We’ve seen transparent, see-through displays at least since 2010 for retail applications, and over the years, these types of transparent displays or variants have made it to consumer devices like smartwatches and notch-free smartphones.
But I don’t think I had ever seen transparent displays for the maker market, and DFRobot Fermion is 1.51-inch transparent OLED display with 128×64 resolution that is connected to the host MCU via SPI or GDI (General Display Interface) interface.
Fermion specifications:
- 1.51-inch transparent OLED display with blue pixels based on SSD1309 driver
- Resolution – 128×64 (transparent part: 128×56)
- Display interface – 8-bit 68xx/80xx Parallel, 3-/4-wire SPI, I2C
- Adapter Interface – SPI, GDI
- Operating Voltage – 3.3V
- Dimensions
- Screen Size – 41.92 x 27.08mm
- Display Area – 35.05 x 15.32 mm
- Pixel Pitch – 0.274 x 0.274mm
- Pixel Size – 0.254 x 0.254mm
- Adapter Size – 18 x 28mm/0.71 x 1.10inch
- Temperature Range – -40~70°C
There are two ways to connect the display to a development board with the provided adapter using headers and jumper cables for SPI which should be compatible with most platforms, a flat cable with a GDI connection to a board such as DFRobot Firebeetle ESP32-E board with a specific connector to connect external displays.
Programming can be done with the Arduino IDE and U8g2 Arduino library, as explained in the Wiki where you’ll also find Arduino sketches to handle fonts, graphics, and multiple languages, as well as hardware documentation. The best way to see what it looks like in action is a short demo.
Fermion 1.51-inch transparent OLED display can be purchased on DFRobot for $34.90 plus shipping.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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