Sub $150 7" Touch Screen Pi

[bushrat]

Here's a cool idea. Its a Raspberry Pi case witch includes a 7" touchscreen, USB hub, wifi dongle and battery pack, all for ~$150 including the Pi.

The parts:

Screen: $24

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-TFT-.....256ecc72d8

Touch Screen Overlay: $77

http://www.cyclotouch.com.au/p.....ts_id=2460

USB Wifi Adapter: $9

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320.....?hlp=false

Battery Pack: ~$8 or Less

Hand made

Raspberry Pi: $35

Total: $153 AU + postage

I haven't included a SD card cause they're so common, and the same with a mouse and keyboard.

What do you guys think? like it?

[jbeale]

Could be a nice system- although I can't get over the fact that the LCD screen is 1/3 the price of the touchscreen, even though (I think) the touchscreen is a far simpler technology.  Probably just a question of lower demand volume (?)

[JeremyF]

A couple things to note:


That screen is only 480x234, so extremely low-resolution
That screen also does not come with a power adapter, just a handful of wires sticking out (like all these backup camera screens do)
Most touch screen overlays are resistive (not capacitive) so don't expect any multitouch capability.

[bushrat]

I knew it wouldnt be 'the next ipad' or anything. But it's still pretty good.

And you've got a point about the touch screen overlay being 3x the price of the screen, a bit weird.

[bushrat]

JeremyF said:


A couple things to note:


That screen is only 480x234, so extremely low-resolution
That screen also does not come with a power adapter, just a handful of wires sticking out (like all these backup camera screens do)
Most touch screen overlays are resistive (not capacitive) so don't expect any multitouch capability.


On the whole powering it thing, the fact it just has 2 cables suits me cause ill be making a small battery pack or 2.

[jbeale]

No idea how well it works, but here's a bare resistive touchscreen panel for under US$20. You'd have to supply your own driver electronics, but that's fairly easy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-inch.....0863730910

[bushrat]

jbeale said:


No idea how well it works, but here's a bare resistive touchscreen panel for under US$20. You'd have to supply your own driver electronics, but that's fairly easy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-inch.....0863730910


That seems more realistic, now the price is sub $100!! Thats pretty good for a linux tablet of any quality.

[john_wage]

like has been said before, that resolution is too small for successfully running a conventional desktop environment.

only way you could make it work is to install a panning program, which would be very annoying to use without a proper mouse anyway.

[rurwin]

john_wage said:


that resolution is too small for successfully running a conventional desktop environment.


It's too small by half to run a text screen. Literally.

[bushrat]

Right, I found a new 7" screen, sadly it"s $30 more expensive taking the cost to roughly $130, but the resolution is 800x480 which should run a NetBook size desktop.

7" Screen: $50
http://www.camaccessories.com/.....52281.html

P.S thanks to you guys, I probably would"ve gotten that other screen home and had a fit! But this new one should do better

[SirLagz]

Here's a touch scren overlay for less

And a USB Wifi Adapater for less

This project looks good, similar to what I want to do with my PI also.

[bushrat]

Thanks sooo much sirlagz, the USB wifi dongle is an eighth of the price of my one (OMG :O).

But the touch overlay isn"t cheaper because earlier is mentioned a $20 one, HOWEVER this one includes all the components for a USB connection, making the extra $15 worth it, but if we take the $8 from that fifteen, which we saved in the wifi dongle (thanks again!), that"s only a price hike to about $132, that"s still cheaper than the $150 original price.

Touchscreen Overlay: $36
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/7.....tive-12561

Wifi USB Adapter: $1 (OMG I can"t get over that price lol)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/150.....5185wt_974

Wow, this tablet idea has not just become cheaper, it"s also become much easier to make and higher quality, well at least when it comes to the screen resolution. Thanks guys

[bushrat]

Right, I found a pretty cool battery pack idea. It uses 4 3000mah rechargeable AA"s. Which gives you about 3 hours use, excluding the screen. But this pack is pretty cool because it includes a solar panel. Which, for some people, would be pretty neat. So for the batteries and the actual pack, you pay $10. Pretty cheap.

Battery Pack + Solar Panel + Batteries: $10
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Batt.....0705101019
And
http://www.savingelectronics.c.....33269.html

[Chromatix]

I have one of those 480x234 (or whatever) displays in the form of a miniature TV.  Attaching the composite input to my BBC Micro, I found that text was legible (even showing the top line - normally hidden on a CRT without adjusting the scanout) but graphics would be distorted, because it doesn't have a true rescaler to fit 576 interlaced lines of input onto the ~240 physical lines of the display - instead it simply deletes scanlines more or less at random.

For serious use with an R-Pi, I think I would definitely hold out for an 800x480 or, even better, a HD display with digital input - which are apparently available in this size, if you look hard enough.  The HD displays would have an extremely high pixel density, similar to Apple's latest gadgets, but it's worth making sure the physical display panel really has the claimed resolution, since downscaling would be a shame.

[bushrat]

I have one of those 480x234 (or whatever) displays in the form of a miniature TV.  Attaching the composite input to my BBC Micro, I found that text was legible (even showing the top line - normally hidden on a CRT without adjusting the scanout) but graphics would be distorted, because it doesn"t have a true rescaler to fit 576 interlaced lines of input onto the ~240 physical lines of the display - instead it simply deletes scanlines more or less at random.

For serious use with an R-Pi, I think I would definitely hold out for an 800x480 or, even better, a HD display with digital input - which are apparently available in this size, if you look hard enough.  The HD displays would have an extremely high pixel density, similar to Apple"s latest gadgets, but it"s worth making sure the physical display panel really has the claimed resolution, since downscaling would be a shame.

Cheers on that bit of advice

It would be nice to find an HD display, at 7". But I want to keep the whole product including the Pi itself below $150. Or at least around that number, mainly because the cheapest android tablet I"ve ever seen was that price, and it was terrible in comparison to this. But also because you are making it yourself, so unless your good with your hands, it"s not going to look like the best thing ever.

[SirLagz]

Ahh, missed the $20 touchscreen, but yeah the one I linked has extra USB ports on it too.

Also, keep in mind shipping for the USB adapter. Makes it a bit pricier but still less than the $8 ? that your original one was.

[Wizkid32]

Not sure if this helps, but here is an 8 in. LCD display/Touch Panel combo pack. It does 800 x 600 resolution, which is comparable to a lo-res computer monitor.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-AV-tft-Driv ... 651wt_1037

[JeremyF]

Not sure if this helps, but here is an 8 in. LCD display/Touch Panel combo pack. It does 800 x 600 resolution, which is comparable to a lo-res computer monitor.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-AV-tft-Driv ... 651wt_1037

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-TFT-INNOLUX-A ... 4166389217

Smaller and slightly less resolution (It's a 7" 800x480/low-res widescreen) but is has DVI (which can be converted to HDMI) for a crisper picture than composite.


Wait--Hold on, totally forgot we were talking about touch screen as well. A touch screen overlay can be found:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/7-inch-usb ... tive-12561 --the pictures of the product look widescreen, so should be correct.

OK, these look cheaper
http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-inch-4-wire-u ... 4635409992
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-7-inch-4-wi ... 4635409996

[Wizkid32]

That's an awesome screen, and the touch panel should work, but the display is ~$70 so not the best economically. Then again, $100 might be to much for both...

[gpborges]

Folks, what about this screens? Would any of them work???

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-VGA-2AV-Re ... 3ccab54bdc

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-VGA-2AV-Yp ... 6498788%26

Thx!

[gpborges]

Hey folks. Just contacted the seller of this 7" LCD screen which has an excellent review on mp3car.com. He answered me he has various clients using it on Linux /Android ICS and Raspberry Pi!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110659973152?ss ... 1423.l2649

He even sent me the drivers (touch.rar file, 92.7 MB).

Anyone here using it? Instructions on how to setup, calibrate?

Thx!