In previous tutorials, I have shared how you can get started with Raspberry Pi and how to set up Raspberry Pi in headless mode. I recommend you to check it out before you start with this project, below I have listed the tutorials:
In this post, I will be showing you, how to set up and use Raspberry Pi 4B with an Official 7" touchscreen display and make a portable mini-computer.
Supplies:Here is a list of all the materials you will need for this project.
- Raspberry Pi 4B..............................(Amazon US/ Amazon UK)
- Micro SD card 8GB or higher......(Amazon US / Amazon UK / Banggood)
- Raspberry Pi 7" Touch Display....(Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- 7" Display Case..............................(Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Keyboard & Mouse.......................(Amazon US / Amazon UK / Banggood)
- Power Supply of 5V 3A...............(Amazon US / Amazon UK)
To make it truly portable use a Power bank. Here are links to the one I use....(Amazon US / Amazon UK)
Setting Up Raspberry Pi OS.Before we get started, we need to do something very important. We need to prepare a bootable SD card for the Pi. If you do not already know how to do that, then check out the following tutorial: Beginner's guide to Raspberry Pi.
I recommend using an SD card with 8GB or higher storage capacity. I personally use 16GB Class 10 cards as those are affordable, fast, and have enough storage for most needs.
After the OS is flashed successfully, here's what we need to do. This is a very important step.
- Go to the SD card and open the boot folder. Here we need to open a file named "config.txt".Open it with Notepad or Notepad++. Here we need to add a line of code that will flip/rotate the screen as per our need (For the case I have used, I had to flip the display 180)
- Go to the bottom of the file and on a new line add the following command:
lcd_rotate=2
After adding the command save and exit the folder. Next, carefully eject the card from your PC and insert it into the pi.
Connecting Pi to LCD Display.Now if you have the new Raspberry Pi LCD, it comes pre-assembled like mine. For older ones, you will have to mount the display driver board on the back of the display first.
1. Next we have to connect the ribbon cable to the driver board as shown in the image below. Just pull the black connector and insert the cable (Contact pad facing up) and then press the black connecter to secure the ribbon in place. Make sure you keep it straight as we don't want to create any short circuits.
2. After that, take two jumper cables that come with the display. Ideally black and red, and we just need two for powering the display.
3. Connect black to the left-most pin labeled "GND" and red cable to the rightmost pin labeled "5V/Vcc". Make sure you double-check these connections before moving forward.
4. Now place the raspberry pi on top matching the mounting holes. Make sure you place the DSI connector of Pi to match the DSI of the display driver board. Then fasten the pi with the display board using the screws provided.
5. Now we have to connect the ribbon cable to the Raspberry Pi. Refer to the image below. Make sure the cable is straight and connected firmly.
6. Finally connect the red wire to the 5V pin and the black wire to the GND pin of raspberry.
With that been done, we can now power up the pi and start using the Touch screen interface but to make it more beautiful and easy to carry we will add it to a case.
Let's Put a Case on It.The case has only 2 parts, the body and the back cover that is removable so we can access the GPIO.
1. First place the display on the table flat so that the USB side of Pi faces left.
2. Place the case on top and align it so all the USB and other jacks match the appropriate cutouts.
3. Align the four mounting holes of the case with the holes on the back of the display and fasten them with the screws provided with the case.
4. Finally snap the back cover on.
And with that out raspberry pi portable computer is ready.
To power the Raspberry pi, we need a 5V 3A stable power supply. I recommend using the official power adapter by Raspberry pi. Or to make it portable, we can use a good quality power bank.
I like using this along with my mini wireless keyboard as the Raspbian OS is not exactly touch-friendly. But in the future, I plan on trying on different operating systems like Kali Linux and Android to check compatibility.
Hope you like this tutorial and learned something from it. If you did, please consider checking out my website:ProjectHub.in for Custom Projects, Tutorials, and Reviews.
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