ChibiMo is a super-compact AVR-LCD combo microcontroller board for prototyping LCD-oriented appliances.
It is currently in prototype stage, and is planned for release later in this year. Please note all pictures on this page are of prototype board.
In short, ChibiMo's advantages are:
Making something with LCD is always a burden. ChibiMo is designed based on Arduino duemillanove and is therefore fully compatible with the Arduino IDE. This design makes it very easy for prototype development.
ChibiMo's LCD is a monochrome graphics type, and has resolution of 400x240. With this resolution, it suits to most applications. It is preloaded with splash-screen firmware, so that modifying it to show some other screen is just a breeze.
The microcontroller is ATmega328 running at 16MHz and 5V (or 12MHz and 3.3V, not sure right now). Its SPI interface (MISO, MOSI and SCK pins) is occupied by the LCD, but other interfaces are free for use. These include UART (direct UART or via FTDI bridge), I2C, ADC, ... everything ATmega328 can handle. Some GPIO pins are, of course, also available.
As ChibiMo has a microcontroller on board, it can work as a master or a slave device. While common LCD assembly can only work as a slave, this can greatly reduce costs for prototyping.
Yet, ChibiMo's dimensions are minimal, comparable to that of simple LCD assembly. No part protrudes out beyond edges of the LCD edges, and its thickness is just under 5mm without headers.
Although it is not yet on the prototype board, ChibiMo will have header pins that exposes power and interface pins. These pins will be able to hold ChibiMo on other boards by pin sockets. Headers may also be replaceable with compression connectors, further minimizing total thickness it takes in the final appliance.
ChibiMo comes with some example software for basic controls.
ChibiMo's prototype board has been around for a while as a DIY monitor kit. Software for using ChibiMo as a monitor will come along, too.
All software will be open-source.
ChibiMo will come as a fully-assembled board, complete with the LCD panel.
No enclosure is provided, but a 3D model of simple monitor-like enclosure will be provided for 3D printing.
More info will be uploaded here when they are ready.