I started learning with the PIC series of micros to control segment displays and keypad input, and although it's wonderful, I've decided to move on to a more advanced project. I've been musing with the idea of developing a hand held media device for a while now and have ran into some pitfalls on my end. I have a color LCD from a PSP (with the data sheet) and I sorta need some assistance designing a circuit to output to it.

I started thinking about using two processors, one to control input, one to control the LCD, but since I'm new at graphics I was hoping someone here would be able to provide their ideas on the subject.

Anyway, this may be a bit much from the community, but I won't know until I ask.

have you thought about tearing down a defunct unit and looking at how it is laid out? Getting a usable signal to a screen is a lot more than jamming a few ICs together. Also how many input devices are going to be used? You are taking on a very complicated task and it sounds like you are trying to do things on a very small scale.

I know enough around electronics to get by. I am no electronics engineer but I do know this, you are having to stack several components to generate a usable signal. A radio as you know has a receiver but that has an oscillator and a signal generator that amplifies the signal. Now when you and encryption you stack a encryption processor to translate the signal.

Have you drawn your pathway for taking input and ending with a image on your screen? Once you have an idea of what components will give you what you want designing the circuitry should be a breeze.

The LCD uses a 480x272 resolution and one byte/pixel for color info. The controller itself is 24bit. Unfortunately for me there is no original device for me to do a tear down on, just a bunch of components I've acquired and attempting to assemble into something that makes some pretty colors and noise and takes input. I'll be using an ARM7 or better for the actual display since I don't think any current PIC could keep up with that video speed (assuming 30fps).

Anyway, the hard part for me is interfacing/implementing RAM on the bus so it is usable by my ARM for video memory. My past projects used the on-board EEProm for program storage, so there was never a need for off chip memory.

Since I am self taught, there is a lot of holes in my knowledge and all the help I can get is appreciated, thank m8.

I would try to follow the pattern of assembly a computer uses. he rel bit*h is that compatibility issues will bite you between components. Do you own a Electronic circuit reference and an IC reference guide? Both might be a huge help if you don't own them.