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| Parallax Forums > Public Forums > Propeller Chip > New 4.3" touchscreen LCD for Propeller: Breakout Boards Shipping! | Forum Quick Jump
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Rayman
Registered Member
      
Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408
| Posted 8/26/2009 4:32 AM (GMT -8) |   | | Many of you have asked for a touchscreen version of my PSM (Propeller System Module)... I was in the middle of prototyping such a thing when (like mana from heaven) someone approached me with large quantities of very low cost 4.3" microreflective touchscreen LCD displays! This was just too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I dropped everything to see if I could make this work... Those of you at the Expo may have seen me happily demonstrating a prototype board with functioning display.
These displays will soon be for sale on my website. There are two varieties: "As New" and "Used". The "As New" ones have had their touchpanels replaced and really are as good as new. These will cost ~$30 ("As New" displays being held for PSB boards). The "Used" ones may have a few minor blemishes but will only cost ~$15 Used diplays are currently just $5 each !!!!!!!!
Of course, there will soon be a board for it too, tentatively called PSB (Propeller System Board) [because it will be bigger with more stuff on it]. There may also be a barebones adapter to get this working at minimal cost...
I think you'll find that these displays are perfect for many applications... They are large enough to use the touchpanel effectively for input, but not too big for embedded apps or controls. The microreflective technology makes them ideal for indoor and outdoor use (you can see it in direct sunlight).
I'm going to provide full details (schematics and code) on how to interface these displays to the Prop. I have modified the standard VGA driver so that we can show text and images on the display.
Here's a photo of my prototype with a test app that puts color bars on the display with 14 Hz refresh rate (slow because not using the Prop's video generator). The I2C touscreen controller is working as is the backlight controller.
Also, I post the datasheet again here. Note that these are from a very large, well-known company. (But, it's better for them if I don't use their trademarks or logos when advertising these, so I'm not using their name and I've redacted company specific info from the datasheet.)
Update: Breakout boards ready to ship! Just got 170 more "used" displays!
If you wish to order some (limit 6 per order), send an email to ray@rayslogic.com with your address and Qty. desired.
Breakout boards are $30 (limit 3 per person) (also, I can only fit 5 LCDs if you get a breakout board)
Connectors are $1 each...
Shipping within US is $5 (via USPS Priority Mail). Email me regarding larger quantities...
Revised source code for Paint and VGA demo apps on page 10!
Breakout board schematics and layout on page 4!
More information is posted on my website:
http://www.rayslogic.com/Propeller/Products/PSB/PSB_Display.htm
My Prop Info&Apps: http://www.rayslogic.com/propeller/propeller.htmPost Edited (Rayman) : 11/17/2009 6:08:43 PM GMT Image Attachment :
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File Attachment : LCD_Datasheet.pdf 759KB (application/pdf) This file has been downloaded 175 time(s). | | Back to Top | | |
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Rayman
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408
| Posted 8/26/2009 4:37 AM (GMT -8) | | | | |
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photomankc
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2009
Total Posts : 216
| Posted 8/26/2009 5:26 AM (GMT -8) | | | Niiiiccceeee. Would be a neat interface for my home security deal I'm brain-storming now. | | Back to Top | | |
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Agent420
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2008
Total Posts : 411
| Posted 8/26/2009 5:28 AM (GMT -8) | | | Sounds great. What kind of connection do these use? Is it one of those flexible leads that require a special socket?
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Ale
Registered Member
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1267
| Posted 8/26/2009 5:52 AM (GMT -8) | | | | |
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Ale
Registered Member
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1267
| Posted 8/26/2009 6:34 AM (GMT -8) | | | | |
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Bill Henning
Registered Member
Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 962
| Posted 8/26/2009 6:55 AM (GMT -8) | | You are right, large color LCD's do need expanded memory, and ideally, a dedicated processor. Eventually I will make LCD boards for Morpheus/Propteus, but that is months away at best.
I am looking forward to looking at your design!
Rayman said...
Yeah, the RGB interface is really a lot like the VGA inteface... There's no easy way to do photos, for instance, at this high resolution. That would require something like Bill's expanded memory. I'm not sure it could be done with just 1 Prop, it would probably take 2 or 3 to make a system that way...
I tend to follow the KISS principle when practical...
Please use mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com to contact me off-forum, my PM is almost totally full
Morpheus & Mem+dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, 2MB memory IO board kit $89.95, both kits $189.95
www.mikronauts.com - my site 6.250MHz custom Crystals for running Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler for the Propeller Largos - a feature full nano operating system for the Propeller | | Back to Top | | |
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Rayman
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408
| Posted 8/26/2009 7:00 AM (GMT -8) | | | | |
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mikediv
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2007
Total Posts : 455
| Posted 8/26/2009 3:27 PM (GMT -8) | | | Ray can we order direct from you are you going to post cost and can you also just include the connector for a price of course but just get everything from you??? | | Back to Top | | |
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Ale
Registered Member
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1267
| Posted 9/12/2009 12:41 PM (GMT -8) | | | | |
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Rayman
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 2408
| Posted 9/13/2009 11:25 AM (GMT -8) | | | | |
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localroger
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2009
Total Posts : 417
| Posted 9/13/2009 1:03 PM (GMT -8) | | | Ray, are you posting your driver for the LCD anywhere? I ask because I've been working on propellerizing the Philips PET720 DVD display, of which I have a couple, and it uses a RGB interface with NTSC-like timing that reverses the polarity of the signal each scan line. It's the same pixel resolution as yours and I suspect the driver requirements might be similar. | | Back to Top | | |
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microcontrolled
My head is SPINing.
Date Joined Oct 2008
Total Posts : 867
| Posted 9/13/2009 2:38 PM (GMT -8) | | Awesome! I think that as soon as there is a breakout board I will buy a used one and a breakout board. The used one should be budget-friendly.
Computers are microcontrolled.
Robots are microcontrolled.
I am microcontrolled.
But you can call me micro.
If it's not Parallax then don't even bother.
I have changed my avatar so that I will no longer be confused with others who use generic avatars (and I'm more of a Prop head then a BS2 nut, anyway)
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JRetSapDoog
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2009
Total Posts : 62
| Posted 9/13/2009 4:18 PM (GMT -8) | |
Nice work, Rayman! Your persistance is amazing. Thanks for the progressive updates. I thought you'd run into a deal-breaker, but apparently not.
For what it's worth (probably not much, but just for fun) and for anyone that's interested, I mocked up a graphic (.png & .gif from Adobe Flash) showing the 64 colors you'll be able to display once you use the 2 most-significant bits for each of the RGB colors (I believe the .png conversion preserved the colors well, if not perfectly). I haven't dove into the VGA driver much yet, so I'm not completely sure if these are the exact colors it generates, but I would guess so (or nearly so). In the attached graphic, the colors are shown in a 4-Row x 16-column grid in a numerically increasing format, first from top-to-bottom and then from left-to-right, with 24-bit RGB colors values shown in HEX displayed above them as indicated by the lines to the left.
Offhand, I forget how many bits-per-pixel your new display has, but if it's 15, 18 or 24, then the colors should appear like those in the graphic below. However, if it's a 16-bit display, colors would be a bit different. I know you know that already; I'm just stating it for the convenience of others curious about what colors will be generated. Overall, it's a fairly decent color set, but, as one can tell from the graphic, the colors are not distributed as evenly across the color spectrum as one would probably like. That is, many of the colors are close together in hue. If hand-picking a palette, one would probably make some different choices, but the major colors would still be the same. Anyway, this is the set of colors that one gets if using the 2 most-significant bits for each of R, G & B, and the set is not bad and probably more than suitable for many Propeller-related purposes.
For your colors to match these, you'll (of course) have to tie the "lesser-significant" color data pins to the 2 most significant bits in order to cover the spectrum from full black to full white (and thus match the colors in the graphic). For example, looking at just one color, say red, for a 24-bit display, one would run 2 color data bit from the Prop to the 2 most-significant bits of the display (Prop MSB-to-DataBit7 and Prop 2nd MSB-to-DataBit6, of course), then color data bits 5, 3 and 1 of the display would be tied to DataBit7 of the display, and color data bits 4, 2 and 0 (of the display) would be tied to DataBit6 (of the dispay). Again, you're well ahead of me on this and no doubt are already configuring the new board this way. I've never actually done this, but that's the way I believe it's supposed to work (it makes sense and I've seen LCD data sheets with similar recommendations). Okay, I guess that's enough of stating the obvious for one day. Anyway, good luck with your exciting endeavor.
Update: I added a drawing to illustrate the last paragraph (1 Pic = 1000 Words). Incidentally, a design using serial-RGB would be similar, but only 2 bits would go in at a time, so only 1/3rd of the drawing would be used (for example, the red circuitry, only it would be used for R, G & B sequentially). Post Edited (JRetSapDoog) : 9/15/2009 5:05:52 AM GMT
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