1 8 TFT Display

1.
8" TFT Display Breakout and Shield

Created by lady ada
https://learn.adafruit.com/1-8-tft-display
Last updated on 2023-08-24 03:55:25 PM EDT
©Adafruit Industries Page 1 of 77

Table of Contents
Overview 5
1.8" TFT Breakout 7
Pinouts 8
• EYESPI
EYESPI 10
• The EYESPI Connector and Cables
• Wiring Your EYESPI Display
• EYESPI Pins
Plugging in an EYESPI Cable 13
Breakout Assembly 15
• Prepare the header strip:
• Add the breakout board:
• And Solder!
Breakout Wiring & Test 17

• Install Adafruit ST7735 TFT Library
• Changing Pins
Displaying Bitmaps 22
• Breakout Wiring
• Example Sketch
CircuitPython Displayio Quickstart 25

• Preparing the Breakout
• Wiring the Breakout to the Feather
• Required CircuitPython Libraries
• Code Example Additional Libraries
• CircuitPython Code Example
• Where to go from here
Python Wiring and Setup 32

• Wiring
• ILI9341 and HX-8357-based Displays
• ST7789 and ST7735-based Displays
• SSD1351-based Displays
• SSD1331-based Display
• Setup
• Python Installation of RGB Display Library
• DejaVu TTF Font
• Pillow Library
Python Usage 40
• Turning on the Backlight
• Displaying an Image
• Drawing Shapes and Text
• Displaying System Information

1.8" TFT Shield V2 53
• TFT Display
• Buttons & Joystick
• SD Card
• seesaw I2C Expander
Testing the Shield 56

• Open the Arduino Library manager
• 1.8" Shield with seesaw
• Displaying a Bitmap
CircuitPython Displayio Quickstart 60

• Preparing the Shield
• Required CircuitPython Libraries
• CircuitPython Code Example
• Where to go from here
Original V1 Shield 65
• Original V1.0 Shield
Assembling the Shield 67

• Cut the Header Sections
• Insert the Headers into an Arduino
• Add the Shield
• And Solder!
Reading the Joystick 70
Graphics Library 72
Troubleshooting 73
Downloads 74
• Files & Datasheets
• Breakout Schematic
• Breakout Fabrication print
• Shield v2 Schematic & Fab Print
• Shield V1 Schematic & Fab Print

Overview
This tutorial is for our 1.8" diagonal TFT display. It comes packaged as a breakout or
as an Arduino shield. Both styles have a microSD interface for storing files and
images. These are both great ways to add a small, colorful and bright display to any
project. Since the display uses 4-wire SPI to communicate and has its own pixel-
addressable frame buffer, it requires little memory and only a few pins. This makes it
ideal for use with small microcontrollers.
This display breakout comes with an EYESPI connector! This 18-pin 0.5mm pitch FPC
connector has a flip-top connector for using a flex cable to hook up your display. It

enables you to avoid soldering and get your display up off of the breadboard!
Consider it a sort of "STEMMA QT for displays" - a way to quickly connect and extend
display wiring that uses a lot of SPI pins. It also allows for communicating with
displays over longer distances. The EYESPI flex cables () are available in multiple
lengths to suit any project. This is especially useful for projects where you want your
display mounted separate from your microcontroller.
The shield version plugs directly into an Arduino with no wiring required. The
breakout version can be used with every kind of microcontroller.
The 1.8" display has 128x160 color pixels. Unlike the low cost "Nokia 6110" and similar
LCD displays, which are CSTN type and thus have poor color and slow refresh, this
display is a true TFT! The TFT driver (ST7735R) can display full 18-bit color (262,144
shades!). And the LCD will always come with the same driver chip so there's no
worries that your code will not work from one to the other.
Both boards have the TFT soldered on (it uses a delicate flex-circuit connector) as
well as a ultra-low-dropout 3.3V regulator and a 3/5V level shifter so you can use it
with 3.3V or 5V power and logic. These also include a microSD card holder so you
can easily load full color bitmaps from a FAT16/FAT32 formatted microSD card. And on
the Shield version, we've added a nifty 5-way joystick navigation switch!
You can pick up one of these displays in the Adafruit shop!

1.8" 18-bit color TFT breakout (http://adafru.it/358)
1.8" 18-bit Color TFT Shield (http://adafru.it/802)

1.8" TFT Breakout
This lovely little display breakout is the best way to add a small, colorful and bright
display to any project. Since the display uses 4-wire SPI to communicate and has its
own pixel-addressable frame buffer, it can be used with every kind of microcontroller.
Even a very small one with low memory and few pins available!
The 1.8" display has 128x160 color pixels. Unlike the low cost "Nokia 6110" and similar
LCD displays, which are CSTN type and thus have poor color and slow refresh, this
display is a true TFT! The TFT driver (ST7735R) can display full 18-bit color (262,144
shades!). And the LCD will always come with the same driver chip so there's no
worries that your code will not work from one to the other.
The breakout has the TFT display soldered on (it uses a delicate flex-circuit
connector) as well as a ultra-low-dropout 3.3V regulator and a 3/5V level shifter so
you can use it with 3.3V or 5V power and logic. We also had a little space so we
placed a microSD card holder so you can easily load full color bitmaps from a FAT16/
FAT32 formatted microSD card. The microSD card is not included, but you can pick
one up here (http://adafru.it/102).
This display breakout also features an 18-pin "EYESPI" standard FPC connector () with
flip-top connector. You can use an 18-pin 0.5mm pitch FPC cable () to connect to all
the GPIO pins for when you want to skip the soldering.

Pinouts
EYESPI
This display comes with an EYESPI connector, which is an 18pin 0.5mm pitch
connector that allows you to use a flex cable to connect your display to your
microcontroller. For more details, visit the EYESPI page ().
This color display uses SPI to receive image data. That means you need at least 4
pins - clock, data in, tft cs and d/c. If you'd like to have SD card usage too, add

another 2 pins - data out and card cs. However, there's a couple other pins you may
want to use, lets go thru them all!
• Lite - this is the PWM input for the backlight control. Connect to 3-5VDC to turn
on the backlight. Connect to ground to turn it off. Or, you can PWM at any
frequency.
• MISO - this is the SPI Microcontroller In Serial Out pin, its used for the SD card. It
isn't used for the TFT display which is write-only
• SCLK - this is the SPI clock input pin
• MOSI - this is the SPI Microcontroller Out Serial In pin, it is used to send data
from the microcontroller to the SD card and/or TFT
• TFT_CS - this is the TFT SPI chip select pin
• Card CS - this is the SD card chip select, used if you want to read from the SD
card.
• D/C - this is the TFT SPI data or command selector pin
• RST - this is the TFT reset pin. Connect to ground to reset the TFT! Its best to
have this pin controlled by the library so the display is reset cleanly, but you can
also connect it to the Arduino Reset pin, which works for most cases.
• Vcc - this is the power pin, connect to 3-5VDC - it has reverse polarity protection
but try to wire it right!
• GND - this is the power and signal ground pin
For the level shifter we use the CD74HC4050 () which has a typical propagation delay
of ~10ns

EYESPI
This display now comes with an EYESPI connector. This connector allows you to
connect your display without soldering. There are EYESPI cables () available in
multiple lengths, which means you can find one to fit any project. This is especially
useful if your project requires the display to be freestanding, and not tied directly into
a breadboard. Inspired by the popularity of STEMMA QT, it provides plug-n-play for
displays!
The EYESPI Connector and Cables

The EYESPI connector is an 18 pin 0.5mm pitch FPC connector with a flip-top tab for
locking in the associated flex cable. It is designed to allow you to connect a display,
without needing to solder headers or wires to the display.
The EYESPI connector location on this display is indicated below.

The EYESPI cables are 18 pin 0.5mm pitch flex cables. They are ~9.6mm wide, and
designed to fit perfectly into the EYESPI connector. Adafruit currently offers EYESPI
cables in three different lengths: 50mm (), 100mm (), and 200mm ().
The EYESPI connector is designed to work with 18-pin 0.5mm pitch flex cables.
Other flex cables, such as Raspberry Pi camera flex cables, will not work!
Wiring Your EYESPI Display

Wiring your EYESPI display to a microcontroller via the EYESPI connector requires the
EYESPI breakout board and an EYESPI cable.
Adafruit EYESPI Breakout Board - 18 Pin

FPC Connector
Our most recent display breakouts have
come with a new feature: an 18-pin "EYE
SPI" standard FPC...
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5613

EYESPI Cable - 18 Pin 100mm long Flex
PCB (FPC) A-B type
Connect this to that when a 18-pin FPC
connector is needed. This 25 cm long
cable is made of a flexible PCB. It's A-B
style which means that pin one on one
side will match...
The following example shows how to connect the 1.8" TFT Display Breakout to a
Feather RP2040 using the EYESPI breakout board.
Connect the following Feather pins to the associated EYESPI breakout pins:
breakout Vin to Feather 3.3V (red wire)

breakout Lite to Feather 3.3V (yellow wire)
breakout Gnd to Feather GND (black wire)
breakout SCK to Feather SCK (grey wire)
breakout MISO to Feather MI (green wire)
breakout MOSI to Feather MO (purple
wire)
breakout TCS to Feather D5 (blue wire)
breakout DC to Feather D6 (orange wire)
breakout RST to Feather D9 (cyan wire)
breakout SDCS to Feather D10 (pink wire)
Finally, connect your display EYESPI connector to the breakout EYESPI connector usin
g an EYESPI cable. For details on using the EYESPI connector properly, visit Plugging
in an EYESPI Cable ().
EYESPI Pins
Though there are 18 pins available on the EYESPI connector, many displays do not
use all available pins. This display requires the following pins:
• Vin - This is the power pin. To power the board (and thus your display), connect
to the same power as the logic level of your microcontroller, e.g. for a 3V micro
like a Feather, use 3V, and for a 5V micro like an Arduino, use 5V.
• Lite - This is the PWM input for the backlight control. It is by default pulled high
(backlight on), however, you can PWM at any frequency or pull down to turn the
backlight off.

• Gnd - This is common ground for power and logic.
• MISO - This is the SPI MISO (Microcontroller In / Serial Out) pin. It's used for the
SD card. It isn't used for the display because it's write-only. It is 3.3V logic out
(but can be read by 5V logic).
• MOSI - This is the SPI MOSI (Microcontroller Out / Serial In) pin. It is used to send
data from the microcontroller to the SD card and/or display.
• SCK - This is the SPI clock input pin.
• TCS - This is the TFT SPI chip select pin.
• RST - This is the display reset pin. Connecting to ground resets the display! It's
best to have this pin controlled by the library so the display is reset cleanly, but
you can also connect it to the microcontroller's Reset pin, which works for most
cases. Often, there is an automatic-reset chip on the display which will reset it
on power-up, making this connection unnecessary in that case.
• DC - This is the display SPI data/command selector pin.
• SDCS - This is the SD card chip select pin. This pin is required for
communicating with the SD card holder onboard the connected display.
Plugging in an EYESPI Cable
You can connect an EYESPI compatible display to the EYESPI breakout board using
an EYESPI cable. An EYESPI cable is an 18 pin flexible PCB (FPC). The FPC can only
be connected properly in one orientation, so be sure to follow the steps below to
ensure that your display and breakout are plugged in properly.

Each EYESPI cable has blue stripes on
either end. On the other side of the cable,
underneath the blue stripe, are the
connector pins that make contact with the
FPC connector pins on the display or
breakout.
To begin inserting an EYESPI cable to an

FPC connector, gently lift the FPC
connector black latch up.
Then, insert the EYESPI cable into the

open FPC connector by sliding the cable
into the connector. You want to see the
blue stripe facing up towards you. This
inserts the cable pins into the FPC
connector.

To secure the cable, lower the FPC
connector latch onto the EYESPI cable.
Repeat this process for the FPC connector

on your display. Again, ensure that the
blue stripe on either end of the cable is
facing up.
Breakout Assembly

Prepare the header strip:
Cut the strip to length if necessary. It will
be easier to solder if you insert it into a
breadboard - long pins down
Add the breakout board:

Place the breakout board over the pins so
that the short pins poke through the
breakout pads

And Solder!
Be sure to solder all pins for reliable
electrical contact.
(For tips on soldering, be sure to check out

our Guide to Excellent Soldering ()).
You're done! Check your solder joints

visually and continue onto the next steps
Breakout Wiring & Test

There are two ways to wire up these displays - one is a more flexible method (you can
use any pins on the Arduino) and the other is much faster (4-8x faster, but you are
required to use the hardware SPI pins) We will begin by showing how to use the faster
method, you can always change the pins later for flexible 'software SPI'

Wiring up the display in SPI mode is pretty easy as there's not that many pins! We'll be
using hardware SPI, but you can also use software SPI (any pins) later. Start by
connecting the power pins
• 3-5V Vin connects to the Arduino 5V pin - red wires

• GND connects to Arduino ground - black wires
• CLK connects to SPI clock. On Arduino Uno/Duemilanove/328-based, thats Digit
al 13. On Mega's, its Digital 52 and on Leonardo/Due its ICSP-3 (See SPI
Connections for more details ()) - this is the orange wire
• MOSI connects to SPI MOSI. On Arduino Uno/Duemilanove/328-based, thats Dig
ital 11. On Mega's, its Digital 51 and on Leonardo/Due its ICSP-4 (See SPI
Connections for more details ()) - this is the white wire
• CS connects to our SPI Chip Select pin. We'll be using Digital 10 but you can
later change this to any pin - this is the yellow wire
• RST connects to our TFT reset pin. We'll be using Digital 9 but you can later
change this pin too - this is the blue wire
• D/C connects to our SPI data/command select pin. We'll be using Digital 8 but
you can later change this pin too - this is the green wire
Install Adafruit ST7735 TFT Library

We have example code ready to go for use with these TFTs. It's written for Arduino,
which should be portable to any microcontroller by adapting the C++ source.

Three libraries need to be installed using the Arduino Library Manager…this is the
preferred and modern way. From the Arduino “Sketch” menu, select “Include Library”
then “Manage Libraries…”
Search for and install the Adafruit GFX library:
And the Adafruit ST7735 library:
If using an older version of the Arduino IDE (pre-1.8.10), also locate and install the Adaf
ruit_BusIO library (newer versions do this automatically when using the Arduino
Library Manager).
If this is all unfamiliar, we have a tutorial introducing Arduino library concepts and
installation ().
Restart the IDE!

After restarting the Arduino software, you should see a new example folder called Ad
afruit_ST7735 and inside, an example called graphicstest.
Now upload the sketch to your Arduino. You may need to press the Reset button to
reset the arduino and TFT. You should see a collection of graphical tests draw out on
the TFT.
Once uploaded, the Arduino should perform all the test display procedures! If you're
not seeing anything - first check if you have the backlight on, if the backlight is not lit

something is wrong with the power/backlight wiring. If the backlight is lit but you see
nothing on the display make sure you're using our suggested wiring.
Changing Pins
Now that you have it working, there's a few things you can do to change around the
pins.
If you're using Hardware SPI, the CLOCK and MOSI pins are 'fixed' and cant be
changed. But you can change to software SPI, which is a bit slower, and that lets you
pick any pins you like. Find these lines:
// Option 1 (recommended): must use the hardware SPI pins

// (for UNO thats sclk = 13 and sid = 11) and pin 10 must be
// an output. This is much faster - also required if you want
// to use the microSD card (see the image drawing example)
Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_RST);
// Option 2: use any pins but a little slower!

#define TFT_SCLK 13 // set these to be whatever pins you like!
#define TFT_MOSI 11 // set these to be whatever pins you like!
//Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_MOSI, TFT_SCLK,
TFT_RST);
Comment out option 1, and uncomment option 2. Then you can change the TFT_ pins
to whatever pins you'd like!
You can also save a pin by setting
#define TFT_RST 9
to
#define TFT_RST -1
and connecting the RST line to the Arduino Reset pin. That way the Arduino will auto-
reset the TFT as well.

Displaying Bitmaps
In this example, we'll show how to display a 128x160 pixel full color bitmap from a
microSD card.
We have an example sketch in the library showing how to display full color bitmap
images stored on an SD card. You'll need a microSD card such as this one (http://
adafru.it/102).
It's really easy to draw bitmaps. We have a library for it, Adafruit_ImageReader, which
can be installed through the Arduino Library Manager (Sketch→Include
Library→Manage Libraries…). Enter “imageread” in the search field and the library is
easy to spot:

You'll also need an image. We suggest starting with this bitmap of a parrot.
Download parrot.bmp
If you want to later use your own image, use an image editing tool and crop your
image to no larger than 160 pixels high and 128 pixels wide. Save it as a 24-bit color B
MP file - it must be 24-bit color format to work, even if it was originally a 16-bit color
image - because of the way BMPs are stored and displayed!
Copy the parrot.bmp to the microSD card and insert it into the micro SD card holder
on your shield or breakout board.
Breakout Wiring
Shield users can skip directly to the "Example Sketch" section.
Wire up the TFT as described on the wiring & test page and add the two wires for
talking to the SD card. Connect CARD_CS (the unconnected pin in the middle) to
digital pin 4 (you can change this later to any pin you want). Connect MISO (second
from the right) to the Arduino's hardware SPI MISO pin. For Classic arduinos, this is
pin 12. For Mega's this is pin 50. You can't change the MISO pin, it's fixed in the chip
hardware.

Example Sketch
If you have the breakout, open

the File→examples→Adafruit ImageReader
Library→BreakoutST7735 -
160x128 example.
If you have the shield, open

the File→examples→Adafruit ImageReader
Library→ShieldST7735 example.
Now upload the example sketch to the Arduino. It should display the parrot image. If
you have any problems, check the serial console for any messages such as not being
able to initialize the microSD card or not finding the image.

CircuitPython Displayio Quickstart
You will need a board capable of running CircuitPython such as the Metro M0 Express
or the Metro M4 Express. You can also use boards such as the Feather M0 Express or
the Feather M4 Express. We recommend either the Metro M4 or the Feather M4
Express because it's much faster and works better for driving a display. For this guide,
we will be using a Feather M4 Express. The steps should be about the same for the
Feather M0 Express or either of the Metros. If you haven't already, be sure to check
out our Feather M4 Express () guide.
Adafruit Feather M4 Express - Featuring

ATSAMD51
It's what you've been waiting for, the
Feather M4 Express featuring ATSAMD51.
This Feather is fast like a swift, smart like
an owl, strong like a ox-bird (it's half ox,...
Preparing the Breakout

Before using the TFT Breakout, you will need to solder the headers or some wires to
it. Be sure to check out the Adafruit Guide To Excellent Soldering (). After that the
breakout should be ready to go.
Wiring the Breakout to the Feather

• 3-5V VCC connects to the Feather 3V pin
• GND connects toFeather ground
• SCK connects to SPI clock. On the Feather that's SCK.
• MISO connects to SPI MISO. On the Feather that's MI

• MOSI connects to SPI MOSI. On the Feather that's MO
• TFT_CS connects to our SPI Chip Select pin. We'll be using Digital 5 but you can
later change this to any pin
• D/C connects to our SPI data/command select pin. We'll be using Digital 6 but
you can later change this pin too.
• RESET connects to our reset pin. We'll be using Digital 9 but you can later
change this pin too.
• LITE connects to the Feather 3V pin. This is the only display that this pin is
required to be connected or the backlight won't work.
Download Fritzing Object
Required CircuitPython Libraries

To use this display with displayio , there is only one required library.
Adafruit_CircuitPython_ST7735R
First, make sure you are running the latest version of Adafruit CircuitPython () for your
board.
Next, you'll need to install the necessary libraries to use the hardware--carefully
follow the steps to find and install these libraries from Adafruit's CircuitPython library
bundle (). Our introduction guide has a great page on how to install the library
bundle () for both express and non-express boards.

Remember for non-express boards, you'll need to manually install the necessary
libraries from the bundle:
• adafruit_st7735r
Before continuing make sure your board's lib folder or root filesystem has the adafruit
_st7735r file copied over.
Code Example Additional Libraries

For the Code Example, you will need an additional library. We decided to make use of
a library so the code didn't get overly complicated.
Adafruit_CircuitPython_Display_Text
Go ahead and install this in the same manner as the driver library by copying the adaf
ruit_display_text folder over to the lib folder on your CircuitPython device.
CircuitPython Code Example

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2021 ladyada for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
"""
This test will initialize the display using displayio and draw a solid green
background, a smaller purple rectangle, and some yellow text.
"""
import board
import terminalio
import displayio
from adafruit_display_text import label
from adafruit_st7735r import ST7735R
# Release any resources currently in use for the displays

displayio.release_displays()
spi = board.SPI()
tft_cs = board.D5
tft_dc = board.D6
display_bus = displayio.FourWire(
spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs, reset=board.D9
)
display = ST7735R(display_bus, width=160, height=128, rotation=90, bgr=True)
# Make the display context

splash = displayio.Group()
display.show(splash)
color_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(160, 128, 1)

color_palette = displayio.Palette(1)

color_palette[0] = 0x00FF00 # Bright Green
bg_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(color_bitmap, pixel_shader=color_palette, x=0, y=0)

splash.append(bg_sprite)
# Draw a smaller inner rectangle

inner_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(150, 118, 1)
inner_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
inner_palette[0] = 0xAA0088 # Purple
inner_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(inner_bitmap, pixel_shader=inner_palette, x=5,
y=5)
splash.append(inner_sprite)
# Draw a label
text_group = displayio.Group(scale=2, x=11, y=64)
text = "Hello World!"
text_area = label.Label(terminalio.FONT, text=text, color=0xFFFF00)
text_group.append(text_area) # Subgroup for text scaling
splash.append(text_group)
while True:
pass
Let's take a look at the sections of code one by one. We start by importing the board
so that we can initialize SPI , displayio , terminalio for the font, a label , and
the adafruit_st7735r driver.
import board
import displayio
import terminalio
from adafruit_display_text import label
from adafruit_st7735r import ST7735R<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit
& Save To Grepper"></div><div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit &
Save To Grepper"></div>
Next we release any previously used displays. This is important because if the
Feather is reset, the display pins are not automatically released and this makes them
available for use again.
displayio.release_displays()<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save

To Grepper"></div><div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div>
Next, we set the SPI object to the board's SPI with the easy shortcut
function board.SPI() . By using this function, it finds the SPI module and initializes
using the default SPI parameters.
spi = board.SPI()
tft_cs = board.D5
tft_dc = board.D6<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div><div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div>
In the next line, we set the display bus to FourWire which makes use of the SPI bus.

display_bus = displayio.FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs,
reset=board.D9)<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div>
Finally, we initialize the driver with a width of 160 and a height of 128. If we stopped at
this point and ran the code, we would have a terminal that we could type at and have
the screen update. Because we want to use the display horizontally and the default
orientation is vertical, we rotate it 90 degrees. One other parameter that we provide
is bgr=True and the reason for this is that the color ordering of certain displays is
Blue, Green, Red rather than the usual Red, Green, Blue. It tell displayio the correct
color ordering for this particular display.

<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To Grepper"></div><div
class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To Grepper"></div>
Next we create a background splash image. We do this by creating a group that we

can add elements to and adding that group to the display. In this example, we are
limiting the maximum number of elements to 10, but this can be increased if you
would like. The display will automatically handle updating the group.
splash = displayio.Group(max_size=10)
display.show(splash)<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div>
Next we create a Bitmap which is like a canvas that we can draw on. In this case we
are creating the Bitmap to be the same size as the screen, but only have one color.
The Bitmaps can currently handle up to 256 different colors. We create a Palette with
one color and set that color to 0x00FF00 which happens to be green. Colors are

Hexadecimal values in the format of RRGGBB. Even though the Bitmaps can only
handle 256 colors at a time, you get to define what those 256 different colors are.
color_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(160, 128, 1)

color_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
color_palette[0] = 0x00FF00 # Bright Green<div class="open_grepper_editor"
title="Edit & Save To Grepper"></div><div class="open_grepper_editor"
title="Edit & Save To Grepper"></div>
With all those pieces in place, we create a TileGrid by passing the bitmap and palette
and draw it at (0, 0) which represents the display's upper left.
bg_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(color_bitmap,
pixel_shader=color_palette,
x=0, y=0)
splash.append(bg_sprite)<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div>
Next we will create a smaller purple square. The easiest way to do this is the create a
new bitmap that is a little smaller than the full screen with a single color and place it in
a specific location. In this case, we will create a bitmap that is 5 pixels smaller on each
side. The screen is 160x128, so we'll want to subtract 10 from each of those numbers.
We'll also want to place it at the position (5, 5) so that it ends up centered.
inner_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(150, 118, 1)

inner_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
inner_palette[0] = 0xAA0088 # Purple
inner_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(inner_bitmap,
pixel_shader=inner_palette,
x=5, y=5)
splash.append(inner_sprite)<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save
To Grepper"></div><div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div>

Since we are adding this after the first square, it's automatically drawn on top. Here's
what it looks like now.
Next let's add a label that says "Hello World!" on top of that. We're going to use the
built-in Terminal Font and scale it up by a factor of two. To scale the label only, we will
make use of a subgroup, which we will then add to the main group.
Labels are centered vertically, so we'll place it at 64 for the Y coordinate, and around
11 pixels make it appear to be centered horizontally, but if you want to change the
text, change this to whatever looks good to you. Let's go with some yellow text, so
we'll pass it a value of 0xFFFF00 .
text_group = displayio.Group(max_size=10, scale=2, x=11, y=64)

text_area = label.Label(terminalio.FONT, text=text, color=0xFFFF00)
text_group.append(text_area) # Subgroup for text scaling
splash.append(text_group)<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To
Grepper"></div>
Finally, we place an infinite loop at the end so that the graphics screen remains in
place and isn't replaced by a terminal.
while True:
pass<div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To Grepper"></
div><div class="open_grepper_editor" title="Edit & Save To Grepper"></div>

Where to go from here
Be sure to check out this excellent guide to CircuitPython Display Support Using
displayio ()
Python Wiring and Setup

Wiring
It's easy to use display breakouts with Python and the Adafruit CircuitPython RGB
Display () module. This module allows you to easily write Python code to control the
display.
We'll cover how to wire the display to your Raspberry Pi. First assemble your display.
Since there's dozens of Linux computers/boards you can use we will show wiring for
Raspberry Pi. For other platforms, please visit the guide for CircuitPython on Linux to
see whether your platform is supported ().
Connect the display as shown below to your Raspberry Pi.
Note this is not a kernel driver that will let you have the console appear on the
TFT. However, this is handy when you can't install an fbtft driver, and want to use
the TFT purely from 'user Python' code!

You can only use this technique with Linux/computer devices that have hardware
SPI support, and not all single board computers have an SPI device so check
before continuing
ILI9341 and HX-8357-based Displays

2.2" Display
• CLK connects to SPI clock. On the Raspberry Pi, thats SLCK
• MOSI connects to SPI MOSI. On the Raspberry Pi, thats also MOSI
• CS connects to our SPI Chip Select pin. We'll be using CE0
• D/C connects to our SPI Chip Select pin. We'll be using GPIO 25, but this can be
changed later.
• RST connects to our Reset pin. We'll be using GPIO 24 but this can be changed
later as well.
• Vin connects to the Raspberry Pi's 3V pin
• GND connects to the Raspberry Pi's ground
Download the Fritzing Diagram
2.4", 2.8", 3.2", and 3.5" Displays
These displays are set up to use the 8-bit data lines by default. We want to use them
for SPI. To do that, you'll need to either solder bridge some pads on the back or

connect the appropriate IM lines to 3.3V with jumper wires. Check the back of your
display for the correct solder pads or IM lines to put it in SPI mode.

changed later.
later as well.
These larger displays are set to use 8-bit data lines by default and may need to
be modified to use SPI.
ST7789 and ST7735-based Displays

1.3", 1.54", and 2.0" IPS TFT Display
later.

changed later as well.
0.96", 1.14", and 1.44" Displays

later.

1.8" Display
later.
• LITE connects to the Raspberry Pi's 3V pin. This can be used to separately
control the backlight.

SSD1351-based Displays
1.27" and 1.5" OLED Displays
later.

SSD1331-based Display
0.96" OLED Display
changed later.
later as well.

Setup
You'll need to install the Adafruit_Blinka library that provides the CircuitPython
support in Python. This may also require enabling SPI on your platform and verifying
you are running Python 3. Since each platform is a little different, and Linux changes
often, please visit the CircuitPython on Linux guide to get your computer ready ()!
If you have previously installed the Kernel Driver with the PiTFT Easy Setup, you
will need to remove it first in order to run this example.
Python Installation of RGB Display Library

Once that's done, from your command line run the following command:
• sudo pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-rgb-display
If your default Python is version 3 you may need to run 'pip' instead. Just make sure
you aren't trying to use CircuitPython on Python 2.x, it isn't supported!

If that complains about pip3 not being installed, then run this first to install it:
• sudo apt-get install python3-pip
DejaVu TTF Font

Raspberry Pi usually comes with the DejaVu font already installed, but in case it didn't,
you can run the following to install it:
• sudo apt-get install fonts-dejavu
This package was previously calls ttf-dejavu, so if you are running an older version of
Raspberry Pi OS, it may be called that.
Pillow Library
We also need PIL, the Python Imaging Library, to allow graphics and using text with
custom fonts. There are several system libraries that PIL relies on, so installing via a
package manager is the easiest way to bring in everything:
• sudo apt-get install python3-pil
If you installed the PIL through PIP, you may need to install some additional libraries:
• sudo apt-get install libopenjp2-7 libtiff5 libatlas-base-dev
That's it. You should be ready to go.
Python Usage
If you have previously installed the Kernel Driver with the PiTFT Easy Setup, you
will need to remove it first in order to run this example.
Now that you have everything setup, we're going to look over three different
examples. For the first, we'll take a look at automatically scaling and cropping an
image and then centering it on the display.

Turning on the Backlight
On some displays, the backlight is controlled by a separate pin such as the 1.3" TFT
Bonnet with Joystick. On such displays, running the below code will likely result in the
display remaining black. To turn on the backlight, you will need to add a small snippet
of code. If your backlight pin number differs, be sure to change it in the code:
# Turn on the Backlight

backlight = DigitalInOut(board.D26)
backlight.switch_to_output()
backlight.value = True
Displaying an Image
Here's the full code to the example. We will go through it section by section to help
you better understand what is going on. Let's start by downloading an image of
Blinka. This image has enough border to allow resizing and cropping with a variety of
display sizes and rations to still look good.
Make sure you save it as blinka.jpg and place it in the same folder as your script.
Here's the code we'll be loading onto the Raspberry Pi. We'll go over the interesting
parts.

"""
Be sure to check the learn guides for more usage information.
This example is for use on (Linux) computers that are using CPython with
Adafruit Blinka to support CircuitPython libraries. CircuitPython does
not support PIL/pillow (python imaging library)!
Author(s): Melissa LeBlanc-Williams for Adafruit Industries

"""
import digitalio
import board
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
from adafruit_rgb_display import ili9341
from adafruit_rgb_display import st7789 # pylint: disable=unused-import
from adafruit_rgb_display import hx8357 # pylint: disable=unused-import
from adafruit_rgb_display import ssd1351 # pylint: disable=unused-import
# Configuration for CS and DC pins (these are PiTFT defaults):

cs_pin = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.CE0)
dc_pin = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D25)
reset_pin = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D24)
# Config for display baudrate (default max is 24mhz):

BAUDRATE = 24000000
# Setup SPI bus using hardware SPI:

spi = board.SPI()
# pylint: disable=line-too-long
# Create the display:
# disp = st7789.ST7789(spi, rotation=90, # 2.0" ST7789
# disp = st7789.ST7789(spi, height=240, y_offset=80, rotation=180, # 1.3", 1.54"
ST7789
# disp = st7789.ST7789(spi, rotation=90, width=135, height=240, x_offset=53,
y_offset=40, # 1.14" ST7789
# disp = st7789.ST7789(spi, rotation=90, width=172, height=320, x_offset=34, #
1.47" ST7789
1.9" ST7789
# disp = hx8357.HX8357(spi, rotation=180, # 3.5" HX8357
# disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=90, # 1.8" ST7735R
# disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=270, height=128, x_offset=2, y_offset=3, #
1.44" ST7735R
# disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=90, bgr=True, width=80, # 0.96" MiniTFT
Rev A ST7735R
# disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=90, invert=True, width=80, # 0.96" MiniTFT
Rev B ST7735R
# x_offset=26, y_offset=1,
# disp = ssd1351.SSD1351(spi, rotation=180, # 1.5" SSD1351
# disp = ssd1351.SSD1351(spi, height=96, y_offset=32, rotation=180, # 1.27" SSD1351
disp = ili9341.ILI9341(
spi,
rotation=90, # 2.2", 2.4", 2.8", 3.2" ILI9341
cs=cs_pin,
dc=dc_pin,
rst=reset_pin,
baudrate=BAUDRATE,
)
# pylint: enable=line-too-long
# Create blank image for drawing.

# Make sure to create image with mode 'RGB' for full color.
if disp.rotation % 180 == 90:
height = disp.width # we swap height/width to rotate it to landscape!
width = disp.height
else:
width = disp.width # we swap height/width to rotate it to landscape!
height = disp.height
image = Image.new("RGB", (width, height))
# Get drawing object to draw on image.

draw = ImageDraw.Draw(image)

# Draw a black filled box to clear the image.
draw.rectangle((0, 0, width, height), outline=0, fill=(0, 0, 0))
disp.image(image)
image = Image.open("blinka.jpg")
# Scale the image to the smaller screen dimension

image_ratio = image.width / image.height
screen_ratio = width / height
if screen_ratio < image_ratio:
scaled_width = image.width * height // image.height
scaled_height = height
else:
scaled_width = width
scaled_height = image.height * width // image.width
image = image.resize((scaled_width, scaled_height), Image.BICUBIC)
# Crop and center the image

x = scaled_width // 2 - width // 2
y = scaled_height // 2 - height // 2
image = image.crop((x, y, x + width, y + height))
# Display image.
disp.image(image)
So we start with our usual imports including a couple of Pillow modules and the
display drivers. That is followed by defining a few pins here. The reason we chose
these is because they allow you to use the same code with the PiTFT if you chose to
do so.
import digitalio
import board
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
import adafruit_rgb_display.ili9341 as ili9341
import adafruit_rgb_display.st7789 as st7789
import adafruit_rgb_display.hx8357 as hx8357
import adafruit_rgb_display.st7735 as st7735
import adafruit_rgb_display.ssd1351 as ssd1351
import adafruit_rgb_display.ssd1331 as ssd1331
# Configuration for CS and DC pins

Next we'll set the baud rate from the default 24 MHz so that it works on a variety of
displays. The exception to this is the SSD1351 driver, which will automatically limit it to
16MHz even if you pass 24MHz. We'll set up out SPI bus and then initialize the display.
We wanted to make these examples work on as many displays as possible with very
few changes. The ILI9341 display is selected by default. For other displays, go ahead
and comment out these lines:
spi,
rotation=90, # 2.2", 2.4", 2.8", 3.2" ILI9341

and uncomment the line appropriate for your display and possibly the line below in
the case of longer initialization sequences. The displays have a rotation property so
that it can be set in just one place.
#disp = st7789.ST7789(spi, rotation=90, # 2.0" ST7789

#disp = st7789.ST7789(spi, height=240, y_offset=80, rotation=180, # 1.3", 1.54"
ST7789
#disp = st7789.ST7789(spi, rotation=90, width=135, height=240, x_offset=53,
y_offset=40, # 1.14" ST7789
#disp = hx8357.HX8357(spi, rotation=180, # 3.5" HX8357
#disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=90, # 1.8" ST7735R
#disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=270, height=128, x_offset=2, y_offset=3, #
1.44" ST7735R
#disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=90, bgr=True, width=80, # 0.96" MiniTFT
Rev A ST7735R
#disp = st7735.ST7735R(spi, rotation=90, invert=True, width=80, # 0.96" MiniTFT
Rev B ST7735R
#x_offset=26, y_offset=1,#disp = ssd1351.SSD1351(spi,
rotation=180, # 1.5" SSD1351
#disp = ssd1351.SSD1351(spi, height=96, y_offset=32, rotation=180, # 1.27" SSD1351
#disp = ssd1331.SSD1331(spi, rotation=180, # 0.96" SSD1331
spi,
rotation=90, # 2.2", 2.4", 2.8", 3.2" ILI9341
cs=cs_pin,
dc=dc_pin,
rst=reset_pin,
baudrate=BAUDRATE
)
Next we read the current rotation setting of the display and if it is 90 or 270 degrees,
we need to swap the width and height for our calculations, otherwise we just grab the
width and height. We will create an image with our dimensions and use that to create
a draw object. The draw object will have all of our drawing functions.

width = disp.height
else:
image = Image.new('RGB', (width, height))

Next we clear whatever is on the screen by drawing a black rectangle. This isn't
strictly necessary since it will be overwritten by the image, but it kind of sets the
stage.

disp.image(image)

Next we open the Blinka image, which we've named blinka.jpg, which assumes it is in
the same directory that you are running the script from. Feel free to change it if it
doesn't match your configuration.
image = Image.open("blinka.jpg")
Here's where it starts to get interesting. We want to scale the image so that it matches
either the width or height of the display, depending on which is smaller, so that we
have some of the image to chop off when we crop it. So we start by calculating the
width to height ration of both the display and the image. If the height is the closer of
the dimensions, we want to match the image height to the display height and let it be
a bit wider than the display. Otherwise, we want to do the opposite.
Once we've figured out how we're going to scale it, we pass in the new dimensions
and using a Bicubic rescaling method, we reassign the newly rescaled image back to
image . Pillow has quite a few different methods to choose from, but Bicubic does a
great job and is reasonably fast.
# Scale the image to the smaller screen dimension

image_ratio = image.width / image.height
screen_ratio = width / height
if screen_ratio < image_ratio:
scaled_width = image.width * height // image.height
scaled_height = height
else:
scaled_width = width
scaled_height = image.height * width // image.width
image = image.resize((scaled_width, scaled_height), Image.BICUBIC)
Next we want to figure the starting x and y points of the image where we want to
begin cropping it so that it ends up centered. We do that by using a standard
centering function, which is basically requesting the difference of the center of the
display and the center of the image. Just like with scaling, we replace the image
variable with the newly cropped image.
# Crop and center the image

x = scaled_width // 2 - width // 2
y = scaled_height // 2 - height // 2
image = image.crop((x, y, x + width, y + height))
Finally, we take our image and display it. At this point, the image should have the
exact same dimensions at the display and fill it completely.
disp.image(image)

Drawing Shapes and Text
In the next example, we'll take a look at drawing shapes and text. This is very similar
to the displayio example, but it uses Pillow instead. Here's the code for that.

"""
This demo will draw a few rectangles onto the screen along with some text
on top of that.
Author(s): Melissa LeBlanc-Williams for Adafruit Industries

"""
import digitalio
import board
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
# First define some constants to allow easy resizing of shapes.

BORDER = 20
FONTSIZE = 24


BAUDRATE = 24000000

spi = board.SPI()
ST7789
y_offset=40, # 1.14" ST7789
1.47" ST7789
1.9" ST7789
1.44" ST7735R
Rev A ST7735R
Rev B ST7735R
spi,
rotation=90, # 2.2", 2.4", 2.8", 3.2" ILI9341
cs=cs_pin,
dc=dc_pin,
rst=reset_pin,
baudrate=BAUDRATE,
)

width = disp.height
else:

# Draw a green filled box as the background

draw.rectangle((0, 0, width, height), fill=(0, 255, 0))
disp.image(image)
# Draw a smaller inner purple rectangle

draw.rectangle(
(BORDER, BORDER, width - BORDER - 1, height - BORDER - 1), fill=(170, 0, 136)
)
# Load a TTF Font

font = ImageFont.truetype("/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf",
FONTSIZE)
# Draw Some Text

(font_width, font_height) = font.getsize(text)
draw.text(

(width // 2 - font_width // 2, height // 2 - font_height // 2),
text,
font=font,
fill=(255, 255, 0),
)
# Display image.
disp.image(image)
Just like in the last example, we'll do our imports, but this time we're including the
ImageFont Pillow module because we'll be drawing some text this time.
import digitalio
import board
Next we'll define some parameters that we can tweak for various displays. The BORDE
R will be the size in pixels of the green border between the edge of the display and
the inner purple rectangle. The FONTSIZE will be the size of the font in points so that
we can adjust it easily for different displays.
BORDER = 20
FONTSIZE = 24
Next, just like in the previous example, we will set up the display, setup the rotation,
and create a draw object. If you have are using a different display than the ILI9341, go
ahead and adjust your initializer as explained in the previous example. After that, we
will setup the background with a green rectangle that takes up the full screen. To get
green, we pass in a tuple that has our Red, Green, and Blue color values in it in that
order which can be any integer from 0 to 255 .
draw.rectangle((0, 0, width, height), fill=(0, 255, 0))

disp.image(image)
Next we will draw an inner purple rectangle. This is the same color value as our
example in displayio quickstart, except the hexadecimal values have been converted
to decimal. We use the BORDER parameter to calculate the size and position that we
want to draw the rectangle.
draw.rectangle((BORDER, BORDER, width - BORDER - 1, height - BORDER - 1),

fill=(170, 0, 136))
Next we'll load a TTF font. The DejaVuSans.ttf font should come preloaded on
your Pi in the location in the code. We also make use of the FONTSIZE parameter
that we discussed earlier.

# Load a TTF Font
font = ImageFont.truetype('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf',
FONTSIZE)
Now we draw the text Hello World onto the center of the display. You may recognize
the centering calculation was the same one we used to center crop the image in the
previous example. In this example though, we get the font size values using the gets
ize() function of the font object.
# Draw Some Text

(font_width, font_height) = font.getsize(text)
draw.text((width//2 - font_width//2, height//2 - font_height//2),
text, font=font, fill=(255, 255, 0))
Finally, just like before, we display the image.
disp.image(image)
Displaying System Information

In this last example we'll take a look at getting the system information and displaying
it. This can be very handy for system monitoring. Here's the code for that example:

"""
This will show some Linux Statistics on the attached display. Be sure to adjust
to the display you have connected. Be sure to check the learn guides for more
usage information.

"""
import time
import subprocess
import digitalio
import board


BAUDRATE = 24000000

spi = board.SPI()
ST7789
y_offset=40, # 1.14" ST7789
1.47" ST7789
1.9" ST7789
1.44" ST7735R
Rev A ST7735R
Rev B ST7735R
spi,
rotation=90, # 2.2", 2.4", 2.8", 3.2" ILI9341
cs=cs_pin,
dc=dc_pin,
rst=reset_pin,
baudrate=BAUDRATE,
)

width = disp.height
else:



disp.image(image)
# First define some constants to allow easy positioning of text.

padding = -2
x = 0
# Load a TTF font. Make sure the .ttf font file is in the
# same directory as the python script!
# Some other nice fonts to try: http://www.dafont.com/bitmap.php
font = ImageFont.truetype("/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf", 24)
while True:
draw.rectangle((0, 0, width, height), outline=0, fill=0)
# Shell scripts for system monitoring from here:

# https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/119126/command-to-display-memory-
usage-disk-usage-and-cpu-load
cmd = "hostname -I | cut -d' ' -f1"
IP = "IP: " + subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = "top -bn1 | grep load | awk '{printf \"CPU Load: %.2f\", $(NF-2)}'"
CPU = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = "free -m | awk 'NR==2{printf \"Mem: %s/%s MB %.2f%%\",
$3,$2,$3*100/$2 }'"
MemUsage = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = 'df -h | awk \'$NF=="/"{printf "Disk: %d/%d GB %s", $3,$2,$5}\''
Disk = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = "cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp | awk '{printf \"CPU Temp: %.
1f C\", $(NF-0) / 1000}'" # pylint: disable=line-too-long
Temp = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
# Write four lines of text.

y = padding
draw.text((x, y), IP, font=font, fill="#FFFFFF")
y += font.getsize(IP)[1]
draw.text((x, y), CPU, font=font, fill="#FFFF00")
y += font.getsize(CPU)[1]
draw.text((x, y), MemUsage, font=font, fill="#00FF00")
y += font.getsize(MemUsage)[1]
draw.text((x, y), Disk, font=font, fill="#0000FF")
y += font.getsize(Disk)[1]
draw.text((x, y), Temp, font=font, fill="#FF00FF")
# Display image.
disp.image(image)
time.sleep(0.1)
Just like the last example, we'll start by importing everything we imported, but we're
adding two more imports. The first one is time so that we can add a small delay and
the other is subprocess so we can gather some system information.
import time
import subprocess
import digitalio
import board

Next, just like in the first two examples, we will set up the display, setup the rotation,
and create a draw object. If you have are using a different display than the ILI9341, go
ahead and adjust your initializer as explained in the previous example.
Just like in the first example, we're going to draw a black rectangle to fill up the
screen. After that, we're going to set up a couple of constants to help with positioning
text. The first is the padding and that will be the Y-position of the top-most text and
the other is x which is the X-Position and represents the left side of the text.
# First define some constants to allow easy positioning of text.

padding = -2
x = 0
Next, we load a font just like in the second example.
font = ImageFont.truetype('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf', 24)
Now we get to the main loop and by using while True: , it will loop until Control+C
is pressed on the keyboard. The first item inside here, we clear the screen, but notice
that instead of giving it a tuple like before, we can just pass 0 and it will draw black.
draw.rectangle((0, 0, width, height), outline=0, fill=0)
Next, we run a few scripts using the subprocess function that get called to the
Operating System to get information. The in each command is passed through awk in
order to be formatted better for the display. By having the OS do the work, we don't
have to. These little scripts came from https://unix.stackexchange.com/
questions/119126/command-to-display-memory-usage-disk-usage-and-cpu-
load
cmd = "hostname -I | cut -d\' \' -f1"

IP = "IP: "+subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = "top -bn1 | grep load | awk '{printf \"CPU Load: %.2f\", $(NF-2)}'"
CPU = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = "free -m | awk 'NR==2{printf \"Mem: %s/%s MB %.2f%%\", $3,$2,$3*100/$2 }'"
MemUsage = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = "df -h | awk '$NF==\"/\"{printf \"Disk: %d/%d GB %s\", $3,$2,$5}'"
Disk = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
cmd = "cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp | awk \'{printf \"CPU Temp: %.1f
C\", $(NF-0) / 1000}\'" # pylint: disable=line-too-long
Temp = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True).decode("utf-8")
Now we display the information for the user. Here we use yet another way to pass
color information. We can pass it as a color string using the pound symbol, just like we

would with HTML. With each line, we take the height of the line using getsize()
and move the pointer down by that much.
y = padding
draw.text((x, y), IP, font=font, fill="#FFFFFF")
y += font.getsize(IP)[1]
draw.text((x, y), CPU, font=font, fill="#FFFF00")
y += font.getsize(CPU)[1]
draw.text((x, y), MemUsage, font=font, fill="#00FF00")
y += font.getsize(MemUsage)[1]
draw.text((x, y), Disk, font=font, fill="#0000FF")
y += font.getsize(Disk)[1]
draw.text((x, y), Temp, font=font, fill="#FF00FF")
Finally, we write all the information out to the display using disp.image() . Since we
are looping, we tell Python to sleep for 0.1 seconds so that the CPU never gets too
busy.
disp.image(image)
time.sleep(.1)
1.8" TFT Shield V2

Let's take a tour of the 1.8" TFT Shield

TFT Display
In the center is the 1.8" TFT display. This
display is full color (16-bit RGB), 128x160
pixels, and has a backlight. The display
receives data over SPI plus two pins:
SCK - SPI Clock

MOSI - SPI Data
Digital 10 - Chip Select
Digital 8 - Data/Command Select
The TFT reset is connected to the seesaw
chip. The backlight is also PWM controlled
by the seesaw chip. The 4 SPI+control
pins, however, must be controlled directly
by the Arduino

Buttons & Joystick
In addition of the display, you also get a
bunch of user-interface buttons.
In the top left is the Reset button, this will

reset the shield and Arduino when
pressed. It is connected directly to the
Reset pins
There are three buttons labeled A B C

below the TFT, these are connected to the
seesaw chip. You can read the values over
I2C
To the right of the TFT is a 5-way joystick.

It can be pushed up/down/left/right and
select (in). It is connected to the seesaw
chip, you can read the joystick over I2C
SD Card
The micro SD card slot can be used to

read/write data from any micro SD card
using the Arduino libraries. The SD card is
connected to the SPI pins as well as Digital
#4 for Chip Select
The SD card is not required for use, but it's

handy for storing images

seesaw I2C Expander
Instead of taking up a bunch of GPIO pins
to read the buttons and joystick, as well as
controlling the TFT backlight, we use an
I2C expander chip called the seesaw. It is
connected to the SDA/SCL pins and can
read/write pins with our library. This saves
a ton of pins and then you can always use
the I2C pins for other sensors, as long as
the address doesnt conflict
Don't forget! Since the seesaw chip is

used for the TFT backlight and reset, you
need to activate it even if you are not
reading the buttons or joystick.
Testing the Shield

You can test your assembled shield using the example code from the library.
Start by installing a bunch of libraries!
Open the Arduino Library manager
Install the Adafruit GFX Library

If using an older version of the Arduino IDE (pre-1.8.10), also locate and install the Adaf
ruit_BusIO library (newer versions do this automatically when using the Arduino
Library Manager).
Adafruit ST7735 Library
Adafruit seesaw Library
You can read more about installing libraries in our tutorial ().
Restart the Arduino IDE.
1.8" Shield with seesaw
If your shield looks like this, you have the

1.8" seesaw version (the most recent)
which will work with just about any/all
boards. For this version load up the
seesaw_shield18_test example

Upload to your microcontroller, and open the serial port watcher at 9600 baud:
The sketch waits until the serial port is

opened (you can make it auto-start once
you know things are working by removing
the while (!Serial); line
Check that the seesaw chip is detected,

you should see text display on the TFT
after a quick draw test.
If you don't have an SD card inserted, it

will fail to init the SD card, that's ok you
can continue with the test
Once you've gotten this far try pressing all the buttons on the board (except for
RESET) to activate the invert-blinking loop.
The graphics don't look identical to the below but you should still press all the
buttons as shown!

For more details about seesaw, check out our guide () - we made a nice wrapper for
the 1.8" TFT to control the backlight and read buttons but it still might be useful to
know the underlying protocol
Displaying a Bitmap
If you have parrot.bmp () stored on the SD card you will get a nice parrot display once
the buttons have all been pressed

CircuitPython Displayio Quickstart
You will need a Metro capable of running CircuitPython such as the Metro M0 Express
or the Metro M4 Express. We recommend the Metro M4 Express because it's much
faster and works better for driving a display. The steps should be about the same for
the Metro M0 Express. If you haven't already, be sure to check out our Adafruit Metro
M4 Express featuring ATSAMD51 () guide.
Adafruit Metro M4 feat. Microchip

ATSAMD51
Are you ready? Really ready? Cause here
comes the fastest, most powerful Metro
ever. The Adafruit Metro M4 featuring the
Microchip ATSAMD51. This...
You could use a Grand Central which also has an M4 Processor. For this board, be
sure to check out our Introducing the Adafruit Grand Central M4 Express () guide.
Adafruit Grand Central M4 Express

featuring the SAMD51
Are you ready? Really ready? Cause here
comes the Adafruit Grand Central
featuring the Microchip ATSAMD51. This
dev board is so big, it's not...
If you need WiFi capabilities for your project, you could also use the Metro M4 Airlift
Lite. For this board, be sure to check out our Adafruit Metro M4 Express AirLift ()
guide.

Adafruit Metro M4 Express AirLift (WiFi) -
Lite
Give your next project a lift with AirLift -
our witty name for the ESP32 co-
processor that graces this Metro M4. You
already know about the Adafruit Metro...
Preparing the Shield

Before using the TFT Shield, you will need to solder the headers on. Be sure to check
out the Adafruit Guide To Excellent Soldering (). After that the shield should be ready
to go.
Required CircuitPython Libraries

To use this display with displayio , there are a few required libraries. You will need
the display driver and since this is no ordinary display and has some additional
controls, you will also need the seesaw and busdevice libraries.
Adafruit_CircuitPython_BusDevice
Adafruit_CircuitPython_seesaw/
releases
Adafruit_CircuitPython_ST7735R
First, make sure you are running the latest version of Adafruit CircuitPython () for your
board.
Next, you'll need to install the necessary libraries to use the hardware--carefully
follow the steps to find and install these libraries from Adafruit's CircuitPython library
bundle (). Our introduction guide has a great page on how to install the library
bundle () for both express and non-express boards.

Remember for non-express boards, you'll need to manually install the necessary
libraries from the bundle:
• adafruit_st7735r
• adafruit_seesaw
• adafruit_bus_device
Before continuing make sure your board's lib folder or root filesystem has the adafruit
_st7735r, adafruit_seesaw and adafruit_bus_device files and folders copied over.
CircuitPython Code Example

"""
This example will test out the display on the 1.8" TFT Shield
"""
import time
import board
import displayio
from adafruit_seesaw.tftshield18 import TFTShield18
# Release any resources currently in use for the displays

ss = TFTShield18()
spi = board.SPI()
tft_cs = board.D10
tft_dc = board.D8
display_bus = displayio.FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs)
ss.tft_reset()
ss.set_backlight(True)
while True:
buttons = ss.buttons
if buttons.right:
print("Button RIGHT!")
if buttons.down:
print("Button DOWN!")
if buttons.left:
print("Button LEFT!")
if buttons.up:
print("Button UP!")
if buttons.select:
print("Button SELECT!")
if buttons.a:

print("Button A!")
if buttons.b:
print("Button B!")
if buttons.c:
print("Button C!")
time.sleep(0.001)
Let's take a look at the sections of code one by one. We start by importing time , so
we can pause, the board so that we can initialize SPI, displayio , the tftshield1
8 seesaw library, and the adafruit_ili9341 driver.
import time
import board
import displayio
from adafruit_seesaw.tftshield18 import TFTShield18
Next we release any previously used displays. This is important because if the Metro
is reset, the display pins are not automatically released and this makes them available
for use again.
We set up seesaw using the TFTShield18, which was written specifically for this shield
to make things very easy.
ss = TFTShield18()
Next, we set the SPI object to the board's SPI with the easy shortcut
function board.SPI() . By using this function, it finds the SPI module and initializes
using the default SPI parameters. Next we set the Chip Select and Data/Command
pins that will be used.
spi = board.SPI()
tft_cs = board.D10
tft_dc = board.D8
In the next line, we set the display bus to FourWire which makes use of the SPI bus.
display_bus = displayio.FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs)
Finally, we reset the display, initialize the driver with a width of 160 and a height of
128, and turn on the backlight. If we stopped at this point and ran the code, we would
have a terminal that we could type at and have the screen update.

ss.tft_reset()
ss.set_backlight(True)
Finally, we place an infinite loop at the end and constantly read the buttons. If a
button is detected as being pressed, a message specifies which one. Multiple buttons
can be pressed at the same time. We also provide an optional small delay to allow
you to adjust how quickly you want the buttons to read in case you want to debounce
the output.
while True:
buttons = ss.buttons
if buttons.right:
print("Button RIGHT!")
if buttons.down:
print("Button DOWN!")
if buttons.left:
print("Button LEFT!")
if buttons.up:
print("Button UP!")
if buttons.select:
print("Button SELECT!")
if buttons.a:
print("Button A!")
if buttons.b:
print("Button B!")
if buttons.c:
print("Button C!")

time.sleep(.001)
Now go ahead and run the code. Once it's running, try pushing a few buttons and see
what happens.
Where to go from here

Be sure to check out this excellent guide to CircuitPython Display Support Using
displayio ()
Original V1 Shield
Original V1.0 Shield
If your shield looks like this, you have the
original 1.8" TFT shield which does not
arduino_compatibles_lcds___displays_2013_05_03_IMG_1762-1024.jpg
have a helper seesaw chip
The shield uses the "Classic Arduino" SPI wiring and will perform best with Atmega
328-based Arduinos such as the Uno. It can work with other Arduinos but not very
well.
Load up the shieldtest demo

If you are using an Arduino UNO, Duemilanove or compatible with the ATmega328
chipset, you don't have to do anything! If you're using a Mega, Leonardo, Due or other
non-ATmega328 chipset, you'll have to make a modification
To use with the shield, modify the example code pin definitions as follows.
Find these lines:
// Option 1 (recommended): must use the hardware SPI pins

// (for UNO thats sclk = 13 and sid = 11) and pin 10 must be
// an output. This is much faster - also required if you want
// to use the microSD card (see the image drawing example)
// Option 2: use any pins but a little slower!

#define TFT_SCLK 13 // set these to be whatever pins you like!
#define TFT_MOSI 11 // set these to be whatever pins you like!
//Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_MOSI, TFT_SCLK,
TFT_RST);
This is only required for the V1 shield, the V2 shield uses the hardware SPI port
so it's not necessary to use software SPI and in fact it won't work!
The Example code has 2 options for defining the display object. Uno, Duemilanove an
d other Atmega 328-based processors can use the "Option 1" version of the
constructor for best performance:
Mega and Leonardo users should use the "Option 2" version of the constructor for
compatibility:
Adafruit_ST7735 tft = Adafruit_ST7735(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_MOSI, TFT_SCLK, TFT_RST);

Be sure to select only one option and comment out the other with a pair of //'s.
Now upload the sketch to see the graphical display!
Assembling the Shield
The shield comes with all surface mount parts pre-soldered. All that remains is to
install the headers!
Cut the Header Sections

Cut the breakaway header strip into
sections to fit the holes on the edge of the
shield. You will need 2 sections of 6-pins
and 2 sections of 8 pins.
You can use wire-cutters as shown or

pliers to snap them apart between pins.

Insert the Headers into an
Arduino
To align the header strips for soldering,
insert them (long pins down) into the
headers of an Arduino.
Note that for R3 and later Arduinos, there

will be an extra 2 unused pins on the end
closest the USB and DC power jacks.

Add the Shield
Place the shield over the header strips so
that the short pins stick up through the
holes.

And Solder!
Solder each pin to assure good electrical
contact.
For tips on soldering see the Adafruit

Guide to Excellent Soldering ().
Reading the Joystick
The 5-way joystick on the shield is great for implementing menu navigation or even
for use as a tiny game controller. To minimize the number of pins required, the joystick
uses a different resistor on each leg of the control to create a variable voltage divider
that can be monitored with a single analog pin. Each movement of the joystick control
connects a different resistor and results in a different voltage reading.

In the code example below, the CheckJoystick() function reads the analog pin and
compares the result with 5 different ranges to determine which (if any) direction the
stick has been moved. If you upload this to your Arduino and open the Serial Monitor,
you will see the current joystick state printed to the screen.
You can use this code as the input method for your menu system or game:
void setup()
{
// initialize serial communication at 9600 bits per second:
Serial.begin(9600);
}
#define Neutral 0
#define Press 1
#define Up 2
#define Down 3
#define Right 4
#define Left 5
// Check the joystick position

int CheckJoystick()
{
int joystickState = analogRead(3);
if (joystickState < 50) return Left;

if (joystickState < 150) return Down;
if (joystickState < 250) return Press;
if (joystickState < 500) return Right;
if (joystickState < 650) return Up;
return Neutral;

}
void loop()
{
int joy = CheckJoystick();
switch (joy)
{
case Left:
Serial.println("Left");
break;
case Right:
Serial.println("Right");
break;
case Up:
Serial.println("Up");
break;
case Down:
Serial.println("Down");
break;
case Press:
Serial.println("Press");
break;
}
}
Graphics Library
We've written a full graphics library specifically for this display which will get you up
and running quickly. The code is written in C/C++ for Arduino but is easy to port to any
microcontroller by rewritting the low level pin access functions.
The TFT LCD library is based off of the Adafruit GFX graphics core library. GFX has
many ready to go functions that should help you start out with your project. It's not
exhaustive and we'll try to update it if we find a really useful function. Right now it
supports pixels, lines, rectangles, circles, round-rects, triangles and printing text as
well as rotation.
Two libraries need to be downloaded and installed: first is the ST7735 library () (this
contains the low-level code specific to this device), and second is the Adafruit GFX
Library () (which handles graphics operations common to many displays we carry). You
can install these with the Arduino library manager.
Open up the Arduino library manager:

Search for the Adafruit ST7735 library and install it
Search for the Adafruit GFX library and install it
Check out the GFX tutorial for detailed information about what is supported and how
to use it ()!
Troubleshooting

Display does not work on initial power but does work
after a reset.
The display driver circuit needs a small amount of time to be ready after initial
power. If your code tries to write to the display too soon, it may not be ready. It will
work on reset since that typically does not cycle power. If you are having this issue,
try adding a small amount of delay before trying to write to the display.
In Arduino, use delay() to add a few milliseconds before calling tft.begin(). Adjust
the amount of delay as needed to see how little you can get away with for your
specific setup.
Downloads
Files & Datasheets
• Adafruit GFX library ()
• Adafruit ST7735 library ()(See our detailed tutorial for installation assistance ())
• Fritzing object in the Adafruit library ()
• Datasheet for the display ()
• Datasheet for the display driver chip ().
• EagleCAD PCB files for TFT shield ()
• EagleCAD PCB files for TFT breakout ()
Breakout Schematic
For the level shifter we use the CD74HC4050 which has a typical propagation delay
of ~10ns

Breakout Fabrication print
Shield v2 Schematic & Fab Print

This is the newer seesaw version

Shield V1 Schematic & Fab Print
This is the 'original' non-seesaw version


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1.

8" TFT Display Breakout and Shield

Last updated on 2023-08-24 03:55:25 PM EDT

©Adafruit Industries Page 1 of 77

1.8" TFT Breakout 7

Plugging in an EYESPI Cable 13

Breakout Wiring & Test 17

CircuitPython Displayio Quickstart 25

Python Wiring and Setup 32

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Testing the Shield 56

CircuitPython Displayio Quickstart 60

Assembling the Shield 67

Reading the Joystick 70

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You can pick up one of these displays in the Adafruit shop!

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The EYESPI Connector and Cables

The EYESPI connector location on this display is indicated below.

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Wiring Your EYESPI Display

Adafruit EYESPI Breakout Board - 18 Pin

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breakout Vin to Feather 3.3V (red wire)

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Plugging in an EYESPI Cable

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To begin inserting an EYESPI cable to an

Then, insert the EYESPI cable into the

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Repeat this process for the FPC connector

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Add the breakout board:

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(For tips on soldering, be sure to check out

You're done! Check your solder joints

Breakout Wiring & Test

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• 3-5V Vin connects to the Arduino 5V pin - red wires

Install Adafruit ST7735 TFT Library

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Search for and install the Adafruit GFX library:

And the Adafruit ST7735 library:

Restart the IDE!

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// Option 1 (recommended): must use the hardware SPI pins

// Option 2: use any pins but a little slower!

You can also save a pin by setting

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If you have the breakout, open

If you have the shield, open

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