raspberry pi foundation 7 touchscreen lcd display free sample
Raspberry Pi OS provides touchscreen drivers with support for ten-finger touch and an on-screen keyboard, giving you full functionality without the need to connect a keyboard or mouse.
The 800 x 480 display connects to Raspberry Pi via an adapter board that handles power and signal conversion. Only two connections to your Raspberry Pi are required: power from the GPIO port, and a ribbon cable that connects to the DSI port on all Raspberry Pi computers except for the Raspberry Pi Zero line.
2. The adapter board communicates to the RPi using the 15pin cable. From the RPi schematics, the connector for this cable has signals for DSI and I2C. Is it correct to say that on the adapter board has a controller that accepts MIPI-DSI data from the RPi and translates that data to drive the LCD over the 50 pin cable? Is the controller also responsible for sending touch data from the screen to the RPi over I2C as well?
To the best of my knowledge, that is embedded in the "binary blob" and runs on the VC4/VC6. I believe the rest of your analysis is correct about how the RPF 7" display works.
2. The adapter board communicates to the RPi using the 15pin cable. From the RPi schematics, the connector for this cable has signals for DSI and I2C. Is it correct to say that on the adapter board has a controller that accepts MIPI-DSI data from the RPi and translates that data to drive the LCD over the 50 pin cable? Is the controller also responsible for sending touch data from the screen to the RPi over I2C as well?
It currently uses the panel-raspberrypi-touchscreen driver to control the backlight and power (over I2C) and configure the TC358762 DSI to DPI bridge chip (via DSI commands).
The pair don"t play perfectly though as the TC358762 driver goes and turns the power off on the touchscreen driver. Mainline Linux developers have just reworked things to have separate TC358762, and regulator/backlight driver. The touchscreen driver should then be able to hook into the regulator and keep the power on, but it"s not quite working at the moment.
To the best of my knowledge, that is embedded in the "binary blob" and runs on the VC4/VC6. I believe the rest of your analysis is correct about how the RPF 7" display works.
It currently uses the panel-raspberrypi-touchscreen driver to control the backlight and power (over I2C) and configure the TC358762 DSI to DPI bridge chip (via DSI commands).
The pair don"t play perfectly though as the TC358762 driver goes and turns the power off on the touchscreen driver. Mainline Linux developers have just reworked things to have separate TC358762, and regulator/backlight driver. The touchscreen driver should then be able to hook into the regulator and keep the power on, but it"s not quite working at the moment.
To the best of my knowledge, that is embedded in the "binary blob" and runs on the VC4/VC6. I believe the rest of your analysis is correct about how the RPF 7" display works.
There are several threads on here about getting other panels up and running with cm4. Ili9881, st7701, and a couple of other devices are being discussed. Personally I"ve had the tc358762 of the original pi panel and an Ili9881 panel working, and I"m working on others.
https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/pull/3985 for an example overlay using the ILI9881. The Pi panel overlay is merged as arch/arm/boot/dts/overlays/vc4-kms-dsi-7inch-overlay.dts
It currently uses the panel-raspberrypi-touchscreen driver to control the backlight and power (over I2C) and configure the TC358762 DSI to DPI bridge chip (via DSI commands).
The pair don"t play perfectly though as the TC358762 driver goes and turns the power off on the touchscreen driver. Mainline Linux developers have just reworked things to have separate TC358762, and regulator/backlight driver. The touchscreen driver should then be able to hook into the regulator and keep the power on, but it"s not quite working at the moment.
I recently upgraded an old pi2 to a pi4 and noticed that I had to use kms now for the console (kivy application with the 7inch touchscreen). I got it running with fkms without any issues but wanted to try "real" kms as well.
in the config, the system boots up but then the display turns white and fades out and no longer displays anything. It does not make a difference if I then load the touchscreen driver.
A detected touchscreen will also cause the fbheight and fbwidth parameters in /proc/cmdline to equal 480 and 800 respectively (the resolution of the screen). You can verify this by running:
Depending on your display stand, you might find that the LCD display defaults to being upside-down. You can fix this by rotating it with /boot/config.txt.
If some windows in X are cut off at the side/bottom of the screen, this is unfortunately a side-effect of developers assuming a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels.
At the moment you can’t use HDMI and the LCD together in the X desktop, but you can send the output of certain applications to one screen or the other.
You may need to increase the amount of memory allocated to the GPU to 128MB if the videos are 1080P. Adjust the gpu_mem value in config.txt for this. The Raspberry Pi headline figures are 1080P30 decode, so if you are using two 1080P clips it may not play correctly depending on the complexity of the videos.
The official 7” Touchscreen Monitor for Raspberry Pi gives users the ability to create all-in-one, integrated projects such as tablets, infotainment systems and embedded projects. The 800 x 480 display connects via an adapter board which handles power and signal conversion. Only two connections to the Pi are required; power from the Pi’s GPIO port and a ribbon cable that connects to the DSI port present on all Raspberry Pi’s. Touchscreen drivers with support for 10-finger touch and an on-screen keyboard will be integrated into the latest Raspbian OS for full functionality without a physical keyboard or mouse.Kit Contents:- 7” Touchscreen Display- Adapter Board- DSI Ribbon cable- 4 x stand-offs and screws (used to mount the adapter board and Raspberry Pi board to the back of the display-4 x jumper wires (used to connect the power from the Adapter Board and the GPIO pins on the Pi so the 2Amp power is shared across both units)Perspex layer frame in your choice of colour!* Compatible with Raspberry Pi 3 and Pi 4 only. Not compatible with Pi 400. *
Rather than plug your Raspberry Pi into a TV, or connect via SSH (or remote desktop connections via VNC or RDP), you might have opted to purchase a Raspberry Pi touchscreen display.
Straightforward to set up, the touchscreen display has so many possibilities. But if you"ve left yours gathering dust in a drawer, there"s no way you"re going to experience the full benefits of such a useful piece of kit.
The alternative is to get it out of the drawer, hook your touchscreen display to your Raspberry Pi, and reformat the microSD card. It"s time to work on a new project -- one of these ideas should pique your interest.
Let"s start with perhaps the most obvious option. The official Raspberry Pi touchscreen display is seven inches diagonal, making it an ideal size for a photo frame. For the best results, you"ll need a wireless connection (Ethernet cables look unsightly on a mantelpiece) as well as a Raspberry Pi-compatible battery pack.
Several options are available to create a Raspberry Pi photo frame, mostly using Python code. You might opt to script your own, pulling images from a pre-populated directory. Alternatively, take a look at our guide to making your own photo frame with beautiful images and inspiring quotes. It pulls content from two Reddit channels -- images from /r/EarthPorn and quotes from /r/ShowerThoughts -- and mixes them together.
Rather than wait for the 24th century, why not bring the slick user interface found in Star Trek: The Next Generation to your Raspberry Pi today? While you won"t be able to drive a dilithium crystal powered warp drive with it, you can certainly control your smart home.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DHCEL9O3ie40
In the example above, Belkin WeMo switches and a Nest thermostat are manipulated via the Raspberry Pi, touchscreen display, and the InControlHA system with Wemo and Nest plugins. ST:TNG magic comes from an implementation of the Library Computer Access and Retrieval System (LCARS) seen in 1980s/1990s Star Trek. Coder Toby Kurien has developed an LCARS user interface for the Pi that has uses beyond home automation.
Building a carputer has long been the holy grail of technology DIYers, and the Raspberry Pi makes it far more achievable than ever before. But for the carputer to really take shape, it needs a display -- and what better than a touchscreen interface?
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Djpt3PiDNdEk
Setting up a Raspberry Pi carputer also requires a user interface, suitable power supply, as well as working connections to any additional hardware you employ. (This might include a mobile dongle and GPS for satnav, for instance.)
Now here is a unique use for the Pi and its touchscreen display. A compact, bench-based tool for controlling hardware on your bench (or kitchen or desk), this is a build with several purposes. It"s designed to help you get your home automation projects off the ground, but also includes support for a webcam to help you record your progress.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DaiE-mFCVgoo
The idea here is simple. With just a Raspberry Pi, a webcam, and a touchscreen display -- plus a thermal printer -- you can build a versatile photo booth!
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPWym4M7Dv7I
Various projects of this kind have sprung up. While the versions displayed above uses a thermal printer outputting a low-res image, you might prefer to employ a standard color photo printer. The wait will be longer, but the results better!
Projects along these lines can also benefit from better use of the touchscreen. Perhaps you could improve on this, and introduce some interesting photo effects that can be tweaked via the touchscreen prior to printing?
How about a smart mirror for your Raspberry Pi touchscreen display project? This is basically a mirror that not only shows your reflection, but also useful information. For instance, latest news and weather updates.
Naturally, a larger display would deliver the best results, but if you"re looking to get started with a smart mirror project, or develop your own from scratch, a Raspberry Pi combined with a touchscreen display is an excellent place to start.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DfkVBAcvbrjU
Many existing projects are underway, and we took the time to compile six of them into a single list for your perusal. Use this as inspiration, a starting point, or just use someone else"s code to build your own information-serving smart mirror.
Want to pump some banging "toons" out of your Raspberry Pi? We"ve looked at some internet radio projects in the past, but adding in a touchscreen display changes things considerably. For a start, it"s a lot easier to find the station you want to listen to!
This example uses a much smaller Adafruit touchscreen display for the Raspberry Pi. You can get suitable results from any compatible touchscreen, however.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DAO-1GEYHOdU
Alternatively, you might prefer the option to integrate your Raspberry Pi with your home audio setup. The build outlined below uses RuneAudio, a Bluetooth speaker, and your preferred audio HAT or shield.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DW-iTRMLJosc
Requiring the ProtoCentral HealthyPi HAT (a HAT is an expansion board for the Raspberry Pi) and the Windows-only Atmel software, this project results in a portable device to measure yours (or a patient"s) health.
With probes and electrodes attached, you"ll be able to observe and record thanks to visualization software on the Pi. Whether this is a system that can be adopted by the medical profession remains to be seen. We suspect it could turn out to be very useful in developing nations, or in the heart of infectious outbreaks.
We were impressed by this project over at Hackster.io, but note that there are many alternatives. Often these rely on compact LCD displays rather than the touchscreen solution.
Many home automation systems have been developed for, or ported to, the Raspberry Pi -- enough for their own list. Not all of these feature a touchscreen display, however.
One that does is the Makezine project below, that hooks up a Raspberry Pi running OpenHAB, an open source home automation system that can interface with hundreds of smart home products. Our own guide shows how you can use it to control some smart lighting. OpenHAB comes with several user interfaces. However, if they"re not your cup of tea, an LCARS UI theme is available.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DG65aCy_SsYI
Another great build, and the one we"re finishing on, is a Raspberry Pi-powered tablet computer. The idea is simple: place the Pi, the touchscreen display, and a rechargeable battery pack into a suitable case (more than likely 3D printed). You might opt to change the operating system; Raspbian Jessie with PIXEL (nor the previous desktop) isn"t really suitable as a touch-friendly interface. Happily, there are versions of Android available for the Raspberry Pi.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU10530/https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGKwRCDt2vWo
The Raspberry Pi Foundation wanted to make sure you have the perfect display screen. And here it is. Offering a number of possibilities, you can use the Raspberry Pi 7” touchscreen as a visual display screen or a simple input device. Easy to set up, you’ll be creating IoT projects in no time all thanks to the 800 x 480 pixel resolution, 24-bit RGB colour and 60 fps. All of this with no electronic interference – grab your Raspberry Pi 7″ touch screen today.
The 7” Touch screen Monitor for Raspberry Pi gives users the ability to create all-in-one, integrated projects such as tablets, infotainment systems and embedded projects. The 800 x 480 display connects via an adapter board which handles power and signal conversion. Only two connections to the Pi are required; power from the Pi’s GPIO port and a ribbon cable that connects to the DSI port present on all Raspberry Pi Boards.
All orders are processedwithin 24 hoursafter they are placed. Usually, we are able to ship orders the next day. Weekend orders are shipped on the following Monday. You will receive a shipping confirmation email from our system when the shipping information has been uploaded.
Generally, we will ship the orders with Free Shipping, without the minimum order amount requirement. You may check if the free shipping method is available to your country in the Delivery Area below.
As soon as your order is packed and shipped, you"ll receive a shipping confirmation email. You will then be able to track your order through the tracking link on the email. If you haven"t received an email yet, please reach out to us atservice@sunfounder.com, our sales staff will contact you ASAP.
* Delivery Time - These are the delivery estimates provided by our shipping partners and apply from point of dispatch, not from point of sale. Once your parcel leaves our warehouse, we cannot control any delays after that point.
I"m using it to run a lighting and irrigation system for my house. The color graphical interface allows me to use BMP images of my house and yard for control screens, and its built into an enclosure set into the wall for a slick professional look. I even put an access from the backside of the wall for wiring it without having to remove the Pi or the touchscreen.
This was easy to install and it looks good. The Touchscreen is responsive and clear, but you might want to use a stylus. The only issue i had is finding a case for it. You"ll want to get one right away, unless you have a 3D printer to make one yourself. The screen is really thin, so I didn"t want to carry it around without some protection. Overall, it"s a great touchscreen, especially for the price, and I like that it is Raspi-branded.
I purchased 5 touchscreen. Two before and three in January. Touch and display quality is superb. After two-three month of use (no rough use; handled with care), display LCD and front touchpanel (black bezel) break apart. They both are connected using a thin double sided tape. I was planning to use in industrial environment but after such issue, I dropped my plan to use it in industrial environment.
Five of two displays are not in good condition. First display"s touch-panel and display LCD was break apart after two-three month. The second among five displays had another issue. Display LCD was mounted slightly right side of the touchpanel. Once you power-up display, it is easily be seen that LCD panel was a bit off-side. The other display"s screen guard having so many scratches on them which seems mishandling.
I got a couple of these for several RPi projects that Im developing and they are working amazingly well for the application. If these fit your application needs I wouldn"t hesitate to recommend them.
This screen worked right out of the box! Touch worked great with my new pi 3! However aside how fragile the (non functional) edges are, the only real issue I see is upon shutdown of the pi... The screen goes through a series of screen washes/whiteouts and never really shuts off.. I have to pull power to get it to turn off.. I"ve even tried usb/provided jumper wires.. And both results in the same thing. Not sure if this an issue per se, but it is bothersome.. I can just turn the unit off, I need to unplug it too..
I am using Raspberry Pi 3. The display came up with no problems. I am just waiting for the Smarti Pi Touch enclosure (pre-ordered after the Kickstarter project closed) before continuing to work with it.
The only question(s) that I have are regarding what sort of additional processor power is inside the screen, and whether powering it from the micro-usb connection whilst also bridged from the RPi3 is an issue (it hasn"t hurt anything, yet!).
I WAS DISAPOINTED THAT THE UNIT DISPLAYS EVERYTHING UPSIDE DOWN. I HAD TO USE THE LCD_ROTATE=2 COMMAND IN CONFIG.TXT TO FIX IT. THE INITIAL BOOT IS STILL UPSIDE DOWN BUT I GUESS AFTER IT READ THE CONFIG.TXT, IT FLIPS. SHOULDN"T IT COME STANDARD RIGHT SIDE UP?
The must annoying feature is the bright white screen when it loses signal as the OS shuts down. The touch input is inconsistent as input. I was using the I2C for a device was not able to get it going on the alternate I2C, but fortunately the required clock and data are on the DSI cable ... wasted hours finding that out. An OLED display, higher res, and lower current draw would be really nice in the next version.
I forgot to check that this LCD touchscreen don"t have a case. Much better that you have a notification (e.g. recommending the user to purchase also a case) when purchasing this kind of product. But thank you for this product, I will purchase again soon.
The only minor drawback that everyone should be aware (which is to be expected, honestly) is that the display draws quite a noticeable amount of current. The SmartiPi case comes with an splitter USB cable for the power source, but if you expect to use that, be prepared with a (very) beefy power supply, else you"ll get the thunder icon on the screen all the time and a very reduced performance (Just discovered that the RPi3 reduces its own clock when power is low).
I currently power this with a separate 1.5Amp supply for the screen and a 2Amp supply for the RPi3 and everything works just nice. This totals to a whopping 3.5A, which may be overkill, but keep that in mind as a reference.
I am impressed with this screen, I also got the mating case (SmartPi Touch) and it assembled nicely. With the separate case, the included jumpers and cable are not needed. The PCB was already attached with the standoffs. The packaging was super! The screen is slightly larger than 7 inches. I measured it as 7 5/8" wide X 4 3/8 high with a diagonal measurement of 8 9/16.
This official Raspberry Pi 7" touchscreens now come with the display controller already connected and mounted to the back of the display. You still need to be careful pulling forward the small black tab ends that connect a ribbon cable to the RPi.
I bought the companion enclosure as well. This Touchscreen works exactly as described. I am very pleased with the display. I ended up using a mouse anyway as the icons (while clear are very tiny) and selection areas are a bit small for fat fingers.
I connected it to a Raspberry Pi 3 B running Stretch and it seems to be working perfectly. I had been previously driving a VGA monitor from HDMI through an adapter. The RPI 7" screen started up just fine without changing or installing anything with the OS.
I connected it to a Raspberry Pi 3 B running Stretch and it seems to be working perfectly. I had been previously driving a VGA monitor from HDMI through an adapter. The RPI 7" screen started up just fine without changing or installing anything with the OS.
Based on other comments here and looking at one of these at a maker space, I bought the smartipi touch case for this; it"s strongly constructed and works great. Only issue was that I"m using this with a model 3 B+, and that takes a different door on the back than comes with the case (this is being fixed by the smartipi folks, but I don"t know the logistics of getting their new cases into Sparkfun)
I have tried other touch screens for the Raspberry Pi. They had complicated assembly and were very difficult to get them to work. This unit was easy to install and get working, is very nice looking. I am very Happy with it.
Right out of the box it worked. Didn"t even have to do anything to the RPi (in fact, both were taken out of the box at the same time, connected, and worked on the first power up). Screen quality is good for price. Also ordered the "SmartPi Touch" case which holds everything together very nicely.
Ordered it, a Raspberry Pi 3 B+, and a power supply. (Had a mouse, keyboard, and uSD on hand.). It came a couple of days ago, and I put together yesterday. Had noticed in the documentation that there"s a micro USB power input, and a standard USB output. In the configuration where the power supply is plugged directly into the Pi and the LCD interface is powered via a USB cable plugged into one of the Pi"s USB ports to the LCD"s micro USB, the LCD won"t light up at all. When the power supply is plugged into the LCD controller board and the USB cable connects power to the Pi, I get "low voltage" warnings (yellow "lightning bold"). When I use the provided F/F jumpers, it works fine, but this will cause problems plugging in other "hats", as well as clearance problems. (In my application, separate power supplies would be a BIG PROBLEM.) BTW, I checked with two different USB cables, and got the same problems as well as when I tried an Adafruit 5.25V power supply. (I was about to try a second RPi3B+ when the original one stopped booting. Fortunately I had another that I"d been using as a "pass-around" sample at talks, and fortunately when I tried it, it still worked, so now the "dead" one will be passed around!) Also, it could prove really useful to know what size those mounting screws are in case they get lost! Ace Hardware recently opened a new store about half a mile from my house!
The screen is portable enough to take with you and the Pi will use it with no configuration change when it"s powered up. Used it to set up several Raspberry Pis in a remote lab. Touch screen is nice but bring along a keyboard if you have to do any setup work. One thing to make it better, replace the jumper wires with a ribbon cable connected to 1x5 and 2x2 pin headers.
I have a Raspberry Pi in each room of my home and they run a Kiosk interface for home automation, cameras and more. I"ve tried some cheaper ones and none have survived. (I"m hard on equipment) I haven"t managed to break one of these yet.
Got a PI3+, 7" touchscreen and SmartPI case for manufacture test. I put these together and booted the latest Raspbian. The LCD and touchscreen connect to the display connector using a short FPC cable. The display booted and the touch screen just worked out of the box. There were some nice but not well documented improvements. They provide a Y USB cable to power both the PI and the LCD. This is a cleaner solution than the jumper wires they provide.I"m not a big fan of using lego blocks in a industrial environment but the case went together easily and does a decent job of protecting the display and the PI. Some reported a inverted display issue but that seems to have been resolved.
A truly plug-and-play display for the Raspberry Pi. Does not steal any additional extension connector pins if you power it with a USB power supply and leaves the I2C1 interface available for other devices.
Big enough for somewhat squinting actual Raspberry PI development and computer work, but really shines for touch screen optimized large button control panels.
You can just install a Pi3 or 4 on the back, but with a 4 you really need some additional airflow. The SmartiPi Touch 2 enclosure works better. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16302
It works fine, no glitches, no problems, no hair pulling moments. Once electrically connected to my RPi 3B+ it"s good to go. I run it with the "lite" version of the Raspberry Pi OS with only xorg drivers installed, no full desktop or windows manager, as part of an in-the-field project with a HQ camera attached. My only complaint is the ribbon cable could stand to be about 6 inches longer.
It works great, the colors are beautiful, and finger touch works fine. What I like most is that the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins are all still available - except for one +5v pin and one Ground pin. Both are redundant (i.e. others are available). So, this is not an issue at all. I also like that data connects to the Pi via the IPS ribbon cable. Another thing I like is that power connects to the Pi via two jumper wires. The Pi is fussy about its power supply voltage. So, the jumper wires are better because they are heavier gouge than a small PCB trace.
I connect a Pi v4 and put the whole thing in the SmartPI Touch 2 case from Sparkfun and now it looks pretty professional. Make sure you use a good power supply.
Where is the documentation? This thing is so poorly documented it"s almost a joke. The whole point of the RPi ecosystem is to enable Makers and learning about electronics, so why isn"t this fully documented?
I used this to build a portable utility/testing device for my company. It works fantastic with the SmartiPi Touch Pro Case on Amazon. The touchscreen functions great, only thing is you can"t register mousedown and mouseup events in Chromium (only click). Other than that it"s great!
A working Raspberry Pi system requires lots of other parts in addition to the tiny Pi board itself. You"ll need a power supply, a mouse, various cables, and, unless you already own one, a monitor to display screen output for your Raspberry Pi system. Raspberry Pi users are accustomed to hunting up old monitors from long-discarded computers, or temporarily requisitioning a monitor from a currently running system to use as a display for the Rasp Pi.
The clutter of a full-size monitor, however, often invades the elegant simplicity of the Raspberry Pi. Monitors tend to be big and bulky, and they typically require their own power cable, which adds more congestion and complication to the tabletop configuration. A Rasp Pi by itself can inhabit an unobtrusive corner of the room, but add a monitor to it, and it really doesn"t look much different from a conventional PC.
Some users solve the monitor problem by running their Rasp Pi headless through an SSH connection, but SSH requires you to boot another computer on the network (which, undoubtedly, has its own monitor anyway).
Since the first days of the Rasp Pi, users have dreamed of a mini-monitor that runs on the Rasp Pi power and is tailored for the needs of the Rasp Pi environment. Some third-party Rasp Pi displays have appeared in the past, and we have reviewed some in this magazine, but those who follow the Pi have known for some time that the Raspberry Pi Foundation would eventually announce an official Pi display.
The Raspberry Pi display [1] was announced on September 8. In addition to serving as a general device for viewing screen output, according to the foundation, the new display also "gives users the ability to create all-in-one, integrated projects such as tablets, infotainment systems, and embedded projects." The new 7-inch display has touchscreen capabilities. With a price tag of $60, the Rasp Pi display came to market nine months past its originally planned release date [2]. The foundation has explained that the delays resulted from efforts to integrate the Raspberry Pi 2 and difficulties encountered in locating a supplier for the screen.
The display screen measures 7 inches across the diagonal or 155x86mm. The entire screen, including the frame, measures 194x110mm, and the overall depth, minus an attached Rasp Pi, is about 20mm, with a weight of 277 grams. The screen has 10-finger capacitative touch, although standard Linux desktop environments currently do not handle touch gestures well.
The Rasp Pi supports a number of display interfaces, such as HDMI. For some screens that are already available for the Raspberry Pi, the little computer also relies on the GPIO interface. The Raspberry Pi Foundation looked to the underused Display Serial Interface (DSI) in order to connect the Rasp Pi with the screen . You will find the DSI port on the side that is opposite from the network and USB ports.
The DSI connector transmits more than just images. It also sports an integrated I2C-Bus, which makes it possible to transmit gesture entries and control signals for background lighting. As a result, the screen will only work with second-generation Raspberry Pis or the plus models, which are the first series Rasp Pi A+ and the B+. The display board does have two extra pins for the Rasp Pi B. However, according to Pi developer Gordon Hollingworth, the foundation still needs to work on support for the pins.
The first purchasers receive the display as a kit that requires assembly. Even though no assembly instructions are included, the components are easily put together. You should first set the display board upside down next to the screen and connect the board to the ribbon cable that comes out of the screen. Then, turn the board over and adjust it so you can properly mount it.
Next, very carefully plug the second ribbon cable that comes out of the screen into the small jack on the front side of the display board. This cable carries signals from the touchscreen. With the braid side facing upwards, plug in the ribbon cable, which will be connected to the Rasp Pi, and then, using a spacer, screw the board to the screen (Figure 1).
Now you need to decide how you want to supply power to the Rasp Pi and to the screen. Like the Rasp Pi, the screen has a micro USB connector, which means you can either run the power from the display to the Rasp Pi via the USB jack, or you can use the jumper cables that are included to wire the Rasp Pi for 5V and GND with the pins that are on the pin strip. We chose the jumper cable method for our test. The first step is to connect the red cable to the 5V pin and the black cable to the GND pin, then set the Rasp Pi on the spacer. Then, connect the two connectors to the 5V and GND on the Rasp Pi.
Figure 2 shows the pin assignment of the GPIO port for a Raspberry Pi 2. To reduce the size of the depth of this arrangement, you can also mount the Rasp Pi the opposite way around to the display board. The final step to this process is to connect the DSI cable with the USB power supply (Figure 3).
Figure 2: The GPIO pin assignment for a Raspberry Pi 2. The user will find the 5V and GND pins across from pins 2 and 3 for connecting to a power supply.
With respect to the software, all you need to do is update the system (Listing 1). If updates are not properly installed, you will be able to see images on the screen, but the screen will not accept any entries. After a restart, the Rasp Pi will promptly display the image that is familiar from the HDMI port on the screen without any modifications to the system. Touch entries will also immediately function properly within the X server GUI. The 800x480 resolution should suffice for everyday use, even though it is not a substitute for a desktop monitor (Figure 4). The touchscreen has the same level of precision as tablets or smartphones that are currently available on the market.
Figure 4: The 800x480 resolution of the RasPi touchscreen is sufficient for most projects. The Matchbox keyboard from the package sources even gives the user a virtual keyboard.
You can install a virtual keyboard like the Matchbox keyboard in order to enter text without a USB keyboard (Listing 2). Typical desktop environments like LXDE from Rasbpian generally do not function properly with touchscreen entries. The problems are especially noticeable in the web browser, where you can"t just type and scroll from just anywhere on a page. Instead, you need to use the scroll bar on the edge of the window, which is hard to do with a finger. It is likewise difficult to use touch gestures for adjusting the size of program windows.
Connecting the Rasp Pi display screen through the DSI port frees the HDMI port, which is then available for attaching a second monitor. However, you do not automatically get an image on a second monitor. Instead, you first need to indicate to the program, such as a video player, that you would like to send the images to an external screen.
The example from Listing 3 starts the video on the second screen while the GUI on the Raspberry Pi screen remains free for other activities. At this point, there is still no genuine dual-display function that turns the Rasp Pi display and a monitor connected via HDMI into a large display. The graphical tools used for setting up the resolution via Menu | settings | screen settings still only recognize the Rasp Pi screen. Instructions for manually configuring a monitor set up via the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file are not yet available.
7 inch mini HDMI monitor with HD 1024x600 resolution. This small LCD screen upgrades to IPS screen with larger visible angle and better image quality.
Plug and play, as easy as plugging micro USB cable for touch and power supply, HDMI cable for displaying, both cables included in the package, no driver needed.
The USB capacitive touch control is for Windows and raspberry pi system, free-driver, just connect the 7” screen by the USB port of the computer/ Raspberry Pi.
Can be used as a general-purpose 7 inch HDMI screen connected to your TV box, game console, or mounted inside your PC case as temperature stat panel display, etc.
Supports PC with HDMI port:Used as a small second monitor for laptop which has Win7, Win8, Win10 system, 5 point touch (XP and older version system: single-point touch), free drive.
Supports PC with HDMI port:Used as a small second monitor for laptop which has Win7, Win8, Win10 system, 5 point touch (XP and older version system: single-point touch), free drive.
Connected to RPI 4: Connect to HDMI 0 port when working with Raspberry Pi 4.(Just power the screen by the USB port of the pi if you want to get the touch function available)
Connected to RPI 4:Connect to HDMI 0 port when working with Raspberry Pi 4.(Just power the screen by the USB port of the pi if you want to get the touch function available)
*When working with Raspberry Pi 4, for the system image of Raspberry Pi after 2021-10-30, for example onBullseye, please modify "dtoverlay = vc4-kms-v3d" to "dtoverlay = vc4-fkms-v3d" in the config file, otherwise it may fail to start. But onBuster, please comment out "dtoverlay = vc4-fkms-V3D" by adding #.
Even better, many of these are touchscreens, letting the user control the Pi without hooking up a separate keyboard and mouse. And if you just need a simple black and white display that consumes very little power, you can even augment your Pi with an eInk screen.
That said, it is a resistive touchscreen, so don’t expect it to be as responsive as a touchscreen on your typical modern smartphone and requires a good deal of setting up in the Raspbian command line to get it up and running, although full instructions are provided.
What is it:This new Raspberry Pi case seems to have struck a chord with Pi owners looking to add low-cost touchscreen displays to Pi-based media centers or home automation systems.
The 3.5-inch screen is housed in the top of the Pi case and has a resolution of 320 x 480. The case has openings for all the Raspberry Pi ports, including power, microSD Card, Ethernet, USB and so on. While the case has holes for an attached cooling fan, it’s not possible to use the touchscreen and a cooling fan at the same time.
There are some downsides, the screen is slow to refresh, making it unsuitable for gaming or watching a video, and has a resistive touchscreen that require greater force to recognise touch than typical capacitive displays. To help interact with the screen, the case comes with a stylus.
What is it:This seven-inch display is particularly easy to get started with, due to being the official Raspberry Pi Foundation touchscreen for the Raspberry Pi.
The 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen recently gained support in the mainline Linux kernel, meaning it should enjoy support in the major Linux-based operating systems that run on the Pi, as well as the official Raspbian OS.
Compatible with the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and A, the display’s drivers supports 10-finger touch and on-screen keyboard in Raspbian, and it is powered via the Pi’s GPIO pins and hooks into Pi’s DSI (Display Serial Interface) port via a ribbon cable.
This 10.1-inch IPS display from Waveshare sports a resolution of 1280 x 800 and can hook into the Raspberry Pi via HDMI and via a USB Type A to microUSB adapter cable, which needs to be bought separately.
The capacitive touchscreen is protected by toughened glass and promises to work with any Pi running Raspbian, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Retropie, or Windows 10 IOT Edition, without the need for dedicated software drivers.
What is it: If you’re after a display that only needs updating periodically, this 2.7-inch eInk screen provides a low-power option that mimics the look of ink on paper.
The screen plugs into the top of any model of Raspberry Pi from the second generation onwards, thanks to being available as a HAT that connects to the board’s GPIO pins.
Also included is a battery-backed real-time clock (RTC) with wake-on-alarm functionality, via an optional reset pin, and four optional slimline switches.