn't need the display functions of the Z8 anymore.
> 
> 
> Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPad
> 
>> Op 17 aug. 2015 om 23:37 heeft John Robertson <jrr at flippers.com> het volgende geschreven:
>> 
>> Hi Andre,
>> 
>> The DM256X26GB tube is just a Dot Matrix Display (DMD) tube - it can display anything within the  restrictions of 256 column by 26 row variable intensity matrix. It is the video interface board that you need to decode.
>> 
>> John :-#)#
>> 
>>> On 08/17/2015 1:54 PM, Andre Huijts wrote:
>>> Thanks for the replies guys !
>>> 
>>> Yes it would be awesome if a replacement could be made. From what I’ve read the characters are sent by the main unit in ASCII format (well at least part of the character set) at 19.2 kbd in TTL RS-232 format.
>>> 
>>> I think there are plenty of LCD displays with serial interfaces but finding one with the right size might be tricky.
>>> 
>>> It would be great if we had the technical datasheet of the DM256X26GB as it shows which characters it “understands”.
>>> 
>>> I found displays of the same brand with serial interface and some more lines on the display, but I wouldn’t be bothered by that.
>>> 
>>> Alternatively, it would be a nice arduino project I guess. It could do some translation to a TFT full color display….the only problem is fitting one in the unit…..or loose the “Softkeys” direct relation with a remote display.
>>> 
>>> I’m still a bit amazed that Fluke didn’t make an option to use the monitor output instead of the internal display for regular test work.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Anyway….the thing that bothers me is that I cannot SEE a phyical damage on the VFD. If there would be a crack it would be sure enough it was dead.
>>> 
>>> So I did some measuring and found that the 70V that is required for the display is missing….
>>> 
>>> Now I have to find out how this voltage is generated….pretty sure it’s not coming directly from the power supply as it’s a weird voltage…
>>> 
>>> Diving into the docs now…
>>> 
>>> There may be some hope….