Python ILI9486 Display Driver

Python module to control an ILI9486 LCD. Based upon the deprecated Python ILI9341 from Adafruit and the adapted version for ILI9486 from Liqun Hu. Rewritten to use spidev and RPi.GPIO instead of the discontinued Adafruit counterpart libraries.

Installation and use

Install system dependencies:

sudo apt install build-essential python3 python3-dev python3-smbus python3-venv libfreetype6-dev libjpeg-dev libatlas-base-dev

Create a virtual environment:

python -m venv .venv

Install python dependencies:

.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

Run example:

.venv/bin/python image.py

Notes

Brightness control is not implemented, because many displays using this driver chip have a hardwired backlight, that cannot be controlled via the driver chip or a GPIO pin. Implementing it would require some hardware changes on the display unit. To emulate shutting off the display you can use lcd.clear().display(), which makes the display to show black pixels.

Adafruit invests time and resources providing this open source code, please support Adafruit and open-source hardware by purchasing products from Adafruit!

Written by Tony DiCola for Adafruit Industries. Adapted for ILI9486 by Liqun Hu. Modified by Thorben Yzer.

MIT license, all text above must be included in any redistribution