piframe/hardware.md

2.6 KiB

Bill Of Materials / Hardware Assumptions

This is a surprisingly straight forward project that has minimal in the way of hardware requirements. Below you'll find a list of everything we recommend / assume.

  • Raspberry Pi 4 with at least 2Gb of RAM
    • An equivalent board with at least 2Gb of RAM capable of running Ubuntu 64bit Linux can be used instead but we do not support anything but the Raspberry Pi 4 at this time
    • Please note: RAM usage is significantly affected by source image resolution /and/ panel size. 2Gb of RAM should be enough for a 2k screen and 20Mpx source images. If you're not sure get a 4Gb Raspberry Pi.
  • HDMI Monitor (Verified Working)
    • Please note: these are the panels we KNOW WORK ; do not deviate unless you want to fiddle with a lot of boot loader configuration
    • This section is currently being overhauled. We found a supplier on Alibaba (see wisecoco below) that has panels in 2k and 4k resolution ranging in size from 6 inches to 15.6 inches. We will be contacting them for samples and LCDs for testing and verification. Others have used this supplier with great success and we plan on working with them for PiFrame panel sourcing as appropriate. We will update this section of the docs after we've had a chance to get feedback from the supplier.
  • HDMI Monitor (TESTING)
    • Please note: these are the panels we are TESTING ; do not use these unless you'd like to help us sort the settings needed for use
    • wisecoco panels
  • Pimoroni Fan SHIM
    • This has better cooling than a heat sink as well as on/off support
    • You probably want this instead of the more common heat sink cases and similar
    • This will NOT require soldering to use but assumes you have room to slip the fan all the way down on the main header
  • USB to Serial adapter
    • There are a lot of options, choose one you know that will work well
    • Adafruit and SparkFun are good choices for serial to usb adapters
  • HDMI cable that will work with your panel and the Raspberry Pi. You can use an adapter if needed.
  • USB disk (thumb drive / ssd) for storing pictures
    • This is optional but will help prevent micro sd card wear if regularly changing photos or running backups
    • The Sandisk Ultra Fit USB disks are great options and work well with the Raspberry Pi boards
  • 1x micro sd card
    • Must be at least 16Gb. The base install of software consumes almost 8Gb of storage, you'll want more than 8Gb to properly buffer updates and upgrades
  • Power supply (at least 3A to avoid voltage issues)