ST7735 SPI Breakout problem with Breakout Garden on RP4 with Buster

Hello,

My first post to the Forum - any help gratefully received!

I have got to the stage in the installation where I am running -

curl https://get.pimoroni.com/st7735 | bash

to install the drivers for the ST7735 0.96" Colour LCD SPI Breakout. Unfortunately it keeps on reporting -

"This hardware is not supported, sorry!
Config files have been left untouched"

each time I run the command, and after several apt updates and reboots.

My /etc/os-release shows -

PRETTY_NAME=“Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)”
NAME=“Debian GNU/Linux”
VERSION_ID=“10”
VERSION=“10 (buster)”
VERSION_CODENAME=buster
ID=debian
HOME_URL=“https://www.debian.org/
SUPPORT_URL=“Debian -- Support
BUG_REPORT_URL=“https://bugs.debian.org/

I currently have RV3028 RTC and 5x5 RGB breakouts connected via I2C on the Breakout Garden with no problems. I have also tried both SPI ports on the Garden.

Is Buster OS not supported for this particular breakout?

Many thanks in advance,

Tim.

I have several running just fine on Buster, might not be the May 7th release though?
What’s your kernel version?

Mine are soldered in place so I’d have to swap in a new SD card with the latest Pi OS, and run the installer to see what happens.
I don’t mind doing that, but it isn’t likely to happen today.
Another way to go is as follows.

sudo pip install st7735
sudo pip3 install st7735

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-rpi.gpio python-spidev python-pip python-pil python-numpy
sudo apt-get install python3-rpi.gpio python3-spidev python3-pip python3-pil python3-numpy
apt instead of apt-get will likely also work.

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Hello @alphanumeric, thanks for your prompt reply :)

uname -a reports the following -
“Linux skunk 5.10.46-v8+ #1433 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jul 5 15:04:57 BST 2021 aarch64 GNU/Linux”

Tried your other way as suggested, but
sudo apt install python3_rpi.gpio python3-spidev python3-pip python3-pil python3-numpy reports the following -
“Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: Unable to locate package python3_rpi.gpio
E: Couldn’t find any package by glob ‘python3_rpi.gpio’
E: Couldn’t find any package by regex ‘python3_rpi.gpio’”

Ignore that error for now and try the python example for the display.

Its python3-rpi.gpio not python3_rpi.gpio ;)

It’s working finally - decided to remove the Fan SHIM in case there were any clashes and used -

python3 -m pip3 install --upgrade

for all the packages that you mentioned. Then ran the Python scripts as you suggested.

Seemed to do the trick and everything seems fine now :)

Thanks for all your help - much appreciated.

Just for your info the Breakout garden uses i2c1 and SPI0.
And GPIO 4 pin 7 is also used by some of the i2c breakouts. The Fan Shim doesn’t use that pin so I think your fine. The Fan Shim uses GPIO 3 pin 5, for the bootup via a button press. It has no effect on i2c though.
Fan SHIM at Raspberry Pi GPIO Pinout

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Thanks for the clarification. I will try the Fan SHIM again now that the configuration seems stable.

Had a closer look. The only thing that may mess you up is GPIO 18 is used for the fan control pin on the Fan Shim, and the Backlight control for the Back SPI slot on the Breakout Garden.
If you don’t install the Fan Shim Daemon, the fan will just run continuously and cool your Pi. You just won’t have any on off temperature control. If you do install it, the back displays backlight will go off when the fan stops, and on again when it starts.
A low / ground on the Fan Control Pin turns the fan off, and a low on the Backlight Pin of the display turns the backlight off.

1 Like

Thanks for the info - I’ve noticed this problem with using the rear SPI slot. This explains it nicely.

Mine is the Mini SPI / i2c so no back slot. And I’m using Pi Zero’s so no Fan shim anyway.
On my more permanent, LCD’s soldered in place, I didn’t bother wiring up the Back Light Pin. I either ground it with a switch or just leave it unconnected.

I think I’ll get hold of a Mini SPI/i2c as well - especially for ease of testing new breakouts.

I often use a mini Black Hat Hacker or phat Stack and mount a Pi Zero where the ribbon cable would normally go. I use a 90 female mounted to the back side of the Pi Zero. It ends up pointing up with easy access to the ports. And the SOC / CPU is on the other side away from any sensor breakouts.

Even better - an excellent idea!