What you are trying to do is very do-able with a Tk application, just to answer your question. And when you talk about "compiled files" I think you really just want to say raw binary data. The display you're probably using just has a decoder IC built in that accepts raw bytes as commands for what to do to the display.

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