A Feather board without ambition is a Feather board without FeatherWings! Spice up your Feather project with a beautiful 3.5" touchscreen display shield with built in microSD card socket. This TFT display is 3.5" diagonal with a bright 6 white-LED backlight. You get a massive 480x320 pixels with individual 16-bit color pixel control. It has way more resolution than a black and white 128x64 display, and twice as much as our 2.4" TFT FeatherWing.

As a bonus, this display comes with a resistive touchscreen attached to it already, so you can detect finger presses anywhere on the screen.

New! As of Nov 15, 2023 we've made a big redesign to this product: We now use the TSC2007 instead of the discontinued STMPE811 touchscreen controller. The screen and micro SD card are the same but any touchscreen code will need to be updated to use our Arduino or CircuitPython library. We've also updated the reset button to be right-angle and added a STEMMA QT port.

This FeatherWing uses a SPI display, touchscreen and SD card socket. It works with any and all Feathers but, given the large display, it works best with our faster boards like the ESP32-S2, ESP32-S3, RP2040, M4, M0, nRF52, WICED, and Teensy. We also include a I2C resistive touchscreen controller with a separate IRQ line so you only need one additional pin to add a high quality touchscreen controller with interrupt support! One more pin is used for an optional SD card that can be used for storing images for display.

This 'Wing comes fully assembled with dual sockets for your Feather to plug into. You get two sockets per pin so you can plug in wires if you want to connect to Feather pins. Alternatively, each pin has a large square pad on the PCB for direct soldering.

Unlike most FeatherWings, the TFT FeatherWing is fully assembled and has a dual socket set for your Feather to plug into.

This makes it really easy to use, but a little different to change if you don't want the default setup

The FeatherWing has an ENABLE switch which will disable both Feather and Wing - so make sure it is turned ON while you're using it

Power Pins

The 3.5" TFT FeatherWing has a really beefy backlight, and we don't want to overwhem the 3.3V regulator on the Feather so we use two Schottkey diodes to take the higher of VBAT and VUSB to feed into the backlight boost converter.

The GND and 3.3V pins are used for powering the rest of the device such as the TFT and touchscreen controller

You can turn off the 3.3V power supply with the EN pin or the switch attached to that pin. The enable/disable switch on the bottom of the Wing will also deactivate the backlight

Note that on the Teensy 3x Feather Adapter, this pin doesn't do anything and on the FONA feather, this will not disable the VBAT power supply which is used to power the cellular module.

SPI Pins

The TFT display, SD card and touch screen use the SPI interface to communicate. That means MISO, MOSI and SCK are used whenever either are accessed.

(Ooops the highlighted pins are off by one, they should be shifted to the right one pin!)

In addition, for the TFT display there is are DC (Data/Command) and CS (Chip Select) pins. These are used to select the display and tell it what kind of data is being sent. By default, DC is connected to pin 10 and CS is connected to pin 9. These pins can theoretically be changed by cutting the jumper trace and soldering a small wire from the farther-from-the-socket-header pad to the pin you'd like to use.

On the ESP8266, TFT_CS is pin #0, TFT_DC is pin #15

On the ESP32, TFT_CS is pin #15, TFT_DC is pin #33

On the Atmega32u4, ATmega328p, M4 or M0 Feather, TFT_CS is pin #9, TFT_DC is pin #10

On the Teensy Feather, TFT_CS is pin #4, TFT_DC is pin #10

On the WICED Feather, TFT_CS is PA15 and TFT_DC is PB4

On the nRF52 Feather, TFT_CS is #31 and TFT_DC is #11

There is also LITE pin which is not connected to any pads but you can use to control the backlight. Pull low to turn off the backlight. You can connect it to a PWM output pin.

Note: Pin 9 is used for communication with the SIM800 chip on the Feather Fona. You will have to remap pin 9 to an unused pin when using with a Feather Fona.

Touch Screen control pins

The touch screen also has a Chip Select line, labeled RT. By default RT is connected to pin 6. This pin can theoretically be changed by cutting the jumper trance and soldering a small wire from the right-hand pad to the pin you'd like to use.

On the ESP8266, RT is pin #16

On the ESP32, RT is pin #32

On the Atmega32u4, ATmega328p, M4 or M0 Feather, RT is pin #6

On the Teensy Feather, RT is pin #3

On the WICED Feather, RT is PC7

On the nRF52 Feather, RT is #30

There is also an IRQ pin which is not connected to any pads but you can use to detect when touch events have occured.

SD Card control pins

The SD Card also has a Chip Select line, labeled SD. By default, it is connected to pin 5. This pin can theoretically be changed by cutting the jumper trance and soldering a small wire from the right-hand pad to the pin you'd like to use.

On the ESP8266, SD is pin #2

On the ESP32 SD is pin #14

On the Atmega32u4, ATmega328p, M4 or M0 Feather, SD is pin #5

On the Teensy Feather, SD is pin #8

On the WICED Feather, SD is PC5

On the nRF52 Feather, SD is pin #27

The default I2C address for the TSC2007 touchscreen controller is 0x48.

STEMMA QT Connector

  • STEMMA QT - This connector, located between the on/off switch and microSD card slot, allows you to connect to sensors and breakout boards with STEMMA QT / Qwiic connectors or to other things with various associated accessories.
  • SDA/SCL - The I2C pins for the STEMMA QT connector are connected to the default I2C GPIO pins directly next to pin 5.
  • 3.3V/GND - The power for the STEMMA QT connector is 3.3V. Ground is the common ground for power and logic.

Default SPI Pins

The TFT (connected to an HX8357 chipset) and microSD card on the FeatherWing are controlled via SPI.

  • MOSI - This is the SPI MOSI (Microcontroller Out / Serial In) pin.
  • MISO - This is the SPI MISO (Microcontroller In / Serial Out) pin.
  • SCK - This is the SPI clock input pin.

TFT Control Pins and Jumpers

  • DC - This is the display SPI data/command selector pin. By default, it is connected to pin 10. To change this, cut the jumper. Then, connect the signal pad (closest to the label on the board silk) to one of the available and compatible GPIO pads.
  • TCS - This is the TFT SPI chip select pin. By default, is connected to pin 9. To change this, cut the jumper. Then, connect the signal pad (closest to the label on the board silk) to one of the available and compatible GPIO pads.
  • LITE - This is the TFT backlight pad, located between the Feather headers and the TFT ribbon cable towards the top of the board. It is not connected to any pins by default. Pull this pin low to turn off the backlight.

microSD Card Slot

  • On the back of the FeatherWing, below the STEMMA QT port, is the microSD card slot. You can use any microSD card that supports SPI mode with one CS pin.

SD Card Pins and Jumper

  • SCS - This is the SD card chip select pin. By default, it is connected to pin 5. To change this, cut the jumper. Then, connect the signal pad (closest to the label on the board silk) to one of the available and compatible GPIO pads.
  • SDDET - This is the card detect pad, located above the microSD card slot. It is not connected to any pins by default. This pin will read low when a card is not inserted.

Touch Screen Interrupt Jumper

  • IRQ - This is the touchscreen interrupt pin. By default, it is connected to pin 6. To change this, cut the jumper. Then, connect the signal pad (closest to the label on the board silk) to one of the available and compatible GPIO pads.

TSC2007 Address Jumpers

On the back of the board are two address jumpers, labeled A0 and A1, towards the bottom center of the board. These jumpers allow you to change the default I2C address of the TSC2007 on the FeatherWing. To do so, you solder the jumpers "closed" by connecting the two pads.

The default I2C address is 0x48. The other address options can be calculated by “adding” the A0/A1 to the base of 0x48.

A0 sets the lowest bit with a value of 1, A1 sets the next bit with a value of 2. The final address is 0x48 + A1 + A0 which would be 0x4B.


If only A0 is soldered closed, the address is 0x48 + 1 = 0x49


If only A1 is soldered closed, the address is 0x48 + 2 = 0x4A

The table below shows all possible addresses, and whether the pin(s) should be high (closed) or low (open).

Reset Button

  • Reset - The reset button, located in the top left corner on the FeatherWing, is connected to the reset pin. It is mounted at a right angle so that it is easier to press.

On/Off Switch

  • ON/OFF - The On/Off switch, located on the left side of the FeatherWing, is connected to the EN pin. You can disconnect 3.3V power by setting the switch to OFF.

The TFT FeatherWing is basically a combination of our 3.5" TFT Breakout with the STMPE610 resistive touch-screen breakout attached.

Before you continue, make sure the FeatherWings's ENABLE switch is turned ON! If it's OFF, the Feather won't work and you will be very confused :)

Install Libraries

You'll need a few libraries to use this FeatherWing!

From within the Arduino IDE, open up the Library Manager...

Install Adafruit HX8357D TFT Library

We have example code ready to go for use with these TFTs.

Two libraries need to be downloaded and installed: first is the Adafruit HX8357 library (this contains the low-level code specific to this device), and second is the Adafruit GFX Library (which handles graphics operations common to many displays we carry). If you have Adafruit_GFX already, make sure its the most recent version since we've made updates for better performance

Search for HX8357 and install the Adafruit HX8357 library that pops up!

Next up, search for Adafruit GFX and locate the core library. A lot of libraries may pop up because we reference it in the description so just make sure you see Adafruit GFX Library in bold at the top.

Install it!

If using an earlier version of the Arduino IDE (pre-1.8.10), locate and install Adafruit_BusIO (newer versions handle this prerequisite automatically).

Repeat the search and install steps for the Adafruit_ImageReader library.

For more details about this process, we have a tutorial introducing Arduino library concepts and installation.

Basic Graphics Test

After restarting the Arduino software, you should see a new example folder called Adafruit_HX8357 and inside, an example called graphicstest_featherwing.

Upload that sketch to your Feather. You should see a collection of graphical tests draw out on the TFT.

If you're having difficulties, check the serial console. The first thing the sketch does is read the driver configuration from the TFT, you should see the same numbers as below. That will help you determine if the TFT is found, if not, check your Feather soldering!

Once you've got the demo working, check out the detailed documentation over at http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gfx-graphics-library for more information on how to use the GFX library to draw whatever you like!

The Adafruit_GFX library for Arduino provides a common syntax and set of graphics functions for all of our TFT, LCD and OLED displays. This allows Arduino sketches to easily be adapted between display types with minimal fuss…and any new features, performance improvements and bug fixes will immediately apply across our complete offering of color displays.

The GFX library is what lets you draw points, lines, rectangles, round-rects, triangles, text, etc.

Check out our detailed tutorial here http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gfx-graphics-library

It covers the latest and greatest of the GFX library. The GFX library is used in both 8-bit and SPI modes so the underlying commands (drawLine() for example) are identical!

There is a built-in microSD card slot on the FeatherWing, and we can use that to load bitmap images! You will need a microSD card formatted FAT16 or FAT32 (they almost always are by default), and an SD card reader on whatever computer you’re currently reading this with.

It's really easy to draw bitmaps. Lets start by downloading this image of Adabot and friends:

Download these two smaller images as well:

The files should be renamed (if needed) to “adabot.bmp”, “parrot.bmp” and “wales.bmp”, respectively, and copied to the base directory of the microSD card (not inside a folder).

(If it’s easier, you can also find these images in the “images” folder within the Adafruit_ImageReader library folder.)

Insert the microSD card into the socket in the shield. Now select the sketch file→examples→Adafruit_ImageReader→FeatherWingHX8357 and upload this example to your Feather + Wing. You will see the your electronic friends appear! (Plus parrots…and if you’re using one of the more powerful Feather boards, a whole lot of dragons.)

The Adafruit_ImageReader library, which is being used here to display .BMP images, is fully explained in its own page of the Adafruit_GFX guide.

The LCD has a 4-wire resistive touch screen glued onto it. You can use this for detecting finger-presses, stylus', etc. Normally, you'll need 4 pins to talk to the touch panel but we decided to go all snazzy and put a dedicated touch screen driver onto the shield. The driver shares the SPI pins with the TFT and SD card, so only one extra pin is needed. This allows you to query the controller when you're ready to read touchscreen data, and saves 3 pins.

To control the touchscreen you'll need one more library - the STMPE610 controller library which does all the low level chatting with the STMPE610 driver chip. Use the library manager to install the Adafruit STMPE610 library

Touchscreen Paint Demo

Now that you've got the basic TFT graphics demo working, let's add in the touchscreen. Run and upload the touchpaint_featherwing demo

  • If you have the 2.4" TFT Featherwing, run the Adafruit ILI9341->touchpaint_featherwing demo
  • If you have the 3.5" TFT Featherwing, run the Adafruit HX8357->touchpaint_featherwing demo

Upload to your Feather and have fun!

The touch screen is made of a thin glass sheet, and its very fragile - a small crack or break will make the entire touch screen unusable. Don't drop or roughly handle the TFT and be especially careful of the corners and edges. When pressing on the touchscreen, sometimes people can use the tip of their fingers, or a fingernail. If you don't find the touchscreen responds well to your fingers, you can use a rounded stylus which will certainly work. Do not press harder and harder until the screen cracks!

Getting data from the touchscreen is fairly straight forward. Start by creating the touchscreen object with

Adafruit_STMPE610 ts = Adafruit_STMPE610(STMPE_CS);

We're using hardware SPI so the clock, mosi and miso pins are not defined here.
Then you can start the touchscreen with

ts.begin()

Check to make sure this returns a True value, which means the driver was found. If it wasn't, make sure you have the Feather soldered right and the correct CS pin!

Now you can call

if (! ts.bufferEmpty())

to check if there's any data in the buffer. The touchscreen driver will store touchpoints at all times. When you're ready to get the data, just check if there's any data in the buffer. If there is, you can call

TS_Point p = ts.getPoint();

To get the oldest point from the buffer. TS_Point has .x .y and .z data points. The x and y points range from 0 to 4095. The STMPE610 does not store any calibration data in it and it doesn't know about rotation. So if you want to rotate the screen you'll need to manually rotate the x/y points! The z point is 'pressure' and ranges from 0 to 255, we don't use it here but you can experiment with it on your own, the harder you press, the lower the number.

Since data from the STMPE610 comes in 0-4095 but our screen is 320 pixels by 240 pixels, we can use map to convert 0-4095 to 0-320 or 0-240. Something like

p.x = map(p.x, 0, 4095, 0, tft.width());
p.y = map(p.y, 0, 4095, 0, tft.height());

However, the touchscreen is a bit bigger than the screen, so we actually need to ignore presses beyond the touchscreen itself. We found that these numbers reflected the true range that overlaps the screen

#define TS_MINX 150
#define TS_MINY 130
#define TS_MAXX 3800
#define TS_MAXY 4000

So we use

p.x = map(p.x, TS_MINX, TS_MAXX, 0, tft.width());
p.y = map(p.y, TS_MINY, TS_MAXY, 0, tft.height());

instead.

One last point (pun intended!) since the touchscreen driver stores points in a buffer, you may want to ask the driver "is the touchscreen being pressed RIGHT NOW?" You can do that with

if (ts.touched())

Using the 3.5" TFT FeatherWing V2 with Arduino involves plugging a Feather board into the FeatherWing. Then, you'll install the necessary libraries and upload the example code to the Feather board.

This page uses the Feather RP2040 for demonstrating Arduino usage. You can use the same concepts to get going with any Feather board.

Angled shot of black rectangular microcontroller "Feather RP2040"
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Hardware Setup

Plug your Feather into the FeatherWing. The USB port on the Feather will be pointing away from the microSD card slot. 

Library Installation

You can install the Adafruit HX8357 library for Arduino using the Library Manager in the Arduino IDE.

Click the Manage Libraries... menu item, search for Adafruit HX8357, and select the Adafruit_HX8357_Library library:

If asked about dependencies, click "Install all".

If the dependencies are already installed, you must make sure you update them through the Arduino Library Manager before loading the example!

Example Code

/***************************************************
  This is our library for the Adafruit HX8357D Featherwing
  ----> http://www.adafruit.com/products/2050

  Check out the links above for our tutorials and wiring diagrams
  These displays use SPI to communicate, 4 or 5 pins are required to
  interface (RST is optional)
  Adafruit invests time and resources providing this open source code,
  please support Adafruit and open-source hardware by purchasing
  products from Adafruit!

  Written by Limor Fried/Ladyada for Adafruit Industries.
  MIT license, all text above must be included in any redistribution
 ****************************************************/

#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>    // Core graphics library
#include <Adafruit_HX8357.h>

// If using the rev 1 with STMPE resistive touch screen controller uncomment this line:
//#include <Adafruit_STMPE610.h>
// If using the rev 2 with TSC2007, uncomment this line:
#include <Adafruit_TSC2007.h>

#ifdef ESP8266
   #define STMPE_CS 16
   #define TFT_CS   0
   #define TFT_DC   15
   #define SD_CS    2
#elif defined(ESP32) && !defined(ARDUINO_ADAFRUIT_FEATHER_ESP32S2) && !defined(ARDUINO_ADAFRUIT_FEATHER_ESP32S3)
   #define STMPE_CS 32
   #define TFT_CS   15
   #define TFT_DC   33
   #define SD_CS    14
#elif defined(TEENSYDUINO)
   #define TFT_DC   10
   #define TFT_CS   4
   #define STMPE_CS 3
   #define SD_CS    8
#elif defined(ARDUINO_STM32_FEATHER)
   #define TFT_DC   PB4
   #define TFT_CS   PA15
   #define STMPE_CS PC7
   #define SD_CS    PC5
#elif defined(ARDUINO_NRF52832_FEATHER)  /* BSP 0.6.5 and higher! */
   #define TFT_DC   11
   #define TFT_CS   31
   #define STMPE_CS 30
   #define SD_CS    27
#elif defined(ARDUINO_MAX32620FTHR) || defined(ARDUINO_MAX32630FTHR)
   #define TFT_DC   P5_4
   #define TFT_CS   P5_3
   #define STMPE_CS P3_3
   #define SD_CS    P3_2
#else
    // Anything else, defaults!
   #define STMPE_CS 6
   #define TFT_CS   9
   #define TFT_DC   10
   #define SD_CS    5
#endif

#define TFT_RST -1

// Init screen on hardware SPI, HX8357D type:
Adafruit_HX8357 tft = Adafruit_HX8357(TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_RST);

#if defined(_ADAFRUIT_STMPE610H_)
  Adafruit_STMPE610 ts = Adafruit_STMPE610(STMPE_CS);
#elif defined(_ADAFRUIT_TSC2007_H)
  // If you're using the TSC2007 there is no CS pin needed, so instead its an IRQ!
  #define TSC_IRQ STMPE_CS
  Adafruit_TSC2007 ts = Adafruit_TSC2007();             // newer rev 2 touch contoller
#else
  #error("You must have either STMPE or TSC2007 headers included!")
#endif

// This is calibration data for the raw touch data to the screen coordinates
// For STMPE811/STMPE610
#define STMPE_TS_MINX 3800
#define STMPE_TS_MAXX 100
#define STMPE_TS_MINY 100
#define STMPE_TS_MAXY 3750
// For TSC2007
#define TSC_TS_MINX 300
#define TSC_TS_MAXX 3800
#define TSC_TS_MINY 185
#define TSC_TS_MAXY 3700
// we will assign the calibration values on init
int16_t min_x, max_x, min_y, max_y;

// Size of the color selection boxes and the paintbrush size
#define BOXSIZE 40
#define PENRADIUS 3
uint16_t oldcolor, currentcolor;


void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  //while (!Serial) delay(10);
  
  Serial.println("HX8357D Featherwing touch test!"); 
  
#if defined(_ADAFRUIT_STMPE610H_)
  if (!ts.begin()) {
    Serial.println("Couldn't start STMPE touchscreen controller");
    while (1) delay(100);
  }
  min_x = STMPE_TS_MINX; max_x = STMPE_TS_MAXX;
  min_y = STMPE_TS_MINY; max_y = STMPE_TS_MAXY;
#else
  if (! ts.begin(0x48, &Wire)) {
    Serial.println("Couldn't start TSC2007 touchscreen controller");
    while (1) delay(100);
  }
  min_x = TSC_TS_MINX; max_x = TSC_TS_MAXX;
  min_y = TSC_TS_MINY; max_y = TSC_TS_MAXY;
  pinMode(TSC_IRQ, INPUT);
#endif

  Serial.println("Touchscreen started");
  
  tft.begin();
  tft.fillScreen(HX8357_BLACK);
  // make the color selection boxes
  tft.fillRect(0, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_RED);
  tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_YELLOW);
  tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*2, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_GREEN);
  tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*3, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_CYAN);
  tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*4, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_BLUE);
  tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*5, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_MAGENTA);
  tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*6, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_BLACK);
  tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*6, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
   
  // select the current color 'red'
  tft.drawRect(0, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
  currentcolor = HX8357_RED;
}


void loop(void) {
#if defined(TSC_IRQ)
  if (digitalRead(TSC_IRQ)) {
    // IRQ pin is high, nothing to read!
    return;
  }
#endif

  TS_Point p = ts.getPoint();

  Serial.print("X = "); Serial.print(p.x);
  Serial.print("\tY = "); Serial.print(p.y);
  Serial.print("\tPressure = "); Serial.print(p.z);
  if (((p.x == 0) && (p.y == 0)) || (p.z < 10)) return; // no pressure, no touch
 
  // Scale from ~0->4000 to tft.width using the calibration #'s
  p.x = map(p.x, min_x, max_x, 0, tft.width());
  p.y = map(p.y, min_y, max_y, 0, tft.height());
  Serial.print(" -> "); Serial.print(p.x); Serial.print(", "); Serial.println(p.y);

  if (p.y < BOXSIZE) {
     oldcolor = currentcolor;

     if (p.x < BOXSIZE) { 
       currentcolor = HX8357_RED; 
       tft.drawRect(0, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
     } else if (p.x < BOXSIZE*2) {
       currentcolor = HX8357_YELLOW;
       tft.drawRect(BOXSIZE, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
     } else if (p.x < BOXSIZE*3) {
       currentcolor = HX8357_GREEN;
       tft.drawRect(BOXSIZE*2, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
     } else if (p.x < BOXSIZE*4) {
       currentcolor = HX8357_CYAN;
       tft.drawRect(BOXSIZE*3, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
     } else if (p.x < BOXSIZE*5) {
       currentcolor = HX8357_BLUE;
       tft.drawRect(BOXSIZE*4, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
     } else if (p.x < BOXSIZE*6) {
       currentcolor = HX8357_MAGENTA;
       tft.drawRect(BOXSIZE*5, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
     } else if (p.x < BOXSIZE*7) {
       currentcolor = HX8357_WHITE;
       tft.drawRect(BOXSIZE*6, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_RED);
     } else if (p.x < BOXSIZE*8) {
       currentcolor = HX8357_BLACK;
       tft.drawRect(BOXSIZE*7, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
     }


     if (oldcolor != currentcolor) {
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_RED) 
          tft.fillRect(0, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_RED);
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_YELLOW) 
          tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_YELLOW);
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_GREEN) 
          tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*2, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_GREEN);
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_CYAN) 
          tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*3, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_CYAN);
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_BLUE) 
          tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*4, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_BLUE);
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_MAGENTA) 
          tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*5, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_MAGENTA);
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_WHITE) 
          tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*6, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_WHITE);
        if (oldcolor == HX8357_BLACK) 
          tft.fillRect(BOXSIZE*7, 0, BOXSIZE, BOXSIZE, HX8357_BLACK);
     }
  }

  if (((p.y-PENRADIUS) > 0) && ((p.y+PENRADIUS) < tft.height())) {
    tft.fillCircle(p.x, p.y, PENRADIUS, currentcolor);
  }
}

Upload the sketch to your board and open up the Serial Monitor (Tools -> Serial Monitor) at 115200 baud. In the Serial Monitor, you should see the values from the touch screen being printed out.

The first number is the X coordinate, the second number is the Y coordinate and the last two numbers are Z "pressure" coordinates that can tell you how hard the touch pad is being pressed.

On the TFT, you'll be able to doodle with the different colors on the left side of the screen.

The steps to get the 3.5" TFT FeatherWing, which has an HX8357 display on it, are very similar to the 2.4" TFT FeatherWing. If you would like more information on this display, be sure to check out our Adafruit 3.5" TFT FeatherWing guide.

Parts

To use this display with displayio, you will only need two main parts. First, you will need the TFT FeatherWing itself. One thing to note with this display is because of the increased resolution, updates will be a little slower for this display than for the other displays.

Overhead shot of a Black woman's hands with a blue and pinkish-red manicure drawing a heart on a touchscreen breakout.
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And second, you will need a Feather such as theFeather M0 Express or the Feather M4 Express. We recommend the Feather M4 Express because it's much faster and works better for driving a display.

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For this guide, we'll assume you have a Feather M4 Express. The steps should be about the same for the Feather M0 Express. To start, if you haven't already done so, follow the assembly instructions for the Feather M4 Express in our Feather M4 Express guide. We'll start by looking at the back of the 3.5" TFT FeatherWing. 

After that, it's just a matter of inserting the Feather M4 Express into the back of the TFT FeatherWing.

Required CircuitPython Libraries

To use this display with displayio, there is only one required library.

First, make sure you are running the latest version of Adafruit CircuitPython for your board.

Next, you'll need to install the necessary libraries to use the hardware--carefully follow the steps to find and install these libraries from Adafruit's CircuitPython library bundle.  Our introduction guide has a great page on how to install the library bundle for both express and non-express boards.

Remember for non-express boards, you'll need to manually install the necessary libraries from the bundle:

  • adafruit_hx8357

Before continuing make sure your board's lib folder or root filesystem has the adafruit_hx8357 file copied over.

Code Example Additional Libraries

For the Code Example, you will need an additional library. We decided to make use of a library so the code didn't get overly complicated.

Go ahead and install this in the same manner as the driver library by copying the adafruit_display_text folder over to the lib folder on your CircuitPython device.

CircuitPython Code Example

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2021 ladyada for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

"""
This test will initialize the display using displayio and draw a solid green
background, a smaller purple rectangle, and some yellow text.
"""

import board
import terminalio
import displayio
from adafruit_display_text import label
from adafruit_hx8357 import HX8357

# Release any resources currently in use for the displays
displayio.release_displays()

spi = board.SPI()
tft_cs = board.D9
tft_dc = board.D10

display_bus = displayio.FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs)

display = HX8357(display_bus, width=480, height=320)

# Make the display context
splash = displayio.Group()
display.root_group = splash

color_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(480, 320, 1)
color_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
color_palette[0] = 0x00FF00  # Bright Green

bg_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(color_bitmap, pixel_shader=color_palette, x=0, y=0)
splash.append(bg_sprite)

# Draw a smaller inner rectangle
inner_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(440, 280, 1)
inner_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
inner_palette[0] = 0xAA0088  # Purple
inner_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(inner_bitmap, pixel_shader=inner_palette, x=20, y=20)
splash.append(inner_sprite)

# Draw a label
text_group = displayio.Group(scale=3, x=137, y=160)
text = "Hello World!"
text_area = label.Label(terminalio.FONT, text=text, color=0xFFFF00)
text_group.append(text_area)  # Subgroup for text scaling
splash.append(text_group)

while True:
    pass

Let's take a look at the sections of code one by one. We start by importing the board so that we can initialize SPI, displayio, terminalio for the font, a label, and the adafruit_hx8357 driver.

import board
import displayio
import terminalio
from adafruit_display_text import label
from adafruit_hx8357 import HX8357

Next we release any previously used displays. This is important because if the Feather is reset, the display pins are not automatically released and this makes them available for use again.

displayio.release_displays()

Next, we set the SPI object to the board's SPI with the easy shortcut function board.SPI(). By using this function, it finds the SPI module and initializes using the default SPI parameters. Next we set the Chip Select and Data/Command pins that will be used.

spi = board.SPI()
tft_cs = board.D9
tft_dc = board.D10

In the next line, we set the display bus to FourWire which makes use of the SPI bus.

display_bus = displayio.FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs)

Finally, we initialize the driver with a width of 480 and a height of 320. If we stopped at this point and ran the code, we would have a terminal that we could type at and have the screen update.

display = HX8357(display_bus, width=480, height=320)

Next we create a background splash image. We do this by creating a group that we can add elements to and adding that group to the display. The display will automatically handle updating the group.

splash = displayio.Group()
display.show(splash)

After that we create a Bitmap which is like a canvas that we can draw on. In this case we are creating the Bitmap to be the same size as the screen, but only have one color. The Bitmaps can currently handle up to 256 different colors. We create a Palette with one color and set that color to 0x00FF00 which happens to be green. Colors are Hexadecimal values in the format of RRGGBB. Even though the Bitmaps can only handle 256 colors at a time, you get to define what those 256 different colors are.

color_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(480, 320, 1)
color_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
color_palette[0] = 0x00FF00 # Bright Green

With all those pieces in place, we create a TileGrid by passing the bitmap and palette and draw it at (0, 0) which represents the display's upper left.

bg_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(color_bitmap,
                               pixel_shader=color_palette,
                               x=0, y=0)
splash.append(bg_sprite)

This creates a solid green background which we will draw on top of.

Next we will create a smaller purple rectangle. The easiest way to do this is the create a new bitmap that is a little smaller than the full screen with a single color and place it in a specific location. In this case we will create a bitmap that is 20 pixels smaller on each side. The screen is 480x320, so we'll want to subtract 40 from each of those numbers.

We'll also want to place it at the position (20, 20) so that it ends up centered.

# Draw a smaller inner rectangle
inner_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(440, 280, 1)
inner_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
inner_palette[0] = 0xAA0088 # Purple
inner_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(inner_bitmap,
                                  pixel_shader=inner_palette,
                                  x=20, y=20)
splash.append(inner_sprite)

Since we are adding this after the first rectangle, it's automatically drawn on top. Here's what it looks like now.

Next let's add a label that says "Hello World!" on top of that. We're going to use the built-in Terminal Font and scale it up by a factor of three. To scale the label only, we will make use of a subgroup, which we will then add to the main group.

Labels are centered vertically, so we'll place it at 160 for the Y coordinate, and around 137 pixels make it appear to be centered horizontally, but if you want to change the text, change this to whatever looks good to you. Let's go with some yellow text, so we'll pass it a value of 0xFFFF00.

# Draw a label
text_group = displayio.Group(scale=3, x=137, y=160)
text = "Hello World!"
text_area = label.Label(terminalio.FONT, text=text, color=0xFFFF00)
text_group.append(text_area) # Subgroup for text scaling
splash.append(text_group)

Finally, we place an infinite loop at the end so that the graphics screen remains in place and isn't replaced by a terminal.

while True:
    pass

Using Touch

We won't be covering how to use the touchscreen on the shield with CircuitPython in this guide, but the library required for enabling resistive touch is the Adafruit_CircuitPython_STMPE610 library.

Where to go from here

Be sure to check out this excellent guide to CircuitPython Display Support Using displayio

Using the 3.5" TFT FeatherWing V2 with CircuitPython involves plugging a Feather board into the FeatherWing. Then, you load the code and necessary libraries onto your Feather board to run the example.

This page uses the Feather RP2040 for demonstrating CircuitPython usage. You can use the same concepts to get going with any classic Feather board.

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Hardware Setup

Plug your Feather into the FeatherWing. The bottom of the Feather will be above the FeatherWing STEMMA QT port.

CircuitPython Usage

To use with CircuitPython, you need to first install the necessary libraries, and their dependencies, into the lib folder on your CIRCUITPY drive. Then you need to update code.py with the example script.

Thankfully, we can do this in one go. In the example below, click the Download Project Bundle button below to download the necessary libraries and the code.py file in a zip file. Extract the contents of the zip file.

Connect the microcontroller to your computer via a known-good USB power+data cable. The board shows up as a thumb drive named CIRCUITPY. Copy the entire lib folder, the bitmap image files, and the code.py file to your CIRCUITPY drive.

Your CIRCUITPY/lib folder should contain the following folder and files:

  • /adafruit_bus_device
  • adafruit_hx8357.mpy
  • adafruit_tsc2007.mpy

Once you have copied over the necessary folders and files, your CIRCUITPY drive should resemble the following:

CIRCUITPY

Example Code

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Liz Clark for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

"""
This test will initialize the display using displayio and display
a bitmap image. The image advances when the touch screen is touched.

Pinouts are for the 3.5" TFT FeatherWing V2
"""
import os
import board
import displayio
import adafruit_hx8357
import adafruit_tsc2007

# Release any resources currently in use for the displays
displayio.release_displays()

# Use Hardware SPI
spi = board.SPI()

tft_cs = board.D9
tft_dc = board.D10

display_width = 480
display_height = 320

display_bus = displayio.FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs)
display = adafruit_hx8357.HX8357(display_bus, width=display_width, height=display_height)

i2c = board.STEMMA_I2C()

irq_dio = None
tsc = adafruit_tsc2007.TSC2007(i2c, irq=irq_dio)

groups = []
images = []
for filename in os.listdir('/'):
    if filename.lower().endswith('.bmp') and not filename.startswith('.'):
        images.append("/"+filename)
print(images)

for i in range(len(images)):
    splash = displayio.Group()
    bitmap = displayio.OnDiskBitmap(images[i])
    tile_grid = displayio.TileGrid(bitmap, pixel_shader=bitmap.pixel_shader)
    splash.append(tile_grid)
    groups.append(splash)

index = 0
touch_state = False

display.root_group = groups[index]

while True:
    if tsc.touched and not touch_state:
        point = tsc.touch
        print("Touchpoint: (%d, %d, %d)" % (point["x"], point["y"], point["pressure"]))
        # left side of the screen
        if point["y"] < 2000:
            index = (index - 1) % len(images)
            display.root_group = groups[index]
        # right side of the screen
        else:
            index = (index + 1) % len(images)
            display.root_group = groups[index]
        touch_state = True
    if not tsc.touched and touch_state:
        touch_state = False

Once everything is saved to the CIRCUITPY drive, connect to the serial console to see the data printed out!

The code will open all of the bitmap files that are on the CIRCUITPY drive and add them to the images array. The first image will then be displayed on the TFT. In the loop, if you touch the screen you'll see the coordinates and pressure print to the serial console.

If you press on the left side of the screen, the display will show the previous bitmap in the array. If you press on the right side of the screen, the display will show the next bitmap in the array.

Display does not work on initial power but does work after a reset.

The display driver circuit needs a small amount of time to be ready after initial power. If your code tries to write to the display too soon, it may not be ready. It will work on reset since that typically does not cycle power. If you are having this issue, try adding a small amount of delay before trying to write to the display.

In Arduino, use delay() to add a few milliseconds before calling tft.begin(). Adjust the amount of delay as needed to see how little you can get away with for your specific setup.

This guide was first published on Oct 25, 2017. It was last updated on Mar 29, 2024.