Second miniTFT for scrapes and videos (OGST case/Raspeberry Pi 1/2/3 SPI/DPI small tft screens)
This page will show you how to configure your second small TFT screen to display scrapes and videos
The latest version of recalbox almost natively supports the display of videos of emulated systems, images/videos of installed games (when they have been scrapped) on a second screen connected to the GPIO (SPI/DPI, screen of the OGST Odroid box).
The operation of the display is as follows:
When the interface is on the system carousel, a boot video of the console/system is displayed if it exists, otherwise a default video is displayed
When the interface is on the games selection :
in case the images of the games have been scrapped, the image of the game appears on the tft mini screen.
in case the game videos and images have been scrapped, the tft screen displays the game image for 1 second and then the game video is played in a loop.
when the game is launched :
in case the game images have been scrapped, the game image appears on the tft mini screen.
in case the videos and images of the games have been scratched, the tft screen displays the video and then displays the game image
when Recalbox goes in sleep mode, OGST screen is turned off, and back on, on wake up. This feature is usable to on raspberry SPI tft screen.
Such a 2.8" TFT SPI with 240 × 320 SPI TFT LCD CI ILI9341 3.3V 5V can be found at https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B07QS6BCGK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It is very cheap (< 15€). The wiring on the GPIO is the following :
TFT module | Raspberry Pi |
VCC | +3,3V (pin 1) |
GND | GND (pin 6) |
CS | SPI0 CE0 (pin 24) |
RESET | GPIO 25 (pin 22) |
DC | GPIO 24 (pin 18) |
SDA | SPI0 MOSI (pin 19) |
SCL | SPI0 SCLK (pin 23) |
LED | GPIO 18 (pin 12) |
SDO | SPI0 MISO (pin 21) |
The support of the second mini TFT is integrated in the recalbox 7.0 distribution. It is still necessary to configure the arduino mini TFT screen specifically. To do so you need to modify the /boot/config.txt file as follows to add support for our screen via an overlay. To do this we pass the partitions to write :
mount -o remount, rw /bootmount -o remount, rw /
then edit the file and add at the end of the file using nano :
dtparam=spi=on#small tft spi 2.8 adafruit type (for arduino)dtoverlay=rpi-display,reset=25,dc=24,led=18,rotate=90,speed=48000000
The SPI bus support is activated and the display is configured via the appropriate overlay. Then you just have to configure the recalbox.conf file to activate the screen support. To do this, configure as follows:
#Second miniTFT screen as marquee to display scrapes and videos#Enable it with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=1, disable with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=0system.secondminitft.enabled=1#Type of mini TFT : OGST, unknown#for Support of XU4 OGSTCase mini screen, just configure it secondminitft.type=ogst#Most of spi tft screen are enabled thanks to overlays in /boot/config.txt#please check the specific configuration of your screen#Some examples are available on the page .....# values are :# - overlay : screen configured through overlays in /boot/config.txt# - ogst : screen of the XU4 OGST case. Supported out of the box# - default : the rest of the worldsystem.secondminitft.type=overlay#Choose the resolution of your screen#miniTFT resolution 320x240 -> 240p, 480x320 -> 320psystem.secondminitft.resolution=240p#Scraped image aspect on tft screen : fbv display option# options available : stretch, ignore-aspect, enlarge.# stretch : Strech (using a simple resizing routine) the image to fit onto screen if necessary# alpha : use the alpha channel (if applicable)# ignore-aspect : Ignore the image aspect while resizing# enlarge : Enlarge the image to fit the whole screen if necessary# 1 = enabled, 0 = disabledsystem.secondminitft.imagestretchenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageenlargeenabled=0system.secondminitft.imagealphaenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageignoreaspectenabled=1#When activating the second TFT screen, you may want to display#game scraped video only on the second screen. This variable#allows you to disable scraped video playing in ES during game browsing#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1 disable video playing in ES#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=0 enable video playing in ESsystem.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1#if the backlight of your your screen can be manage by PWM,#indicates the GPIO value of your PWM control#WiringPi and its gpio program will be used to control the backlight#when RB goes in SLEEP mode, and when it wakes up.#On raspberry pi, PWMs cannot be used simultaneously with Jack sound output.#If your are using HDMI or a Audio hat you can use backlight PWM control for the second screen#If you are using Jack output please leave commented.#The Screen will be switch down in Sleep mode, and switch on when it wakes up.#On OGST, only this mode is available.;system.secondminitft.backlightcontrol=18
Normally everything is ok, just reboot and your screen should display the images and videos of your "scraped" games.
Here are the development tests on a Pi3 :
Here is how our friends from GameMakers used the feature on one of their creation: a mini New Astro City.
The screen can be found here https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32284958830.html
PIN NO. | SYMBOL | DESCRIPTION |
1, 17 | 3.3V | Power positive (3.3V power input) |
2, 4 | 5V | Power positive (5V power input) |
3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 | NC | NC |
6, 9, 14, 20, 25 | GND | Ground |
11 | TP_IRQ | Touch Panel interrupt, low level while the Touch Panel detects touching |
18 | LCD_RS | Command/data register selection |
19 | LCD_SI / TP_SI | LCD display/SPI data input of Touch Panel |
21 | TP_SO | SPI data output of Touch Panel |
22 | RST | Reset |
23 | LCD_SCK / TP_SCK | LCD display/SPI clock of Touch Panel |
24 | LCD_CS | LCD chip selection, low active |
26 | TP_CS | Touch Panel chip selection, low active |
The configuration procedure is identical to screen 2.8 arduino but the parameters are different.
The support of the second mini TFT is integrated in the recalbox 7.0 distribution. It is still necessary to configure the waveshare (revA/B)/chinise clone mini TFT screen specifically. To do so you need to modify the /boot/config.txt file as follows to add support for our screen via an overlay. To do this we pass the partitions to write :
mount -o remount, rw /bootmount -o remount, rw /
then edit the file and add at the end of the file using nano :
#minitft 3.5 wavesharedtparam=spi=ondtoverlay=waveshare35a:rotate=270,speed=27000000 #for revAdtoverlay=waveshare35b:rotate=270,speed=27000000 #for revB
The SPI bus support is activated and the display is configured via the appropriate overlay. Then you just have to configure the recalbox.conf file to activate the screen support. To do this, configure as follows:
#Second miniTFT screen as marquee to display scrapes and videos#Enable it with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=1, disable with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=0system.secondminitft.enabled=1#Type of mini TFT : OGST, unknown#for Support of XU4 OGSTCase mini screen, just configure it secondminitft.type=ogst#Most of spi tft screen are enabled thanks to overlays in /boot/config.txt#please check the specific configuration of your screen#Some examples are available on the page .....# values are :# - overlay : screen configured through overlays in /boot/config.txt# - ogst : screen of the XU4 OGST case. Supported out of the box# - default : the rest of the worldsystem.secondminitft.type=overlay#Choose the resolution of your screen#miniTFT resolution 320x240 -> 240p, 480x320 -> 320psystem.secondminitft.resolution=320p#Scraped image aspect on tft screen : fbv display option# options available : stretch, ignore-aspect, enlarge.# stretch : Strech (using a simple resizing routine) the image to fit onto screen if necessary# alpha : use the alpha channel (if applicable)# ignore-aspect : Ignore the image aspect while resizing# enlarge : Enlarge the image to fit the whole screen if necessary# 1 = enabled, 0 = disabledsystem.secondminitft.imagestretchenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageenlargeenabled=0system.secondminitft.imagealphaenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageignoreaspectenabled=1#When activating the second TFT screen, you may want to display#game scraped video only on the second screen. This variable#allows you to disable scraped video playing in ES during game browsing#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1 disable video playing in ES#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=0 enable video playing in ESsystem.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1#if the backlight of your your screen can be manage by PWM,#indicates the GPIO value of your PWM control#WiringPi and its gpio program will be used to control the backlight#when RB goes in SLEEP mode, and when it wakes up.#On raspberry pi, PWMs cannot be used simultaneously with Jack sound output.#If your are using HDMI or a Audio hat you can use backlight PWM control for the second screen#If you are using Jack output please leave commented.#The Screen will be switch down in Sleep mode, and switch on when it wakes up.#On OGST, only this mode is available.;system.secondminitft.backlightcontrol=18
Normally everything is ok, just reboot and your screen should display the images and videos of your "scraped" games.
This screen can be found here https://www.adafruit.com/product/2097 but it is not very cheap.
The configuration procedure is identical to screen 2.8 arduino but the parameters are different.
The support of the second mini TFT is integrated in the recalbox 7.0 distribution. It is still necessary to configure the adafruit mini TFT screen specifically. To do so you need to modify the /boot/config.txt file as follows to add support for our screen via an overlay. To do this we pass the partitions to write :
mount -o remount, rw /bootmount -o remount, rw /
then edit the file and add at the end of the file using nano :
#minitft 3.5 adafruitdtparam=spi=ondtoverlay=pitft35-resistive,rotate=270,fps=30
The SPI bus support is activated and the display is configured via the appropriate overlay. Then you just have to configure the recalbox.conf file to activate the screen support. To do this, configure as follows:
#Second miniTFT screen as marquee to display scrapes and videos#Enable it with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=1, disable with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=0system.secondminitft.enabled=1#Type of mini TFT : OGST, unknown#for Support of XU4 OGSTCase mini screen, just configure it secondminitft.type=ogst#Most of spi tft screen are enabled thanks to overlays in /boot/config.txt#please check the specific configuration of your screen#Some examples are available on the page .....# values are :# - overlay : screen configured through overlays in /boot/config.txt# - ogst : screen of the XU4 OGST case. Supported out of the box# - default : the rest of the worldsystem.secondminitft.type=overlay#Choose the resolution of your screen#miniTFT resolution 320x240 -> 240p, 480x320 -> 320psystem.secondminitft.resolution=320p#Scraped image aspect on tft screen : fbv display option# options available : stretch, ignore-aspect, enlarge.# stretch : Strech (using a simple resizing routine) the image to fit onto screen if necessary# alpha : use the alpha channel (if applicable)# ignore-aspect : Ignore the image aspect while resizing# enlarge : Enlarge the image to fit the whole screen if necessary# 1 = enabled, 0 = disabledsystem.secondminitft.imagestretchenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageenlargeenabled=0system.secondminitft.imagealphaenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageignoreaspectenabled=1#When activating the second TFT screen, you may want to display#game scraped video only on the second screen. This variable#allows you to disable scraped video playing in ES during game browsing#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1 disable video playing in ES#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=0 enable video playing in ESsystem.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1#if the backlight of your your screen can be manage by PWM,#indicates the GPIO value of your PWM control#WiringPi and its gpio program will be used to control the backlight#when RB goes in SLEEP mode, and when it wakes up.#On raspberry pi, PWMs cannot be used simultaneously with Jack sound output.#If your are using HDMI or a Audio hat you can use backlight PWM control for the second screen#If you are using Jack output please leave commented.#The Screen will be switch down in Sleep mode, and switch on when it wakes up.#On OGST, only this mode is available.;system.secondminitft.backlightcontrol=18
Normally everything is ok, just reboot and your screen should display the images and videos of your "scraped" games.
On the OGST box only the configuration of the recalbox.conf file is necessary. The configuration of the screen is automatic once configured.
For this configuration it is not necessary to use SSH. A simple modification of the recalbox.conf file has to be done and it is possible to do this by accessing your SD card through a Windows workstation.
The configuration is done in the following lines:
#Second miniTFT screen as marquee to display scrapes and videos#Enable it with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=1, disable with system.secondMiniTFT.enabled=0#this configuration is REQUIREDsystem.secondminitft.enabled=1#Type of mini TFT : OGST, unknown#for Support of XU4 OGSTCase mini screen, just configure it secondminitft.type=ogst#Most of spi tft screen are enabled thanks to overlays in /boot/config.txt#please check the specific configuration of your screen#Some examples are available on the page .....# values are :# - overlay : screen configured through overlays in /boot/config.txt# - ogst : screen of the XU4 OGST case. Supported out of the box# - default : the rest of the world#this configuration is REQUIRED if system.secondminitft.enabled=1system.secondminitft.type=ogst#Choose the resolution of your screen#miniTFT resolution 320x240 -> 240p, 480x320 -> 320p#this configuration is REQUIRED if system.secondminitft.enabled=1system.secondminitft.resolution=240p#Scraped image aspect on tft screen : fbv display option# options available : stretch, ignore-aspect, enlarge.# stretch : Strech (using a simple resizing routine) the image to fit onto screen if necessary# alpha : use the alpha channel (if applicable)# ignore-aspect : Ignore the image aspect while resizing# enlarge : Enlarge the image to fit the whole screen if necessary# 1 = enabled, 0 = disabled#this configuration is REQUIRED if system.secondminitft.enabled=1system.secondminitft.imagestretchenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageenlargeenabled=0system.secondminitft.imagealphaenabled=1system.secondminitft.imageignoreaspectenabled=1#When activating the second TFT screen, you may want to display#game scraped video only on the second screen. This variable#allows you to disable scraped video playing in ES during game browsing#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1 disable video playing in ES#system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=0 enable video playing in ES#this configuration is OPTIONAL if system.secondminitft.enabled=1system.secondminitft.disablevideoines=1#if the backlight of your your screen can be manage by PWM,#indicates the GPIO value of your PWM control#WiringPi and its gpio program will be used to control the backlight#when RB goes in SLEEP mode, and when it wakes up.#On raspberry pi, PWMs cannot be used simultaneously with Jack sound output.#If your are using HDMI or a Audio hat you can use backlight PWM control for the second screen#If you are using Jack output please leave commented.#The Screen will be switch down in Sleep mode, and switch on when it wakes up.#On OGST, only this mode is available.#this configuration is OPTIONAL if system.secondminitft.enabled=1;system.secondminitft.backlightcontrol=18
After saving the file, simply restart the system.
It is possible to customize the displayed videos of the systems/console, startup video and shutdown video. To do this you need to edit the system/configs/minitftscreen/miniTFTVideosCfg.sh
#some useful video constantsLogoFolder='/recalbox/share_init/system/tft_logos'DefaultLogo='RBvideos/introRecalboxWinners.mp4'DefaultStartLogo='RBvideos/recalboxHologram.mp4'DefaultStopLogo='RBvideos/recalboxIntroExplode.mp4'DefaultImage='noimage.png'LogoFile=""#loop system video : -1 = loop forever, 0 = no loop, 1 = loop once, 2 = loop twice, etc...Loop=-1#loop default system videoDefaultLogoLoop=-1#change to your own videos by modifying each "LogoFile" variable.#for example# Nintendosnes) LogoFile='myownvideoSNES.mp4' && Loop=-1 ;;nes) LogoFile='myownvideoNES.mp4' && Loop=-1 ;;
It is currently not possible to change the operating mode when selecting games.
