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Waveshare 3.5-inch RPi LCD

Use the Waveshare 3.5-inch Raspberry Pi LCD (Waveshare 3.5" RPi LCD (B)) on Radxa Dragon Q6A.

Hardware connection

Attach the display to the board.

Enable in software

Use the built-in Rsetup tool in Radxa OS to enable the Waveshare 3.5-inch Raspberry Pi LCD.

Rsetup quick guide
  • Select an item: the item will be highlighted
  • Confirm: press Enter
  • Cancel/Back: press ESC
  • Navigate: use Up, Down, Left, Right
  • Multi-select: press Space to toggle, then press Enter to confirm; a * indicates the option is enabled

Run rsetup in the terminal to start Rsetup:

radxa@dragon-q6a$
rsetup

In Rsetup, go to: Overlays -> Manage overlays.

  1. Use the arrow keys to find: [ ] Enable Waveshare 3.5inch RPi LCD (B) on SPI12
  2. Press Space to toggle it to: [*] Enable Waveshare 3.5inch RPi LCD (B) on SPI12
  3. Press Enter to confirm and save the settings.
  4. Reboot the system to apply the configuration.

Check the device

Check which fb (framebuffer) device the screen is bound to. The device name for this LCD is fb_ili9486.

radxa@dragon-q6a$
cat /sys/class/graphics/fb0/name

If the display is enabled correctly, you should see output similar to the following (fb0 as an example):

fb_ili9486

Note: If the LCD is not on fb0, replace fb0 with the actual one, e.g. cat /sys/class/graphics/fb1/name.

Display an image

Install fbi

radxa@dragon-q6a$
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y fbi

Show an image

Display an image to the LCD framebuffer. Prepare an image file in advance. The following uses fb0 as an example.

radxa@dragon-q6a$
sudo fbi -vt 1 --noverbose -d /dev/fb0 logo.bmp

Show a terminal (TTY)

  • Map the output of tty2 to the LCD

Run the following command in the terminal to map the output of tty2 to the LCD.

radxa@dragon-q6a$
sudo con2fbmap 2 0

Parameter notes: 2 is TTY2, 0 is fb0.

Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 to switch to TTY2 text mode. tty2 will be shown on the LCD.

  • Map the output of tty3 to the LCD

Run the following command in the terminal to map the output of tty3 to the LCD.

radxa@dragon-q6a$
sudo con2fbmap 3 0

Parameter notes: 3 is TTY3, 0 is fb0.

Press Ctrl + Alt + F3 to switch to TTY3 text mode. tty3 will be shown on the LCD.

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