Touschsreen integration


 
R

RayWalters

New member
Hi there,

Getting ready to build a new heater meter when I stumbled across this small touchscreen for RPi from Adafruit.

1601-00.jpg


Having built a heater meter that I gave away to a chap who was hard on his luck, I know that initial setup and taking the unit into new networks can be a bit of a pain. One that would be eased if you had a small monitor to adjust settings. I'm wondering if something like this would even work with a HM build, as it requires connection to the Rpi's pinout. Is this something that could be added in easily, or am I barking mad?

Link to the product - http://www.adafruit.com/products/1601
 
Wow, that thing looks nice! Would be awesome if it could display a mini version of the HM home page, something like the smart phone app I would guess. I have no idea if it would work, but if it did and could give you full access to the HM config to set probe types, choose between WiFi Client or Access Point mode etc right from the HM that would be awesome! I'm sure it would require a whole heap of work from Bryan though...
 
Yeah that is what I am afraid of really. I don't know how much this would mess with the current config. It would require a breakout of some kind I think. However, the screen is only $34 so it makes it a VERY appealing thing to think about for me. Imagine if we could get our graph pr0n right on that thing?
 
"Uses the hardware SPI pins (SCK, MOSI, MISO, CE0, CE1)"

I'm pretty sure those pins are needed to flash the Atmega from the rPi.
 
No the HeaterMeter drives the SPI bus as the SPI master, and I'd say that for the display to work the Pi needs to be the SPI master. HeaterMeter uses SPI to drive the character LCD display, RF module (if enabled), and 2 of the LEDs. If you compile all of that out of the AVR firmware you could theoretically use this, however you'd need to get video framebuffer running on openwrt first, THEN write a gui on top of that. It's a pretty massive amount of work and I doubt the screen would be readable in daylight.

Oh I see it also uses GPIO 25, which is attached to the reset line on the HeaterMeter, so you'd also need a hardware mod to disconnect that.
 
Ahhhh too bad then. Appreciate your input Bryan, I see what you are saying and am slapping my forehead a bit. I think what I may do is build a separate Pi running on one of the distros and get this running as my companion computer for when I travel or compete. It would be a nice project and a cheap option to config and monitor. Thanks again!
 
It's easier, more portable, more versatile, a lot more functional if you use a wireless display. You know, a tablet or a phone!

I prefer moving HeaterMeter in the opposite direction. Why build a limited, low resolution, flaky touchscreen when you can use an old phone or even your phone and get the full interface. If you want you can even plug the phone into a RaspberryPi USB port to keep it charged and then tape the phone to the HeaterMeter if you want to always be attached. eBay has tons of old phones and you can probably get one for as cheap as the Pi LCD if you don't care about the ESN being "clean" (can't use it on cellular).
 
Heh, I totally agree with you. I had already bought the TFT screen, so need to do something with it. Figured it would make a good diversion of time.
 
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