2

I have an android tablet (versus touchtab 7v dc) that unfortunately doesn't work any more. I wanted to know if there is any way I can salvage the touch-screen from the tablet and use it as a display with a raspberry pi?

Ghanima
  • 15,855
  • 15
  • 61
  • 119
Kanishka Namdeo
  • 21
  • 1
  • 2
  • the highest answer here should answer all your questions, http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/28/how-can-i-determine-if-a-given-touchscreen-is-compatible?rq=1 – rob Feb 11 '15 at 14:24

1 Answers1

2

Your biggest concern won't be the hardware, but likely the driver support. If appropriate drivers exist for your tablet's touchscreen (and I'm going to say probably not) then you should be able to wire it up, otherwise you'll need to find something Pi specific, most likely.

Chris G. Williams
  • 388
  • 2
  • 11
  • This is untrue. On the contrary, it is quite likely that drivers exist - Android runs on a Linux kernel after all, and even while many of the import manufacturers are bad about releasing kernel source, typically someone using the same parts has. The wiring however, especially oddball LCD voltages and conversion between various data formats other than parallel RGB, can be quite a bit of a challenge. – Chris Stratton Nov 10 '15 at 18:36
  • @ChrisStratton I think you are delusional about the propensity for Android suppliers to release driver source. If you can find such, then you at least stand a chance of figuring out the connection. If you can't, reverse engineering the software is going to be a lot more work plus require you figure the connection out in the process. – goldilocks Nov 10 '15 at 19:03
  • @goldilocks - the point is you don't need your manufacturer to release source, you only need someone to have released it for the same chip. There aren't all that many touch chips out there, so this is typically the case. Incidentally, this is an exercise I went through a few weeks ago. In contrast, reverse engineering the display signals and creating a wiring adapter PCB took a lot more effort. – Chris Stratton Nov 10 '15 at 19:04
  • Further, on your typical import Android tablet, the touch controller IC is on the mainboard, not the display. So someone taking the display assembly will be having to make or buy their own touch controller circuit using an IC of their own choice, and the driver required would be the driver for that, not the salvaged part. The same goes for video data converters - the information needed about the display itself (pinout, voltages and timing) either comes from the data sheet or is discovered at the same time with an oscilloscope and/or experiment. – Chris Stratton Nov 10 '15 at 20:45