20x4 serial lcd module manufacturer

Starting August 1, 2015 the "Drive Bay Kit Configurator" located at https://www.crystalfontz.com/products/select_kit.html will no longer be functional for ordering one of our Serial or USB displays (CFA533, CFA631, CFA632, CFA633, CFA634, CFA635, and CFA735) in a bracket or SLED. This functionality is being moved to the Customize and Add to Cart process when checking out. This will allow for further customization by our customers to better fit their needs.

The CFA635 family of modules is being reactivated with a new LCD controller chip, the Rockworks RW1067. The majority of the changes to the firmware have been in support of the RW1067 LCD controller and are transparent to the user interface. The changes to the CFA635 2v0 firmware:

When the CFA635 family was scheduled for End of Life (see PCN #10365) there was no replacement available for the Samsung S6A0073 LCD controller. The CFA735 family was designed as replacement for the CFA635, allowing a path for improved performance, graphics, and the ability for end users to write their own firmware to take advantage of the capabilities of the enhanced hardware.

After the development of the CFA735 family, the RW1067 was developed as a replacement for the Samsung S6A0073 LCD controller for Crystalfontz America, Inc by Rockworks (China).

This announcement impacts all variants, interfaces, and part numbers that currently use the CFA635 family of modules. The CFA635 can continue to be used in current and future designs.

The CFA635 family of modules is being reactivated with a new LCD controller chip, the Rockworks RW1067. The changes to the CFA635 1v2 hardware are as follows:

When the CFA635 family was scheduled for End of Life (see PCN #10365) there was no replacement available for the Samsung S6A0073 LCD controller. The CFA735 family was designed as replacement for the CFA635, allowing a path for improved performance, graphics, and the ability for end users to write their own firmware to take advantage of the capabilities of the enhanced hardware.

After the development of the CFA735 family, the RW1067 was developed as a replacement for the Samsung S6A0073 LCD controller for Crystalfontz America, Inc by Rockworks (China).

This announcement impacts all variants, interfaces, and part numbers that currently use the CFA635 family of modules. The CFA635 can continue to be used in current and future designs.

Detailed in formation on migrating from the CFA635 family to the CFA735 family of intelligent modules. The document covers the similarities and differences between the two family of modules.

The CFA635 is a character based intelligent LCD module built around a Cypress PSoC® micro-controller and a Samsung S6A0073 LCD controller. Samsung announced the EOL of the S6A0073 at the end of 2007. After the announcement, Crystalfontz America, Inc began designing a replacement module and planned for continuing to manufacture and support the CFA635 family until a compatible replacement module was designed and available.

As part of our continuous improvement process, the engineering services group at Crystalfontz America Inc. is announcing the End of Life (EOL) to our CFA635 family of modules. This end of life is scheduled to take place at the end of 2012 Q2.

The CFA635 is being replaced with the first of a new generation of intelligent modules from Crystalfontz America, Inc. This new module is the CFA735 family. The CFA735 family has been primarily designed to be a replacement for the CFA635 family with a number of enhancements / improvements.

This is really serious for me. The display was being used in a system that a user was travelling with. It has been working fine for weeks, but it seems that there is still a chance for these things to pick up garbage and freak out, even if it is not on the hardware serial lines.

Edit: I am going to call tech support in a few minutes but, for me, the issue is not whether I can recover this particular board. What I must do is put in place some kind of robust fix/hack to prevent this from happening again in the field. I can deal with SMT soldering, so if there"s a tested PCB fix in the works, I can likely implement it with a rework until it becomes available. Also, I don"t think it"s correct to suggest that Software Serial somehow was the cause of the LCD getting bricked.

Edit 2: I spoke with tech support, and they could neither give me any suggestions for work-arounds or re-works nor did they have a date for a replacement board. I"m experimenting with holding VPP low until the Arduino is booted and software serial is up and running.

Sadly, I am going to consider them a loss of time and money and am planning to replace them with another display module. If anyone has suggestions for a fix, I"m still all ears, but I can"t spend more time on this...