Hello.
First, apologies if this is in the wrong place - I’m new to this forum.
I want to use the 1.3" SPI Colour LCD (240x240) Breakout with an Arduino nano.
The web page for this product suggests that it can be used with an Arduino, but all I can find is information on how to use it with a Raspberry Pi.
Can anyone tell me how I can get this to work?
(For bonus marks, can I also get it to work with a Pi Pico?)
Thanks to anyone who can help.
Do a search for st7789 and Arduino. The displays will be slightly different but you should be able to modify one of the examples to make it work.
st7789 arduino - Bing
I will be trying to use this display with a PICO at some point. I should have my PICO in about 2 weeks, its coming snail mail across the big pond. ;)
Thanks. I will give that a go.
I was hoping that since it was sold as for use with an Arduino there would be something directly relevant but perhaps I shouldn’t expect to have my hand held like that.
At least unlike that example I don’t have to build my own level shifter since the Pimoroni board has that built in.
As for the Pico, I’m very impressed with it and I’m glad I don’t have to wait so long for deliveries from Pimoroni. I had no trouble getting the pico display to work and it’s also very impressive.
I cheeped out on the shipping and went International Standard, which is basically just regular mail.
Pimoroni are pretty much Raspberry Pi orientated. They sell some Arduino stuff but its up to you to get your bits working with it. The custom Pi stuff they sell they support with detailed documentation etc.
Adafruit is the go to place IMHO for Micro Controller / Arduino info. There support forum has some pretty smart folks hanging out on it. I go by the same username I use here, there. They also have very similar breakouts etc to what is sold here. It shouldn’t be a big deal to get their code to work with a Pimoroni breakout.
I have tinkered with Arduino and the BBC Micro-Bit. Tinkered is about it though, nothing serious or in depth. I’m hoping my Pico changes that.
Adafruit is the go to place IMHO for Micro Controller / Arduino info
Adafruit does indeed have a product with the exact same resolution and driver chip as Pimoroni’s board with Arduino documentation and libraries, so you should be able to just follow that.
Ah thanks. The instructions on the page you link to seem to be very comprehensive.
Yup, Adafruit are really great like that. There’s a small chance that the Adafruit software won’t match the Pimoroni hardware, but fingers crossed it’ll be OK.
I use their RTC setup tutorial with all my RTC breakouts, even the RV3028’s. I was going there long before I hung out here. Spend more time here now though. =)
Pimoroni sells Adafruit stuff and Adafruit sells Pimoroni stuff. =)
As for using the ST7789 display with a Pico, from a quick poke around in the Pimoroni Pico library files it seems that the Pico display uses ST7789 drivers. So that might help.
I ordered the PICO display with my PICO. Last minute decision. It was that or the Pico Unicorn Pack.
It’s a lovely little display - and now out of stock again which is a bit annoying because there’s two of us fighting over it at the moment.
Yeah, the stuff I wanted was either out of stock or coming soon. The Breakout garden or Explorer was what I wanted. Happy enough to just get a PICO if I’m honest. Now its hurry up and wait time while it makes its way here. ;)
The explorer is back in stock now, anyway.
I’m certainly having fun with my Pico. Unlike a microbit I can stick it on a breadboard and it’s quite a bit smaller than a microbit too (and cheaper!). I’ve got some ideas on what to do with it apart from just playing around.
It will be a while before I can buy more what my wife calls toys, lol.
I have one of these for my Microbit.
Bread:bit Edge Connector Breakout Board for micro:bit – Pimoroni
I used it a fair bit after I first got it.
Well, I couldn’t get it to work first time (the pins aren’t quite the same) but second time it worked very easily. Thanks for the link.
And a lovely display it is too.
I see now that Pimoroni also sell the Adafruit version for only a bit more than the one I bought. But I didn’t see the Adafruit one befoe - for some reason it is quite low on the list when searching for displays.
Are you using this 1.3 SPI display on an Arduino or a PICO? Or both?
Would you mind posting the code you used?
I got my PICO and the Pico Display Pack. This is pretty cool and worth a look see.
Pimoroni Pico Display Workout : 3 Steps - Instructables
@Tonygo2 also did this up.
Raspberry Pi Pico & Pico Explorer Workout : 15 Steps - Instructables
I’ve only tried it successfully on the Arduino.
I followed the link above from Shoe.
All I did was install the Adafruit ST7735 and ST7789 library (latest version) and ran some of the example programs (displayOnOff test and graphicstest), uncommenting the lines to set up a 1.3" TFT screen with ST7789, i.e. I used
Adafruit_ST7789 tft = Adafruit_ST7789(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_RST);
and
tft.init(240, 240); // Init ST7789 240x240
And it all Just Worked.
The wiring is a bit different as there’s no reset pin.
I was wondering if they’d come now.
Yes the Pico display is very nice and of course just works without any messing around.
I should have said that everything does come out upside down with respect to the writing on the board. I expect that this is fixable.