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Matthieu Houdebine edited this page Oct 9, 2023 · 57 revisions

Common characteristics

  • MCU – WCH CH552T 8-bit E8051 core MCU for 3.5" USB devices

The USB-C smart screens are detected as serial ports once connected.
They cannot be seen by the operating system as monitors, but pictures & dynamic content can be displayed on them.
A Windows-only software is provided by the vendor to manage the display. The vendor app allows creating themes to display your computer sensors on the screen, but does not offer a simple way to display custom pictures or text.

Here are the supported smart screen models for this project:

  • Turing Smart Screen 3.5"
  • Turing Smart Screen 5"
  • XuanFang 3.5" (rev. B & flagship)
  • "UsbPCMonitor" 3.5" & 5"
  • Kipye Qiye Smart Display 3.5"

Turing Smart Screen 3.5"

This is the official smart screen made by Turing.
It is sometimes incorrectly labeled as "revision A" by resellers.
There is 2 USB-C ports.
The mention "Turing Smart Screen" is visible in English and Chinese when there is no backplate.
It is originally provided with UsbMonitor.exe software for Windows.
Serial ID: USB35INCHIPS / USB35INCHIPSV2

Without backplate

With backplate

With separate mainboard

Note: for this version you may need to disable self.lcd.Reset() in def initialize_display(self): from library/display.py

Turing Smart Screen 5"

This 5" model made by Turing is also supported by this project (themes are different for 3.5" and 5" models)
There is a SD card slot, and 1 or 2 USB-C ports.
There may also be a MX-1.25 connector for motherboard USB connection.
Model is available in black or white casing.
It is originally provided with UsbMonitorL.exe software for Windows.

This model can do a lot more than the 3.5" display: video background, SD card storage...
For now, only basic functions are supported by this project, like for the 3.5" version.

image

XuanFang 3.5" (rev. B & flagship)

This screen has no official name but is commonly named "XuanFang" smart screen.
It is usually labeled "revision B" or "revision flagship" by resellers.
There are 2 USB-C ports but they are located on different sides of the product.
There is also a JST ZH connector for motherboard USB connection.
It is originally provided with ExtendScreen.exe software for Windows.

Revision B

It has no backplate on the rear side, and some electronic components are directly available.
The rear side has the mention "Q002_V2.0" written.

Revision flagship

Rev. "flagship" is the same hardware and protocol as rev. B.
This product offers a backplate with screws covering the rear side electronics.
The backplate is lit on the sides by RGB LEDs that can be color-controlled.

"UsbPCMonitor" 3.5" & 5"

No model or brand name indicated on the box or the product.
The product are visually similar to Turing 3.5" & 5" models (see above).
The 5" version has 2 USB-C connectors on the sides, and no SD card reader unlike the Turing one.

The only difference is that they are controlled by a proprietary Windows software named UsbPCMonitor.exe

Kipye Qiye Smart Display 3.5"

The Qiye 3.5" smart display is made by the Kipye company
It is shipped in a box labeled "奇叶智显 Qi Ye Zhi Xian" which means "Qiye Smart Display"
The product name "奇叶智显" is also engraved on top of the display front bezel.
The screen has 2 USB-C ports: one on the top side and one recessed on the backplate.
It is originally provided with a Windows software 奇叶KIPYE-English.zip , the binary file is named 奇叶智显.exe or ãµÊÂÍäÈ.exe.