Electronics Guru Help Needed - Mini OLED Screen

[48k]

I need some help from an electronics guru to explain to me in words of one syllable what I need to do.

I want to set up a slideshow of bitmaps on a mini OLED screen.

Mini OLED screen - https://www.crystalfontz.com/product/cfal12836a008...

It looks like I need some sort of connector, an Arduino or Pi, and maybe some other bits. And some soldering experience. Then I think the idea is you run some C code on the Arduino/pi which squirts the bitmaps in to the OLED screen and then you disconnect and when you apply power to the screen it starts cycling through the bitmaps.

Maybe.

I'm a software guy so I understand the coding side but I'm not an electronics guy.

Can someone talk me through it and tell me what I need to buy and what I need to do? I'm in the UK but this was the only screen I could find that was small enough and in landscape orientation.

Appreciate any help!

[NikBartlett]

You will need a more specialist connector for this display - for one off projects I prefer screens with pins to connect to ( there are lots of Maker sites that supply small screens such as Pimoroni or Adafruit but are more expensivd also lots on Ebay / Amazon ) . From a software point of view, the interface is Serial Peripheral interface ( SPI ) . You need to either connect to an SPI interface on the your PI / Arduino and write some code to select and control SPI or connect to regular GPIO and write some code to bit bash SPI. On top of that you will need to understand the controller chip on the display itself in terms of its command set and then how to write data in to display. This would then be your display driver. These displays usually have a RAM that you write the image into but only enough for one screens worth at a time so you'll need an spplication layer that sends one image, pauses for a bit, sends the next image etc

Edited by NikBartlett on Wednesday 18th January 06:57

[tangerine_sedge]

I suggest heading over to PIHUT and looking at their screens etc. Many plug directly onto the Raspi pins and support Python libraries that will probably do pretty much what you want.

Alternatively, if it's just a static slideshow, then have you considered getting one of those LCD photo frames that were all the rage 10+ years ago?

[Nimby]

I have an i2c mini OLED connected to a Pi pico. Just 4 wires (2 data, 2 power) excellent C and python support libraries, and loads of example programs online.

[48k]

Thanks guys. I'll follow up on the links. It's to go inside a Lego brick hence the need for a very specific small screen with not much gubbins around it. Anything larger than the one I linked to won't work. This isn't for a photo frame on a desk. It does need to be colour too, not monochrome or three-colour.

Similar to this here but in a standard Lego panel brick not a custom-cast brick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wBrOV2FJM8

[Trustmeimadoctor]

im no expert on this but that will just plug into a pi and work but it will need to stay connected to the pi for it to work you cant store images on it

[48k]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

im no expert on this but that will just plug into a pi and work but it will need to stay connected to the pi for it to work you cant store images on it

Aw bugger

[Trustmeimadoctor]

the difference betwen the doom brick and this is he actually has a pi in the brick

[OutInTheShed]

You might use a small Arduino like a nano, or even a 'bare' AT micro that the Arduino is built on?
That could be a pretty small chip tacked on.

I'm not aware of LCD or LED modules with multiple bitmap memories built in, but that doesn't mean they are not out there....

[tribbles]

The display needs a 14V supply, and while its logic will support 3.3V, it's on the maximum.

A microcontroller would give you the smallest footprint, but you'd need to get a PCB made.

I've dealt with displays like this quite a bit, so was actually expecting a 19V supply instead of 14V.