Looking for a small display recommendation

Previously I worked with this one, it's really easy to use it. Adafruit FeatherWing OLED - 128x64 OLED Add-on For Feather [STEMMA QT / Qwiic] : ID 4650 : $14.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

4 X 4 is a tough nut to crack for alphanumerics, the aspect ratio doesnt fit the usual. Could a 1602 LCD do the job ?  https://www.amazon.com/NOYITO-Yellow-Green-Backlight-Interface-MEGA2560/dp/B07SZV1MK8/ref=sr_1_13?crid=73DPEGA7PT9Q&keywords=lcd+1602+module&qid=1677080223&sprefix=lcd+1602%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-13

 https://www.amazon.com/Qunqi-Serial-Backlight-Arduino-MEGA2560/dp/B01E4YUT3K/ref=sr_1_11?crid=2DZB5X1BBJQTT&keywords=iic+%2F+i2c+1602+blue+backlight+lcd+display+screen+module&qid=1677080327&sprefix=lcd+1602+module%2Caps%2C287&sr=8-11

SSD1306 displays work well, but they are 1.3 inches square at best. There are some bigger TFT screens, but I hadnt worked with them to say how easy they are, and of course they start to get pricey as the size increases. 

I recommend a small OLED. Not sure if it supports scrolling though. 

I suppose the question to ask yourself is, how small can the text font be before it becomes illegible.

OLED's are small and the text font is tiny. As the text display crisp and clear it's fine for close viewing but at the distance it's not much use.

I have used one like this before in an E14presents  project: https://export.farnell.com/midas/mdob128032gv-wi/oled-display-cob-128-x-32-pixel/dp/3407291?st=oled
it works with adafruits GFX library. so scrolling should work. they are very wel lreadable. the only issue is you need to tinker around a bit with adressing the pixels, 0,0 is not where one expect them to be, that common for all midas oleds.

colporteur said:

I had hoped to use a MAX7219 Dot led Matrix MCU 8x32 but it is way to large for the foot print I have to work with. The bridge has a large flat surface about 4X4 inches to hold the sign.

How about a 4x4 assembly of these 0.1" pitch miniature LED matrix displays 

https://www.adafruit.com/product/956

which will give you just under 4" x 4" so enough for a filter and bezel to tidy it up.

Drive them with your MAX7219

Thanks for the response folks.

Some of your offerings I have looked at and others didn't come up on my radar. I need to do some further research under the heading of EASY. I hoping to avoid investing countless hours in the build.

In my head I have this idea of soldering some sockets to a breadboard to hold a Nano with a few connections to a display. Bang out some code and the message is flowing. I like the idea of building a shroud around the blue display but the 8X8 was what appealed to me in the beginning. I just don't think the screens would be long enough without adding at least six.

I also had the thought that a really REALLY cool train marquee would be a persistence of Vision display like amgalbu built for  Santa Tracker , of course scaled down and use 8 normal LEDs packed together rather than programmable LEDs. 

This is the HARD way  :-)  but for sure would be eye catching. 

There are low cost composite input monitors

But I have no clue how easy or reliably they would function with a raspberry pi...

Using a Mini PAL/NTSC Display with a Raspberry Pi
By Simon Monk

https://learn.adafruit.com/using-a-mini-pal-ntsc-display-with-a-raspberry-pi/parts