Raghu,

There is no shortage that I know of. For a lot of my hobby projects, I use suppliers, which specialize in used equipment, or surplus. An example is The Electronic Goldmine http://www.goldmine-elec.com . I have always used the models with 14 data lines. Most all have had backlights, which were wired individually. I have recently noticed many 16 pin versions, and many of them seam less expensive than the 14 pin version. I have not as of yet looked at any data sheets for the 16 pin versions. I was simply trying to get a feel for the advantages and disadvantages based on your experiences. If the extra pins are for backlight, then that is a big advantage there.

Thanks for your comments.

Chris Seeley