EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

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EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by PicoPuls »

EB071 was a very nice E-block, unfortunately not more in production.
But Matrix has already developed the C-code for it.
It seems that a UART hardware port is used

Is it possible to use it under Flowcode 7 & ARM ?

There is also an upgrade to EB071 - it would be very nice if it could be easily used.
This is the only direct path to a large screen from a processor,

https://www.4dsystems.com.au/product/uVGA_III/
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Re: EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by Benj »

Hello,

Yes there is a UVGA III component in Flowcode 7 listed under displays which should work fine with the ARM hardware.

Let me know how you get on.

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Re: EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by PicoPuls »

I can't find any UVGA III component.

Is it any of the 4D -
EB076
EB076v2
EB075 ??

How related and compatible are the different 4D components ?
Is there an example file using UVGA III with ARM ?
Instruction how to connect SK-VGA-III without using the obsolete EBLOCK EB071 ?
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Re: EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by Benj »

Sorry my bad, it's in my nonrelease folder so maybe there is a problem with it to warrant it not going in the build.

Here it is but there is no guarantee it will currently work. Simply drop it into your "Flowcode 7/components" folder and restart Flowcode.
gLCD_uVGA_III_4D.fcpx
(29.65 KiB) Downloaded 299 times
How related and compatible are the different 4D components ?
There are several 4D display families, within each family the API is the same.
Is there an example file using UVGA III with ARM ?
Probably not, I would probably start with a 1 second flasher to make sure you can get your hardware running and at the right speed. Once you have this working the display should simply work using a hardware UART channel.
Instruction how to connect SK-VGA-III without using the obsolete EBLOCK EB071 ?
Should be pretty simple, I think the 4D connection includes the following pins.

Power - 5V
Ground - Ground
TX - RX
RX - TX
Reset - Any Free I/O pin

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Re: EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by PicoPuls »

Thanks for info.

Now, just a basic question: I want to use the display in a very fast process

It is my guess that it will work very fast as long as the UART buffer is not saturated,
and the transfer to VGA will then take place in the bakgroud

Is that right ?

What is a normal NUCLEO UART buffer size and can it be adjusted ?

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Re: EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by Benj »

Hello,

It is my experience that these 4D displays are not all that fast, 2-3 seconds for a full screen redraw. That is without taking the comms speed into account. I do like them but they are disappointingly slow. The Nextion displays are both cheaper and faster but don't have the VGA option. Thinking about it I seem to remember even the 4D VGA driver had problems on new HD and sub HD type displays as they simply can't display the low resolutions provided by the module (800 x 480 being the max).

If you want a fast display with ST ARM then I would recommend one of the ST ARM Discovery boards. However you can't drive a TV or monitor with this.
http://www.matrixtsl.com/mmforums/viewt ... 855#p81346

To drive a TV or monitor in full HD resolution it might be better to use something like a raspberry pi? Much cheaper and faster than the 4D display module (60+ Hz vs 0.33Hz Redraw rate) and you can use HDMI output instead of VGA.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-R ... how-for-E/

Things might have changed since I last played with the 4D parts. It's been a while.

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Re: EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by PicoPuls »

I would like to test the new SK-VGA-III by sending serial commands.

the 4G manual says
By default, each module shipped from the 4D
Systems factory will come pre-programmed ready
for use in the Serial mode.
But I can't find anywhere what baud rate the unit requires

I guess that is hidden in the flowcode source gLCD_uVGA_III_4D.fcpx

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Re: EB071 E-blocks VGA multimedia board under ARM ?

Post by Benj »

Hello,

We start up with a baud of 9600 and then if the high speed component property is set to yes we issue a command and jump to a baud rate of 57600. If the property is set to no then we remain at 9600 baud.

The module supports auto baud so after power up we initialise the UART, wait 3 seconds and then send out the character 0x55 before waiting for a reply.

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