Command 8 Driver

Command 8 provides hands-on control of both Pro Tools LE and TDM software, with the same high level of integration and sophistication that we've come to expect since Pro Control, Control 24 and HUI. Chapter 1: Introduction 1 chapter 1 Introduction Welcome to the Command 8™ control surface, developed in collaboration between Digide-sign® and Focusrite.

As we know, the price of computer hardwares is getting lower and lower. In order to use the more advanced configurations, an increasing number of people apply 4GB or 8GB RAM in their computers. Moreover, most people change their operating system to Windows 8.1 (64 bit), because 32 bit system cannot support memory which is more than 4GB. However, taking system security into consideration, the 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 limits the installation of uncertified drivers. Whereas, most small programs which use driver files do not have digital signature authentication, including phone drivers. Does it mean that we cannot use the drivers we applied before on the Windows 8.1 of 64 bit? No, we can solve the problem by disabling driver signature enforcement in Windows 8 and 8.1.

Video guide on how to disable/enable driver signature enforcement in Win 8:

Steps to disable driver signature enforcement in Windows 8 and 8.1:

Step 1: Enter PC settings.

You can enter PC settings according to the following two procedures.

1. Open Charms Menu by simultaneously pressing WIN key (also referred to Windows logo key) and C key, and select Settings in it.

2. Click Change PC settings on the bottom.

Step 2: In PC settings, choose General on the left and click Restart now under Advanced startup, as shown in the following screen shot.

Step 3: Click Troubleshoot in the next interface.

Step 4: After entering Troubleshoot interface, tap Advanced options to enter it.

Step 5: Select Startup Settings. Please refer to the picture below.

Step 6: Click Restart button in Startup Settings interface.

Step 7: Press 7 or F7 to choose Disable driver signature enforcement.

Note: This solution is easy, but it can only be set when the computer is booted. In addition, the setting will return to its original state after restarting.

For your information, the command to close Disable driver signature enforcement (or enable driver signature enforcement) is:

bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

And you can use it through the following 4 steps.

Step 1: Open Command Prompt (Admin).

Press WIN key and X key at the same time to open the Quick Access Menu, and then select Command Prompt (Admin) in it.

Step 2: In User Account Control window, click Yes to allow the program to make changes in the computer.

Step 3: Type the command in the Administer Command Prompt and press Enter, as the following screen shot exhibits.

Step 4: Restart the computer.

After these 4 steps, you can use uncertified drivers on Windows 8 and 8.1 (64 bit) whenever you want.

Tips: This operation reduces the security factor of the system. Therefore, it is not recommended to close Disable driver signature enforcement all the time. Meanwhile, it is not suggested for inexperienced users to use this operation.

Related Articles:

HD44780 LCD controller and HD44100 drivers on the back side of a 40266 LCD module

The Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller is an alphanumeric dot matrixliquid crystal display (LCD) controller developed by Hitachi in the 1980s. The character set of the controller includes ASCII characters, Japanese Kana characters, and some symbols in two 28 character lines. Using an extension driver, the device can display up to 80 characters.^[1] The HD44780 is one of the most popular character LCDs ever made, with numerous third-party displays utilizing its 16-pin interface and instruction set for compatibility.

Architecture[edit]

Block diagram of an HD44780U-based LCD module

Command 8 Drivers

Character LCD module on a solderless breadboard being controlled by an Arduino Uno

The Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller is limited to monochrome text displays and is often used in copiers, fax machines, laser printers, industrial test equipment, and networking equipment, such as routers and storage devices.

Compatible LCD screens are manufactured in several standard configurations. Common sizes are one row of eight characters (8×1), and 16×2, 20×2 and 20×4 formats. Larger custom sizes are made with 32, 40 and 80 characters and with 1, 2, 4 or 8 lines. The most commonly manufactured larger configuration is 40×4 characters, which requires two individually addressable HD44780 controllers with expansion chips as a single HD44780 chip can only address up to 80 characters.

Character LCDs may have a backlight, which may be LED, fluorescent, or electroluminescent.

Character LCDs use a 16 contact interface, commonly using pins or card edge connections on 0.1 inch (2.54 mm) centers. Those without backlights may have only 14 pins, omitting the two pins powering the light. This interface was designed to be easily hooked up to the Intel MCS-51 XRAM interface, using only two address pins, which allowed displaying text on LCD using simple MOVX commands, offering cost effective option for adding text display to devices.^{[citation needed]} The pinout is as follows:

Ground
VCC +3.3 to +5V (typical)
Contrast adjustment (VO) This is an analog input, typically connected to a potentiometer. The user must be able to control this voltage independent of all other adjustments, in order to optimise visibility of the display that varies i.a. with temperature, and, in some cases height above the sea level. With a wrong adjustment the display will seem to malfunction.
Register Select (RS). RS=0: Command, RS=1: Data
Read/Write (R/W). R/W=0: Write, R/W=1: Read (In most applications reading from the HD44780 makes no sense. In that case this pin can be permanently connected to ground and no io pins need to be allocated to steer it.)
Clock (Enable). Falling edge triggered
Bit 0 (Not used in 4-bit operation)
Bit 1 (Not used in 4-bit operation)
Bit 2 (Not used in 4-bit operation)
Bit 3 (Not used in 4-bit operation)
Bit 4
Bit 5
Bit 6
Bit 7
Backlight Anode (+) (If applicable)
Backlight Cathode (-) (If applicable)

The nominal operating voltage for LED backlights is 5V at full brightness, with dimming at lower voltages dependent on the details such as LED color. Non-LED backlights often require higher voltages (I.E. electroluminescent).

Mode selection[edit]

Avid Command 8 Driver

In 8-bit mode all transfers happen in one cycle of the enable pin with all 8 bits on the data bus and the RS and RW pins stable. In 4-bit mode, data are transferred as pairs of 4-bit 'nibbles' on the upper data pins, D7-D4 with two enable pulses and the RS and RW pins stable. The four most significant bits (7-4) must be written first, followed by the four least significant bits (3-0). The high/low sequence must be completed each time or the controller will not properly receive further commands.

Selecting 4-bit or 8-bit mode requires careful selection of commands. There aretwo primary considerations. First, with D3-D0 unconnected, these lines willalways appear low (0b0000) to the HD44780. Second, theLCD may initially be in one of three states:

(State1) 8-bit mode
(State2) 4-bit mode, waiting for the first set of 4 bits
(State3) 4-bit mode, waiting for the second set of 4 bits

State3 may occur, for example, if a prior control was aborted after sendingonly the first 4 bits of a command while the LCD was in 4-bit mode.

The following algorithm ensures that the LCD is in the desired mode:

The same command is sent three times, Function Set with 8 bit interface D7-D4 = 0b0011, the lower four bits are don't care, using single Enable pulses. If the controller is in 4 bit mode the lower four bits are ignored so they can't be sent until the interface is in a known size configuration.

Starting in state 1 - 8 bit configuration

Starting in state 2 - 4 bit configuration, waiting for first 4 bit transfer

Starting in state 3 - 4 bit configuration, waiting for last 4 bit transfer

In all three starting cases the bus interface is now in 8 bit mode, 1 line, 5×8 characters. If a different configuration 8 bit mode is desired an 8 bit bus Function Set command should be sent to set the full parameters. If 4 bit mode is desired 0b0010 should be sent on D7-D4 with a single enable pulse. Now the controller will be in 4 bit mode and a full 4 bit bus Function Set command sequence (two enables with command bits 7-4 and 3-0 on subsequent cycles) will complete the configuration of the Function Set register.

Instruction set[edit]

The HD44780 instruction set is shown below:^[2]

**HD44780U based instruction set**
Instruction	Code										Description	Execution time (max) (when f_cp = 270 kHz)
Instruction	RS	R/W	B7	B6	B5	B4	B3	B2	B1	B0	Description	Execution time (max) (when f_cp = 270 kHz)
Clear display	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	Clears display and returns cursor to the home position (address 0).	1.52 ms
Cursor home	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	*	Returns cursor to home position. Also returns display being shifted to the original position. DDRAM content remains unchanged.	1.52 ms
Entry mode set	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	I/D	S	Sets cursor move direction (I/D); specifies to shift the display (S). These operations are performed during data read/write.	37 μs
Display on/off control	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	D	C	B	Sets on/off of all display (D), cursor on/off (C), and blink of cursor position character (B).	37 μs
Cursor/display shift	0	0	0	0	0	1	S/C	R/L	*	*	Sets cursor-move or display-shift (S/C), shift direction (R/L). DDRAM content remains unchanged.	37 μs
Function set	0	0	0	0	1	DL	N	F	*	*	Sets interface data length (DL), number of display line (N), and character font (F).	37 μs
Set CGRAM address	0	0	0	1	CGRAM address						Sets the CGRAM address. CGRAM data are sent and received after this setting.	37 μs
Set DDRAM address	0	0	1	DDRAM address							Sets the DDRAM address. DDRAM data are sent and received after this setting.	37 μs
Read busy flag & address counter	0	1	BF	CGRAM/DDRAM address							Reads busy flag (BF) indicating internal operation being performed and reads CGRAM or DDRAM address counter contents (depending on previous instruction).	0 μs
Write CGRAM or DDRAM	1	0	Write Data								Write data to CGRAM or DDRAM.	37 μs
Read from CG/DDRAM	1	1	Read Data								Read data from CGRAM or DDRAM.	37 μs
Instruction bit names — I/D - 0 = decrement cursor position, 1 = increment cursor position;S - 0 = no display shift, 1 = display shift;D - 0 = display off, 1 = display on;C - 0 = cursor off, 1 = cursor on;B - 0 = cursor blink off, 1 = cursor blink on ;S/C - 0 = move cursor, 1 = shift display;R/L - 0 = shift left, 1 = shift right;DL - 0 = 4-bit interface, 1 = 8-bit interface;N - 0 = 1/8 or 1/11 duty (1 line), 1 = 1/16 duty (2 lines);F - 0 = 5×8 dots, 1 = 5×10 dots;BF - 0 = can accept instruction, 1 = internal operation in progress.

DDRAM is Display Data RAM and CGRAM is Character Generator RAM.^[3] The DDRAM is 80 bytes (40 per row) addressed with a gap between the two rows. The first row is addresses 0 to 39 decimal or 0 to 27 hex. The second row is addresses 64 decimal to 103 decimal or 40 to 67 hex.

The CGRAM is read/write memory used to encode up to 8 characters in the character generator. It consists of 64 fields at addresses 0 to 3F. Each field is 5 bits mapping to a row of pixels of each character. Each 8 fields in the CGRAM are used for each character. The lower 3 bits of the character codes from 0-7 and 8-15 select the groups of 8 fields in the CGRAM memory.

Reading and writing to the DDRAM is done by setting the RS input high during bus transfers. The DDRAM must also be selected by using the Set DDRAM address command which selects the DDRAM for access and also sets the starting address for DDRAM access.

Likewise reading and writing to the CGRAM is done by setting the RS input high during bus transfers. The CGRAM must also be selected by the Set CGRAM address command which selects the CGRAM for access and also sets the starting address for CGRAM access.

The execution times listed in this table are based on an oscillator frequency of 270 kHz. The data sheet indicates that for a resistor of 91 kΩ at 5V Vcc the oscillator can vary between 190 kHz and 350 kHz resulting in wait times of 52.6 us and 28.6 us instead of 37 us. If a display with the recommended 91 kΩ resistor is powered from 3.3 volts the oscillator will run much slower. If the busy bit is not used and instructions are timed by the external circuitry, this should be taken into account.

Font[edit]

Amber backlight on a HD44780 display

The original HD44780 character generator ROM contains 208 characters in a 5×8 dot matrix, and 32 characters in a 5×10 dot matrix. More recent compatible chips are available with higher resolution, matched to displays with more pixels.^{[citation needed]}

Two versions of the ROM have been developed:^[4]

HD44780UA00, the standard (Japanese) version, which includes katakana characters and some Greek letters and mathematical symbols
HD44780UA02, a European version, which includes the complete set of Greek, Cyrillic and Western European characters (with diacritics)

The 7-bit ASCII subset for the Japanese version is non-standard: it supplies a Yen symbol where the backslash character is normally found, and left and right arrow symbols in place of tilde and the rubout character.

A limited number of custom characters can be programmed into the device in the form of a bitmap using special commands. These characters have to be written to the device each time it is switched on, as they are stored in volatile memory.

References[edit]

^Sanchez & Canton 2007, p. 275
^Huang 2009, p. 326
^'HD44780U datasheet'(PDF).
^'HD44780U datasheet'(PDF).