Adafruit
SPIDriver by Excamera Labs
SPIDriver is an easy-to-use tool for controlling SPI devices and a great tool to help with quick driver development and debugging. It works with Windows, Mac...
SPIDriver is an easy-to-use tool for controlling SPI devices and a great tool to help with quick driver development and debugging. It works with Windows, Mac, and Linux, and has a built-in color screen that shows a live logic-analyzer display of all SPI traffic. It uses a standard FTDI USB serial chip to talk to the PC, so no special drivers need to be installed. The board includes 3.3 and 5 V supplies with voltage and current monitoring. It's kinda like a Bus Pirate with a display and great Python support.
If you use SPI devices - LCD panels, flash memory, sensors, LEDs - you’ll know that the most frequently asked question is “what’s it doing now?” SPIDriver shows you what’s happening on the SPI bus in real time, so no more guessing about the bus state. It’s designed to make talking to SPI hardware a smooth, intuitive process. That’s good whether you’re a hardware debug wizard or are introducing a class to SPI for the first time.
The current and voltage monitoring let you catch electrical problems early. The included color coded wires make hookup a cinch; no pinout diagram required. It includes 3.3 and 5 V supplies for your device, plus a high-side current meter.
SPIDriver comes with free (as in freedom) software to control it from:
- a GUI
- the command-line
- C and C++ using a single source file
- Python 2 and 3, using a module
Comes with an assembled and tested SPIDriver board plus some jumper cables. The 1.8" TFT Breakout shown in the demo not included - but you can pick one up here.
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- breakout
- A breakout is a small circuit board that makes a tiny or hard-to-solder component easier to connect to with standard pins. It matters because this OLED module can be wired into a microcontroller project without needing to solder directly to the display’s fine contacts.
- Flash memory
- Non-volatile memory that keeps stored data even when power is removed. In this sensor, it matters because enrolled fingerprint templates can remain saved after the project is turned off.
- LCD
- LCD stands for liquid crystal display, a screen technology that uses a backlight and liquid crystals to show images or text. It matters because LCD modules usually need a display driver and enough controller pins or a bus interface to send image data.
- SPI
- A fast serial communication bus often used for displays, memory cards, and sensors. It matters because SPI devices need specific pins for clock and data, plus a separate chip-select line for each device.
- TFT
- A thin-film transistor display is a common type of colour LCD used for graphics screens. Knowing a product is for TFTs helps you check that the driver board matches the display’s connector, resolution, backlight, and signalling method.
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