August 4, 2004, 11:32pm PST:
I have my VEMS board now, and am deciding what to do first to get on my way to having it work. Looks like I'm going to make up an RS-232 connector and communicate with the 'lil board that way. With any luck, I'll have RS-232 and keyboard working tonight.
August 5, 2004, 12:25am PST:
Wired up what might just be the world's ugliest RS-232 cable. Pics to follow.
August 22, 2004, 11:30am PST:
Acquired my 20x4 Backlit LCD display. It's HD44780 compatible, and has a greenish backlight. Nice and cheap too!
This is the ebay auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=26206&item=3835083710&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
And this is the spec sheet:
http://www.phanderson.com/ebay/truly_lcd.pdf
Total cost was $17usd shipped to my door. Not bad!