Last year, I wrote about the Turing Smart Screen low-cost 3.5-inch display based on a WCH CH552T 8-bit E8051 core microcontroller that connects to a PC or other device through a USB Type-C cable in order to display system or other information using AIDA64 software or an open-source Python software.
I’ve just come across another display that appears to serve the same purpose, except the “GeekTeches V35” is an ultrawide 8.8-inch display with 1920×480 resolution, micro USB and micro HDMI interfaces, and optional support for a touchscreen.
GeekTeches V35 specifications:
- Display
- 8.8-inch IPS display with 480×1920 resolution (21:9 aspect ratio) with optional touch screen
- Pixel size – 0.114 x 0.114 mm
- Display area – 54.72 x 218.88 mm
- Wide display angle
- Brightness – 550cd/m2, adjustable
- Driver: IC/LCM Driver IC
- Display interface – “MIPI BIT interface”. Not sure what this is… a typo for MIPI DSI?
- Backlight current – 160ma
- Backlight voltage – 15V
- Host interfaces – “HDMI-compatible” and USB
- Dimensions – 235 x 67 x 18 mm
- Weight – 210g
- Color – White or Black (Aluminum alloy)
- Temperature Range – Operating: -20 to +70°C; storage: -30 to +80°C
The display comes with a stand that enables a portrait or landscape orientation, as well as USB and HDMI cables. But the “HDMI-compatible” claim from the specifications looks suspicious to me, so it’s unclear if it can be used as an ultra-wide HDMI display, or if there are some limitations.
On the software side, we’re told the V35 display is compatible with AIDA64 software like the Turing Smart Screen, but I was unable to find the equivalent of the “UsbMonitor.exe” for it, and it’s unclear whether it can be made to work with the open-source turing-smart-screen-python program. My guess is that the USB port is used for power, information display, and the touchscreen (if any), and the HDMI port to drive the display like a normal screen, but I can’t see any photo or video showing a program running or a video playing on this specific display.
I first found the GeekTeches V35 ultrawide 8.8-inch display on Banggood where it is sold for $78.99 without a touchscreen and $90.99 with the touchscreen function, and the exact same model can also be found on Aliexpress for $64 and up. You’ll find plenty of other 8.8-inch displays with 1920×480 resolution on Aliexpress and other stores with different display boards, and one shows the Raspberry Pi OS desktop environment and the Windows desktop on the ultrawide display.
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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It most certainly is driven by HDMI… otherwise it would be way too many pixels to be driven through a whimsy USB interface, unless there’s much more intelligence on board (and still, it would still need a good processor itself in that case, like those HMI displays, not just a tiny microcontroller)
The display has 921600 pixels.
USB 2.0 can push over 40-50MiB/s depedning on how many things you have hanging of a single host bus interface.
So let’s say worst case XRGB pixel format, that’s 10-12.5 mpixels/s, so ~10fps.
Not great for anything animated, but perfectly workable for quick updates of static content.
(Assuming this thing is optimized enough to max out the USB interface)
Just for reference, in the Turing display, the USB port is not actually used to send video data because it’s relying on a USB-to-serial connection (probably at 115,200 bps) to send text and information about graphics, and those are then displayed on the 480×320 screen. It’s like a fixed-function display.
The 8.8-inch display discussed in the post above is probably using HDMI input, but I find it suspicious they write “HDMI-compatible” as if there are some quite of limitations…
The microUSB is probably for the touch screen.
Would Windows 11 just see this as another monitor? I’d love to have this setup with small Desktop Widgets that I have built, to show me sales stats from my only commerce shops.
This thing is a disaster. Aside from receiving no HDMI cable and the HDMI port just being an empty hole with no port, there is no suggestion of what LCD mode option to select in AIDA64 and no software or interface with the computer. Basically, I spent quite a lot of money for a small lightweight box with one USB and no indication as to do anything other than get a black screen.
if its only got a usb-c port thats all it needs tp power on and display what you want using turzx