New tools enable higher performance, larger graphical user interfaces

Designed to enable higher performance, larger graphical user interfaces, the tools include an Epson based graphics controller board that can be driven by the Explorer 16 Development Board or PIC32 Starter Kit, as well as two VGA and WVGA touch panel lcd daughter boards that enable up to 7in screens with more than 16million colours. Suitable for home appliance, industrial, home security and fitness equipment markets, the Epson S1D13517 Graphics Controller PICtail Plus Daughter Board is based on the Epson S1D13517 controller and features an 18/24bit thin film transistor interface. This is supported by 128Megabits external SDRAM and is designed to enable up to 24bit per pixel colour depth. It also supports multiple frame buffering, alpha blending and picture in picture capabilities. The board includes 64 Megabits of serial Flash memory for additional non volatile storage, as well as connectors for easy interface with different display boards. Sumit Mitra, vice president of Microchip's microcontroller division, said: "Our new boards help designers to meet their growing demands with QVGA or WQVGA solutions, and our software makes development easy. With the addition of the Epson graphics controller and these new, larger displays, designers can take their products to the next level, with more advanced and larger 24bpp colour user interfaces."