[Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

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moosepr
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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by moosepr » Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:37 am

Mischief wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:05 am
Received my screen and been having a play (http://r.ebay.com/l2Fp3J) not sure what I did wrong but I don't get any splash screen and the backlight is very dim, just wondered if the screen may be defective or I actually did something wrong.

Cheers
Hmmm, sounds Like there may be something amiss. Do you have a photo of the wiring?
Get a small cheep LCD in your project https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2312
Wrap it all round a battery https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2292
Or use a custom PCB to make it really small https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2512
or make it really really really really tiny!! https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2919

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by Mischief » Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:48 am

moosepr wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:37 am
Mischief wrote:
Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:05 am
Received my screen and been having a play (http://r.ebay.com/l2Fp3J) not sure what I did wrong but I don't get any splash screen and the backlight is very dim, just wondered if the screen may be defective or I actually did something wrong.

Cheers
Hmmm, sounds Like there may be something amiss. Do you have a photo of the wiring?
Not at the moment I de soldered it so I could try again just in case I did it wrong, I made the wires short (under 2 inches) in case of interference, I will be trying again later.

Cheers

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by username 123 » Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:22 pm

Hey all. I tried using this screen but all I was able to get working was the backlight. It looks like the same one from the post before mine. https://www.ebay.com/itm/181925106447

Any help would be very appreciated!!!

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by moosepr » Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:04 pm

username 123 wrote:
Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:22 pm
Hey all. I tried using this screen but all I was able to get working was the backlight. It looks like the same one from the post before mine. https://www.ebay.com/itm/181925106447

Any help would be very appreciated!!!
No worries, first off, have you got any photos of the wires? Let's see if there is anything there
Get a small cheep LCD in your project https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2312
Wrap it all round a battery https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2292
Or use a custom PCB to make it really small https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2512
or make it really really really really tiny!! https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2919

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by username 123 » Tue Apr 25, 2017 3:39 pm

moosepr wrote:
Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:04 pm
username 123 wrote:
Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:22 pm
Hey all. I tried using this screen but all I was able to get working was the backlight. It looks like the same one from the post before mine. https://www.ebay.com/itm/181925106447

Any help would be very appreciated!!!
No worries, first off, have you got any photos of the wires? Let's see if there is anything there
Thanks for your reply but I figured out my issue. I mixed up the gpio numbers with the physical pins. I got it working now!!!

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by username 123 » Tue Apr 25, 2017 4:11 pm

One other thing, I assume we need the pi zero hooked up to the internet for this to work??

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by moosepr » Tue Apr 25, 2017 4:33 pm

username 123 wrote:
Tue Apr 25, 2017 4:11 pm
One other thing, I assume we need the pi zero hooked up to the internet for this to work??
You need to internet to download the fbcp files which let you 'clone' your display onto the TFT.
Get a small cheep LCD in your project https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2312
Wrap it all round a battery https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2292
Or use a custom PCB to make it really small https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2512
or make it really really really really tiny!! https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2919

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by username 123 » Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:09 pm

Ok. I just got that to work as well. Thanks.
As far as making the screen faster. Do I just change the "speed=16000000" value? I put it up to 90000000 but don't change all that much.

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by username 123 » Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:29 pm

moosepr wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2017 2:36 am
I was having a bit of a play with speeds last night, managed to get it all the way up to 90000000 (7 zeros) and a stable screen. Turning on the FPS indicator in the emulationstation UI settings gave me a nice surprise (if you can read that!)

Image

so i had a bit more of a play, up to 100000000 (8 zeros) and that was a bit too fast!!

Image
Isn't that fps just reflecting what's coming out of the hdmi? Since the ili9341 is only displaying a copy of the hdmi.

although the actual screen does flicker up, so maybe with shorter cables, it might work
Isn't that fps just reflecting what's coming out of the hdmi? Since the ili9341 is only displaying a copy of the hdmi.

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Re: [Guide] ili9341 SPI TFT Screen on Retropie

Post by moosepr » Wed Apr 26, 2017 2:11 am

Well i think it is linked to how fast the pi can draw the screen. I tried it on another pi connected to just a 720p screen, and it was flicking round 45fps!! there is a debug mode on the fbtft system which can give you true readings, but i have not really played with that. it is fast enough for me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE0DtXGXHAw

the speed in the conf file will tell the pi how fast to send the commands to the tft, so the higher that can go, the faster we can refresh the screen, but then there is a limit as i mentioned. anything below 100000000 (8 zeros) seems to be ok, but your experiences may vary.

there is also the fps option in the conf file which is purely for the fbtft system to decide how long to wait before trying to update the screen. I normally set that to 60, but if it actually hits 60fps is just a guess really. Still looks ok to me!!
Get a small cheep LCD in your project https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2312
Wrap it all round a battery https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2292
Or use a custom PCB to make it really small https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2512
or make it really really really really tiny!! https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2919

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