Adding a 4.3" color display to BrainPad

BrainPad
1

A teacher asked if there is a way to add a color screen to the BrainPad, plus I have always wanted to try out the FTDI EVE graphics co-processor chips. I found this module from MikroE EVE Click

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For software, I found this C# NETMF drivers on github GitHub - highfield/cetmicrowpf but it had a lot more than what I needed. I borrowed some of the code and converted the SPI driver to TinyCLR OS.

Unfortunately, this didn’t “just work”! After a couple of hours with scope and schematics/datasheets, I realized that MikroE has placed a 16V protection zener but the display I used needed 24V. Nothing a soldering iron can’t fix! I removed the zener and all worked as expected!

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Done! We now can create some very nice graphics with minimal efforts.

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3 Likes
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So, then does the product not work out of the box?

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Do you mean the EVE click? It only works with displays that require less than 16V back-light.

You have to be careful as removing the zener will remove the over voltage protection. Do NOT attempt to power up the board without a display connected.

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Oh you had to hack it.

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This is a subject that we talk about every time we use both the 0.96" OLED on BP with Arcade and the 1.77 TFT on BrainPad Arcade, Gus. So can you see a clear way that we can buy a larger screen and hook it up to the BP Arcade so we can more easily see the scores as the game progresses? Thanks .

6

The easier option is for Microsoft to give us a little larger font :smile: the problem work larger screens is that they have more pixels, that needs more memory, that needs more processing.

That said, we are experimenting with different options for the future.

1 Like