OP25 display output in terminal

[desertmansd]

I have been trying to figure out how to get large font on a small display to make the pi/op25 combo really slick and portable. I can look at python and get an understanding of whats going on but I really don't have the skill to rewrite the op25 code. I though as an alternative to rewrite the web page code and put the web browser in kiosk mode but I'd rather run at init 1 and launch rx.py from there. Does anybody have experience getting nice big text output on a 3.5in display?

Link to the display I'm using below.

Thanks

Ted

Amazon.com: Dorhea Raspberry Pi 3 b+ Display 3.5 inch TFT LCD Screen Kit, 3.5'' 480x320 Resolution TFT Touch Screen Moudle with Protective Case Touch Pen Heatsinks for Raspberry Pi 3 B+,Pi 3 B, Pi 2, Pi Zero: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Dorhea Raspberry Pi 3 b+ Display 3.5 inch TFT LCD Screen Kit, 3.5'' 480x320 Resolution TFT Touch Screen Moudle with Protective Case Touch Pen Heatsinks for Raspberry Pi 3 B+,Pi 3 B, Pi 2, Pi Zero: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

 

[bucket772]

Why not run the web interface? Open the browser and point to OP25 and then do an F11 and go full screen. I think it would be easer to see then a terminal window

 

[desertmansd]

Thats the next step but it would be nicer to get the output into a terminal window and run in single user mode to keep cpu load low.

 

[mtindor]

Thats the next step but it would be nicer to get the output into a terminal window and run in single user mode to keep cpu load low.

I don't really see any CPU penalty when using the web interface. It's amazing how far OP25 has come. Running it with an RTL dongle on a Raspberry PI4 and I'm totally amazed at how little CPU usage it really uses. They have really tweaked that sucker to use as few resources as possible. Very impressive.

 

[boatbod]

Thats the next step but it would be nicer to get the output into a terminal window and run in single user mode to keep cpu load low.

The curses terminal does not work when op25 is started headless at boot-time. Running the http terminal with no client connected is perfectly fine and causes no cpu penalty.

 

[desertmansd]

The curses terminal does not work when op25 is started headless at boot-time. Running the http terminal with no client connected is perfectly fine and causes no cpu penalty.

Thanks boatbod, thats how I usually run it but on a 3.5" display a lot (maybe half) of the screen is taken up by the browser and desktop.
Time to experiment with borderless browser or kiosk mode.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Ted

 

[rivardj]

Thanks boatbod, thats how I usually run it but on a 3.5" display a lot (maybe half) of the screen is taken up by the browser and desktop.
Time to experiment with borderless browser or kiosk mode.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Ted

I have the following Raspberry Pi 3 B+ / OP25 configuration:
Screen Resolution is set to: CEA mode 4 1280 X 720 60 Hz 16:9
Firefox - ESR browser zoomed to 150% and displaying the window in Full Screen mode.

Pros:

It looks like this...

and it displays very nicely via HDMI on a television.

Cons:
Hard to see some items on the desktop when looking at the 3.5 inch display at high resolution.
Hard to select some items on the touch screen of the 3.5 inch display at high resolution.

I have mine automatically running OP25 and the browser at boot so that it boots up as seen in the picture above. This mostly solves
the issue of selecting items on the touch screen at the higher resolution. Sometimes I have to tap a button on the screen in the browser window
because the browser was unable to connect to the OP25 HTTP server in time, not a big issue as this button is large.
Takes about 30 to 45 seconds to fully boot once power is applied.

 

[rivardj]

One thing I forgot to mention, add an Add-ons called AutoFullScreen to Firefox so that it opens in full screen automatically.

 

[desertmansd]

One thing I forgot to mention, add an Add-ons called AutoFullScreen to Firefox so that it opens in full screen automatically.

Very nice!!! I'll try that tonight.

I have a good friend that I bought a Nano three for and he's going to take a look at the code to see if he can tweak it to run in a terminal window, with large font and maybe do away with all the frequency history and just give the TG ID and name and maybe a bit of TG history.

 

[desertmansd]

One thing I forgot to mention, add an Add-ons called AutoFullScreen to Firefox so that it opens in full screen automatically.

So got all that working but I had no option to put the screen in 'CEA mode 4". Also for some reason parts of firefox are off screen but its' much better than before.

 

[rivardj]

I have two Raspberry Pi 3 B+ running OP25. I just checked my second one, it doesn't have a 3.5" display attached, and there is no CEA Mode 4 selection available in the Set Resolution drop down menu of the Raspbian operating system on this one either. I think the exact descriptions of the resolutions available are dependent on the display(s) attached to the system. The important thing is to select a mode that has 1280 X 720 in the listing and then re-boot for it to become active.

 

[desertmansd]

I have two Raspberry Pi 3 B+ running OP25. I just checked my second one, it doesn't have a 3.5" display attached, and there is no CEA Mode 4 selection available in the Set Resolution drop down menu of the Raspbian operating system on this one either. I think the exact descriptions of the resolutions available are dependent on the display(s) attached to the system. The important thing is to select a mode that has 1280 X 720 in the listing and then re-boot for it to become active.

Yep, thats what I did. I'm actually pretty happy with how it is displaying. Someone with some html skill could probably build a page that looked perfect on a 3.5" screen.