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One good thing about Matrix Orbital displays is
the great software support to drive them. The display is easy to get up
and running. Matrix Orbital supplies you with a CD that includes info on
small useful utilities and links to supported third-party software. A
big plus and definitely should be a major factor in your purchase decision.
You don't want to spend a full day just configuring a couple of screens.
I've installed and used another manufacturer's VFD that was almost impossible
to configure correctly. This was mostly due to the lack of software
support. A shot of the autorun menu
from the supplied CD:
The CD provides links to a few
third-party software apps that fully support the company's full line of serial
displays.
We are going to look at two in
particular. LCDC and LCD Stats. Now I have played around with both
of these quite a bit and will give you my thoughts on which one I prefer and
why.
LCDC:
LCDC is a feature rich
application that supports Matrix Orbital and other LCD & VFD displays.
It is loaded with plug-ins and great transition effects and custom settings.
LCDC is not freeware
though and it will set you back another $17.50! But is it worth it?
We will soon see...
The main menu:
From here you can navigate
through the many configuration screens available. The bottom of the menu
above shows the status of the plug-ins being used.
The main configuration screen above allows you
to select the COM port used, display, adjust brightness/contrast and addition
plug-in settings. The one
great feature I really liked were the numerous transition effects available
for screen changes. Truly adds life to your display.
Overall, I found the program to be fairly easy
to use with Matrix displays. However, the program itself is highly
unstable. (at least with WinXP). I experienced many lock ups and sys
crashes with this software.
LCD Stats:
LCD Stats is a great application allowing MBM
supports, system stats, email checking and keypad support. LCD Stats is
only for Matrix Orbital displays and fully supports all models. Unlike
LCDC, LCD Stats is completely freeware. But just how good is it?
Let's take a look... The
main screen:
LCD Stats is very simple to use. Main
screen allows you to select the proper COM port, adjust contrast, and select
the screen you would like to appear.
The screen configuration menu allows you to
select what MBM info you would like to display and on what line you would like
to display it. It also allows you to display hard drive information such
as free space available.
 I
love this program. It's easy to use and unlike LCDC, it's very stable.
I have not experienced any lockups or crashes. The only thing missing
that I would like to see is the cool transition effects that LCDC has.
Hopefully this will be added in a future version?
LCD Stats is my software of
choice to run these displays. It's stable, easy to use and best of all,
it's freeware! :) |
