Adafruit Mini PiTFT setup

I ordered one of the Mini PiTFT displays and I noticed this in the setup docs:

Am I correct that when they say “Kernel” they are referring to the OS software on the SD card?

TIA.

Yes, they are referring to the Raspbian kernel that resides on the SD Card.
You’ll want to make sure that display will work with Buster if its going on a PI 4B.
I would think thats done so you can see the boot / post messages etc on that display over SPI.

Thanks. I just wanted to be sure it won’t alter anything on the Pi itself. First try is going to be on a Pi Zero W. The warning mentions the Pi 4 so I’m guessing they tested it with Buster. I have the Stretch install files for the Zero just in case.

I have no real use for this but had to have one as soon as I saw it. :)

The only Pi that has alterable code on the actual board itself is the Pi 4B. The only exception is a one time bit set to enable USB boot on I think Pi 3B’s? The 3B+ has it enabled by default.
The 4B is the first Pi that you can reflash the boot loader that resides in silicon on the board itself.
Just a FYI post.
A lot of those Adafuit PiTFT displays require a custom kernel. It’s the only way to make them the default display for everything, including the boot up messages.

Thanks. Yes, I read about the boot loader in Pi4B. It looks like it might make the thing even more versatile for embedded systems.

The display had an I2C interface so I’m going to see if I can tie it in to the Breakout Garden without having to mount it on the Pi.

What display is it? I was assuming it was this one, that you posted in another thread.


That one is SPI not i2c. It has an i2c Qwiic jack but thats for connecting a sensor to it, not it to a Pi. Thats my understanding anyway.
I don’t think SPI is bought out to the secondary header on the Enviro +.

Oh yeah, I’m aware. It has an I2C header underneath for breakout.

Sorry. I bought some other toys too like the BG mini and some modules. The little display is for a Pi Zero so I can show my Linux-head brother what tiny hardware can do. The BG is to set up a small weather center.

Took me a bit to figure out what the BG stood for lol. Breakout Garden.
The OLED i2c display? The 240 x240 SPI one is the one I’m interested in.

I just finished testing some breakouts I bought to upgrade my portable Weather Clock.
A VEML6075 UV light sensor and a LTR-550 Light and Proximity. I also got one of the RV3028 RTC to replace a DS3231 it has now. They will all mate up with a BME680 thats in it now. I won’t be working on it till after Christmas some time, wanted to make sure they were all working though just incase I needed to get a replacement or something.
My current display in that build is a Sense Hat 8x8 LED matrix. I just scroll my message across it over and over. I have a Unicorn HD 16 x 16 I’d like to replace it with. Just have to get off my duff and code it to work.

I got a copy of a report from my doctor about a checkup I had and it said, among other things: “Patient denies SOB”. It took me a few seconds to realize it meant “shortness of breath”. :)

I was wondering why you need the RTC. Is the thing offline? Sounds like you have some fun waiting for you.

It’s a portable setup that I take to our dog park with me to keep an eye on how hot it is etc. It displays the Day, Date, Time, Temp, etc. If I was to boot it up there with no WIFI access the time would be off. Plus it runs headless so no easy way to setup the WIFI anyway. And it is offline, its an A+ which doesn’t have any WIFI chip. With the RTC installed it doesn’t need WIFI so I didn’t bother adding a WIFI dongle. It would just drain the battery with no real benefit.
It gets hooked up to the Internet a couple of times a year and will sync the time if its off.

How do you deal with cases for your projects? Are there places that do one-off objects?

Thats one of the things I find most difficult. I used this one for that project.

It’s not waterproof any more but is weather resistant. My build pictures are here.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjOYwiwlwDtpgq8_PRQULXcrSq57Bw?e=e1PXTF
The one in the outdoor folder in my portable.

The new RTC is the one breakout I can’t get to work.

If I had the room I’d invest in a 3-D printer. I love custom cases. Like one for the pan tilt hat.

Yeah, I saw your post about the RTC. Does it also fail to update in CLI mode?

Yeah, thats where I’m doing the setup from. It has the correct time stored in it, its just not passing that on to Raspbian. Or Raspbian is not getting the time from it, depending on how you want to look at it.

I found this. It seems pretty straightforward.

https://raspberrytips.com/time-sync-raspberry-pi/

It looks like you should be able to get the time from the RTC and push it into the system.

That Pi still sync’s time with the internet, it just won’t get the time stored in the RTC from the RTC. If I disconnect from the internet and shut down for say 10 minutes, when I boot it back up the time displayed in the tray is 10 minutes behind. Running get-time.py shows the correct time is stored in the RTC. If I then connect to the Internet and wait a couple of minutes the time in the tray updates to the correct time. Its behaving as if there was no RTC installed. Something in the Pimoroni installer isn’t right. Likely a Buster issue.
I have got it working, by following the Adafruit Tutorial that I use to setup my DS3231’s.


The thing is, I bought these assuming I wouldn’t have to do that? Its a multi step process with lots of file edits etc. Make a typo along the way and you have to start all over again. I will post that to the other thread, I was hoping somebody from Pimoroni would chime in with a fix. And if I post that its working that thread will be ignored by anybody else.