2×2 Quad Display Board uses Raspberry Pi Pico W or ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module to drive four displays (Crowdfunding)

SB Components’ 2×2 Quad Display Board is an MCU development board fitted with either a Raspberry Pi Pico W board or an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module used to drive four small color displays in square or round shapes.

The board specifically features either four 1.54-inch square TFT displays or four 1.28-inch round displays, a microSD card, an RTC with coin-cell battery holder, and a USB-C port for power and programming, plus a few buttons. It may feel like it’s coming out of the but-why-because-we-can department, but the company expects it to be used for signage, interactive displays, art projects, portable devices, data loggers, education, and more.

2×2 Quad Display Board specifications:

• Main control (one or the other)
  • Raspberry Pi Pico W
    • MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM
    • Storage – 2MB QSPI flash
    • Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5.2
    • USB – 1x Micro USB 1.1 port used for power and programming
  • ESP32-S3-WROOM-1
    • MCU – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, up to 8MB PSRAM
    • Storage – TBD
    • Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5
• Storage – MicroSD card
• Display configurations (one or the other)
  • 4x 1.28-inch round displays, 240×240 resolution, 65K/262K colors, GC9A01 display driver
  • 4x 1.54-inch square TFT displays, 240×240 resolution, 65K/262K colors, ST7789 display driver
• USB
  • Pico W – 1x micro USB 1.1 port on Raspberry Pi Pico board
  • ESP32-C3 – 1x USB-C 1.1 OTG port on carrier board
• Sensor – BME280 temperature, pressure, and humidity sensor
• Expansion – 4-pin GPIO connector
• Misc
  • 4x user button
  • DS3231 RTC + coin-cell battery holder
  • Buzzer
• Power Supply
  • 5V DC via USB port
  • LiPo Battery support via connector and charging circuit
• Dimensions – TBD

It seems to be a variant of the company’s Dual Roundy and Dual Squary displays introduced last January, but they upped the ante with four displays on the same side of the board.  Some may claim you could just achieve the same result with a larger display, although I reckon the 2×2 Quad Display Board may look neater than the alternative once it’s housed in an enclosure.

As usual, SB Components will not provide any code samples or deep technical details while the crowdfunding is in progress, and they usually release the software part before shipping the rewards, so MicroPython, CircuitPython, and Arduino samples should become available in due time. In the meantime, we can have a look at some of the demos in the video embedded below.

SB Components has launched the 2×2 Quad Display boards on Kickstarter with a 500 GBP target (620 USD). Rewards start at $57 US for the ESP32-S3 variants of the 2×2 Quad Display board, and $63 for the Raspberry Pi Pico models. Shipping adds 7 GBP to the UK, and about $19 to the rest of the world. As a comparison, an ESP32 board with a 3.5-inch touchscreen display like the Elecrow ESP32 3.5-inch HMI display costs around $20 plus shipping bearing in mind it lacks some of the features of the SB Components board. The 2×2 Quad Display boards are schedule to ship in June 2023 if everything goes according to plans…

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