How to enable ili9341 display during boot? (and ili9481)

[HermannSW]

Hi,
first download the two attached 320x240 "565 format" images to your Pi0.

If using a single SPI display on SPI0, a single "sudo modprobe" command is all that is needed.
This command does not allow to use two SPI displays.
Therefore I used two dtoverlays, we will come to that later:

• spi1-3cs
• pi-displa0

The first enables SPI1, the 2nd allows to use SPI0 display without "sudo modprobe".

The first step for you is to verify that indeed both displays work.
So connect one of the displays as you described before.
Then execute these commands:

Code: Select all

$ dmesg > before
$ sudo modprobe fbtft_device name=rpi-display gpios=reset:25,dc:23,led:18 rotate=270
$ dmesg > after
$ diff before after

There should be a diff on first execution.
In case you see the diff, execute this and you should see giraffe on SPI display:

Code: Select all

$ tail --bytes 153600 /home/pi/fb1.565.bmp > /dev/fb1
$

If that works, then disconnect that SPI display, and connect the other SPI display to the exact same pins, and repeat the commands.
If that works as well, we know that both displays work and we can do next step(s).

P.S:
I have soldered display LED to display VCC, so did only use 8 cables to the Pi0 with my 2x4 connectors.
And I have connected display Miso with Pi0 Miso, which is not used for display -- just to keep superglued 2x4 connectors:
If you connect LED to GPIO18, that pin needs to go high, eg. by:

Code: Select all

$ sudo apt-get install pigpio
$ sudo pigpiod
$ pigs m 18 w
$ pigs w 18 1

led_vcc.jpg

led_vcc.jpg (47.71 KiB) Viewed 2797 times

File comment Size Status
2x4.connectors.jpg

2x4.connectors.jpg (73.53 KiB) Viewed 2795 times

[Ebben]

Ok! so I checked both of the displays separately with "FRAMEBUFFER" and they work fine I installed the pins for them both but in a different way, for now, because I cant solder them for the time being. this is how it looks.
I was wondering about the last attachment you sent, what is it for?

[HermannSW]

I was wondering about the last attachment you sent, what is it for?

It contains fb1.565.bmp and fb2,565,bmp images in format that can be directly copied to ili9341 display connected.
Copy both images to your Pi0, and then execute this command on Pi0 -- should display giraffe with text "/dev/fb1" on your lcd:

Code: Select all

$ tail --bytes 153600 /home/pi/fb1.565.bmp > /dev/fb1
$

[Ebben]

Ok done!
So what's next? Now I need both of the screens to display the pi0 at the same time but extended, how?

[HermannSW]

So now you have verified that both displays work on SPI0.

Next is to make one work on SPI1.
Do edit your /boot/config.txt and add the 2nd line (from your successful tests we know that 1st line is present already).
That line enables 3-line SPI1 interface:

Code: Select all

...
dtparam=spi=on
dtoverlay=spi1-3cs
...

After reboot execute these two commands, and the display connected to SPI1 should show a house with "/dev/fb2" indicator:

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe fbtft_device name=rpi-display gpios=reset:6,dc:26,led:16 rotate=270 cs=2 busnum=1
tail --bytes 153600 fb2.565.bmp > /dev/fb2

house.fb2.png

house.fb2.png (18.11 KiB) Viewed 2717 times

[Ebben]

Done! Thank you so much. But can you start giving me two steps in a row because I have a deadline, thanks

[HermannSW]

Done! Thank you so much. But can you start giving me two steps in a row because I have a deadline, thanks

OK, only two steps left after you have a working SPI1 display now.

1) create rpi-displa0 overlay as described in this posting, add to /boot/config.txt and reboot. Then do "tail --bytes 153600 fb1.565.bmp > /dev/fb1" to verify that SPI0 display (which should have become black by the reboot) shows the image:
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=194423#p1217626

2) add commands to /etc/rc.local as described in this posting and reboot -- you should see /dev/fb1 and /dev/fb2 indicator images on the displays automatically after reboot with that, like my end of reboot phase:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=193722&p=1217930#p1217930



P.S:
On success, you might attach a photo of what you are using the two displays for.
I used them to get two different robot live views on line following course:

[Ebben]

Perfect! so now how can I framebuffer them both into raspberry pi zero w?

[George441]

It seems you got the answer from fellow members.
This post might help you...
https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki

[Ebben]

It seems you got the answer from fellow members.
This post might help you...
https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki

I checked it out but it doesn't seem to show how to framebuffer two screens together.

[HermannSW]

What does "to framebuffer two displays together" mean?
The pointed to wiki shows what you can do with the two new framebuffers fb1 and fb2.
What do you want to do?

[Ebben]

What does "to framebuffer two displays together" mean?
The pointed to wiki shows what you can do with the two new framebuffers fb1 and fb2.
What do you want to do?

I want to display the raspberry pi zero w on the two screens (one half on one screen and the other half on the other screen) I want the raspberry pi to show my game on boot and the game requires a camera

[HermannSW]

In case your game is running in console, it needs to deal with two framebuffers, I am not aware of a virtual framebuffer that joins two framebuffers.
Or use one display for one application, as shown earlier in this thread:



With (old) X11 it is possible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxJpWRPKe-g

X11on2SPIdisplays.jpg

X11on2SPIdisplays.jpg (97.28 KiB) Viewed 2566 times

The easiest approach is to use single 9$ 480x320 SPI display with exactly the resolution of the two 320x240 displays together, and without a border between:
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=194423#p1561837

[Ebben]

With (old) X11 it is possible:

So how can I get this (old )X11 running on my pi0?
because my project works with two displays

In this video how did he make it work?
Or is there a way to display the game the same way I did with the images.

[HermannSW]

In the video he just did "startx", so the secret is in some file.
I cannot test, because I have no X11 installed on my Pi0, and because currently SPI0 display does not work, some connectivity issue.

notro shows how to start X11 with specified framebuffer:
https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki/Fra ... e#x-server

Code: Select all

FRAMEBUFFER=/dev/fb1 startx

You should test

Code: Select all

FRAMEBUFFER=/dev/fb2 startx

in addition, to verify that X11 can run on each of your displays separately.

Then perhap try (alternatively separated with colon instead of space):

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FRAMEBUFFER="/dev/fb1 /dev/fb2" startx

[Ebben]

Ok. So I did what you said. Usually, it works but now it gives me this:

Code: Select all

X.Org X Server 1.20.4
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 4.15.0-48-generic armv8l Raspbian
Current Operating System: Linux raspberrypi 4.19.97+ #1294 Thu Jan 30 13:10:54 GMT 2020 armv6l
Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M bcm2708_fb.fbwidth=656 bcm2708_fb.fbheight=416 bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 smsc95xx.macaddr=B8:27:EB:A1:B4:46 vc_mem.mem_base=0x1ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x20000000  console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=97709164-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait modules-load=dwc2,g_ether quiet splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles
Build Date: 05 June 2019  12:49:54PM
xorg-server 2:1.20.4-1+rpt1 (https://www.debian.org/support)
Current version of pixman: 0.36.0
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Fri Feb 14 05:40:57 2020
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"

and then just a white screen, with both displays seperatly.
Does it have something to do with the code in "rc.local" or the "/boot/config.txt" from before?

This is when "FRAMBUFFER=/dev/fb1,/dev/fb2 startx"

Code: Select all

(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) no screens found(EE)
(EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE)
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error

[HermannSW]

I did fix my SPI0 display connectivity issue.
Then I tried to install X11 on the Pi0 with Raspian Stretch lite:

Code: Select all

 1260  sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
 1262  sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg
 1265  sudo apt-get install xinit
 1291  sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-core
 1292  sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-all
 1293  sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-all

But that was not enough, this is the error message I got for "FRAMEBUFFER=/dev/fb1 startx" (captured with "fbcat /dev/fb1 > fb1.ppm"):

fb1.ppm.png

fb1.ppm.png (623 Bytes) Viewed 2516 times

What you are searching for now (how to start X11 on two framebuffers) may find answers in other boards of the forum, perhaps on "Raspbian".

[HermannSW]

Thanks for reminding me on my 320x240 SPI displays -- the 3rd such display I have found a new home on my raspcatbot. 320x240 is exactly the format of the frames I capture during robot drive at 204fps framerate from Arducam ov7251 monochrome global shutter camera! raspcatbot drives autonomously based on the frames captured. The display is connected to SPI1, but nevertheless it is /dev/fb1:
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=267999&p=1649212#p1649212



P.S:
The connectors I used for the dual SPI displays with the Pi0 had LED soldered to VCC (full brightness).
On raspcatbot I did connect display LED pin to Pi GPIO6.
Now dimming works like a charme (not sure what this can be useful for), this sets half display brightness:

Code: Select all

sudo pigpiod
pigs p 6 128

With idling Pi3A+, no lights on and no motor movement, raspcatbot did draw 0.264A.
With added display raspcatbot draws 0.277A/0.279A/0.280A for PWM=0/128/255.
16mA for the Giraffe /dev/fb1 indicator image surprised me.

[Ebben]

Great!
Now using FRAMEBUFFER on one display doesn't work anymore can you help with that?

[HermannSW]

I switched to a Pi3B that had full Raspbian Buster installed.
I changed it to boot into console with raspi-config.

Then I did all the steps to get both SPI displays working on boot.
Then I did install the framebuffer X11 server according to:
https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki/Fra ... e#x-server
Finally I played with "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf".

Documentation says:
https://www.x.org/releases/current/doc/ ... ev.4.xhtml

Option "fbdev" "string"
The framebuffer device to use. Default: /dev/fb0.

It turned out that only the 1st fbdev option is taken.

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
  Identifier "myfb"
  Driver "fbdev"
  Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"
  Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb2"
EndSection

X11.fb1.png

X11.fb1.png (235.06 KiB) Viewed 2462 times

But we have seen that two framebuffer X11 is possible.
Btw, with that file just "startx" starts X server on the specified framebuffer.

Using 320x240 X11 is so sweet

X11.fb2.ppm.png

X11.fb2.ppm.png (12.09 KiB) Viewed 2462 times

[Ebben]

So what are you saying? I can't get two screens working on my rpi0w nor can I make them display my game.
Right now I'm facing the challenge of getting FRAMEBUFFER working on only one screen.

[HermannSW]

So what are you saying? I can't get two screens working on my rpi0w nor can I make them display my game.

No.
I think you see this after booting like I:

Right now I'm facing the challenge of getting FRAMEBUFFER working on only one screen.

I just tried, FRAMEBUFFER=/dev/fb2 does not work for me either, doc seems not to be correct about that for Buster on Pi3B+:
https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki/Framebuffer-use

I will now tell you the steps I did to make this work:

20200427_081152.20%.part.jpg

20200427_081152.20%.part.jpg (63.9 KiB) Viewed 2406 times

1. sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
2. add con2fbmap to /etc/rc.local

   Code: Select all

   $ tail -9 /etc/rc.local 
   tail --bytes 153600 /home/pi/fb1.565.bmp> /dev/fb1
   
   sleep 1
   sudo modprobe fbtft_device name=rpi-display gpios=reset:13,dc:26,led:28 rotate=270 cs=2 busnum=1
   tail --bytes 153600 /home/pi/fb2.565.bmp> /dev/fb2
   
   con2fbmap 1 1
   
   exit 0
   $

3. add this file with "sudo vi":

   Code: Select all

   $ cat /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf 
   Section "Device"  
     Identifier "myfb"
     Driver "fbdev"
     Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb2"
   EndSection
   
   $
   

4. add USB keyboard to the Pi and reboot
5. login to the console that appears on /dev/fb1 with added keyboard
6. execute "startx"

[Ebben]

I don't get this step, What am I supposed to do exactly to enter the code? write the code exactly? Sorry

[*]add this file with "sudo vi":

Code: Select all

$ cat /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf 
Section "Device"  
  Identifier "myfb"
  Driver "fbdev"
  Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb2"
EndSection

$

[HermannSW]

Extract the file from attached zip, and copy into directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/" on your Pi.

[Ebben]

Thank you so much! But since I don't have a rpi3 I'm gonna go on with just one screen on my rpi0w, Should i change anything in the codes to make FRAMEBUFFER work on one because I don't think it's working anymore.

Code: Select all

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo modprobe fbtft_device name=tm022hdh26 rotate=90
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo FRAMEBUFFER=/dev/fb1 startx


X.Org X Server 1.20.4
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 4.15.0-48-generic armv8l Raspbian
Current Operating System: Linux raspberrypi 4.19.97+ #1294 Thu Jan 30 13:10:54 GMT 2020 armv6l
Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M bcm2708_fb.fbwidth=656 bcm2708_fb.fbheight=416 bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 smsc95xx.macaddr=B8:27:EB:A1:B4:46 vc_mem.mem_base=0x1ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x20000000  console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=97709164-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait modules-load=dwc2,g_ether quiet splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles
Build Date: 05 June 2019  12:49:54PM
xorg-server 2:1.20.4-1+rpt1 (https://www.debian.org/support)
Current version of pixman: 0.36.0
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Thu Feb 13 20:18:32 2020
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) no screens found(EE)
(EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE)
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error

can yo uhelp with this error?
I Want to focus on displaying my game on one display for now! Sorry to have bothered you a lot.