Can you Attach the PiTFT 2.8" TFT touchscreen to a raspberry zero W

[Graff Films]

I have a question about: can you attach the PiTFT 2.8" TFT touchscreen to a raspberry pi zero W? I don't need to use the touch screen ability at allIve haven't seen it done before, is it possible?

 

[Fruity_Grebbles]

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1601

 

[Graff Films]

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1601

Lol thanks I’m an idiot

 

[ComradeNull]

Sorry if this is too unrelated, but I think it should be mentioned.

If you intend to use the TFT for a gaming portable, it may not be the best option. The TFT displays like that connect through the Pi's GPIO which is relatively slow. Additionally, the Pi has to process the display image an entirely new way, so together these two properties cause slow frame rates and heavy processor load on the Pi. If you still need a small, crisp display, there are HDMI options available, like this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-inch-4...=item3b201da655:g:SIcAAOSwL4RbypxK:rk:21:pf:0. The display itself is connected through the HDMI bridge, while the resistive touch screen is connected trough GPIO with minimal load on the Pi's processor. If you need it to be thinner, it is possible to wire the HDMI manually and remove the GPIO connector (I have done this myself, it's not very easy). The pixel resolution of this HDMI display is also much higher than the resolution of the Adafruit display, yet still costs about 15 USD less.

 

[Graff Films]

Sorry if this is too unrelated, but I think it should be mentioned.

If you intend to use the TFT for a gaming portable, it may not be the best option. The TFT displays like that connect through the Pi's GPIO which is relatively slow. Additionally, the Pi has to process the display image an entirely new way, so together these two properties cause slow frame rates and heavy processor load on the Pi. If you still need a small, crisp display, there are HDMI options available, like this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-inch-4...=item3b201da655:g:SIcAAOSwL4RbypxK:rk:21:pf:0. The display itself is connected through the HDMI bridge, while the resistive touch screen is connected trough GPIO with minimal load on the Pi's processor. If you need it to be thinner, it is possible to wire the HDMI manually and remove the GPIO connector (I have done this myself, it's not very easy). The pixel resolution of this HDMI display is also much higher than the resolution of the Adafruit display, yet still costs about 15 USD less.

ok, i'm honestly considering many different types of screens, but yes I might try this because of the price and the size. How did you wire the HDMI? with out the GPIO pins?

 

[ComradeNull]

So, the HDMI and the GPIO are entirely unrelated. In a standard setup, the GPIO only controls the touch portion of the display, and is entirely optional. The HDMI controls the actual image on the actual LCD display itself. So, you can wire the HDMI without the GPIO at all anyway.

Now, if you are asking about how I directly wired the HDMI, I did the following. First, I removed both the LCD's and the PI's HDMI ports by using flush cutters to snip the mounting connectors, and then by heating up the tiny data pins so that the connector would release without damage to the board. Then, I used a wire diagram to wire up all of the HDMI pins on the PI to all of the HDMI pins on the display using some tiny magnet wire (32 guage). After that, I hot glued over the wires so that they wouldn't be prone to damage. Please note that this is very difficult and it is extremely easy to damage either board while doing this. Shorts between pins are also very easy to make, so you will need a magnification lens just to see if there are shorts or not. Now, even though there are 19 connections on an HDMI connector, not all 19 are needed. The shielding connections, the CEC, and the NC pin are all not required for the HDMI signal to work.

 

[Fruity_Grebbles]

Alternatively, I did see this great Hackaday article recently about using SPI displays at high speed: https://hackaday.com/2018/10/21/bla...river-will-melt-your-face-then-teach-you-how/

 

[BaseMell]

Hi...as per my knowledge some programs are graphics-optimized, particularly the video playback tools and some other programs like Minecraft. They write 'directly' to the HDMI output, and cannot write to the PiTFT so there is no way to directly make them work. However, you can have the output go to HDMI and then mirror the HDMI onto the PiTFT with fbcp. This all depends on your pcb assembly of the display, because sometimes some boards doesn't have HDMI assembled on it because of its big size. Using the Easy Installer, select Mirror HDMI.