I was contacted a few days ago by, what I presume is, a beginning electronics enthusiast due to a web page I had written about driving very simple LCDs (
http://www.ubasics.com/driving_static_lcds for the insatiably curious).
He wants to drive a completely different, significantly more complex LCD.
So I do my usual song and dance:
Q) How do I do this?
A) That's pretty hard. If you want to then you need a special device. Try this other product instead.
Q) But there's these three other people online that got it to work!
A) Well, they followed these three different techniques. It's not easy, but you can make those kludges work.
Q) Can you help me implement the second of those three methods?
A) Of course! I charge $90/hr, and I expect this sort of project to take between 10 and 80 hours depending on your specific project requirements. If that's outside your budget, try joining mailing list/forums X, Y, and Z and you can probably get free assistance.
Q) Can you give me an outline?
A) I don't know what level of experience you have. I'd probably do these 4 things (list of four very high-level steps)
Then, this morning, I receive this gem:
I am glad to hear that. This is good new because I would only like a minute of you time. I would like a outline of the project. I am willing to pay for up to a minute. So call it $2 with the tip? Payment can be arranged on Friday.
This is cracking me up. A beginner with persistence and audacity is a sight to behold.
I don't want to turn him down but if I don't he'll nickel and dime me - I honestly can't produce anything that would be useful for him in 1 minute anyway.
But I used to be in that position decades ago as well (with essentially the same issue - I still have the surplus LCD that I never got around to hooking up).
-Adam
