PT6318 VFD driver (192 segm max), Keyboard scan (48 max).

Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFD) have been around for quite some time, but they are still popular. You will find them in audio and video equipment (eg DVD players), Point-Of-Sale stations, car displays etc. They are not cheap, unless produced in large numbers. However, they look good since they have nice bright colors and are readable in daylight. The best known types are the seven segment displays (e.g. alarmclock radios). These types can all display numbers 0-9 and some characters like A-F. The 14- or 16- segment 'starburst' displays are more suitable when you need more flexibility to display characters or symbols. This library interfaces to a PT6318 VFD controller that supports multiple display modes from 8 digits of 20 segments to 16 digits of 12 segments (192 segm). It has internal memory for all digits and will continuously output that data to the display. It supports dimming (brightness control) and has additional 4 LED outputs, 4 switch inpus and a 12x4 keyboard matrix scan. The device can be controlled by SPI bus.

The general Notebook page for VFD devices of this family is here.