Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Setup

by ZRob314

164K18124

Intro: Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Setup

For this project you will need the following components:

Raspberry Pi 3

Raspberry Pi 7" Touchscreen Display

Package includes:

  • DSI Ribbon cable
  • 4 x Jumper wires
  • 4 x Screws (used to mount Pi board to the Adapter board)

Touchscreen Display Enclosure

STEP 1: Setting Up the Touchscreen.

Flip over the screen and you will find the Adapter board already attached to the back of the screen.

Open the ribbon housing by slightly sliding out the black brackets on either side of the housing at the same time. (May need to use fingernails.)

Insert the DSI Ribbon blue side down.

STEP 2: Connect Jumper Wires.

The kit includes 4 jumper wires. Insert the wires into pins correct pins on the board.

(You can use different colors than what I chose, however the color will need to match up with the correct pin on the Pi board in later steps.)

  • GND (Black)
  • 5V (Red)
  • SCL (Yellow)
  • SDA (Green)

STEP 3: Install a Keyboard to Your Pi.

Before attaching the Pi to the Adapter board you will need to configure it for touchscreen use.

Hook up your Pi to a keyboard and monitor.

Open Terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install matchbox-keyboard

Reboot your pi:

sudo shutdown -r now

The keyboard can be found by clicking the Menu -> Accessories-> Keyboard.

If you do not see the Keyboard in the Accessories menu after reboot, or if you would like to make a Desktop icon,

Open Terminal:

cd Desktop

nano keyboard.sh

This opens GNU nano:

#!/bin/bash

matchbox-keyboard

In Terminal: (Command that makes the shortcut icon executable.)

chmod +x keyboard.sh

STEP 4: Adjust Screen for Rotation.

When I first tested the touchscreen in the display case, it appeared upside down.

Follow these steps to flip the screen.

In Terminal:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Add line:

lcd_rotate=2

To exit:

Ctrl + X

Y

Enter

Shutdown Pi and remove all plug-ins.

STEP 5: Mount Pi to the Adapter Board.

Now you are ready to attach the Pi.

Align the Pi so the ribbon ports are stacked on the same side.

Secure the boards together with the 4 screws included.

Slide the ribbon brackets upward on the Pi to open the housing.

Insert the ribbon and slide the ribbon brackets back down to tighten.

Attach wires to the Pi board.

  • GND (Black) to the third pin down on the right hand side,
  • 5V (Red) to the second pin down on the right,
  • SCL (Yellow) to the third pin down on the left hand side,
  • SDA (Green) to the second pin down on the left hand side.

STEP 6: Enclosure Assembly

  1. Lay white frame face down onto back of screen.
  2. Align the back of the enclosure with the correct openings for the Pi board.
  3. Secure together with the 4 screws included.

STEP 7: Power Up!

Plug in your mini USB to a power outlet or an external battery pack.

Voila! Your touchscreen is ready.

14 Comments

jango_0 3 years ago

hello thank for this instructable, i have a question:
can i make it with a raspberry pi 4 (B) , its the same step?

ZRob314 3 years ago

We are not sure yet - we have not tried that yet. When we do - we will update the Instructable if required.

Yorks_STEAM 4 months ago

Hi I'm fairly novice and I've just bought this touchscreen. Can I use an R Pi 4 with it? I was going to buy a Model3B to go with it - but they seem quite scarce. I bought the screen in the official Raspberry Pi store in Leeds.

hidroponiahb 3 years ago

Hi, can I connect the touchscreen on a stack of RPi4 and other boards? I want to get a screen to interact with the raspberry pi and the relay boards (HATs) stacked on top (4 in total). Thanks

cadden29 10 months ago

Yes screen board sits under the pi and all other hats sit on top of the pi, Only issue is enclosure height space this case is to short to fit the POE hat even with the back off so I need to print a stand with a deeper enclosure

cadden29 10 months ago

For some reason a few app menus are larger than screen size and I can’t scroll down. How can I adjust size to get menus to fit correctly. One of the VNC settings menus won’t size to screen, I forget the others

lproven 4 years ago

Thanks for this! The instructions in the box didn't mention the jumper leads to power the device from the Pi, and these are clearer than the Pi Hut's instructions (https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/...

One issue: in my touchscreen case, after updating Debian, my screen was upside-down! Here's the fix for that:

https://support.thepihut.com/hc/en-us/articles/115...

Between the two of you, I have everything working, but your power-connection guide was a lifesaver.


MikkoM8 5 years ago

I have a brand new Pi3B+ and 7" display. I connected them with instruction but Rasbian didn't boot. Only red light flash not green at all and display shows meny different colours. I have original NOOBS SC memorycard

mrjlr 6 years ago

i have followed all you instructions but the screen will not come on . i have power to the board but nothing to the screen

Nyxius 7 years ago

Thanks for this. I made a different version of this and the upside down screen was driving me nuts. I'm going to cobble this into my car. Kudos!

ZRob314 7 years ago

You are welcome! Glad to hear it works.