On 2026-05-27, rbowman wrote:

SparkFun and AdaFruit are in a pissing contest and I tend to favor
Adafruit. They have a lot of available resources and have done quite a bit to promote MCUs.

I'd prefer to avoid starting a discussion on this here, but I wanted to
mention it in case someone here who cares about it is not aware yet:

If there are no decisive criteria for the choice and you or someone else
happen to care about such things, be aware that Adafruit seems to be
attacking people who object to the usage of GenAI, labeling such
criticism as "mysoginy". [1][0] Possibly among other things. [2]

[0] (Yes, that sounds silly, to the extent that I want to carefully
reread the stuff around this to double-check that I'm recalling this
right... so far it seems I am.)


(These are links to Mastodon, and in this case the thread they're in
matters, so, sadly you'll to either use a compatible browser or a lean
client that lets you access all of it, and not just these two specific
posts. https://threadtree.xyz/ at least used to leave attached images
out, and one of these threads makes extensive use of screenshots.)

[1] https://scalie.zone/@aks/116084865162069068
[2] https://digipres.club/@discatte/115588660312186707


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/4/26 12:40, Nuno Silva wrote:

On 2026-05-27, rbowman wrote:

SparkFun and AdaFruit are in a pissing contest and I tend to favor
Adafruit. They have a lot of available resources and have done quite a bit >> to promote MCUs.

I'd prefer to avoid starting a discussion on this here, but I wanted to mention it in case someone here who cares about it is not aware yet:

If there are no decisive criteria for the choice and you or someone else happen to care about such things, be aware that Adafruit seems to be attacking people who object to the usage of GenAI, labeling such
criticism as "mysoginy". [1][0] Possibly among other things. [2]

[0] (Yes, that sounds silly, to the extent that I want to carefully
reread the stuff around this to double-check that I'm recalling this
right... so far it seems I am.)

(These are links to Mastodon, and in this case the thread they're in
matters, so, sadly you'll to either use a compatible browser or a lean
client that lets you access all of it, and not just these two specific
posts. https://threadtree.xyz/ at least used to leave attached images
out, and one of these threads makes extensive use of screenshots.)

[1] https://scalie.zone/@aks/116084865162069068
[2] https://digipres.club/@discatte/115588660312186707

I've used both sources extensively over the years ...
they both sell good stuff for (usually) decent prices.
If there's any 'politics' to them, I'm unaware.

Now if you want the best PV cell power supply + lithium
charger - SEEED - "Lipo-Rider Pro". It's the only one
that doesn't put too much voltage on the OUT line if
there's no/very-low load attached. Used those on lots
of field data-loggers.

Seeed also sells lots of other good stuff. MUCH of the
stuff all three sell is VERY much like what the others
sell ... maybe a different brand stamp on 'em.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/4/26 19:09, rbowman wrote:

On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 14:43:59 -0400, c186282 wrote:

I've used both sources extensively over the years ... they both sell
good stuff for (usually) decent prices.
If there's any 'politics' to them, I'm unaware.

There's a lot of 'he said, she said' but Adafruit had been reselling
Teensy boards from SparkFun and SparkFun severed the relationship. Fried responded with okay, we'll design our own compatible board and call it ?Freensy".

The current dust up is with flux.ai. Fried found a misconfiguration on the flux site that exposed user data. Flux replied with the big guns:

https://byteiota.com/flux-ai-adafruit-legal-threat-responsible-disclosure/

Maybe Flux thinks any publicity is good publicity but what the publicity
has bought them so far is people coming forth and saying the flux ai
sucks.

As I said somewhere ... a lot of the stuff sold by
those were REALLY the exact same 3rd-party devices -
the photos and instructions make that obvious. Doubt
either corp is actually BUILDING these chips/modules
itself - they just order generics from China/Taiwan
and put their own stamp on them.

This is hardly unusual these days.

My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD
displays for my Zeros. I *think* the listed source was
AdaFruit. They DIDN'T make these in their basement.

As for 'customer exposure', seems NOBODY, not even the
biggest tech/bank/comm/gov entities, can keep control of
their customer data. Vlad and Xi's little soldiers are
BUSY little soldiers. It's a HUGE HUGE problem that none
want to admit and it's only getting worse, fast.

Negative - all your money just disappears. Positive,
all your DEBTS also disappear. Oh well, dung huts are
pretty easy to build ......

Frankly, USA and elsewhere, entirely new ID numbers need
to be issued like IMMEDIATELY. Inconvenient, but ...

Welcome to Cyber-War World.

Heh ... remember when 'online' everything was supposed
to be our salvation ? :-)


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/5/26 00:53, rbowman wrote:

On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 23:14:27 -0400, c186282 wrote:

My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD displays for my
Zeros. I *think* the listed source was AdaFruit. They DIDN'T make
these in their basement.

Smart move, getting the backpack model. The older ones eat up a lot of
pins.

They're smaller but the SSD1306 OLEDs are I2C and a lot more flexible.

OLEDs eat up more power - and don't last as long.

Happy with plain old LCD. Those can last 20 years.

I2C is kinda 'crude', but CAN serve quite well
for a number of little devices. Also gonna add
a "1-wire" temperature sensor. Made a lot of
those in the past.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/5/26 04:26, Andy Burns wrote:

c186282 wrote:

My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD
displays for my Zeros.

Well nobody would set out to use HD44780 based displays except for
legacy reasons.

Don't CARE if they're old or new, so long
as they're cheap and work easily. All I
want is a slow scroll of maybe half a
dozen stats - not video games.

Long back used Seetron serial displays.
NOT cheap - but worked well and were
easy to use with a wide variety of
micro-controllers.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/5/26 13:36, rbowman wrote:

On Fri, 5 Jun 2026 09:26:31 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

c186282 wrote:

My recent order included a couple of I2C two-line LCD displays for my
Zeros.

Well nobody would set out to use HD44780 based displays except for
legacy reasons.

Many of the kits for Picos, Arduinos, and so forth include them in all
their 16 pin glory. SunFounder, and i think Eleego, come with a I2C 'backpack' installed.

'Zactly ... and they're under $10 per and well
documented. Many close variants to be had.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/292

They also tend to include 4 digit 7 segment displays to test your ability
to stick DuPont wires in the right holes.

https://projecthub.arduino.cc/SAnwandter1/programming-4-digit-7-segment- led-display-5c4617

Latest And Greatist is just fine - IF they are
appropriate for what YOU are doing. The ones
I ordered are for ZEROS ... hardly "high-performance"
boards. Just want some rolling stats, that's all.
May zip-tie 'em on.

Why order a $90 display for like an Ard Uno or
equiv ?


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/6/26 02:08, rbowman wrote:

On Sat, 6 Jun 2026 00:16:45 -0400, c186282 wrote:

Why order a $90 display for like an Ard Uno or equiv ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GBVWBWCR/

I splurged and went for the $7 version rather than the 4 for $10. That was
a couple of years ago so maybe the Chinese weren't fully cranked up.

https://toptechboy.com/using-the-ssd1306-oled-with-an-arduino/

You can do Lissajous curves easily. Try that with your 2 line LCD.

Well, for my particular need right now, ONLY need
a slow stats scroll. Better the 3-for-$9.95 displays.

Job, needs, Why Spend More ?

Did you ever use SeeTron or equiv "serial"
displays ? If it could do RS-232, even by
crude bit-banging, it would work. LCD was
kinda new back then - most were VFD. Got
one to work with a PIC-12xxx chip once.

Tried to look up SeeTron lately ... does not
seem to have a real page any more alas. It's
mentioned, but not REALLY there.

DO like VFDs ... they still make 'em - crude
or even bit-addressable.

Got in the equip to make a bigger square hole
in that fancy aluminum ZERO case previously
mentioned. The big hole added 10% to the wifi
signal, this should add another 10%. Have some
fiberglass tape to cover the hole. Case top will
still be maybe 60% there to dissipate heat and
provide mechanical protection.

One step at a time.

Now gotta remember how to wire 'parasite mode'
on a DS temperature unit ......


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 6/6/26 16:19, rbowman wrote:

On Sat, 6 Jun 2026 02:43:15 -0400, c186282 wrote:

Did you ever use SeeTron or equiv "serial"
displays ? If it could do RS-232, even by crude bit-banging, it would
work. LCD was kinda new back then - most were VFD. Got one to work
with a PIC-12xxx chip once.

I don't think so. The handheld pH meters had a custom LCD, but I can't remember the interface. If I did it with an 8049 it wasn't very complex.

Well, RS-232 is so BASIC ... ergo those devices
would work with almost ANYTHING - even PIC-12xxx
if needed.

But they weren't cheap.

Got in my LCD displays ... suprisingly actually a
tad LARGER than a PI-0. Gotta find DOCS though,
nothing in the box.

Anyway, five, six, maybe seven slow-scrolling lines
of basic stats - that's ALL I want. Quick ref. The
displays are super-cheap ... ideal for the use .....

I2C displays work. NOT sophisticated or fast but
FUNCTIONAL and generally just 4 wires. Lots of
libs for them - Ards/PIs/BBBs/etc.

And yea still, I really kinda LIKE the look of VFDs.
They used to be IT ... now they're more an 'option'
and more expensive. The LCDs will serve my immediate
need however.

Will post on a 'web-cam' I got ... TRIED to cheat
the automatic IR-LED/lens-switch by pulling plugs
(hey, I always take such things APART). No good.
Fair cam - but, as said, need tricks. For NOW just
taped black cardboard over the IR LEDs .....

As for "seetron" ... appears to be mostly defunct.
Kinda sad.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)