The Raspberry Pi now has an official touchscreen, and might as well be a combined tablet/games console, albeit one with a fat back. Now available to buy for $60 (£48), the 800 x 480 pixel 7” display is no match for the iPad’s Retina display, but it allows Pi owners to create integrated all-in-one projects and products that require touchscreen input.
Raspberry’s touchscreen launch comes almost a year after the organization first teased the device, though initial estimations suggested it would arrive late last year or by early 2015 at the latest.
To get the display up and running, you first need to connect the screen to a Pi’s GPIO port and plug the attached ribbon into the DSI port. It’s compatible with the Raspberry Pi 2, which was released in January this year and runs a special version of Windows 10, and with the original Raspberry Pi models A+ and B+. It can work with the original A and B models too, but the mounting fixtures are designed for the + models.
The screen will be integrated into the latest Raspbian OS and will work without a keyboard or mouse. It supports 10-finger touch and has an onscreen keyboard. The Pi system’s educational software can already read touch input, but you can also develop your own apps and devices for reading touch.
Available in six different colors, the Raspberry Pi display opens a new world of possibilities for budding developers. While they’ve always been able to hook up a Raspberry Pi to an external monitor, the launch of a pre-made screen (a little assembly is required), built specifically for the mini computer, makes things a whole lot easier.
Raspberry’s new display is now available to buy from the Raspberry Pi Swag Store, RS Components, Allied Electronics and Premier Farnell today, while other stores will get stock later this week.
