The only problem I have with the green border is that it makes the unit larger (hides a tiny bit more of my dashboard). I am not overly concerned with appearances, just functinality and utility. The rest of the circuit could easily hide behind the black area. I did look at a borderless 2x16 from newhaven display, but it involved smd so that rules it out from a project perspective, though anyone who knows what they are doing could make it work probably.
Programming is only difficult with the rbbb from wolfden or moderndevices. Otherwise just get a usb iDuino or freeduino or arduino and load the drivers and bob's yer uncle
