Display on Intel Edison

[CodyCode]

I was wondering if it would be possible to connect a LCD panel to an Intel Edison. Not a small one, but around 7 inches. I am hoping to be able to drive the display with an xserver on a Linux distro (not partial to any specific distro)

[adafruit_support_mike]

Possible, sure.

Is there existing code to do it? Not as far as I know. You'd probably have to create your own display driver.

[dnorris011]

Implementing a direct display with the Edison is likely to be awhile, if ever. The Edison module is simply not designed for that type of HID. It is designed to be a true "embedded" computing module and not to be a learning board such as the Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black. That is why it has no direct video output or even USB connectivity, all that has to be provided by external boards or stackable modules. Having said all that, it is certainly possible to obtain a desktop GUI from the Edison if that is your intent.

I would use the xrdp package to implement a video output. xrdp (short for X11 Remote Desktop Protocol) contains the tightvncserver, which provides both text and graphics to a remote client. You need to install the xrdp package on the Edison and a compatible client package on your remote computer. Then simply connect to the Edison using its ip address and you should see the appropriate desktop, which comes with the Edison Linux distribution. I don't know the type desktop that is associated with Pokey, which is the distribution built from the Edison Yocto 1.6 framework. (Yocto is not a Linux distribution, it is a framework designed to build them).

If all of the above is a bit too complex, I would suggest waiting a short time for the Edison Debian distribution to become available, Then installing xrdp simply becomes typing in this command: sudo apt-get install xrdp I would also ensure you update and upgrade the distro before typing the xrdp install command.

BTW: My new book "Internet of Things" covers the xrdp topic as well as a bunch of other interesting projects. Should be available this December on Amazon.