Okay.. This thread is mostly for my reference (because I suck at making notes), for anyone's comments, and, most importantly, everyone else to point out anything I'm forgetting. Heh.
After looking at Hugo's Display Thread, it's something that I want to do, mostly cauze I have too much freetime. Nono, mostly 'cauze I figure it's simple enough that I can handle it all the way thru (with some help when the need arises) and give something back to the community.

Okay, first, details at when *I* want to do with it..
1. Final Concept: Making a small HUD for my Mini. No real-time visuals needed, I'm looking for just info - Track Info, Volume, Menus (possibly. That may be tricky.)

2. Parts: The VFD display, a converter board, and the Empeg.
2a. The VFD display. From Nortake Itron, part number GW128x32C-K610A.
2b. The Converter Board. My creation, with lotsa PCB designing help from pca (Yeah, the tuner guy. Sorry guys, I'm trying NOT to slow down tuner production. Honest!) It will be a one-shot. DB9 connector for the serial, some kind of connection for 12v power, and a ribbon cable header to feed power/data to the VFD.
2c. Empeg. Pretty self-explanatory.

3. Software. My idea (which I will worry about more when I finish hardware) was simple - a little TSR program (TSR? In Linux? Sorry. ) that will sit and loop.. or something, and watch the empeg_notify file in /proc, and, when updated, send the correct commands to send to the serial port.

Of course, advantages to the converter board is that it can be used for most any of the Noritake Itron VFD modules, since it can supply the 5V. (See my next post about the board itself.) If anyone wants these boards, let me know. I don't plan on making any money, and the more PCB's I order, the cheaper they get.. in theory. I'll have all part #s and such in the post, so you could go out and get everything yourself, if you really want.

Thanks!
Me.