tft lcd frame buffer brands

Large amounts of pixel data are used to create the colorful and defined images. The data is stored in a memory location called the frame buffer. The frame buffer must be provided by the display or by the processor. The MIPI DSI interface offers an alternative by operating the display in video mode.

This resource will discuss the options for storing large amounts of image data and the operating modes available in the MIPI DSI communication protocol. There are two modes available when memory is accessible to the display. The modes are differentiated by the location of frame buffer provided for display data. The substitute for display memory is to operate the display in video mode which does not require memory access. Considerations of memory location and access should be made when using the MIPI DSI protocol.

High resolution displays have a larger number of pixels and require more memory. An increased color depth means there is more data assigned to each pixel. For true color (RGB-888) each pixel is assigned 24-bits of color. This data needs to be stored in a location accessible by the microprocessor and the display. The minimum memory requirement for the framebuffer is calculated by the following equation.

This is the memory for one full frame of image data. There are options for efficiently storing display data and maximizing available memory. A lower color resolution can be set with minimal reduction or visible effect on the image. Partial image storing is another way to conserve memory. The frame buffer will contain a portion of the frame that is to be updated. This can be referred to as layering and only certain layers are refreshed.

The location of the frame buffer memory is dependent on what is available and what can be accessed at a speed compliant with the MIPI DSI interface. The MIPI DSI display interface requires high speed memory access to prevent flickering and tearing on the display. Each location of memory has its own benefits and constraints. The display memory can be stored in the following locations for the MIPI DSI interface.

The display memory is customizable by location, amount available and the desired display application. Pixel data can be stored in partial frames to conserve memory. The images can be programmed in independent layers to minimize the amount of data that needs to be refreshed. The layers can be stored in different memory locations on the processor which provide more accessible memory for image data.

The frame buffer can be stored in the internal display RAM and accessed by the display controller IC. The image data is written to display RAM by the controller through specified commands. Other commands are used to specify color format, voltage settings and data types. In this scenario, the display does all of the heavy lifting. This frees up the microprocessor for other processes and the display can operate while the MPU is idle.

Another benefit of using internal display RAM is that the physical memory addresses correspond to the pixel display area. In other words, the frame buffer is the same size as the resolution. The internal display RAM provides the exact amount of memory for the display resolution. This makes reading and writing to RAM simple. Display RAM typically provides enough memory for one full page of image data at high color. This can often be more than what is provided on the MPU.

The MIPI DSI protocol has two operation modes. The command mode is used when the display has access to the internal frame buffer memory. The display controller receives commands from the processor and then formats the data to store in the frame buffer for the next display refresh.

The display is operated by specified commands that will address the memory of the frame buffer internally. The commands are sent over a low power and short packet data type. These commands will initialize the driver to handle the data. The data can be sent in long packets at high speeds to be stored in internal memory and accessed for the next fresh cycle.

Internal RAM is a limited resource for many processors. Most processors will not have the memory available for a full page of display data especially at high resolutions and high color formats. Steps can be made to maximize available MPU memory usage. Display data can be stored in layers that make up portions of the full frame. Updating smaller portions of the display can conserve memory instead of storing and continuously updating the full frame.

Storing data in partial frame buffers reduces the amount of memory stored in RAM but requires more drawing operations to be performed between the display and the processor. The means that more transfers to the display are needed and thus a faster interface clock is required.

A lower color format can be chosen without a significant reduction to image quality . The color format of the frame buffer determines how much memory is required for the page. The memory required for the frame buffer of a 400x800 pixel display with 24bpp color depth is 1.5MB. At 16bpp, RGB-565, the memory required for the same resolution is reduced to 768kB. Different layers and partial frames can be programmed to have independent color formats.

Video mode places more demand on the host processor. The processor is continuously streaming the pixel data which requires a higher bandwidth. Synchronization timing events need to be calculated and implemented into the high-speed packets of display data to properly frame the image.

The video mode of the MIPI DSI communication protocol consumes more power than the low power command mode. The high-speed video mode can incorporate low power transition times between lines or frames to conserve power while synchronizing the display data. The low power modes indicate the begin and end flags of packet data.

In cases where internal RAM is not used, external RAM can be incorporated into the system. External RAM provides more memory than the internal systems. Storing the frame buffer in external memory can be slower to access than to internal memory. The processor will have to access the external RAM and forward the information to the display at a speed fast enough to maintain the minimum frame rate requirements.

Using external RAM allows for multiple buffers to be incorporated into the system. Since there is enough memory available, multiple buffers can be stored to increase performance. Using multiple frame buffers allows for queuing multiple pages of data. This can be beneficial for rendering speeds.

The MIPI DSI video mode will be used to send external RAM continuously to the display. This will increase the required MPU frequency to retrieve and send display data to and from RAM. Processor memory is not sacrificed when implementing an external memory to store the frame buffer.

An external memory that is interfaced with the host processor can have timing constraints in maintaining the speeds required to read and write the frame buffer. The frame buffer is stored in RAM and not FLASH because it requires a continuous update. The desired bitmaps or fonts (general display data) are stored in FLASH memory to be sent to RAM for the next display update.

When selecting external RAM for display memory, considerations should be made toward power consumption and performance. SRAM provides the fastest access to the framebuffer to avoid timing issues such as flickering or tearing on the display.

Buyers and others who are developing systems that incorporate FocusLCDs products (collectively, “Designers”) understand and agree that Designers remain responsible for using their independent analysis, evaluation and judgment in designing their applications and that Designers have full and exclusive responsibility to assure the safety of Designers" applications and compliance of their applications (and of all FocusLCDs products used in or for Designers’ applications) with all applicable regulations, laws and other applicable requirements.

Designer agrees that prior to using or distributing any applications that include FocusLCDs products, Designer will thoroughly test such applications and the functionality of such FocusLCDs products as used in such applications.

Color depth is the number of colors that can be used for each pixel on the display. This can range from 8- bit color, 16-bit high color to 24-bit true color. The range of color is determined by how many bits of red, green and blue (RGB) each pixel is assigned to the frame buffer.

A pixel’s color value is measured in bits-per-pixel or bpp. These colors are then color mapped from the signals in a variety of combinations. Memory, frame buffering, and bandwidth can be trade off’s for higher color depth and should be considered when choosing color depth of the display. Below are some typical color depths and their characteristics.

The RGB data is stored in the frame buffer which is memory allocated in RAM to periodically refresh the display. Higher color depth (higher bpp) means that more memory will need to be used to display the image. The frame buffer memory needed is the total number of bits or bytes for one frame. This is calculated as pixel area x number of bits/pixel.

153.6 kB of memory allocated per frame. This can result in a large portion of memory being used depending on the size of the display and the color depth chosen.

The size of the frame buffer and how often it is refreshed is called the bandwidth. Typically displays will have a refresh rate of 60Hz, this results in a bandwidth of (153.6kB x 60Hz) 9.2 MB/second. Larger displays with higher color depth would need a controller capable of higher speeds and memory storage.

Buyers and others who are developing systems that incorporate FocusLCDs products (collectively, “Designers”) understand and agree that Designers remain responsible for using their independent analysis, evaluation and judgment in designing their applications and that Designers have full and exclusive responsibility to assure the safety of Designers" applications and compliance of their applications (and of all FocusLCDs products used in or for Designers’ applications) with all applicable regulations, laws and other applicable requirements.

Designer agrees that prior to using or distributing any applications that include FocusLCDs products, Designer will thoroughly test such applications and the functionality of such FocusLCDs products as used in such applications.

Digital Blocks TFT LCD Controller reference design enables you to accelerate the design-in of TFT LCD panel displays in your system. The reference design centers on the Digital Blocks DB9000AVLN TFT LCD Controller intellectual property (IP) core, which is available in netlist or VHDL/Verilog HDL register transfer level (RTL) formats.

The DB9000AVLN core contains an Avalon® Memory-Mapped system interconnect for interfacing to the Nios® II embedded processor and SDRAM or SRAM controllers (either memory can serve as the frame buffer). Software supplied with this reference design runs on the Nios II embedded processor to place an image in the frame buffer memory and invokes the DB9000AVLN core to drive the LCD panel.

Using the Intel® Quartus® Design Software, you can instantiate the TFT LCD Controller reference design in a Cyclone®, Cyclone® II, or Cyclone® III FPGA development kit. See the Demonstrated Intel® Technology section for a complete list of supported Intel® FPGA development kits.

You can connect your LCD panel to the Intel FPGA development kit with the fabrication of an appropriate cable. Please contact Digital Blocks for more details.

I have STM32F407 Boards like STM32F407 Disco board (without TFT) and some basic Chinese Boards. I have interfaced my TFT LCD with the board using FSMC interface and done basics like text, graphic shapes and images. So the driver is in place I think.

Now I want to introduce Touchgfx to make my GUI lively. But as far as I understand STM32F407 needs external RAM and ROM to store images and full frame buffer to be used by touchgfx to be more effective. Also FreeRTOS and my application code also needs to be added.

I"m talking about some nxp mcu like lpc1788 with the lcd controller integrated into the chip so you don"t need to use an external lcd controller. The models you are listing don"t have the lcd controller integrated,.

The main advantage of having it external is that the lcd controller has got its own memory for the frame buffer and it"s easing the load on the cpu because once you load the data it will keep refreshing the screen without calling the cpu and it doesn"t use the cpu ram memory.

In the other case if the lcd controller is integrated in the mcu you can do some nice "tricks" like using a colour look up table or palette so that your graphics takes less memory and because the framebuffer is in your internal memory it is even easier to manipulate.

Also consider that in case of lcd controller not integrated in the panel (so by using the one integrated in the mcu or another one on board as a separate chip) you can exchange panel quite easily so you are not tied to a single manufacturer as long on the lcd side you find the same interface like the 24 bit or the 18 bit.

Now, I"m considering the case of an lcd panel of 640x480 and 8 bit per colour which leads us to 640x480x8 = 2457600 bit / 8 = 307200 / 1024 = 300 KByte of ram needed for the framebuffer.

The integrated lcd controller has got a dma which will take care of transferring the data from external ram used for the frambuffer to the lcd controller which will then translate it and send to lcd but the problem is that the external bus and also the internal bus of the mcu(difficult to draw this here :-) ) is then shared by the lcd controller, which keeps accessing the memory to continuously refresh the screen, and the mcu which is fetching instructions or variables.

Because the internal bus gives priority to the mcu it means that probably you will see tearing effect on the lcd like reported by some people on the nxp question and answer (pasting the link here takes you to the general support page and not to the answer I found) because the mcu gain priority when accessing bus and memory and lcd refresh is delayed.

In the answer I found on Nxp support, they say you can actually change priority so that lcd screen has an higher priority then the cpu, problem is that in doing so the cpu and then your software will be slowed down by the lcd controller continuously refreshing and accessing memories.

I am using STM32H753 for driving 800x480 TFT LCD. Currently I am using External SDRAM for my FRAME BUFFER. I am using DMA2D and TFT LCD module of MCU.

Once the Pi has booted, is it possible to switch between HDMI and LCD output?Have a look at this: https://github.com/notro/fbtft-spindle/ ... -multiseat

i bought a tinylcd 3.5" touchscreen and want to use it on my raspberry pi B model. DVD you given have image of almost 8gb(35TFT_TS_B+_16092014) it will work on only B+ model? i write it on sd card then boot my raspberry pi but nothing happen. there is only red and dim green light glowing and nothing boot. so how can i interface my lcd to pi board??

PRASHANT SHARMA wrote:i bought a tinylcd 3.5" touchscreen and want to use it on my raspberry pi B model. DVD you given have image of almost 8gb(35TFT_TS_B+_16092014) it will work on only B+ model? i write it on sd card then boot my raspberry pi but nothing happen. there is only red and dim green light glowing and nothing boot. so how can i interface my lcd to pi board??

If you want to install the LCDs on a clean version of Raspbian or Rasbmc, I have written up a tutorial with a beginner in mind on how to do it. It took several days of research to find out exactly how to install the drivers and get the touchscreen configured and calibrated correctly, but I have it working nicely. If you want to save some time and headaches, check out the article here: http://www.circuitbasics.com/setup-lcd- ... pberry-pi/

It"s not really Neosec/Tinylcd"s problem. Simply the dialog box doesn"t fit on the display. However, try using a different wifi configuration program. You can run wicd-curses from a terminal. You will need to install it first.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. It appears that the upgrade package overwrites the FBTFT drivers, in particular, the Raspberry Pi bootloader. This seems to solve the problem:

dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p6 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline rootwait fbtft_device.custom fbtft_device.name=waveshare32b fbtft_device.gpios=dc:22,reset:27 fbtft_device.bgr=1 fbtft_device.speed=48000000 fbcon=map:10 fbcon=font:ProFont6x11 logo.nologo dma.dmachans=0x7f35 console=tty1 consoleblank=0 fbtft_device.fps=50 fbtft_device.rotate=0

Hello..I tired to interface this lcd “https://www.crazypi.com/raspberry-pi-products/Raspberry-Pi-Accessories/32-TOUCH-DISPLAY-RASPBERRY-PI” to my Raspberry pi model B+.I got a DVD containing image for LCD in the package.I burned it to the SD card and plugged in the display.But my lcd is completly blank.But green inidcation led (ACT LED) in board is blinking.Why my LCD is Blank ?

My Touchscreen is now working fine.The problem was for the ribbon cable on the back side of LCD.It was not connected properly.I just tighted the cable and it worked fine.Hope it will be useful tip.

Just got my Pi2 running Wheezy, working with the Eleduino 3.5 LCD without running the OEMs image… kinda. I didn’t want to rebuild the application environment again, so was avoiding flashing the SD.

[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: dma.dmachans=0x7f35 bcm2708_fb.fbwidth=656 bcm2708_fb.fbheight=416 bcm2709.boardrev=0xa21041 bcm2709.serial=0x631a4eae smsc95xx.macaddr=B8:27:EB:1A:4E:AE bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 bcm2709.disk_led_gpio=47 bcm2709.disk_led_active_low=0 sdhci-bcm2708.emmc_clock_freq=250000000 vc_mem.mem_base=0x3dc00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x3f000000 dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline rootwait fbtft_device.custom fbtft_device.name=flexfb fbtft_device.gpios=dc:22,reset:27 fbtft_device.bgr=1 fbtft_device.speed=48000000 fbcon=map:10 fbcon=font:ProFont6x11 logo.nologo dma.dmachans=0x7f35 console=tty1 consoleblank=0 fbtft_device.fps=50 fbtft_device.rotate=0

thank you for your great tutorial, it got me on the right way. unfortunataly i only see some boot messages on the lcd and then it turns black. maybe you could give me a hint on how to get it working entirely.

Did you check to see if your device is supported yet? The device name should be specific for your screen, as listed in the fbtft file linked to in the beginning of the post

I too have a raspberry pi 2, and a waveshare spotpear 3.2 RPi lcd (v3) and I just can’t get it to work! I suspect I have a faulty LCD, but thought I’ll try this forum for help before I sent it back.

Soon as the pi is powered, the LCD lights up all white, with a few vertical pixels coloured at one of the edges, and nothing else. I don’t think that should happen – not at least before the BOIS has started up.

It seems all appears to be working – just the LCD is still all white with a single line of coloured pixels on edge) and nothing else. Is there a way to output, like jeff G script, of touch points?

I had the same one, I finally found a driver for it here: http://www.waveshare.net/wiki/3.2inch_RPi_LCD_(B) you will need to translate the page, but unpack the driver then run sudo ./LCD-show/LCD32-show. It should reboot and all will be good with the screen :)

My system: Raspberry Pi 2 Model B with Raspian Wheezy from Febuary 2015. LCD display of Sainsmart 3.2 http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/product/1283498/Raspberry-Pi-Display-Modul-Touch-Display-81-cm-32/?ref=home&rt=home&rb=1

dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 cgroup_enable=memory elevator=deadline rootwait fbtft_device.custom fbtft_device.name=sainsmart32_spi fbtft_device.gpios=dc:24,reset:25 fbtft_device.bgr=1 fbtft_device.speed=48000000 fbcon=map:10 fbcon=font:ProFont6x11 logo.nologo dma.dmachans=0x7f35 console=tty1 consoleblank=0 fbtft_device.fps=50 fbtft_device.rotate=90

The LCD display shows the raspberry correctly. However, the touch screen input does not work. The mouse pointer can I move correctly with your finger, but I can not select things (function of the left mouse button).

Can someone upload SD card image that works with RBP2 ? My idea is to use Eleduino TFT as additional screen and play movies via HDMI.. is it possible?

Do not follow this article when you don’t know what kind of LCD module. In my case, I follow all of this and my raspberry pi cannot boot anymore. I will try to recover, but I think I should format my SD card and reinstall OS.

Expecting this would builtin driver module within kernel and help with avoiding mistakenly overwriting anything. But with this is cause LCD screen to go blank white and no boot activity. Also noticed on HDMI it get stuck on Initial rainbow screen and stuck on that.

Does anyone tried splash boot screen with waveshare v4 LCD and Rpi2? I tried to follow some example from https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki/Bootsplash but no success.

Great tutorial thanks; got an X session working great 1st time. Has anybody managed to get Kodi/XMBC working on the LCD either Kodi standalone, Raspbmc or Xbian?

fbtft_device name=waveshare32b gpios=dc:22,reset:27 speed=48000000 width=320 height=240 buswidth=8 init=-1,0xCB,0x39,0x2C,0x00,0x34,0x02,-1,0xCF,0x00,0XC1,0X30,-1,0xE8,0x85,0x00,0x78,-1,0xEA,0x00,0x00,-1,0xED,0x64,0x03,0X12,0X81,-1,0xF7,0x20,-1,0xC0,0x23,-1,0xC1,0x10,-1,0xC5,0x3e,0x28,-1,0xC7,0x86,-1,0×36,0x28,-1,0x3A,0x55,-1,0xB1,0x00,0x18,-1,0xB6,0x08,0x82,0x27,-1,0xF2,0x00,-1,0×26,0x01,-1,0xE0,0x0F,0x31,0x2B,0x0C,0x0E,0x08,0x4E,0xF1,0x37,0x07,0x10,0x03,0x0E,0x09,0x00,-1,0XE1,0x00,0x0E,0x14,0x03,0x11,0x07,0x31,0xC1,0x48,0x08,0x0F,0x0C,0x31,0x36,0x0F,-1,0×11,-2,120,-1,0×29,-1,0x2c,-3

I have exactly the same problem. I also installed a new version of Raspbian, and the LCD part works fine (except all the windows are way too large), but the touch part doesn’t work at all… I’m using Waveshare Spotpear 3.2″ V4.

I do not think that has anything to do with it. Other than power pins, the rest are communication. If it still works then you are good. No, there is something else. I do suspect it us related to the BCM pin numbering. The real question is… Why isnt the eeveloper responding? I have since abandoned this TFT because of his lack of response.

I am trying to use the sainsmart 2.8″ lcd sold through microcenter, using the sainsmart32_spi … seems to have the same pinouts, should I be able to get this to work? I am stuck at the white out screen on the lcd, doesn’t seem to recognize the module either.

Unfortunately I’ve tried that ( a few times actually) but the file still doesn’t exist. Thanks very much for the assistance anyway. I must be doing something wrong. My Raspian came from a Noobs installation, I’m wondering if I should try installing the OS from somewhere else. My LCD screen didn’t come with a CD or any docs so I’m completely in the dark here.

Well figured out that step 1 was causing my problems. I’m guessing it is shutting off my hdmi feed and trying to switch it over to the SPI, am I guessing right? If so, not sure how I’m suppose to complete the rest of the steps if my hdmi output gets turned off before the LCD is actually set up to work…that sounds kind of smartass-like, which is not my intention, just looking for some clarification on what is going on in that first step as I am fairly new to this stuff. Thanks.

Anyway, I was able to do the rest of the steps with no problem. LCD didn’t work, but I am using a Waveshare 3.5, which doesn’t look to be supported yet. Mostly I am trying to play around and see if I can get it working somehow. Anyone found a way to do this yet?

I am having an issue with getting the GUI back. Every time I use startx my pi just sits there for about two minutes saying “No protocol specified”, and then it just gives up. I went through this tutorial about four times now and am not certain why it is doing this. I have the exact same LCD as is in the tutotial (WaveShare 3.2b). any help would be great.

Thanks for the tutorial. It works, but I get the boot/command line stuff on the HDMI monitor and the LCD only comes on when I do startx. Is there a way to get everything to appear on the LCD screen?

Now the OS freezes at the emulation station loading screen, and if I connect my lcd it gives me a lot of error messages which I can only see on the 3.2 inch screen.

This was an excellent tutorial. I have gotten an output to the screen, but no touchscreen usage . I have the Waveshare SpotPear 3.2 Inch LCD V4 screen, but using Raspberry PI 2 with wheezy. Any ideas?

I filed the steps to calibrate the screen but it did not work.I think because it did not find the TFT pin, because I think the touch problem is the assigned pin to control it changed.

I actually used the driver from here http://www.waveshare.com/wiki/3.2inch_RPi_LCD_(B) , from a new wheezy build, did nothing except enable SPI in config, install driver, and change mmcblk0p2 to mmcblk0p6 in cmdline.txt and it all worked, no drama.

i have raspberry pi 2 with 3.2 inch rpi lcd v4 waveshare spotpear.i have done as per your instructions.the display is working but touch screen not working.error shows waveshare32b module not found as well as touch screen module not found messages.

Unfortunately I have lost the Touch facility on my Waveshare 3.5″ LCD Touchscreen? Can you offer any reasons as to why? I copied the Raspbian image to my Raspberry Pi from the Waveshare website first of all. The Touchscreen displays but is not reactive with any touch

I have purchased a raspberry pi B+ total kit and waveshare 3.2 TFT display online. In the package i have been given a pre-loaded NOOBS installed SD card. I did not even start anything yet. What should i do what r the things needed and how to connect the display i really want to know. I need help as i don’t know anything. Does the above solution help or will u suggest something………………..

Hi great article thanks. I am trying to get a waveshare 7 inch LCD with capacitive touch running it works with the suppled image but if you upgrade it breaks the capacitive touch. I have a sense-hat and GPS which require the latest kernel and RASPIAN image and the install program for the screen replaces the /lib/modules directory and the kernel with older ones. I need to be able to install the touch drivers into a new clean OS can anyone give me some pointers? Thanks

For anyone who have those unbranded cheap TFT touch modules and cannot get it to work with this guide, I had success on my 3.5″ with the following steps: http://pastebin.com/89qmFbPB

I have the WaveShare 3.5 (A) and cannot get it to work with the Kali Linux with TFT for Raspberry Pi. Have anybody gotten the A to work? (Not the B, theres instructions for the B already and dont work with A)

So I have the original image that came with my screen and it works fine with the LCD but my problem is that I want to use my LCD screen with other distros (at this time I am trying to use it with Kali Linux with TFT support by default https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux-vmware-arm-image-download/) What do I have to do to transfer the needed files from the original image that WORKS with the screen and use them with another image?

I originally bought this bundle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013E0IJUK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00 with an RPi LCD V3 and no extra documentation on the specifics on the chipset. I tried with the bftft drivers but since I have no idea what to call this screen I just suppose it isn’t supported.

I’m not sure if the Jessie kernel is compatible – can anyone please confirm or not ?? Adafruit states that their setup for TFT screens are Wheezy only ; is this a different setup ??

I am using the same LCD and followed your tutorial. Have your tested the guide lately? Are you certain that it works? I see the boot messages on console but I get white screen as GUI starts.

Oct 16 17:38:48 spare kernel: [ 12.544859] graphics fb1: fb_ili9340 frame buffer, 320×240, 150 KiB video memory, 4 KiB DMA buffer memory, fps=50, spi0.0 at 48 MHz

I have tried to set up waveshare 32b on my Pi B using the latest Raspian download. I learned a lot in the process using Windows Putty, Nano etc. I have repeated the setup process several times from scratch and included the corrections for possible overwriting. My Waveshare SpotPear 3.2 inch RPi LCD V4 just shows a white screen. Any suggestions?

Hi, I am using raspberry pi 2 with raspbian jessie installed. I the waveshare spotpear 3.2 v4. The above instructions are not working. and after completing the steps there was no display from hdmi or lcd. One things to notify is.: the etc/modules files only had i2c-dev and not snd-bcm2835.

I am trying to get this to work with Retro Pie 3.3.1 and the Waveshare3.2″ v4 but I only get the terminal on the lcd and emulation station starts on hdmi. to get it working with retro pie i just replaced startx with emulationstation. how do i get this to work?

Sir, Your post has very useful to me. i am using Tinylcd. but i cant get display. i am performing all the steps in your post. i cant get touch controller information from the product website and also i am using RASPberryPi B+ model. could u please give me best solution to my work. Than you.

i installed android OS in raspberry pi 2. can i use same LCD touch screen set up for android installed raspberry pi 2 which you are used for raspbian.

Is it normal the white back light during the whole process of initializing (I suspect that during the transportation trere is a deffect)? The problem is that I missed the step #1 and I performed it at the end. Unfortunately I don’t have any monitor available right now – neither “normal”, neither LCD :))))). Is it possible turning back the system or the only option is reinstallation of the Raspbian?

I have KeDei 3.5 inch TFT version 4.0 by Osoyoo. (released after January 1 2016) how do i get it working with vanilla Raspbian Jessie (do not want to install the image sent by the seller)

I’m trying to use an original Raspberry Pi model B with a cheap 3.5 inch 320×480 LCD which allegedly was manufactured to work with the Pi and has the correct fittings to fit over the GPIO pins. The operating system is the latest, downloaded yesterday and installed with NOOBS. I can’t get past step 2 of this guidance. When I reboot after using raspi-config I can see text generated as the Pi boots, then the HDMI fed screen goes blank apart from a flashing cursor in the top left hand corner. The LCD just remains white with nothing else on it. I have missed out step 1 and rebooted after step 2 and the screen functions as I would expect. Does anyone have any ideas please?

Thanks for the great tutorial. I do have a question. Once you install the drivers for the lcd are you effectively disabiling the hdmi port or is it still available to use and will the pi function with both displays. I have a pi 3

once you install the drivers it replaces the kernel by disabling hdmi output and enables it for LCD. i don’t think we have a solution to get em both working at the same time. ( you are encouraged to search for it )

I’d like to find the driver software for my 7″ LCD with touch (official Pi unit) so that I can use it in buildroot. I wanted to make sure this kernel is the one before I started digging further.

I started through your tutorial and completed step 3 and rebooted. After the Raspberry screen and some of the boot text on my HDMI monitor, I now have a black HDMI monitor and a white screen on my LCD. Does this mean that the bootloader was overwritten or something else is wrong? How am I supposed to enter in the proposed fixes to the bootloader, when I can’t get the RPi to boot? Do I have to interrupt the boot process at some point to reinstall the bootloader or what?

Its a script. Download and instead of running sudo ./LCD4-show run cat ./LCD4-show to simply display what it does without actually running it. The commands are fairly simple modifying a few files. I actually saved the LCD-show.tar.gz on my own server for faster future download but also for backup as it saved me tons of hours (if that’s a measuring unit for time :) )

I used this link though (smaller file ~ 50 KB, fast download) http://www.waveshare.com/w/upload/4/4b/LCD-show-161112.tar.gz and replaced LCD4-show with LCD32-show in the last line.

i bought a 3.5 inch tft lcd screen from banggood. and i have installed raspian jessie, the latest version, in my sd card. but when i power on my Pi, only a white backlit screen comes. there are no images or graphics whatsoever.

Will your system work with my SainSmart 2.8″ 2.8 inch TFT LCD 240×320 Arduino DUE MEGA2560 R3 Raspberry Pi ? I would like to know before not be able to back out. Thanks, Lee

I ‘m actually using a LCD Waveshare3.2” , I followed your steps to setup the lcd touchscreen for my rpi and it work but I have a problem with the resolution because if I open a repertory I do not see the whole contents on the screen .

I did a 5inch LCD for my raspberry pi. I dont use the touchscreen so i didnt have to install any drivers. It works out of the box but doesnt cover the whole screen unless you open the terminal and do:

In the case of the WaveShare driver, their setup script from their “LCD_show” repository will copy a device-tree overlay to /boot/overlays/ that provides most of the module config etc via boot-time device-tree patch.

After I did the step that “INSTALL THE FBTFT DRIVERS” and then reboot, my raspberry pi couldn’t boot successfully and the green light is always on, could you help me solve this problem? Thank you.

This awesome little display breakout is a great way to add a small, colorful and bright display to any project. Since the display uses 4-wire SPI to communicate and has its own pixel-addressable frame buffer, it can be used with every kind of microcontroller. Even a very small one with low memory and few pins available!

This 2.2″ display has 320×240 color pixels and is a true TFT display. The TFT driver (ILI9340 or compatible) can display full 18-bit color (262,144 shades). The breakout has the TFT display soldered on (it uses a delicate flex-circuit connector) as well as a ultra-low-dropout 3.3V regulator and a 3/5V level shifter so you can use it with 3.3V or 5V power and logic. Adafruit also had a little extra space on the back so there is a microSD card holder for easily loading full-color bitmaps from a FAT16/FAT32 formatted microSD card.

The Adafruit 2.2″ TFT LCD with MicroSD Card also features an EYESPI connector for a simpler connection to the LCD. EYESPI is a single 18-pin FPC used as a quick way to connect displays.

The 1.8″ display has 128×160 color pixels. Unlike the low cost “Nokia 6110” and similar LCD displays, which are CSTN type and thus have poor color and slow refresh, this display is a true TFT! The TFT driver (ST7735R) can display full 18-bit color (262,144 shades!). And the LCD will always come with the same driver chip so there’s no worries that your code will not work from one to the other.

The breakout has the TFT display soldered on (it uses a delicate flex-circuit connector) as well as a ultra-low-dropout 3.3V regulator and a 3/5V level shifter so you can use it with 3.3V or 5V power and logic, which allows you to use the display with virtually any microcontroller. There’s also a microSD card holder so you can easily load full color bitmaps from a FAT16/FAT32 formatted microSD card. The microSD card is not included.