Raspberry Pi Mini Desktop

Intro

So with this project, I decided to use up my pretty much useless raspberry pi that I haven’t used at all and make something actually kinda useful. I ended up spending about 80 dollars on it, not including the tools nor the raspberry pi which is the heart of this machine. I use it mainly for python programming and I plan on using it as a mini emulator station to take to school and play with my friends when it is a slow day.

Materials

The Pi Desktop 

Notes:

I wanted to show how to install the Drivers for the touchscreen without having to use the included CD, just in case the disc is not included or if you want to use a different version of Raspbian other than the version included

After you install NOOBS on your Raspberry Pi, you can go into the config.txt in /boot/config.txt from your browser, or uses ssh and type in sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Then you need to modify the text in the file to include this set

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (here we are forcing 800×480!)
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=1
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_cvt 800 480 60 6 0 0 0

start_file=start_x.elf
fixup_file=fixup_x.elf
gpu_mem=128

You need this to make sure you force HDMI and have the right resolution or else your raspberry pi will not display anything.

The screen would look broken if this was not inputted into the config file.

Now install the drivers for the LCD screen by installing the touch screen drivers with this like http://www.waveshare.net/w/upload/7/73/LCD-show.tar.gz

Or optionally, google LCD-show.tar.gz

After the file is in your RPi, type in this code

cd /home/pi/LCD-show
sudo ./LCD5-show

After the install, the RPi should reboot and then you would need to run the calibration, by typing into the console

cd /home/pi/LCD-show
sudo dpkg -i -B xinput-calibrator_0.7.5-1_armhf.deb
su pi
DISPLAY=:0.0 xinput_calibrator

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