Is this not the cutest little display for the Raspberry Pi? It features a 2.8" display with 320x240 16-bit color pixels and a resistive touch overlay. The plate uses the high speed SPI interface on the Pi and can use the mini display as a console, X window port, displaying images or video etc. Best of all it plugs right in on top!
It's designed to fit nicely onto the Pi 1 Model A or B but also works OK with the Pi Zero, Pi 3, Pi 2 or Pi 1 Model A+ or B+ (any Pi with a 2x20 connector) as long as you don't mind the PCB overhangs the USB ports by 5mm, see the photos above. If you have a modern Pi with a 2x20 connector, you may want to grab a PiTFT 2.8" Plus which does not overhang
Uses the hardware SPI pins (SCK, MOSI, MISO, CE0, CE1) as well as GPIO #25 and #24. All other GPIO are unused. Since we had a tiny bit of space, there's 4 spots for optional slim tactile switches wired to four GPIOs, that you can use if you want to make a basic user interface. For example, you can use one as a power on/off button. See below for the link to get the optional tact switches, they're not included.
As of 8/15/2014 it comes fully assembled and ready to plug into your Pi! The photos above also show the optional installed slim tactile buttons. The tactile buttons are not included. Some basic soldering is required to install the buttons.
We've created a custom kernel package based of off Notro's awesome framebuffer work, so you can install it over your existing Raspbian (or derivative) images in just a few commands. Our tutorial shows you how to install the software, as well as calibrate the touchscreen, show videos, display images such as from your PiCam and more!
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Customers like the screen quality of the computer input device. They mention it's a very good little screen and bright. However, some customers have mixed opinions on the ease of assembly and functionality.
Customers are satisfied with the screen quality of the product. They mention it's a great product, bright, and an excellent project display panel. Some say it's cute and handy.
"Nice and bright, and the Adafruit site has lots of information about installing and using it. (The kit itself comes with no documentation.)..." Read more
"Nice screen for my Raspberry Pi, can see it booting...." Read more
"Again good product but no instruction with it" Read more
"Good quality pre assembled screen, no instructions at all with it, but Google is your friend in these situations. Used to create a Raspberry PiBoy...." Read more
12 customers mention ‘Ease of assembly’8 positive4 negative
Customers have mixed opinions about the ease of assembly of the computer input device. Some mention that it works well and installation is quick and easy. Others say the screen was not properly assembled and there were no instructions with it.
"...These days the kit comes pre-assembled, which reduces the risk of it being damaged by poor soldering." Read more
"The screen was not properly assembled. The flexible connector on the back was not plugged in, and did not reach...." Read more
"4 things to know about this display:1. It does not require any soldering, it's ready to plug onto a Pi2...." Read more
"...It goes together easilly, had to add some extra double sided tape to hold the screen down.Tried to install the drivers but it killed my kernel...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the functionality of the product. Some mention it works well, while others say it's pretty unusable and only works with wheezy-based OS.
"...3. It works on a Pi 24. The touch sensor does work reasonably well ......" Read more
"...end GUI software with the screen size in mind, but for X it is pretty unusable (which is what is shown in the picture!)...." Read more
"Works well and installation is quick and easy. Colour, brightness, viewing angle are quite good and touch sensitivity seems reasonable...." Read more
"...Not very good for X, better for terminal and if you follow the instructions on adafruit ([...]) , you'll be up and running in no time." Read more
Nice and bright, and the Adafruit site has lots of information about installing and using it. (The kit itself comes with no documentation.) It would be nice, though, if it came with stand-off that stopped it flexing when you press on the screen - especially at the top right corner. These days the kit comes pre-assembled, which reduces the risk of it being damaged by poor soldering.
The screen was not properly assembled. The flexible connector on the back was not plugged in, and did not reach. In order to plug it in, the glued down screen had to be pried up. This bent the metal case holding it, which means that the 4 buttons do not work (as the connector does not touch). Should not be sold "assembled" if it is incorrectly assembled.
1. It does not require any soldering, it's ready to plug onto a Pi 2. You *will* need to use the Adafruit image (http://adafruit-download.s3.amazonaws.com/2015-02-16-raspbian-pitft28r_150312.zip) (or be prepared to wrangle with kernel modules etc.) 3. It works on a Pi 2 4. The touch sensor does work reasonably well ...
Don't expect to be able to prototype the next phablet with it though, it's a bit of a journey back through time from a UX point of view.
It is as described however most of the windows in X are larger than the screen, so you cannot click the standard "OK" and "Cancel" buttons in pop-up windows, etc etc. It is great for the terminal, and would be ideal if you were programming your own front end GUI software with the screen size in mind, but for X it is pretty unusable (which is what is shown in the picture!). It goes together easilly, had to add some extra double sided tape to hold the screen down. Tried to install the drivers but it killed my kernel. Used their pre-compiled OS image and that worked fine first time, so I would recommend doing that. Had no luck doing a screen "mirror" between this screen and the HDMI monitor, which apparently can be done, but the commands didn't work in my case.
Nice screen for my Raspberry Pi, can see it booting.
The screen was glued to the board with a thin strip of double sided tape, and was not straight. Trying to straighten it, it came off ripping the ribbon cable. I had to resolder 4 of the connections then added proper double sided foam to fix the screen to the board. Now it's much sturdier, but I wish it would have been better made to start with.
I bought this 2.8" PiTFT for my Raspberry Pi 3B as the Adafruit website stated it works for all RPis. However the screen is delivered without instructions in the box, and finding information on connecting it and getting it going with an RPi 3B is a bit difficult.
However,it does work and here is how to get it going: firstly, you need to follow the instructions given in this forum thread: [...], because the Adafruit modified Raspbian image and their alternative detailed instructions do not work with the RPi3.
Secondly, the female connector on the PiTFT circuit board is smaller than the male connector on the RPi 3, which confused me. What you have to do is make sure the PiTFT connector is fitted to the pins starting from the far left of the RPi3 when looking from above the board with the USB and HDMI connectors at the bottom and the main connector at the top left.
Hopefully, someone will find this information useful while we wait for Adafruit to release an updated Raspbian image for the RPi3.
In the meantime, I am very impressed with the PiTFT and now look forward to getting started with some projects...
I managed to get this display working on a gen 1 raspberry pi but on the Raspberry pi 2 , the supplied software just crashes the kernel leading to a re image to get the pi back and running. It would be nice if Adafruit contributed directly to the Raspbian distro the libraries and drivers such that we would not have to face such kernel issues
