I started a new thread because the old one was mostly no longer applicable. For background on what I'm doing, click here. Simply, I have an 8 conductor cable running to the end of a 40 foot track. At the end of that track, I need to have up to 5 sensors being able to be read, and up to 5 seven segment LED displays being driven, as well as +5v and Gnd to power everything down there. Simple, straight forward. uC is the Atmega324.
I'm looking at the SAA1064 to drive 4 seven segment displays. It's a TWI device, and seems pretty awesome. Two part question: is there a comparable device that can do 5 displays? Is there a comparable device for super cheap that can run a single display? I guess it's not a big deal, I just see it being a major waste of a chip like this to only drive one display (when it could be driving up to 4).
I'm looking for a decent chip to read my sensor inputs. Someone suggested the 74HC165 could do the trick for me, and can be interfaced with 3 wires. Not the same protocols, but it looks pretty simple to use, so that may not be such a big deal. People also seem to speak favorably about the PCF8574, which happens to be a TWI device.
This means that theoretically I would only need +5V, GND, SDA, SCL running to the end of my track right? Any suggestions? also, does anyone have an experience using CVAVR with TWI? I can't seem to find any useful examples or libraries. I'm fairly new to microcontrollers, so try not to be too harsh. :wink: