How to get more than 9 custom chars on screen?

[Watermelons]

I am already using tinybar to display 2 bar graphs (same style) but I need a couple more custom characters for my own symbols. Is there a way of 'overwriting' existing characters (like 'x' for example) which I know I won't be using elsewhere on the display - to give me more custom chars.

Alternatively, I read that you can configure tinybar NOT to use all 9 custom chars, is this possible?

Thanks!

[mattcro]

Actually there are only 8 custom characters available. Unfortunately, this is a fundamental limit of many LCDs (all those that use the HD44780 type internal controller), so Smartie doesn't handle any more than that. You cannot overwrite any other "standard" characters, except on a few oddball LCDs.

You can use 2 tiny graphs of 3 characters each, leaving 2 for other symbols, but that means you only have a very short graph. I don't think you can have tinygraphs sharing the same "pool" of custom characters (eg you can't have 2 4-character tinygraphs only using 6 custom characters between them).

If you don't specifically need scrolling graphs, you can use the 2bars graph plugin, which lets you have two vertical bars in a single character space (1 custom char). You can show 2 separate (or related) things using only 1 custom char, eg dual-core CPU load. That might free up a couple of custom chars to do other things with.

It's a problem sometimes, only having 8 custom characters to play with, so you need to be a bit creative!