Round display GC9A01

[Fernando Perez]

I bought two screens of this type on AliExpress at a really low price.
Running on Annex32 CAN 1.50.8 LFS and Wemos D1mini ESP32 without problems, with this setup:

image.png

image.png

Attached demo program. Amazing image quality, much better than what is seen in the video. It is due to problems with my camera and lighting.

Code: [Local Link Removed for Guests]

second = 0 : lastSecond = 0
h$ = "" : s$ = ""
background = tft.rgb(215,216,211)

tft.loadFont "/DS_DIGIB19pt7b.bin", 10
tft.loadFont "/DS_DIGIB27pt7b.bin", 11
tft.init 0
tft.fill 0
pause 3000

tft.jpg "/mosca.jpg"
pause 5000
tft.image "/Jo_van_Gogh.jpg"
pause 5000

tft.jpg "/casio.jpg"
gui.init 2
s = gui.textLine(157, 125, 45, 30, s$, 10, black, background, background)
h = gui.textLine(42, 117, 113, 38, h$, 11, black, background, background, ALIGN_MID_RIGHT, 2)
gosub displayHours

while 1
  second = val(right$(time$, 1))
  seconds = val(right$(time$, 2))
  if second <> lastSecond then gosub displaySeconds
  if seconds = 0 then gosub displayHours
wend  

displaySeconds:
  gui.settext s, right$(time$, 2)
  gui.refresh
  lastSecond = second
return  

displayHours:
  h$ = str$(val(left$(time$, 2))) + mid$(time$, 3, 3) ' pipsqueak
  gui.setText h, h$
  gui.refresh
return

GC9A01.zip

https://youtube.com/shorts/tfc9oxDMu5E?feature=share

Just two observations: I'm missing the tft.pixel(x, y, color) instruction and when I try to load a 32-bit bmp image with a transparent background, Annex doesn't detect it.

[cicciocb]

Ho Fernando,
the command is without the ()

Code: [Local Link Removed for Guests]

tft.pixel x, y, color

About the transparent color, all depends on what you define for transparent image.
Post it here and I'll check if your image has an alpha channel.

[Fernando Perez]

True, Francesco, with that syntax tft.pixel works for me. I was confused because I can't find it in Help.
I upload a .bmp image that I think is 32 bit, 240x240 with a transparent background. At least, I set the alpha channel to 0, but my knowledge is very limited.

Europa32b.7z

[cicciocb]

Yes, the command is missing in the help. I'll update the help.

About the image, the image is transparent but I don't understand what is the issue as the image is exactly the size of the TFT so the transparent part is outside the screen

[Fernando Perez]

You are right the image is round and 240x240. It is not a good example.
But my problem is that when I load a 24 bit bmp image, it appears on the screen. The same image in 32 bits is ignored. It does not appear on the screen and there is no error message.

Code: [Local Link Removed for Guests]

tft.init 0
tft.fill 0

tft.bmp "/borron24.bmp", 0, 0  '  You can see it well
pause 1000
tft.fill blue
pause 1000
' Can't see anything, screen goes from blue to yellow background without transition:
tft.bmp "/borron32T.bmp", 0, 0, -1  ' 
pause 1000
tft.fill yellow
END

I'm almost sure the problem is that I can't make 32-bit transparent bmp images with the means I use, Paint Net.
I will try to install GIMP.

[Fernando Perez]

I've installed GIMP, created a 32-bit BMP image with a transparent background, and still get a black screen. I'm sorry to bother you so much, but can you post or send me an image of these characteristics that works for you? Thank you.

[cicciocb]

as soon as i'll have the time I'll test, maybe is not working.

[cicciocb]

I've installed GIMP, created a 32-bit BMP image with a transparent background, and still get a black screen. I'm sorry to bother you so much, but can you post or send me an image of these characteristics that works for you? Thank you.

I tried your images and are not working.
So I tried to see how is coded and I discovered that the format 32bits actually implemented in Annex is not exactly the format that gimp exports, I did that some years ago and honestly I don't remember if I was using an older version of Gimp or another tool for the images.
Having said that, I just "patched" your image and it works (Is attached).
I think that is not practical to patch all the images (change the byte at address 0x1e from 3 to 0)
So I need to update a little bit annex to make it compatible with gimp. I'll include also the format 16 bits for more compact images.
As I did a deep learning on the bmp format recently, this is the good moment before I'll change completely the subject.

[Fernando Perez]

Works! Beautiful.
What's more, I've dug up the "hexadecimal editor" function of my favorite editor, PSPad and I can make my images transparent with your instructions.
I don't know where you learn so many things...
Like always, thank you.

image.png

I take this opportunity to comment on how easy it is to create a screen to display QR codes and how well they look on this round TFT.

Code: [Local Link Removed for Guests]

background = tft.rgb(215,216,211)
tft.init 0
tft.fill background
for v = 1 to 15
  tft.qrcode "192.168.1.103", 33, 33, 170, v
  pause 3000
next v  

[Helmut_number_one]

I can't use the code, in Annex32 CAN 1.50.8 LFS and in newer Firmware, TFT Int, TFT.TJPG and so on.