Beaglebone: LCD panel, SPI or I2C

Hi All,

I have been struggling with a generic Hannstar LCD panel (not a cape) to connect to my Beaglebone Black. Tried all types of fixes only to revisit all types of reported issues so far. No luck, yet. An LCD cape is on its way, and I am yet to try that. I have learned through these travails that the Beaglebone, while being a great processor-controller combo does have very flaky support for LCDs. Use the HDMI cape, and I reckon we give up many useful pins (the better part of the P8 header, pretty much), so I am not convinced it is the best choice.

Given all this, have there been happy LCD success stories on BBB taking alternate routes like SPI for connectivity, skirting the HDMI totally? This might be a way to consider for reasonably low video refresh rates for some embedded needs, would you agree? Please point me to the best “alternative” to HDMI for LCD capes. If the 4D system-capes have really changed the BBB-HDMI story, that would be good to hear too.

Thanks much in advance,

-Venky