My Amazon recommended products:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/garagegee...
Wiring a character LCD at Adafruit: http://learn.adafruit.com/character-l...
I show how to use a standard 16X2 LCD display in three different use cases.
1. With an Arduino Uno
2. With a TI Launchpad MSP430 running Energia
3. Directly on a breadboard on an MSP430G2553 running Energia
This LCD display is low cost - I paid $2.26, shipped, on Ebay. It uses the standard Hitachi 44780 controller, and has a pretty blue back light.