Mostly, this is just a thank-you... my project has been on hold for a couple months, but I finally got back to it, and have it up and running 100% thanks to some great suggestions from here (just as a reminder, I had been trying to track down command routines for a 'proprietary' LCD, and was working on a parallel port logic analyzer, and finally had made a 2nd 8051 board to 'buffer' between the port & the device for monitoring, since the port's pullups were too strong... I finally got the buffer-board built, and it worked **PERFECT** :) Feels good to build such an extremely useful device for so little cost, too. I'm sure it'll come in handy in the future :) Anyway, back to the subject, it turns out the LCD *WAS* nearly 44780-compatible, but the 'e' line was reversed, and the timing was a little slower. This became perfectly obvious as soon as I saw the (correct) control graphs, and since I'd already written the 44780 routines in my earlier testing, took about 5 minutes to switch 'e' polarities & extend my wait times a bit (the RW line isn't hooked up, and I don't know if this screen even has a ready bit :) )
ANYWAY, bottom line, thanks for the help & suggestions, you guys rock :)