Raspberry Pi monitor/tv

[Shane Bevin]

Hey folks. I have finally got around to firing up my Pi and amazingly I seem to have a fully working piece of kit almost immediately (total fluke I'm sure).

Anyway, I am looking at turning the beast into a steampunked gramaphone/oldy timey video playery...ummmm...thingamejig (sorry for all of the technical terms).

Now, just to make things clear...I am a total electronics noob with absolutely no soldering skills. It's not like I'm about to go licking live wires or anything, but I am not very experienced with zappy stuff.

 

So, now that the longwinded preamble is out of the way, I actually do have a question. So far I have everything Pi related going through one powered USB hub so all bits (except the monitor) only need the one power cord to be plugged in. I would like to also run a mini monitor/TV off the hub and have found a few online along with some folks saying that they have used reverse parking monitors with the composite cable. So the question is...has anyone seen a rig like this work...is it even possible...am I going to way too much trouble to eliminate one power cable?

 

I also have an old IPAQ handheld pocket PC and it has a screen that I am happy to cannibalize. Should I even be entertaining the possibility that it may be useful in my project (if it isn't, I'd be happy to donate it to a needy person). It is pretty old though, and I'm not sure if I still have the power supply and dock.

 

So there you go, after much lurking and living vicariously through all of your awesome projects, I have now asked a question. Don't feel the need to sugarcoat any answers, feel free to call me crazy...many have.

 

cheers

 

Shane Bevin
COMPANY DIRECTOR
MONKEYSTACK
www.monkeystack.com.au 
lvl 1/84 Hindley Street
Adelaide South Australia 5000
+61 8 8212 6216
+61 040 288 2349

 

 

 

[Steven Pickles]

I didn't even know there was such a beast as a 5v.. google spat up this, which is what you might have been referring to:

http://www.skpang.co.uk/blog/archives/541

They mention they need to mod the monitor to run it at 5v.

pix

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[Shane Bevin]

Yeah, that was one that I saw. Coincidently that is the exact keyboard/touchpad I have.

I was hoping that there might be something that was a little more plug and play...ie, no need for chopping wires. There does seem to be a large amount of options for small USB powered monitors, but they all seem to require Windows or Mac drivers. Anyway...if anyone does know of something, just let me know, in the meantime, I'll deal with having a extra cord.

[Tamsyn Michael]

Sounds very cool.

I'm afraid even small tvs require 12v (most at least ???).  An IPAQ (or any other screen from a device like that) won't work (without an obscure, expensive, probably non-existent driver board).  You may be able to run the Pi headless (without a monitor) and then shell in from the IPAQ.  Afraid I can't help you with that though, since I'm a noob.  Not sure if you could play movies that way?

--

[Shane Bevin]

Thanks Tamsyn. I figured I was pushing into areas that probably were a goer. Figured it couldn't hurt to ask though :)

 

cheers

 

Shane Bevin
COMPANY DIRECTOR
MONKEYSTACK
www.monkeystack.com.au 
lvl 1/84 Hindley Street
Adelaide South Australia 5000
+61 8 8212 6216
+61 040 288 2349

 

 

From: hackerspac...@googlegroups.com [mailto:hackerspac...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Tamsyn Michael
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 5:06 PM
To: hackerspac...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [HACK-ADL] Raspberry Pi monitor/tv

 

Sounds very cool.

[Damien P]

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 4:56:12 PM UTC+10:30, pix wrote:

http://www.skpang.co.uk/blog/archives/541

I've seen those screens before, but I hadn't thought of hacking them to use 5V!

You could run VNC on the Ipaq....

I though you could add a touch screen too, but I think you need analogue inputs for that:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-7-inch-4-wire-resistive-LCD-Touch-screen-digitizer-panel-size-165x100mm-/251120956363?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a77f9b3cb

[Robert Hart]

Ah but there are ways around that ;-)

http://au.element14.com/national-semiconductor/lm2577t-12-nopb/primary-input-voltage-5v/dp/1685514

[Steven Pickles]

The USB powered monitors you are talking about presumably get video over the USB cable if they need drivers. Some of these use DisplayLink which has a Linux driver. The problem is that you will lose the hardware video decoding feature of the Pi, as this only works on the physical HDMI and analog outputs. Also assembling a framebuffer and sending it down the USB will be asking a lot of the memory-strapped Pi.

But if you wanted to go that route, I think these USB touchscreens work using DisplayLink: http://www.mimomonitors.com/products/mimo-touch2

Since DisplayLink exists, i'd be surprised if you would find a monitor that is powered from USB but also takes analog or HDMI input. It's too much of a niche market. I'd go with bypassing the 5v regulator on a "supposedly 12v" display like in the earlier link. Even if you find a 5v monitor, I doubt it will have a USB charging port, so soldering would be necessary either way.

pix

[Tamsyn Michael]

I had this plan where I'd run my battery powered TV from 12v and then
12v>5v regulate it for the Pi. I have the TV and Pi, just need to
sort out power. I was hoping to use rechargable batteries in it, but
that's a whole other kettle of fish. If you are looking at plugging
it into mains this should do it with just the one plug pack.