I read about a simple 7-segment display at RSC by Vladimir Kadlec, and had a go myself. He wrote a little program to send data from LFS through the parallel port.
Read the instructions at RSC forum. You need a 7 segment display, a parallel cable, a few resistors and a bit of soldering.

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned here so have taken the opportunity to show mine off.
I sometimes found I was messing up in corners when changing to the incorrect gear, at mid corner the in-game gear display is hidden by the arms crossing (I know you can disable the arms being displayed). This external display helps with this and also looks good.
It's also possible to have a shift light on the decimal point, but I've fitted a dedicated shift light for more visibility.

In hindsight, the display I chose was not bright enough (high-efficiency red, HE Red), but it appears better contrast than the picture suggests - it was necessary to have all the lights on for taking the picture.

That's brilliant, thanks for the heads up Gavin!
Off to order a 7 segment display --->

Hello, thanks P1lot for advertising my GI project :-). I'm really sorry, I'm not able to keep in touch two threads in paralel. If you have comments, please post them on the rsc thread or contact me by PM. Comments _are_ welcome.

My display pwns yours

Just joking, I envy you solder wielding guys... I'd just burn myself.

There is a new version of program and hadware available.

Fancy schmancey stuff that !!! I just use windoze utillites 'windoow zoom' feature, resize the zoomed window and drive, simple

I'm interested in building one of these. I had a look on ebay and found several 7 segment displays requiring different voltages. Am I right in saying that I need a 5V one for the lpt port?

I'd like a nice bright big display - can anyone recommend one to me?

Thanks,

Ed.

Quote from ted209 :

Am I right in saying that I need a 5V one for the lpt port?

Yes. On the other hand I recommend using ULN2803 with external power source (can be higher than 5V) to protect the LPT port (see the GI page). With ULN2803, use 7-segment LED with common anode. Without ULN2803 (7-segment with resistors soldered directly to the port), use 7-segment with common cathode.

Quote from ted209 :

I'd like a nice bright big display - can anyone recommend one to me?

The best way is to go to the nearest shop with electronic supplies and see for your self :-). The display is cheap, it should be around one-two pounds.

I'm currently working on a high costumizable OutGauge USB system:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nggmr7WICuQ

up to 6 servos , fully configurable character LCD screen , and up to 32 digital outputs.

I definitly would like to buy such a great thing .

that's just freakin awesome ! lol

I would like to make your gear indicator with a built-in rev indicator, using 5 LEDs connected to the remaining pins. Something like this:

http://www.rapidonline.com/pro ... =29358&catRef=56-0965

I think that this is not possible with your current GI program, only a single rev limit can be used, is that right? I was wondering whether you might be able to add support for this in GI by allowing the user to set five rev values in the config file such that when revs>rev1value the LED 1 is lit and so on for the other 4? Would be really grateful if you could add it! J

Very nice! USB though so i guess much harder to do. Do you have a link to that thread?

Quote from Nick A :

I would like to make your gear indicator with a built-in rev indicator, using 5 LEDs connected to the remaining pins.

Simple answer, I don't plan to do that. There are too many different posibilities, what people would like to have in GI for their specific hardware :-). On the other hand, the sources for GI are released under GPL and you can download it and add functions you want... It is not complicated, if you know C. Let us know, if you make it work.

Quote from Nick A :

Very nice! USB though so i guess much harder to do. Do you have a link to that thread?

http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=287355

Quote from Kada_CZ :

Simple answer, I don't plan to do that. There are too many different posibilities, what people would like to have in GI for their specific hardware :-). On the other hand, the sources for GI are released under GPL and you can download it and add functions you want... It is not complicated, if you know C. Let us know, if you make it work.

Thanks, I hadn't realised you had published the source code. I did a C++ course a couple of years ago but havn't used it since so this would be a great way for me to use what I learned (if I can remember it). I had a good look at the code and I think I've worked out how it's working, enough to be able to do what I want anyway. I will start on it tonight and keep you posted but I expect it will take me a few days.

Congratulations

Got the parts today. I need some help with the 7 segment LED though. The pins arn't numbered and the datasheet doesn't say which is which. Is there a convention for the numbering? The display has 5 pins at the top and 5 pins at the bottom.

Here it is:
http://www.rapidonline.com/pro ... isplay&moduleno=64939

There is a link to the datasheet on that page. Thanks.

Panic over. I just noticed there are some little numbers on the diagram which correspond to the end pin numbers. :doh:

It's finished! I've uploaded a video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGxGe0XiTuQ

I used OutgaugeGateway to forward the Outgauge data to both MomoLEDs and my adapted version of Kada's GI program. Thanks again Kada, I really enjoyed making this!

Stylish :-), good work .

i am getting my friend to build one for me, but i would also like the rev lights, i have sent Nick A a pm but going by his post count, i doubt he will see the pm :S. all i need is the wiring diagram

I think that Nick_A has rev-diodes on LPT pins 9, 1, 14, 16, 17. The data pins 2-8 are used for gear display. The rest of the trick is in his adapted version of GI software.