Pico Display Pack 2.8"

by Pimoroni

An expanded 2.8" (320 x 240 pixel) IPS LCD display add on for Raspberry Pi Pico (and compatibles), with four buttons, an RGB LED and Qw/ST connectivity.

Pico Display 2.8" features a bold, credit-card sized 320 x 240 pixel LCD display with lush colours and great IPS viewing angles. We've surrounded the display with four tactile buttons and also added an RGB LED for use as an indicator or just for ambient rainbows. There's also a Qw/ST connector so you can connect up breakouts (or other I2C devices) easily using a Qw/ST cable.

Support for this display is baked into our custom build of MicroPython so it's super easy to draw text, shapes and images onto the screen with our homebrew graphics library PicoGraphics. ST7789 displays are widely supported so it should be possible to use it with other Raspberry Pi Pico compatible ecosystems too!

Features

  • 2.8” IPS LCD screen (320 x 240 pixels)
    • Driver IC: ST7789V
    • Luminance: 250 cd/m2
    • Active area: 43.2 x 57.5mm
  • 4 x tactile buttons
  • RGB LED (with cuttable traces for if you'd prefer to use these pins for something else)
  • Qw/ST (Qwiic/STEMMA QT) connector for attaching breakouts
  • Intriguing new SP/CE connector
  • Pre-soldered socket headers for attaching to Pico
  • Compatible with Raspberry Pi Pico / Pico 2 (and more*).
  • Fully assembled
  • No soldering required (as long as your Pico has header pins attached).
  • C/C++ and MicroPython libraries
  • Schematic

A Raspberry Pi Pico / Pico 2 is not included so make sure to grab one!

Your Pico will need to have pin headers soldered to it (with the pins pointing downwards) to attach to our add-on boards. You could pick up a pre-soldered Pico H if you don't want to solder on the headers yourself.

Getting started

The labels on the underside of Pico Display Pack 2.8" will show you which way round to plug it into your Pico - just match up the USB port with the markings on the board.

Downloading our custom MicroPython build is the easiest way to get started, as it includes all the libraries you'll need to use our add-ons. If you're new to the Pico ecosystem, check out our beginner friendly Learn Guide which will show you how to get to grips with pirate-brand MicroPython.

MicroPython code written for the original Display Pack can be easily converted to run on Display Pack 2.8 by changing DISPLAY_PICO_DISPLAY to DISPLAY_PICO_DISPLAY_2. Note that the RGB LED is hooked up to different pins on 2.8" (26, 27 and 28) so you may need to adjust for this in your code.

Display Pack 2.8 also works very nicely with CircuitPython and Adafruit's DisplayIO library - look for the Display Pack 2.0 ST7789 example in the library bundle to get started.

Notes

About Raspberry Pi Pico

Raspberry Pi Pico is a flexible, low cost microcontroller development board from the folks at Raspberry Pi, based on their very own chip - the RP2040. It's easily programmable over USB with C/C++ or MicroPython, and ideal for using in all sorts of physical computing projects, devices and inventions - we're so excited to see what you make with it!

We've called our Pico-sized add-ons packs, as they're designed to attach to the back of your Pico as if it were wearing a very stylish back pack (or a miniature jet pack, if you prefer). We've also got Pico bases (larger add-on boards with a space to mount your Pico on top) and some other boards that let you do interesting hackerly things like using multiple packs at once - click here to view them all!

21 customer reviews

23 days ago
Does all it says it will. Colour and greyscale is clear. Screen is very sharp (my photos might not be). The Pimoroni library is straightforward. It leaves a handful of GPIO unused so the Pico can do more than just the display and the bulit-in buttons (in my case control a couple of heater elements). The Qw/ST port makes hooking up other breakouts a doddle (in my case two MCP9601 thermocouple amplifiers). One gotcha - the screen protector had a red stripe - I thought screen was faulty (and reported it as such) until Pimoroni friendly support put me right!
by Anonymous about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
25 days ago
I love the display as it was super easy to set up. I use it to run my tiny pixel art gallery 🌈✨ The colour and picture quality look great
by Rinna about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
a month ago
A great display with useful example documentation to get you started. Delivered in a couple of days as always with great tracking updates. Used it to copy a version of a lander seen on line which was fun to build and program.
by Colin about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
a month ago
On behalf of our small Electronics Club I ordered 3 x Pimoroni Pico Displays 2.8" that arrived very swiftly. They are indeed very well-made pieces of technology. However, we were all disappointed that there were no specific 'quick start' instructions included PLUS there was nothing specific to this new 2.8" product included on the Pimoroni website. On enquiry we were informed by email that technical support hadn't the resources to help us get started. We've subsequently discovered that there's a specific 'Pimoroni' version of Micro-Python that has to be loaded first that has 'Picographics' incorporated. Had this been made clear from the start we'd have had less frustration getting the first images to appear. CW
by Chris about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
a month ago
A great display and with all the supporting MicroPython examples that worked straight away. It's a shame some of the larger displays (by other vendors) dont have such a good MicroPython support.
by Philip about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
4 months ago
I already had the smaller 2.0" version of this display which I found to be sharp, bright, and of a good resolution for it's size. It's been great for my own energy monitor project, but I did find it a little small for my application where I want to see it from a little distance away. This 2.8" display was a simple 1 for 1 swap with the smaller one, and it worked immediately with no code changes on the pico which was great. I now def with the smaller one and leave the bigger one running. Very happy.
by Anonymous about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
4 months ago
# Got this display working in Circuit Python 9.x with minor modification to an adafruit demo. import board import digitalio import displayio import busio # Starting in CircuitPython 9.x fourwire will be a seperate internal library # rather than a component of the displayio library try: from fourwire import FourWire except ImportError: from displayio import FourWire from adafruit_st7789 import ST7789 displayio.release_displays() spi = busio.SPI(board.GP18,board.GP19) while not spi.try_lock(): pass spi.configure(baudrate=24000000) # Configure SPI for 24MHz spi.unlock() tft_cs = board.GP17 tft_dc = board.GP16 display_bus = FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs, reset=board.GP22) #probably shouldn't be GP22 display = ST7789(display_bus, width=240, height=320, rowstart=0) # Make the display context splash = displayio.Group() display.root_group = splash color_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(240, 320, 1) color_palette = displayio.Palette(1) color_palette[0] = 0xFF0000 bg_sprite = displayio.TileGrid(color_bitmap, pixel_shader=color_palette, x=0, y=0) splash.append(bg_sprite)
by Anonymous about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
4 months ago
This is an excellent little screen that works very well with the provided MicroPython examples. I purchased it to use as a thermostat display for my Raspberry Pi-based heating system, and it's perfect for the job. That said, I faced some challenges with memory on my Pico W (not a Pico 2). I’m running several modules, including TCP server connection, configuration modules, a one-wire temperature sensor, and PicoWeb for a web-based configuration page. With all these running, there wasn’t enough memory left to display a PNG, so I ended up using rectangles and other basic shapes to draw my screen. The fonts in the Picographics library are a bit rough around the edges, likely due to the lack of dithering. However, with a bit of creative sizing, I managed to make them look acceptable, at least in my opinion. The main drawback, as with many similar products, is that it’s nearly impossible to achieve a professional-looking fit into a case. I really wish there were a good selection of ready-made cases available for these screens. Overall, I highly recommend this product. I plan to purchase more for my other thermostat displays—it’s definitely a significant upgrade from my previous setup.
by Simon about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io
4 months ago
yet another excellent product to compliment the Pico W. Easy to get up and running with the supplied Pimoroni library
by Colin about Pico Display Pack 2.8" via REVIEWS.io

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