Testing a Touchscreen LCD on Raspberry Pi: Setup Guide

You don’t have to pull out the big guns in every project you make. Sometimes, a small fry is enough, if not better. This guide features the LCD TFT 3.5 inch 320×480 Touchscreen for Raspberry Pi, an ideal display for your image, video, and IOT monitoring needs!

Driver Installation

In order to make this LCD for raspberry pi work, we need to install the device’s driver, let’s first update your Raspbian OS.

Update your system’s package list.

sudo apt update

Then, upgrade all your packages:

sudo apt full-upgrade

This will make your currently installed Raspbian release up to date but it will not update from one release to another. If you need to change your Raspbian OS release, or for additional details on updating and upgrading, you can visit the official Raspberry site here:

 <a href="https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/raspbian/updating.md"><em>https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/raspbian/updating.md</em></a>

After updating your OS, configure your Pi.

sudo raspi-config

Select Boot Options
Desktop / CLI => Desktop Autologin

Install the LCD driver

git clone https://github.com/waveshare/LCD-show.git cd LCD-show/

Initialize the driver to your Pi

chmod +x LCD35-show./LCD35-show

Note: Internet connection is required

After system rebooting, the Raspberry Pi LCD is ready to use.

The screen may appear dirty because of the plastic screen protector attached to the new item.

Change between LCD and HDMI display

If you want to return to using HDMI,

cd LCD-show/./LCD-hdmi

If you want to use the LCD again,

cd LCD-show/ chmod +x LCD35-show./LCD35-show

And that’s it! You can now use the LCD as a remote development screen or for anything IoT. Sky is the limitation. Be sure to stay tuned on Learn to get updated on simple device tests and fun projects. I did an analysis of the basic arduino schematic diagram. You might want to check it out here. Keep circuit rockin’!

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this Testing a Touchscreen LCD for Raspberry Pi tutorial cover?

You don’t have to pull out the big guns in every project you make.

Which Raspberry Pi model fits the Testing a Touchscreen LCD for Raspberry Pi project?

Pi 4 (4GB) or Pi 5 for desktop apps and AI workloads. Pi Zero 2 W is enough for headless / sensor builds. Pi 3 B+ works but is slower for camera or ML.

How do I auto-start the Testing a Touchscreen LCD for Raspberry Pi script on boot?

Use systemd. Create /etc/systemd/system/myproject.service with ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/script.py and Restart=always. sudo systemctl enable myproject.