In this article we look at a 2 inch LCD option for your Raspberry Pi Pico, its a 320 x 240 display with 4 buttons
The LCD is designed to have the Raspberry Pi Pico fitted to it, if you were to do this then you would get access to any of the other unused pins. You can used an expansion board which will allow you to fit the LCD but not directly to the Pico.
Later on there is an example which does not require any libraries written in micropython
Here are the features at a glance
- 320×240 resolution, IPS screen, 65K RGB colors, clear and colorful displaying effect
- SPI interface requires minimal IO pins
- 4x user buttons for easy interacting
Specifications
- Operating voltage: 2.6 to 5.5V
- Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels
- Communication interface: 4-wire SPI
- Display size: 40.80 x 30.60mm
- Display Panel: IPS
- Pixel size: 0.1275 x 0.1275mm
- Driver: ST7789VW
Pinout
Pico-LCD-2-details-inter
| LCD | Pico | Description |
| VCC | VSYS | Power Input |
| GND | GND | GND |
| DIN | GP11 | MOSI pin of SPI, data transmitted from Master t Slave |
| CLK | GP10 | SCK pin of SPI, clock pin |
| CS | GP9 | Chip selection of SPI, low active |
| DC | GP8 | Data/Command control pin (High:data; Low: command) |
| RST | GP12 | Reset pin, low active |
| BL | GP13 | Backlight control |
| KEY0 | GP15 | User button KEY0 |
| KEY1 | GP17 | User button KEY1 |
| KEY2 | GP2 | User button KEY2 |
| KEY3 | GP3 | User button KEY3 |
Purchase
This LCD costs around $15
Aliexpress – 2inch 320X240 SPI LCD Display Screen Module HAT for RPI Raspberry Pi PICO RP2040 Accessories
Code example
This is the Micropython example from the link underneath
from machine import Pin,SPI,PWM
import framebuf
import time
import os
BL = 13
DC = 8
RST = 12
MOSI = 11
SCK = 10
CS = 9
class LCD_2inch(framebuf.FrameBuffer):
def __init__(self):
self.width = 320
self.height = 240
self.cs = Pin(CS,Pin.OUT)
self.rst = Pin(RST,Pin.OUT)
self.cs(1)
self.spi = SPI(1)
self.spi = SPI(1,1000_000)
self.spi = SPI(1,100000_000,polarity=0, phase=0,sck=Pin(SCK),mosi=Pin(MOSI),miso=None)
self.dc = Pin(DC,Pin.OUT)
self.dc(1)
self.buffer = bytearray(self.height * self.width * 2)
super().__init__(self.buffer, self.width, self.height, framebuf.RGB565)
self.init_display()
self.RED = 0x07E0
self.GREEN = 0x001f
self.BLUE = 0xf800
self.WHITE = 0xffff
self.BLACK = 0x0000
def write_cmd(self, cmd):
self.cs(1)
self.dc(0)
self.cs(0)
self.spi.write(bytearray([cmd]))
self.cs(1)
def write_data(self, buf):
self.cs(1)
self.dc(1)
self.cs(0)
self.spi.write(bytearray([buf]))
self.cs(1)
def init_display(self):
"""Initialize dispaly"""
self.rst(1)
self.rst(0)
self.rst(1)
self.write_cmd(0x36)
self.write_data(0x70)
self.write_cmd(0x3A)
self.write_data(0x05)
self.write_cmd(0xB2)
self.write_data(0x0C)
self.write_data(0x0C)
self.write_data(0x00)
self.write_data(0x33)
self.write_data(0x33)
self.write_cmd(0xB7)
self.write_data(0x35)
self.write_cmd(0xBB)
self.write_data(0x19)
self.write_cmd(0xC0)
self.write_data(0x2C)
self.write_cmd(0xC2)
self.write_data(0x01)
self.write_cmd(0xC3)
self.write_data(0x12)
self.write_cmd(0xC4)
self.write_data(0x20)
self.write_cmd(0xC6)
self.write_data(0x0F)
self.write_cmd(0xD0)
self.write_data(0xA4)
self.write_data(0xA1)
self.write_cmd(0xE0)
self.write_data(0xD0)
self.write_data(0x04)
self.write_data(0x0D)
self.write_data(0x11)
self.write_data(0x13)
self.write_data(0x2B)
self.write_data(0x3F)
self.write_data(0x54)
self.write_data(0x4C)
self.write_data(0x18)
self.write_data(0x0D)
self.write_data(0x0B)
self.write_data(0x1F)
self.write_data(0x23)
self.write_cmd(0xE1)
self.write_data(0xD0)
self.write_data(0x04)
self.write_data(0x0C)
self.write_data(0x11)
self.write_data(0x13)
self.write_data(0x2C)
self.write_data(0x3F)
self.write_data(0x44)
self.write_data(0x51)
self.write_data(0x2F)
self.write_data(0x1F)
self.write_data(0x1F)
self.write_data(0x20)
self.write_data(0x23)
self.write_cmd(0x21)
self.write_cmd(0x11)
self.write_cmd(0x29)
def show(self):
self.write_cmd(0x2A)
self.write_data(0x00)
self.write_data(0x00)
self.write_data(0x01)
self.write_data(0x3f)
self.write_cmd(0x2B)
self.write_data(0x00)
self.write_data(0x00)
self.write_data(0x00)
self.write_data(0xEF)
self.write_cmd(0x2C)
self.cs(1)
self.dc(1)
self.cs(0)
self.spi.write(self.buffer)
self.cs(1)
if __name__=='__main__':
pwm = PWM(Pin(BL))
pwm.freq(1000)
pwm.duty_u16(32768)#max 65535
LCD = LCD_2inch()
#color BRG
LCD.fill(LCD.WHITE)
time.sleep(0.1)
LCD.fill_rect(0,0,320,24,LCD.RED)
LCD.rect(0,0,320,24,LCD.RED)
LCD.text("Raspberry Pi Pico",2,8,LCD.WHITE)
LCD.fill_rect(0,24,320,24,LCD.BLUE)
LCD.rect(0,24,320,24,LCD.BLUE)
LCD.text("PicoGo",2,32,LCD.WHITE)
LCD.fill_rect(0,48,320,24,LCD.GREEN)
LCD.rect(0,48,320,24,LCD.GREEN)
LCD.text("Pico-LCD-2",2,54,LCD.WHITE)
LCD.fill_rect(0,72,320,24,0X07FF)
LCD.rect(0,72,320,24,0X07FF)
LCD.fill_rect(0,96,320,24,0xF81F)
LCD.rect(0,96,320,24,0xF81F)
LCD.fill_rect(0,120,320,24,0x7FFF)
LCD.rect(0,120,320,24,0x7FFF)
LCD.fill_rect(0,144,320,24,0xFFE0)
LCD.rect(0,144,320,24,0xFFE0)
LCD.fill_rect(0,168,320,24,0XBC40)
LCD.rect(0,168,320,24,0XBC40)
LCD.fill_rect(0,192,320,24,0XFC07)
LCD.rect(0,192,320,24,0XFC07)
LCD.fill_rect(0,216,320,24,0X8430)
LCD.rect(0,216,320,24,0X8430)
time.sleep(2)
LCD.show()
LCD.fill(0xFFFF)
time.sleep(1)
key0 = Pin(15,Pin.IN,Pin.PULL_UP)
key1 = Pin(17,Pin.IN,Pin.PULL_UP)
key2 = Pin(2 ,Pin.IN,Pin.PULL_UP)
key3 = Pin(3 ,Pin.IN,Pin.PULL_UP)
while(1):
if(key0.value() == 0):
LCD.fill_rect(12,12,20,20,LCD.BLACK)
else :
LCD.fill_rect(12,12,20,20,LCD.WHITE)
LCD.rect(12,12,20,20,LCD.RED)
if(key1.value() == 0):
LCD.fill_rect(288,12,20,20,LCD.RED)
else :
LCD.fill_rect(288,12,20,20,LCD.WHITE)
LCD.rect(288,12,20,20,LCD.RED)
if(key2.value() == 0):
LCD.fill_rect(288,208,20,20,LCD.GREEN)
else :
LCD.fill_rect(288,208,20,20,LCD.WHITE)
LCD.rect(288,208,20,20,LCD.RED)
if(key3.value() == 0):
LCD.fill_rect(12,208,20,20,LCD.BLUE)
else :
LCD.fill_rect(12,208,20,20,LCD.WHITE)
LCD.rect(12,208,20,20,LCD.RED)
LCD.show()
time.sleep(1)
LCD.fill(0xFFFF)