iPhone Retina and Propeller. Ideas?

n_ermosh

I recently started working with displays and propeller and thought it would be cool to try to use Apple's Retina display. They can be purchased on eBay for about $10-20, which is great for their quality and resolution.

Has anyone attempted this yet? Does anyone have any info on how to communicate with the display or what chips are used with them? Eventually I want to learn to use their touchscreens too, and start using those in all my projects that have displays, using the home button as a power switch and all other interfacing done on the display.

Let me know if anyone has any ideas on how to go about cracking this.

Rayman

Sounds like fun. Is there a datasheet for that display somewhere?

n_ermosh

Not that i have been able to find. I think i found some info on how the older 3G displays work. I think they use an LM2512 MPL interface, and i would assume a similar chip is used for the newer Retina display. These displays are custom made by LG (I think) for Apple, so no public datasheets have been released.

Rayman

That would be interesting... LM2512 MPL looks a lot like DVI... What does the display look like? Is there a big chip on a flex cable?
If the deserializer is on the display, then it looks like it only needs a handful of signal wires...

Wouldn't be to bad to connect to then. You just need the LM2512 chip to serialize RGB data...

n_ermosh

I'm not exactly sure, I think there is one. I just ordered a display and a few connectors to make a breakout board.
This is the connector, FPC type. http://www.lunacommerce.com/1546-4729-large/iphone-4-lcd-connector-port-on-flex.jpg

I also just bought an LM2512A, Digikey didn't have the LM2512, but i assume TI is smart enough to make them backwards compatible. $6.50, so if it doesn't work, no biggie. Now to try to solder the chip...

Rayman

I think you really need to find a datasheet to make this work.... At least you need to know what all the signal lines are...

n_ermosh

I'll see what i can do, I'll probably end up having to find a similar display, and see if i can get it to work with the Retina. How does MPL work? And how straight forward is it with Propeller?

n_ermosh

I found this. I don't think its for iPhones exactly, but same display and connector, so (I hope) the same principals will most likely apply. http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elektroda.pl%2Frtvforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ft%3D1344700%26sid%3De2fac4ea42d6c7df3d88a62263350eea&sl=pl&tl=en

Rayman

that one is just an 8080 interface with 8-bit data, right?
I'd bet the iPhone lcd has a much more sophisticated interface will all those pixels to push around...

Most displays of that size but lower resolution use a raw 24-bit color interface.
But, laptop displays use something like this LM2512 you mentioned...

n_ermosh

I'll be honest, I dont know. Once I get all the parts I'll make a little breakout board and see where it goes, if this works, then I don't see why iPhobes would have something too different. It's pretty much fact that they use an LM2512 as the controller, all I need to figure out is how are the pins connected to the chip.

Rayman

Well, I just googled and found this display at SparkFun:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9188

I'd read everything there, if I were you... They mention something about an iPhone hacking website....

n_ermosh

I've seen this. I have no clue which website they are referring to, and I assume they don't have a specific one in mind since they couldn't provide any further resources. But from what I can tell, it does use MPL, and a standard serializer, so I would think the pinout is standard, too... Once I get everything I'll play around and see if I can get it to do anything. Until then I'll keep searching.