This new Pi Plate makes it easy to use an RGB 16x2 Character LCD. For RGB we have RGB negative and RGB positive. Unfortunately these LCDs do require quite a few digital pins 6 to control the LCD and then another 3 to control the RGB backlight for a total of 9 pins. That's nearly all the GPIO available on a Pi! With this in mind we wanted to make it easier for people to get these LCD into their projects so we devised a Pi plate that lets you control a 16x2 Character LCD up to 3 backlight pins AND 5 keypad pins using only the two I2C pins on the R-Pi! The best part is you don't really lose those two pins either since you can stick i2c-based sensors RTCs etc and have them share the I2C bus. This is a super slick way to add a display without all the wiring hassle. This pi plate is perfect for when you want to build a stand-alone project with its own user interface. The 4 directional buttons plus select button allows basic control without having to attach a bulky computer.