UCTRONICS LCD35 RPI (SPI interface)

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UCTRONICS 3.5 Inches 480 x 320 TFT LCD Touch Screen Display

Model: U4703

Introduction

UCTRONICS 3.5" TFT LCD display module is designed for Raspberry Pi zero/Pi 2 /Pi 3 Model B / B+ and can also be used on other hardware platforms with have SPI interface. The 3.5" screen is the same size as the standard Raspberry Pi model B/B+, and well mate with the Raspberry Pi boards. With its touch screen, it is suitable for portable devices and projects, and it is a replacement for a heavy and bulky HDMI monitor, keyboard and mice. The highlight of this display module, it supports plug and play without reboot the Pi, and SPI speed runs as fast as 32MHz to support games and videos.

Specification

Support Kernel from 4.1 to 4.9 Support plug and play
Resolution: 480 x 320 pixels Support touch screen
Interface: SPI Support game and video
SPI speed: 32MHz Automatic driver installation script
Dimension: 55.98 x 85.60 mm Well mate with Pi Zero, Pi B+, Pi2 and Pi3

Hardware installation

        SPI hardware.png             LCD35 SPI.jpg
                Figure1                                       Figure2
        

The Figure 1 shows the display module pin out and dimension. Connect the 3.5inch LCD to the Raspberry Pi board like the Figure 2 shows. Power on the Raspberry Pi board and make sure the internet is connected properly. Note: LCD module pin1 should be aligned to Raspberry Pi board Pin1, misalign might cause damage.

Download and install driver

The LCD driver has been already installed in the Micro SD card shipped only with the kit that includes a Micro SD card. The following steps are for install the driver on a clean system. All the installation steps are also available from our github:

https://github.com/UCTRONICS/UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI/
Step1: Expand the Micro SD card

sudo raspi-config

then Select Advanced Operations -> Expand Filesystem and hit YES , then go to Finish and you need to run sudo reboot to reboot your Raspberry Pi.

Step2: Update your Raspberry Pi system

sudo apt-get update

Step3: Download the driver package

sudo git clone https://github.com/UCTRONICS/UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.git

Step4: Go to the UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI

cd UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI

Step5: Change the file permission

sudo chmod 777 UCTRONICS_LCD_backup

sudo chmod 777 UCTRONICS_LCD35_install

sudo chmod 777 UCTRONICS_LCD_restore

sudo chmod 777 UCTRONICS_LCD_hdmi

Step6: Backup original system data

sudo ./UCTRONICS_LCD_backup

Step7: Install the LCD35 driver

sudo ./UCTRONICS_LCD35_install

Wait for a while the system will be installed and restarted automatically. If you want to reuse the original system, you can use the below command

sudo ./UCTRONICS_LCD_restore

If you want to display on HDMI instead of LCD, just use the below command

sudo ./UCTRONICS_LCD_hdmi

If you don’t want to run those command to install the LCD driver, we also provide ready to use system image file “UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.img". Please click the following link to download the system image file:

http://uctronics.oss-us-west-1.aliyuncs.com/LCD35/image/UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.img 

Check the following link to install the win32diskimager tool in your computer. Then write the image file into the Micro SD card.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Add more functions to the LCD

Install calibration software for calibration

cd UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI

sudo unzip Xinput-calibrator_0.7.5-1_armhf.zip

cd xinput-calibrator_0.7.5-1_armhf/

sudo dpkg -i -B xinput-calibrator_0.7.5-1_armhf.deb

Install virtual keyboard

Step1: Execute the following commands to install the corresponding software

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install matchbox-keyboard

sudo nano /usr/bin/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.sh

Step2: Copy the following contents to toggle box - keyboard. Sh, save the exit
#!/bin/bash
#This script toggle the virtual keyboard
PID=pidof matchbox-keyboard
if [ ! -e $PID ]; then
killall matchbox-keyboard
else
matchbox-keyboard -s 50 extended&
fi
Step3: Execute the following command

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.sh

sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/applications

sudo nano /usr/local/share/applications/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.desktop

Step4: Copy the following contents to toggle - matchbox - keyboard. Desktop, save exit
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Toggle Matchbox Keyboard
Comment=Toggle Matchbox Keyboard`
Exec=toggle-matchbox-keyboard.sh
Type=Application
Icon=matchbox-keyboard.png
Categories=Panel;Utility;MB
X-MB-INPUT-MECHANSIM=True
Step5: To perform the following command, note that this step must use the "PI" user permission, and if the administrator privileges are used, the file will not be found

nano ~/.config/lxpanel/LXDE-pi/panels/panel

Step6: Find similar commands (different versions of ICONS may differ)
Plugin {
type = launchbar
Config {
Button {
id=lxde-screenlock.desktop
}
Button {
id=lxde-logout.desktop
}
}
Step7: Add the following code to add a Button item
Button {
id=/usr/local/share/applications/toggle-matchbox-keyboard.desktop
 }
Step8: To restart the system with the following command, you can see a virtual keyboard icon in the top left corner

sudo reboot

Contact us

If need any further support, please feel free to contact us.

Website: http://www.uctronics.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +86 025 84271192

Trouble Shooting

How to add new ICON to desktop ?

If it's just a folder, add it directly to the desktop

If it is an executable, follow this steps:

  • Step1: choose the Directory Tree -> / -> usr -> share ->applications folder
  • Step2: choose a icon you want to link
  • Step3: choose edit -> create link... ->Desktop ->OK

How to rotate the screen to 180 degree ?

cd UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI

sudo chmod 777 UCTRONICS_LCD35_rotation_180_install

sudo ./UCTRONICS_LCD35_rotation_180_install

        LCD35 SPI 0.jpg             LCD35 SPI 180.jpg
                0 degree                                      180 degree

Some zones working much better than others, the near edge zones seem the worst.

  • You should recalibrate the touchscreen.
  • Downloading our UCTRONICS_LCD35_HDMI_RPI package from
https://github.com/UCTRONICS/UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.git
  • Install calibration software for calibration

cd UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI

sudo unzip Xinput-calibrator_0.7.5-1_armhf.zip

cd xinput-calibrator_0.7.5-1_armhf/

sudo dpkg -i -B xinput-calibrator_0.7.5-1_armhf.deb

 Calibration1.jpeg             Calibration2.jpeg

How to burn the UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.img?

Step1: Download the burn tools from 

https://github.com/UCTRONICS/Win32DiskImager.git
Step2: Download the UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.img file from 
http://uctronics.oss-us-west-1.aliyuncs.com/LCD35/image/UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.img
Step3: Open the SDFormatter to format your SD card
Step4: Open the Win32DiskImager to write the UCTRONICS_LCD35_RPI.img to your SD card.

For more details please refer to our video demo from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCw91wH6mnc