Unfortunately, LCDs require quite a few digital pins, 6 to control the LCD and then another 1 to control the backlight for a total of 7 pins. Thats nearly all the GPIO available on a Pi! With this in mind, Adafruit 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 dont 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 has been updated so the buttons on on the right side, which makes it a little more mechanically stable. It 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. Item Specifics Dimensions: 2.2" x 3.35" Plug and play with any Raspberry Pi Uses only the I2C (SDA/SCL) pins This board/chip uses I2C 7-bit address 0x20. Kit Includes: Hight quality PCB 16x2 Blue & White LCD All components (buttons, headers, etc)