Reverse engineering vintage Japanese electronics - a vacuum fluorescent display!

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Today we're reverse engineering a piece of vintage Japanese electronics - a vacuum fluorescent display or VFD.
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Edited by auram - / aurxm
#StrangeParts

[@rosendo843]

Bug is he forgot to declare int i = 0, so i takes on a random value probably in the order of millions (negative or positive)

[@StrangeParts]

Bingo! I found it a few minutes later.

[@rosendo843]

@@StrangeParts Relatable C programming problems :P

[@tim.e.l]

damn too fast for me.

[@rosendo843]

@M. de k. You're correct. But in appearance It's a random number, and it's an easier way to explain in youtube comments.

[@fidelgutierrezvieyra7906]

@@StrangeParts you are the best and my source of inspiration

[@philippwie3539]

I love these oldschool displays. Pure nostalgia!

[@AmstradExin]

I want to make a handheld PC out of one of them. Or at least a full Terminal. In the meantime I drool over my old plasma Display Notebooks that I have.... :D...

[@LReBe7]

You always run into Hofstadter's law: it always takes longer than you expected, even if you take Hofstadter's law into account.

[@fabianluttenberger7153]

i just learned something new

[@salutoitoi]

I really like how you show your difficulties because we all make the same mistakes after all. Cheers !

[@sadiehallinger1401]

Well, he does that to make longer videos to get more revenue :)

[@honey78665]

@@sadiehallinger1401 ^^The glass is half empty kinda guy.^^

[@sadiehallinger1401]

@@honey78665 Hello! Well, that's how he makes his cash to travel and smile :)

[@emeldajohn5760]

F

[@giacomo.delazzari]

A cool tip for when you're trying to interface with "strange parts" you don't know a lot about and don't want to blow up (especially in the case of messing up inputs and output pins or voltage levels), is to put series resistors (IDK, around 1K) on all digital signals. That way you limit the current if something bad happens (like both ends forcing opposite voltage levels on the same wire). Keep that in your "toolset" :)

[@HMPirates]

Thank you!!

[@sstorholm]

These are the things that you never get taught except in inexplicable places like youtube comments. :)

[@emmanuelrodriguez2346]

@@sstorholm Actually

[@the_perigoso]

100 ohms is usually enough, and avoids some problems with weak pull ups/downs and higher speed signals, and yeah, you don't get taught this in school

[@gummy1651]

thanks

[@INeedAttentionEXE]

If all of your projects were summed up into a couple words it would be, "All my pins are backwards and upside down!!"

[@BadTasteForEveryone]

Missed "= 0" was sneakily added between cuts :D Pretty interesting video, keep up the good work!

[@StrangeParts]

Yeah, that's why I added the text about it:) Didn't want you to think I was trying to pull one over on you.

[@juschu85]

The annoying thing about not initializing a variable is that sometimes it's no problem and sometimes it's messing up everything.

[@MrNoahAmbrose]

Just wanna let you know I greatly enjoy watching you write and troubleshoot the code. Not boring at all.

[@EvasiveSnail]

Yes, just what my Saturday afternoon was missing. Cheers!

[@tsik1919]

"Gee, I wouldn't wanna break this rare, expensive, and intricately made part" *waves it around in the air with just three fingers holding it*

[@Crimsen13]

Its okay! His name isn't Linus so he should be safe.

[@fredfarnackle5455]

'Waves it around' is right - it annoyed the heck out of me the way he waved stuff around so fast, my old eyes can't keep up with that and I found it very annoying.

[@kyle1elyk]

Those displays are pretty cool, though I love the little SPI OLED displays. You can get a decent frame rate and display a lot more info on them and colors

[@gsuberland]

"Hey, little VFD display, how are you?" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

[@TheDVDwr]

more like AYAYA AYAYA AYAYA !!!

[@MOSKAU15]

Why are you running?!?

[@TheMrDjrobert]

WR = the read write pin, with this you select if you want to read or write to/from the display CS = Chip select this is a very common pin in parallel/serial busses. It lets you wire your parts up into an actual bus. You pull this low (or high depending on the chip) to let the chip know you want to talk to this specific chip.

[@RonGau]

can't wait to see what you're working on...Cheers from Canada🙋‍♂️🍁😊

[@Stuart0870]

Isn't it fairly clear that it's a pinball machine?

[@RonGau]

@@Stuart0870 yeah could be😊🙋‍♂️🍁

[@dev7427]

This video has gotten me into electronics and microcontrollers and got me interested in Arduinos and all a year and half ago. Thank you, Scotty

[@kamals_eye]

I'm always excited to watch StrangeParts! Love the way that every video feels like an Adventure that the viewer is part of!A treat really! Keep up the great work!! :D

[@siddharthrgoel]

W/R is generally the Write/read pin and C/S is usually the Clear/Set pin. This is similar to a lot of LCD modules available nowadays. You can also reconfigure the LCD library for Arduino to work with this display.

[@lifeinchina7758]

I have no idea about advanced electronics or half of what your talking about, but love your videos. good to see someone still thinks 'outside of the box'....and beklives anything is possible. Keep up the amazing work.

[@saikiranj807]

It's pure joy to watch you work !

[@geekcitizenx]

Love the stuff you do man! Keep it up, always inspired me to try out something I didn't this I could do before.

[@seamonkeys12y]

I swear if VFD prices fly through the roof like how videos by eevblog and HBO cause other products to skyrocket I'm going to come find you Scotty!

[@Juandrumx]

I think I watch you first a year or so ago maybe more? When you had yourself a project old making your own Apple phone from parts that were sold somewhere in China or Japan. Can't even remember what I watched exactly. I'm not a technician but I once took a VCR and computer repair class so I appreciate real technicians, or Engineers like you. I see what you guys do as an art form and I appreciate your intelligence. Sometimes it's like entertainment or like reading a book and seeing someone else's struggle and success. God bless you. Stay safe. Thank you.

[@markusantonov6373]

love watching these videos

[@RealRajatShahare]

I'm literally very excited to watch the video of you big project. Upload fast coz can't wait more!

[@mr_mr]

It's so cool that you got the display to print. Can't wait to see the secret project!

[@DM00SE]

Looking forward to it. If its only half as interesting as this one it'll still be an awesome video but I bet its twice as exciting.

[@electronash]

2:40 While it's true that the 3V3 Arduino Due should be able to drive the display inputs OK, watch out for the 5V levels coming back from the display. The AT91SAM chip used on the Due does not have 5V-tolerant IO pins, AFAIK. (a lot of these standard LCD chipsets allow you to read *from* the status register or display memory.) Some series resistors of say 47 Ohms will help protect the Due, but ideally there should be some proper voltage translation, like a 74HC245 or similar. Just a heads-up, as otherwise it could damage the Due over time.

[@electronash]

Also, beware how you handle the VFD board, as it has an inverter on there, and some of them can be surprisingly spicy when they bite. lol

[@electronash]

​@Mr T. Guru You missed the part where I said it uses an inverter. ;) Sure, it wouldn't be thousands of volts, but still a few hundred. Perhaps only a few milliamps too, but it could still give a surprising shock, especially if it has a HV cap on the output. It would be somewhat similar to a small laptop backlight inverter... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCFL_inverter Just something to watch out for if you don't realise it's there.

[@JamesChurchill]

@Mr T. Guru that won't save you. 30V will instantly kill some semiconductors even if it can only source a microamp.

[@7head7metal7]

I have been there with a random VFD I found in a lab. I didn‘t find a datasheet, so I tried to buzz out all the connections and routes, took me a complete sunday afternoon. But after that I stopped, because I also thought the board on the back is some custom thing I can‘t reverse engineer to show something on the display. So thanks for this interesting and encouraging video, my VFD looked surprisingly similar! If I find it again I might give it another shot.

[@SlushSnail]

Back at it again!!!

[@alialhalabi8615]

That's a very beautiful display I'm in love with it!

[@OnlyHumanYT]

Thank you Audible, very cool.

[@ficklampa]

I love VFDs! They are so cool looking.

[@Le_Petomane]

" I really dont want to drop this or break it anyway" * proceeds to throw it around like Lego bricks.

[@mjinglis]

So when do we get to see the pinball machine you are working on :P

[@jasonk9779]

Patchinko is my guess :)

[@Hobby_Collector]

@@jasonk9779 Definitely Patchinko or Coin Pusher type game

[@thegreator]

Either slot or pachinko. Yeah, not so secret anymore.

[@kaleb_barbour3]

3:55 love the montage music man!

[@RenegadeADV]

Now this is freaking cool man! Looking forward to seeing it!

[@chrismarks9283]

I loved this episode I only know a little bit of coding but it was fascinating watching you realize your errors and work around them

[@GringoBG54]

As a software developer thats getting his feet wet in the area of electronics / embedded / system programming, this video really did give me new enthusiasm to keep on going. For example, I know bitwise operators in theory, but still can't wrap my head around their use on the PCB at library implementation level. Now I saw how it's done, hehe.

[@AmstradExin]

I dreamed of this and now it's here! Thank you. I even thought, "But does it do Cyryllic?".

[@sklaboratory3983]

Excellent technical skill.

[@Douglas_1925]

thank you so much for knowledge about electronics and all your experiences that you shared to us... its really cool and i very enjoyed watching all of your youtube videos

[@joeylopezphd]

Love what you are doing. This is good stuff!

[@NINTHSPECTER]

Enjoyed you adding the coding part to the video!! Very interesting stuff.

[@JesusGamayon]

Love this once again!

[@FR4M3Sharma]

Back in 2003/2004 when i was 3/4 years old My dad used to repair TVs,DVD players and VCR and stuff, so he had dozens of dead electronics which he salvaged for parts, and these fluorescent displays were there in the dozens most of them were broken in the desoldering process as he did not have all the proper equipments, one day i saw one these and it was the exact same size that our Scotty have. I took it, looked closely upon it and stared like half and hour on it before my mom screamed from the back and i dropped it because i got scared. And i cried for breaking something so extra ordinary. And as he said that this thing costs around $600 on a site. Then boy i would've been rich if only we knew that there value will fly off like that in the future. Also upon watching this video half way through i realized that the Sony stereo sound system that i have (a thing from 2000) also have this fluorescent display, Which means when it dies and can't be repaired i'll take apart the display in a heartbeat, to see what type or version it actually is.

[@SylvainMonette]

I remember these displays where popular in car radio's a few years back. Really enjoyed the video by the way.

[@nononono12345]

This is fascinating content. Wish I kept up with this stuff like I did as a youth. Giving me inspiration! 🙏🏾

[@maxhouseman3129]

I am collecting also old displays as a hobby. I like vfds very much! Maybe I build some watch out of Monsanto MAN displays, that are some very small led arrays, worth to take a look on these.

[@NicholasMaietta]

I miss seeing these things. What a cool project.

[@igorteller1516]

Well done a great job Do more content, You are among the only ones to make a cellphone under home conditions👍.

[@leor2252]

WOW programming 101 , nice addition to the videos!!!

[@boloski]

beautiful work

[@jollygreen4662]

Really love this

[@metnoof113]

A very good video mate, thank you!!

[@AerikForager]

I am really looking forward to hearing and seeing that story. :)

[@segicus]

i loved this video!, true perspective of how a programmer works and tries things up xD, keep it up, greetings from Colombia :D

[@psedog]

When you printed Hello world. I smiled as well. First thing I did on an Apple IIc. Oh, the memories :D

[@thinkhelpservice]

Love this channel 😃

[@esakib]

Thanks for all the important information !!

[@edwardbyard6540]

I used these and many other VFD units in slot machines when I was programmer. The Noritake displays are good but the single line 16x1 unit has some timing issues that corrupt the display. I do love VFDs....have a look on KZbin for a Crazy Fruits UK slot machine and look at the effects we did. My favourite was the "scramble", essentially, pick random characters for the length of the final string, and as randomly displayed characters match the character of the final string, don't change that character again. Keep doing this, with a timer that keeps getting quicker, and the effect looks great. You can also "throb" the display by adjusting the brightness up and down on a timer. I loved these things.

[@urugulu1656]

wr --> probably a write enable pin cs --> probably a chip select pin --> pretty standard stuff in serial circuits / ics

[@emmanuelrodriguez2346]

Actually, I think they just need to be low for the display to accept the characters

[@Victoare]

I've got a similar VFD out of an POS terminal. The protocol is an confidental IBM one and i had to reverse engineer the circuit, desolder the main controller chip and sigal the five (!) shift registers directly. An ESP8266 could drive all through an additional shift register (using I2S and DMA). And by this i have pixel level control on the display with (sort of) multiple gray levels :)

[@Geeksmithing]

Dude, you are not alone in the projects taking longer than you thought and that you are tired of looking at them..... my current one is doing that to me....wish me luck as I wish you luck!

[@jonasbirkelof3614]

Can’t wait for the big reveal! 😊

[@xxxxxx4205]

Interesting video again! Can't wait for the next one. :D

[@JippaJ]

enjoyed this so much more than the whole ATM Jackpot video. Would love to see more in-depth videos on your projects.

[@AvivMakesRobots]

It is such an exciting moment when it whirs to life!

[@BadKarma714]

Good video loved it I agree with the guys who already found the Problem. 😀

[@MrIlovesk8]

I love your videos thanks man!

[@NickChowau]

"i" needs to be initialized such as "i=0" in your case.

[@seritools]

@Alparslan Ali Alp not in C

[@kathipaw]

@Alparslan Ali Alp not in C, in C you get a random data value in if it you don't set it to something

[@subliminalvibes]

I love VFDs. They're beautiful.

[@SirNickyT]

Ive heard 100's of audible ads but since they sponsor you I'm finally going to try it out. My fear is I love it too much tho. It's why I haven't tried it until right after this video.

[@andrewkawlni6125]

Yes.... After a long wait.. New video...also interesting one.👍👍👍

[@eddiespencer1]

Arduino Blog sent me. Cool project, man. I remember having a stereo and a calculator with similar displays back in the late 80's-early 90's. I think my dad's car stereo had one as well.

[@FernandoTakeshiSato]

Loved the programming part :)

[@grantchang81976]

agree on the pricing and yes they are impressive little works of solid state art

[@zarster]

Already love audible. Listening to a lot of the Star Wars extended universe by Timothy Zahn. Nice choice of sponsor for sure. Glad to hear that you keep working on the project.

[@Code-ff4fn]

Enjoyed the video

[@ChrisB257]

Great stuff Scotty - you da man :)

[@isaiasdimitri4110]

When we make something work, after a long time trying, is just amazing

[@Marksharosu]

Whoa that's so cool.

[@retro-reels5652]

I’ve hoarded lots of these displays, as they look great and retro cool :0) They are from a time when electronics were built to a high standard. The Sharp EL displays are fun too.

[@talhamudaassar]

ohh Man i wass really Missing your Video..Thank You for uploading new video

[@jcreazy]

The whole video I said to myself "please make it say Hello World" and you did! I'm so happy!

[@MichelSatoer]

1:58 "Regardless, I really don't want to drop this..." Keeps shaking it anyway haha.

[@StEvUgnIn]

I missed your videos so much

[@bohdanmaksymeniuk3376]

DUDE, that is awesome

[@ttww1590]

I have a new appreciation for the DEVs behind LCD Smartie

[@dominicvarley8539]

Thanks Scotty, can’t wait to see the result. If I wasn’t an Audible customer already, I’d be signing up :-)

[@sewid]

You had the data sheet. This was just engineering not reverse engineering.

[@halosrusty]

12345nametaken no one likes a know it all, leave him be

[@sstorholm]

Are you actually gatekeeping reverse engineering? :)

[@thetastefultoastie6077]

I feel clickbaited, I came to this video expecting reverse engineering based on the title. He already had a complete datasheet, nothing needed reversing.

[@byungjaelee5110]

@@halosrusty You don't know electronics do you? It's not something to ignore. Reverse engineering and engineering is a whole new different story.

[@FilamentFriday]

Totally agree. You can buy similar VFD modules anywhere. They are controlled similar to an LCD module controlled and easily controlled by off the shelf code like Arduino. So nothing vintage or reverse engineered about this.

[@juweinert]

From my experience with shift registers, when dealing with low frequency arduinos, you don't really need to delay. I tried it once and reduced the delay and expected the registers to hickup at some point. But the overhead of arduino (and even in native AVR-C) together with the slow clock is often enough to provide proper and reliable latching of the data.

[@hachikiina]

better safe than sorry

[@juweinert]

Well I guess if the shift registers maximum clock frequency is above the microcontrollers main clock, I'd rather save some valuable processing time... Btw. is your profile picture the brutally faceswopped version of Tom?

[@bananowy_szejk]

Love your videos bru keep making more :P

[@timwalther]

Cool, nice job! I used to have a cash register VFD display with a serial connection wired to my pc running winamp, so I could always see what I was listening to.. But the speed of the parralel interface makes this so much cooler! When always drawing two full lines at a time , you could use it to make a simple game. Like chrome's dino jumping game..

[@oriamaymon4847]

Great and curios vid. love the challenging ones (-:

[@vladimir0700]

Those old vfd displays are so cool. I have a number of them, myself. I used my old hp 48 serial port to drive them and used a 40 char. multi line unit to display reminders for myself and other timely info. Too bad they’re no longer made. I considered making a large display with a pile of dot matrix led displays but when I toted up the cost of building it I decided it was way, wat too much money. These were really cheap when they initially showed up on the surplus market. Thanks for making the video

[@gigglesseven]

8 switches and a button to write to a 20x2 lcd display. It is awesome to see self discovery for a project like this with vintage hardware. Fran Blanche might interest you with the vintage things as well

[@MrKillerpics]

Reverse engineering with datasheet... yeah Good video ^^

[@lazzarusbr]

Please "NEVER STOPS TO MAKE VIDEOS"!!!! your vides is like endorphin to nerds brains!!!! I love it so much! every discovery!, every fantastic place you visit!,every fail! is so fantastic, you a kind of person! plese never stops your work! never stops to do vídeos about it! afterall you is the man to put headphones back in iphones when apple said is impossible! so yopu ar a impossible man! thanks to share your adventures! we love it so much!

[@rusty1850]

Thank You for Your Video.

[@thazsar]

Never knew you were a programmer! That’s awesome!