It's for my railway layout. As I wrote, I would in fact use a fixed, on translucent paper printed menue, and Leds in the rear with separating panels (3D printing is a fine thing ... ) The price for the touch panel is in fact less than 30 Euro ... And if I want to add some functions I need only to re-print the menue (cost about 0), make a new separating grid and a new PCB with Leds ... finally much cheaper than replacing the whole front panel with the corresponding aluminium CNC milled and printed plate (about 180 Euro), and the whole system of switches ! And since I can modify the software myself ... :)
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I confess that for one moment I was thinking of using a GLCD for the menue ... Unfortunately the resolution is too low : look at the attached picture of my present control panel, the glyphs of the trains under the four "median" buttons are printed with 40 dots/mm. So a "hardware printed" menue would be the best solution. Now I have another problem : since the touch panels should initially be glued on the displays, they have a layer ... of glue on the rear ; but I wanna be able to change the menue, so it should NOT be glued with the panel (otherwise removing will result in "crap"). So I asked Reichelt the most strange question they ever got (an probably will get) : if there is an appropriate solvent to remove that glue without damaging the panel !
In fact I don't wanna glue ... but the glue layer is originally present on the device, with a protective (opaque ?) sheet, so I must remove them both, to avoid that the paper gets fixed ! I don't wanna replace the protective "paper" with a transparent styrene sheet.
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-08
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On the other side I am afraid that my menue won't be very visible without a permanent backlighting, especially if the front of the panel is glossy ... So I must either use bicolor leds or a blinking system, to distinguish inactive and active buttons ... and this will make any change more tedious for the led system. Maybe that I was initially a little bit too optimistic concerning touch panels !
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-08
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Consider a rpi and it's hdmi or rpi pico. VGA screens are £5, a hdmi tv £10 if you check charity shops. DVI is like hdmi without sound.£5.
Touch screens are something different. We take them for granted using mobile phones.
I didn't want to detract from gcb but rpi pico is £3 and you can use free mmbasic and although interpreted has ili9341 sorted like reading the sd card slot and lots of graphic functions like blitter
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Finally I wonder if the idea with the touch panel was a good one ; the solution with the "printed" menue would anyway involve many modifications of the hardware in case of new functions (due to the probable need of permanent backlighting), and the resolution of GLCD's is too poor ; add to this the impossibility to display a complete bitmap with ease ... In the past I tested a so-called "intelligent" display bought on ali* (like Nextion), it didn't work in the way I wanted. The same way, I found this, went to DWIN and was unable to use one of their utilities (many menue entries were in Chinese) ; so I contacted them to know if there is an utility completely in English. But I am afraid that mechanical switches will despite of all have a long life ! :(
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-09
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This should be the download link I got for the so called "US version" : Download link
Good luck if You can get it running ... I couldn't ! I still saw "hieroglyphs" (an UniCode issue ? ) and some texts which looked like Chinese (sorry, I can speak French, German, English, ... but no Chinese ! )
:(
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-10
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I found another device here, I think I could live with its resolution since it's a colour display. The interesting is the ability in SPI mode to display predefined images from a SD card, so menues with buttons and icons could appear according to context, and the system would become a "smart display" (touch control should be performed by processing the range of X and Y). But
1) Neither I found if it is possible to update only a part of the screen from the card.
2) Nor the format of data on the card to be used.
3) Nor the related commands.
4) And all software on GitHub is unfortunately, as so (too) often, fully "C and Arduino" contaminated !
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I mentioned earlier about a sd card project. The library reads bmp files from a preformatted card in fat16 or fat32 file formats. Has debug mode to see output of various commands to terminal.
Hallelujah ! I solved the first step : there is a "lang.ini" file in the folder "Language" which must be edited, replacing Chinese with English ... But the system has too many functions, it's really impossible to understand them all, the Help manual would have several hundred pages. Conclusion : a fine system ... for professionals, who can spend up to several months to understand it, and do nothing else ; so, not for me, I will keep my old fashioned switches, according to the "KISS" principle (Keep It Simple & Stupid) !
:)
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-10
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I first heard off nextion on the "Picaxe" forum where it would be useful as picaxe had no glcd and
getting a ssd1306 and then writing a line draw routine was slow to draw.
As a system, mmbasic on rpi pico is like nextion. Lots of advanced graphics using ili9341 including sd card reading.
Finally I succeeded in running Nextion Editor : it didn't work with the C++ package for x64 (I have W7 x64 pro ! ), in fact it seems to need the x86 (32 bits version). Strange ... All the way, the price of the displays "hurts" !
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-10
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Without a datasheet I would be guessing how to interface, and, they are obsolete.
Check for any GLCD you review that meets your basic needs.
Look for example here. I think that a quad analog multiplexer (1 to 2, to select the X or Y reading) could solve the connecting problem.
Looks doable. I would ask for a sample as this could be an expensive toy.
What GLCDA would this be glued to?
It's for my railway layout. As I wrote, I would in fact use a fixed, on translucent paper printed menue, and Leds in the rear with separating panels (3D printing is a fine thing ... ) The price for the touch panel is in fact less than 30 Euro ... And if I want to add some functions I need only to re-print the menue (cost about 0), make a new separating grid and a new PCB with Leds ... finally much cheaper than replacing the whole front panel with the corresponding aluminium CNC milled and printed plate (about 180 Euro), and the whole system of switches ! And since I can modify the software myself ... :)
That sounds great!!
I confess that for one moment I was thinking of using a GLCD for the menue ... Unfortunately the resolution is too low : look at the attached picture of my present control panel, the glyphs of the trains under the four "median" buttons are printed with 40 dots/mm. So a "hardware printed" menue would be the best solution. Now I have another problem : since the touch panels should initially be glued on the displays, they have a layer ... of glue on the rear ; but I wanna be able to change the menue, so it should NOT be glued with the panel (otherwise removing will result in "crap"). So I asked Reichelt the most strange question they ever got (an probably will get) : if there is an appropriate solvent to remove that glue without damaging the panel !
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-08
Do not glue it down. Clamp at the edges?
nice buttons
In fact I don't wanna glue ... but the glue layer is originally present on the device, with a protective (opaque ?) sheet, so I must remove them both, to avoid that the paper gets fixed ! I don't wanna replace the protective "paper" with a transparent styrene sheet.
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-08
I use Trichloroethane as a cleaning solvent for film. But, you need to test and Trike is rather nasty sometimes.
On the other side I am afraid that my menue won't be very visible without a permanent backlighting, especially if the front of the panel is glossy ... So I must either use bicolor leds or a blinking system, to distinguish inactive and active buttons ... and this will make any change more tedious for the led system. Maybe that I was initially a little bit too optimistic concerning touch panels !
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-08
Idea.. I have push switch2allew with an led in the switch. So, the switch controls the state of the led. That could work?
Consider a rpi and it's hdmi or rpi pico. VGA screens are £5, a hdmi tv £10 if you check charity shops. DVI is like hdmi without sound.£5.
Touch screens are something different. We take them for granted using mobile phones.
Not gcb but https://geoffg.net/picomite.html
check ili9341. I have a problem with touch using this so think ili9341 is poor.
I didn't want to detract from gcb but rpi pico is £3 and you can use free mmbasic and although interpreted has ili9341 sorted like reading the sd card slot and lots of graphic functions like blitter
Finally I wonder if the idea with the touch panel was a good one ; the solution with the "printed" menue would anyway involve many modifications of the hardware in case of new functions (due to the probable need of permanent backlighting), and the resolution of GLCD's is too poor ; add to this the impossibility to display a complete bitmap with ease ... In the past I tested a so-called "intelligent" display bought on ali* (like Nextion), it didn't work in the way I wanted. The same way, I found this, went to DWIN and was unable to use one of their utilities (many menue entries were in Chinese) ; so I contacted them to know if there is an utility completely in English. But I am afraid that mechanical switches will despite of all have a long life ! :(
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-09
Contact me, I have materials in English, including software, development guide and DEMO
WhatsApp: 86 15115696647
This should be the download link I got for the so called "US version" :
Download link
Good luck if You can get it running ... I couldn't ! I still saw "hieroglyphs" (an UniCode issue ? ) and some texts which looked like Chinese (sorry, I can speak French, German, English, ... but no Chinese ! )
:(
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-10
I got the ili9341 working with mmbasic on rpi pico. My wiring errors , Draws fast,
interesting little rpi.
I found another device here, I think I could live with its resolution since it's a colour display. The interesting is the ability in SPI mode to display predefined images from a SD card, so menues with buttons and icons could appear according to context, and the system would become a "smart display" (touch control should be performed by processing the range of X and Y). But
1) Neither I found if it is possible to update only a part of the screen from the card.
2) Nor the format of data on the card to be used.
3) Nor the related commands.
4) And all software on GitHub is unfortunately, as so (too) often, fully "C and Arduino" contaminated !
I mentioned earlier about a sd card project. The library reads bmp files from a preformatted card in fat16 or fat32 file formats. Has debug mode to see output of various commands to terminal.
https://sourceforge.net/p/gcbasic/discussion/629990/thread/bf896980/#e4a9
Last edit: kent_twt4 2022-07-10
Sorry ... I am thinking back the Nextion.
Let us figure out what is the issue in the software.
Hallelujah ! I solved the first step : there is a "lang.ini" file in the folder "Language" which must be edited, replacing Chinese with English ... But the system has too many functions, it's really impossible to understand them all, the Help manual would have several hundred pages. Conclusion : a fine system ... for professionals, who can spend up to several months to understand it, and do nothing else ; so, not for me, I will keep my old fashioned switches, according to the "KISS" principle (Keep It Simple & Stupid) !
:)
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-10
I first heard off nextion on the "Picaxe" forum where it would be useful as picaxe had no glcd and
getting a ssd1306 and then writing a line draw routine was slow to draw.
As a system, mmbasic on rpi pico is like nextion. Lots of advanced graphics using ili9341 including sd card reading.
Finally I succeeded in running Nextion Editor : it didn't work with the C++ package for x64 (I have W7 x64 pro ! ), in fact it seems to need the x86 (32 bits version). Strange ... All the way, the price of the displays "hurts" !
Last edit: Bertrand BAROTH 2022-07-10
I have a new Nextion you can buy at a huge discount. It has been removed from the box once. I brought this for a project that was cancelled.