use strict;
use GD;
        
# create a new image
my ($width,$height) = (50, 20);
my $im = new GD::Image($width,$height);

# allocate some colors
my $white = $im->colorAllocate(255,255,255);
my $black = $im->colorAllocate(0,0,0);       

# Put a black frame around the picture
$im->rectangle(0,0,$width-1,$height-1,$black);

# some TTF text:
# (colour, font, pointsize, angle, x, y, string)
my @bounds = $im->stringTTF($black,'c:/i386/times.ttf',14,0,2,17,'JaPh
+!');
if (!@bounds) {print "TTF error: $@\n";}

for my $y (0..$height-1) {
  for my $x (0..$width-1) {
    print $im->getPixel($x,$y) ? 'X':'.';
  }
  print "\n";
}
print "\n";
[download]

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X................................................X
X................................................X
X................................................X
X................................................X
X...........................XXX..................X
X..XXXXXX........XXXXXXXXX..XXX........XX........X
X....XX............XX..XXXX..XX........XX........X
X....XX............XX...XXX..XX........XX........X
X....XX...XXXXXX...XX....XX..XX.XXXX...XX........X
X....XX...XX.XXX...XX...XXX..XXX.XXX...XX........X
X....XX...XX..XX...XXX.XXXX..XX...XX...XX........X
X....XX.....XXXX...XXXXXXX...XX...XX...XX........X
X....XX....XXXXX...XX........XX...XX...X.........X
X....XX...XXX.XX...XX........XX...XX.............X
X....XX...XX..XX...XX........XX...XX.............X
X.XX.XX...XXXXXXX..XX.......XXXX..XXX..XX........X
X.XXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX.....XXXX.XXXX..XX........X
X................................................X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
[download]

Update: Dang, da beat me to it!

--
I'd like to be able to assign to an luser

I've used something similar recently from Matrix Orbital. You should check out the perl code examples from this page:

Matrix Orbital Examples

The display I got has a serial port interface, so all I have to do is print bytes out the serial port in the perl program. As for using Tk, the programs that come with Matrix Orbital have a nifty "create your own" character area where you click on buttons (easy to do in Tk with some experience) and those buttons are the actual pixels in the lcd character. So you're really just seeing a blown up version of what will show on the display.

Anyway, just wanted to share some experiences I have had. Many a home brew mp3 player has used these displays, and its a great project to learn more about perl and Tk! I would not recommend the perl/tk book from Oreilly to learn Tk. I learned from "Programming Tcl/Tk" book actually by Brent Welsh, and was very impressed.

Justin Eltoft

"If at all god's gaze upon us falls, its with a mischievous grin, look at him" -- Dave Matthews

foreach my $sec_level(@list){
    foreach (@$sec_level){
         # $_ is now the element in the second level list
    }
}
[download]

XXXXX
    X
XXXXX
X    
XXXXX
[download]

Ok...

I knew how to access an LoL (sorry, shoulda made that more clear), just not how to turn it back into the compiled form.

I want to be able to click on a light and have it go on/off in that frame. It's more complicated than just scrolling text. It uses borders and such as well. Maybe I'll update later with a screenshot later of the current program.

- p u n k k i d
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -Albert Einstein

Update:
Here's a picture of the current program. I am looking to implement something like the dots you see there. The program allows you to move the dots and create lines/boxes and use fonts.

Is it possible to take fonts and make the output a series of dots?
It certainly is. You could use GD or Image::Magick to draw the text in whatever font(s) you like, then read the image pixel by pixel using one of these methods. Take a gander at this or this for some more pixel-by-pixel manipulation info.

___
-DA