8 years, 9 months ago.

8" Buydisplay LCD with capacitiv touch

Hi mbed-friends,

I got an 7" Buydisplay LCD. (I mispelled 8" in the title) It is based on the RA8875 controller. http://www.buydisplay.com/default/7-inch-lcd-module-capacitive-touch-screen-panel-i2c-spi-serial

The RA8875_Demo runs just fine (on the Seeed Arch Pro). https://developer.mbed.org/users/WiredHome/code/RA8875_Demo/

Only when I try to use the Arial12x12 bitmapped font instead of the built-in font, it prints a square block of about 100x100 pixels, with 'random' pixels on and of, for each printed character.

/media/uploads/JackB/20150616_165555.jpg

Below, I print just one character (I got some bitmap):

    lcd.set_font("Arial12x12");
    lcd.puts(400,240, "A");

Has anybody used this display, and got bitmapped fonts working just fine?

Below my code

#include "mbed.h"

#include "RA8875.h"

#define PIN_SCLK        D13
#define PIN_MISO        D12
#define PIN_MOSI        D11
#define PIN_CS_TFT      D10  // chip select pin
#define PIN_DC_TFT      D9   // data/command select pin.
#define PIN_RESET_TFT   D8
#define PIN_BL_TFT      D7
#define PIN_CS_SD       D4

Serial pc(USBTX, USBRX);

int main()
{
    int i;
    Timer t;
    float f = 10000000;
    
    pc.baud(460800);    // I like a snappy terminal, so crank it up!
    pc.printf("\r\nRA8875 Test - Build " __DATE__ " " __TIME__ "\r\n");
    
    pc.printf("Turning on display\r\n");
    RA8875 lcd(PIN_MOSI, PIN_MISO, PIN_SCLK, PIN_CS_TFT, PIN_RESET_TFT, "tft");    // MOSI, MISO, SCK, /ChipSelect, /reset, name

    t.start();
//    lcd.init();
    lcd.init(800, 480, 16, true, true, true);
//    lcd.frequency(f);
    lcd.cls();
    lcd.Backlight_u8(255);
    lcd.SetOrientation(RA8875::normal);

    lcd.cls();
    uint32_t tStart = t.read_us();
    lcd.foreground(RGB(255,255,255));
    lcd.claim(stdout);
    lcd.background(Black);
    lcd.printf("Hello mbed!\r\n");
    printf("RA8875_Demo\r\n");

    lcd.puts(0,32,
        "RA8875 lcd(D11, D12, D13, D10, D8, \"tft\");\r\n"
        "lcd.init(true, 480,272,16);\r\n"
        "lcd.circle(       400,25,  25,  BrightRed);\r\n"
        "lcd.fillcircle(   400,25,  15,  RGB(128,255,128));\r\n"
        "lcd.ellipse(      440,75,  35,20, BrightBlue);\r\n"
        "lcd.fillellipse(  440,75,  25,10, Blue);\r\n"
        "lcd.triangle(     440,100, 475,110, 450,125, Magenta);\r\n"
        "lcd.filltriangle( 445,105, 467,111, 452,120, Cyan);\r\n"
        "lcd.rect(         400,130, 475,155,    Brown);\r\n"
        "lcd.fillrect(     405,135, 470,150,    Pink);\r\n"
        "lcd.roundrect(    410,160, 475,190, 10,8, Yellow);\r\n"
        "lcd.fillroundrect(415,165, 470,185,  5,3, Orange);\r\n"
        "lcd.line(         430,200, 460,230, RGB(0,255,0));\r\n"
        "for (i=0; i<=30; i+=5)\r\n"
        "    lcd.pixel(435+i,200+i, White);");

    lcd.circle(       400,25,  25,               BrightRed);
    lcd.fillcircle(   400,25,  15,               RGB(128,255,128));
    lcd.ellipse(      440,75,  35,20,            BrightBlue);
    lcd.fillellipse(  440,75,  25,10,            Blue);
    lcd.triangle(     440,100, 475,110, 450,125, Magenta);
    lcd.filltriangle( 445,105, 467,111, 452,120, Cyan);
    lcd.rect(         400,130, 475,155,          Brown);
    lcd.fillrect(     405,135, 470,150,          Pink);
    lcd.roundrect(    410,160, 475,190, 10,8,    Yellow);
    lcd.fillroundrect(415,165, 470,185,  5,3,    Orange);
    lcd.line(         430,200, 460,230,          RGB(0,255,0));
    for (i=0; i<=30; i+=5) 
        lcd.pixel(435+i,200+i, White);
    uint32_t tEnd = t.read_us();

    lcd.foreground(RGB(255,255,255));
    lcd.printf("@ %4.2f MHz, elapsed time is %u usec.\r\n", (float)f/1000000, tEnd-tStart);

    lcd.set_font("Arial12x12");
    lcd.puts(400,240, "A");

    while(1) {
    }
}

Best regards, Jack.

Just tried, (I have the 8" version), same issue, also with the "Small_6" font. Did you get the font chip ?

edit..

I have sent a message to David Smart about this in case he knows the answer.

posted by Paul Staron 16 Jun 2015

Hi Vitaliy, yes I ordered the font chip ER3304-1. But honestly, I amused it is just the build-in font shown on the photo? I will try to get Capacitive touch working later. Regards, Jack

posted by Jack Berkhout 16 Jun 2015

Hi,

I sorted it out, stupid error from me. I let it point to the string "Arial12x12" and some memory following it. The pointer just needs to point to the actual font character array, so I had to leave out the quotes at the font name:

    lcd.set_font(Arial12x12);
    lcd.puts(400,240, "A");

Regards, Jack.

posted by Jack Berkhout 16 Jun 2015

These are working as well Jack:

https://developer.mbed.org/users/star297/code/HY-1_8TFT_fonts_ST7735/

Import the library and #include the font files you want to use.

posted by Paul Staron 16 Jun 2015

Hi Paul,

Hi Paul, thank you very much! I have created quite a lot as well, Calibri, Monaco, Consolas, Courier, Terminal, Verdana, and a couple more. You may find them on my page. Do I need this "align(2)" that I found somewhere?

/** Arial Font with 12*12 matrix to use with SPI_TFT lib
 */ 
__align(2) 
const unsigned char Arial12x12[] = {
    25, 12, 12, 2,    // Bytes/char, horz, vert, byte/vert

Also, is it best practice to use the define statement to have it referenced only once?

#ifndef ARIAL12X12_H
#define ARIAL12X12_H
...
#endif // ARIAL12X12_H
posted by Jack Berkhout 17 Jun 2015

1 Answer

8 years, 9 months ago.

Hi Jack, Paul,

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, but I see also that you got it sorted out. My first quick thought was to check the return value - but in looking at the code, that won't work - as you see below.

RetCode_t GraphicsDisplay::set_font(const unsigned char * _font)
{
    font = _font;     // trusting them, but it might be good to put some checks in here...
    return noerror;
}

My current RA8875-based projects are [presently] complete and stable, so I don't know if I'll get a chance to address this before this fall. If either of you propose a [more robust] change with a pull request, I could easily do a quick review and honor that.

Accepted Answer

Hi David,

The display works just fine with your library on an Arch Pro and on the much faster Arch Max. These fonts are fast-rendered build-in fonts, using the optional ER3304-1 font chip. /media/uploads/JackB/20150619_092402_b_640.jpg

Regards, Jack.

posted by Jack Berkhout 17 Jun 2015

Hi David, I wrote a simple 5-point Capacitive touch panel driver for the FT5206. https://developer.mbed.org/users/JackB/code/FT5206/ Regards, Jack.

posted by Jack Berkhout 18 Jun 2015