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Version: 6

Setting up Displays with Torizon

Introduction​

During the development cycle of a product with a GUI, you usually go through 3 phases when it comes to displays:

Evaluation: often, you will do a basic evaluation using a regular monitor over VGA/DVI-D/HDMI - or similar interfaces, if available. We provide an out-of-the-box experience, where you plug in the monitor and power-on the hardware.

Proof of Concept/Prototype: even with the advantages of cross-development tools and IDEs enabling a good experience for developing GUIs in a development computer, it is often common to make tests on the real end device. We sell touch screen displays that either deliver an out-of-the-box experience or a relatively easy configuration.

Development and Production: often, you want or need a custom display in your final product. The reasons are various: price, robustness, brightness, size, interface, EMI compliance, among others. Supporting a custom display is not an easy task for a beginner, mainly if you use a display with insufficient documentation and Linux support. We document how to enable a custom display, but you must expect that some effort is associated with the process.

Toradex tests and recommends using the following displays with its Computer on Modules (CoM) during early phases of development:

It is often necessary to modify the Linux Device Tree to integrate a display to the board and configure its pin and timing settings. Device Tree Overlays provide a way to alter the overall device tree without the need for re-compiling the complete Device Tree.

For the display listed previously, Toradex provides an easy way to set-up and get it running with ready-to-use device tree overlays. It also means that you can tweak the existing overlays to support other displays as well. This article lists the available Device Tree Overlays provided by Toradex and how to enable it on TorizonCore.

This article complies to the Typographic Conventions for Torizon Documentation.

Using a Monitor​

All computer on modules have a default display interface enabled by default. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the following interfaces are enabled by default:

  • Colibri Family: RGB interface, commonly connected to VGA, DVI-A, or the Unified Display Interface on our carrier boards.
    • You can use a VGA monitor, with possibly a DVI-A to VGA connector depending on the carrier board you are using.
    • With the default fixed VGA resolution, the Portainer application may seem "too big" for the display. Read Display Output, Resolution and Timings (Linux) for more information on changing the display resolution.
  • Apalis Family: HDMI interface, commonly connected to a DVI-D or the standard HDMI connector on our carrier boards.
    • You can use an HDMI or DVI monitor, depending on the carrier board you are using.
  • Verdin Family: MIPI DSI interface, commonly exposed on a board-to-board connector that can receive multiple display adapters, as our Verdin DSI to HDMI Adapter which is enabled by default, or the Verdin DSI to LVDS Adapter which would require additional configuration.
    • You can use an HDMI monitor, through the Verdin DSI to HDMI adapter.

Learn more by checking the pre-enabled Device Tree Overlays

Configure Toradex Displays​

You must apply some device tree overlays to make a specific display work. We already provide all overlays for the displays from our webshop, you just have to:

After you enable the display, check the section at the end of this article on how to test the display and touch.

Find the Correspondent Device Tree Overlays​

See below the list of available Device Tree Overlays provided by Toradex:

Displays​

danger

the migration to device tree overlays is currently a work-in-progress. There are some overlays or carrier board-specific device trees listed in the table below that are missing. For more information, please consult the BSP Layers and Reference Images for Yocto Project Issue Tracker.

info

Default resolution with these overlays: 800x480

See the Capacitive Touch Display 7" Parallel in the Webshop. See the Capacitive Touch Display 7" Parallel in the Toradex Developer Center.

ModuleBoardAccessoryKernelOverlays
Apalis iMX6Evaluation, Ixora V1.0Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxapalis-imx6_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx6_atmel-mxt_overlay.dtbo
Apalis iMX6Ixora V1.1/1.2toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxapalis-imx6_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx6_atmel-mxt_overlay.dtbo
Apalis iMX6Evaluation, Ixora V1.0Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4.yapalis-imx6_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx6_atmel-mxt_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Apalis iMX6Ixora V1.1/1.2toradex_5.4.yapalis-imx6_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx6_atmel-mxt_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Apalis iMX8Display is not supported by module
Apalis iMX8X [1]Evaluation, Ixora V1.0Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxapalis-imx8x_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx8x_atmel-mxt_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Apalis iMX8X [1]Ixora V1.1/1.2toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxapalis-imx8x_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx8x_atmel-mxt_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX6Evaluation, Aster V1.0, Iris V1.1, Viola (Plus) V1.1/1.2Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx6_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx6_atmel-mxt-adapter_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX6Aster V1.1, Iris V2.0toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx6_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx6_atmel-mxt-connector_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX6Evaluation, Aster V1.0, Iris V1.1, Viola (Plus) V1.1/1.2Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4.ycolibri-imx6_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx6_atmel-mxt-adapter_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX6Aster V1.1, Iris V2.0toradex_5.4.ycolibri-imx6_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx6_atmel-mxt-connector_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX6ULL 256/512MBOverlays are not supported on raw NAND based modules
Colibri iMX6ULL 1GB (eMMC)Evaluation, Aster V1.0, Iris V1.1, Viola (Plus) V1.1/1.2Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx6ull_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx6ull_atmel-mxt-adapter_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX6ULL 1GB (eMMC)Aster V1.1, Iris V2.0toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx6ull_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx6ull_atmel-mxt-connector_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX6ULL 1GB (eMMC)EvaluationCapacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4.ycolibri-imx6ull_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx6ull_atmel-mxt-adapter_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX7 Solo 256MB/Dual 512MBOverlays are not supported on raw NAND based modules
Colibri iMX7 Dual 1GB (eMMC)Evaluation, Aster V1.0, Iris V1.1, Viola (Plus) V1.1/1.2Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx7_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx7_atmel-mxt-adapter_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX7 Dual 1GB (eMMC)Aster V1.1, Iris V2.0toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx7_lcd-lt161010_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx7_atmel-mxt-connector_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX7 Dual 1GB (eMMC)Evaluation, Aster V1.0, Iris V1.1, Viola (Plus) V1.1/1.2Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4.ycolibri-imx7_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx7_atmel-mxt-adapter_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX7 Dual 1GB (eMMC)Aster V1.1, Iris V2.0toradex_5.4.ycolibri-imx7_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx7_atmel-mxt-connector_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX8XEvaluation, Aster V1.0, Iris V1.1, Viola (Plus) V1.1/1.2Capacitive Touch Adaptertoradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx8x_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx8x_atmel-mxt-adapter_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Colibri iMX8XAster V1.1, Iris V2.0toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxcolibri-imx8x_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo colibri-imx8x_atmel-mxt-connector_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo
Verdin iMX8M MiniDahlia, DevelopmentVerdin DSI to RGB AdapterDisplay is not (yet) supported by module
Verdin iMX8M PlusDahlia, DevelopmentVerdin DSI to RGB AdapterDisplay is not (yet) supported by module

[1] the latest supported BSP release for Apalis iMX8X is the 5.4.0 quarterly.

Pre-enabled Device Tree Overlays​

Toradex turns on a pre-set of Device Tree Overlays to support the default display interfaces and panels.

ModuleKernelOverlaysSupported devices
Apalis iMX6toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxapalis-imx6_hdmi_overlay.dtboHDMI Display
Apalis iMX6toradex_5.4.yapalis-imx6_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo display-edt7_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx6_stmpe-ts_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx6_hdmi_overlay.dtboHDMI Display, EDT 7.0" (EOL), Resistive Touch Display 7" Parallel
Apalis iMX8toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxapalis-imx8_hdmi_overlay.dtboHDMI Display
Apalis iMX8X [1]toradex_5.4-2.3.x-imxapalis-imx8x_dsihdmi_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx8x_parallel-rgb_overlay.dtbo display-lt161010_overlay.dtbo apalis-imx8x_ad7879_overlay.dtboHDMI Display, EDT 7.0" (EOL), Resistive Touch Display 7" Parallel

[1] the latest supported BSP release for Apalis iMX8X is the 5.4.0 quarterly.

Enable and Deploy Device Tree Overlays​

For instructions about how to enable the overlays, see the Device Tree Overlays on Torizon article.

Configure Other Displays with Torizon​

We recommend using the device tree overlay to support a specific display to specify the exact display resolution and timings. We recommend looking at the Toradex Device Tree Overlays repository on Github for sample implementations and modify them according to your display resolution and timings. For more information on usage for overlays, check the instructions in the previous section.

Remember to check your display's datasheet. Every manufacturer provides display timings in a slightly different way.

The Horizontal period must be the sum of hbackporch + hactive + hfront_porch + hsync-len and the _Vertical period must be the sum of vback_porch + vactive + vfront_porch + vsync-len. Hsync-len and vsync-len parameters are not allowed to be zero sometimes.

Check our examples for a starting point. Copy the most appropriate in the test.DTS you have created in a previous step:

LVDS display example: Capacitive Touch Display 10.1" LVDS Overlay

Parallel RGB display example: Capacitive Touch Display 7" Parallel Overlay

Other examples: Toradex Device Tree Overlays on GitHub

To deploy your customized Device Tree Overlay, check the instructions in the previous section. After you enable the display, check the section at the end of this article on how to test the display and touch.

Touch Screen Calibration​

To calibrate your touch screen, please read the article Touch Screen Calibration (Torizon).

Testing Display and Touch​

After enabling the Device Tree Overlays, deploying it, and rebooting the board, you can check if the Linux system can find your display. To do that on the command-line, use:

# find /sys/devices -name "edid"

You can also execute the Debian With Weston Wayland Compositor container to see a GUI with touch support:

In order to launch a container named wayland-app and start the weston-terminal, run this command:

# docker run -d --rm --name=wayland-app --user=torizon \
             -v /dev/dri:/dev/dri -v /tmp:/tmp \
             --device-cgroup-rule='c 226:* rmw' \
             torizon/weston:$CT_TAG_WESTON weston-terminal

After sending the command, Weston should start on the configured displays.

Weston with Wayland Terminal opened (Click on the upper left corner icon to open the terminal)

Display Output, Resolution and Timings​

TorizonCore uses the Linux Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) with Kernel Mode Setting (KMS). Learn more on the DRM/KMS section from our article Display Output, Resolution and Timings (Linux). To follow some of the instructions that use the modetest program, you can install the package libdrm-tests in one of our Debian Containers for Torizon, such as torizon/weston:

## apt update && apt install libdrm-tests

Common Display Configuration With Weston​

Customers are often interested in configurations such as rotating the display by 90 degrees or using multiple displays concurrently.

Many of these configurations can be done with Weston. Read the article Working with Weston on TorizonCore to learn more.

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