Trying to get a 2.1"ROUND(320RGB*320)TFT-LCM MIPI display to work with arduino

[samg]

Hi all, I think I'm a bit out of my depth here, and would really appreciate some help.

I'm looking for a bit of help in my efforts to get a 2.1' round LCD working. Bought from china:
http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/das-tek/product-detailcXFnjwWoddhy/China-2-1-Inch-Round-LCD-Display-with-Capacitive-Touch-Screen-and-Mipi-Interface.html

The screen uses a HX8357-D driver chip, which has an arduino library from adafruit https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-3-5-color-320x480-tft-touchscreen-breakout/spi-wiring-and-test which I was hoping I could just use.

First, I'm struggling to find a way to actually connect to the screen. It has a micro surface connector, like the one's inside an iphone, and other than buying the socket (20 pin AXG210144) and attempting to solder to that, I'm a bit stuck.

Even if I could get a connection to the screen, will I need some sort of driver board? The spec sheet is talking about DSI pairs and MIPI.

Think I might be doing this all wrong.

[amyk]

The controller does support more traditional serial/parallel interfaces, but that particular module was configured for DSI only. It is possible to bit-bang MIPI but unless you've already bought the display I would buy something else.

Otherwise... http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/nanohack.html and read the datasheet very carefully.

[samg]

Thanks so much. I've been through that post and am starting to get an idea of the difficulty here. I have bought this display and it fits perfectly in my project. SO annoying!

I'm not sure what my next steps are. 

[abraxa]

You could, for example, get some of these: http://uk.farnell.com/fairchild-semiconductor/fin1001m5x/ic-driver-lvds-smd/dp/1467289

One for the DSI clock and one for the DSI data. That way, interfacing to a regular microcontroller is much easier: TTL in, LVDS out.

Also, read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_Serial_Interface and https://www.mipi.org/specifications/dsi and understand that the MIPI DSI specs aren't freely available. The link amyk posted has links to those specs, however, so you can make use of them if you don't intend to sell your device.

With that, you have pretty much all you need: a hardware interface and the protocol you need to feed to the display controller

[bktemp]

You could, for example, get some of these: http://uk.farnell.com/fairchild-semiconductor/fin1001m5x/ic-driver-lvds-smd/dp/1467289

One for the DSI clock and one for the DSI data. That way, interfacing to a regular microcontroller is much easier: TTL in, LVDS out.

That won't work, because DSI is not LVDS, but uses multiple voltage levels (see the link to Mike's Ipod Nano V6 page).

Driving a DSI display needs either a micrcontroller with DSI interface (STM32F469 for example can do it) or you need to build a DSI controller yourself using a FPGA.
Using an Arduino without additional hardware (FPGA as parallel -> DSI converter) will not work (maybe it could work if you use LP mode, but there are probably many displays that require the use of HS mode for video data).

[samg]

After a bit of back and forth from the supplier, I managed to get some example code from them.

They stated that it was designed to run on an ARM9 board.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-IzJ_Zju_mxSW80RnV5OENLQkU

The specifics of what I'd need to do to actually get this running, is still a bit beyond me.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Unless there is some lower frequency limit in the interface (e.g. if it uses a PLL or AC coupling) , you can in principle drive DSI by bit-bashing with a few resistors, but it will be slow.  If you have a datasheet for the controller, see if it lists a minimum clock rate.
 

[metRo_]

Hi,
Can you share how much cost the LCD?

[kathy]

Maclight display have a new round 3.3 inch round display, https://www.szmaclight.com/product/3-3-inch-round-tft-lcd-display.html price around 17 USD/pcs.

And the 2.1 inch round tft lcd display in Maclight, you could check the price and download the datasheet in the link:
https://www.szmaclight.com/product/213-inch-round-tft-lcd-circular-display.html