Tontec 3.5 Inch Touch Screen for Raspberry Pi Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a Tontec 3.5 Inch Touch Screen for Raspberry Pi for a product review. The kit includes a case and the screen.

Setting up the case itself was fairly easy.  The product listing actually has a video but I didn’t notice that until after I put mine together -- there is a little diagram included in the kit, if you just pay attention to how parts are aligned and use some thinking skills it isn’t that difficult.  Installing the Raspberry Pi 3 hardware and screen wasn’t that hard either, but if you have questions/concerns make sure you reach out to the company or read the available documentation.

To test the screen, I started with a fresh install of 3/18/2016 release of Raspbian Jessie (not the lite version) on my Raspberry Pi 3.  Once I had the wifi setup, I connected via SSH and followed the directions included with the kit.  After following the directions, step by step, my screen was up and running.  The touchscreen was responsive, and the calibration did help improve the accuracy.

If you are looking for a general use screen for setting up your Pi, you might be better off using a larger HDMI screen however if you want a small LCD screen for custom/special projects this is a great option to consider.

Bottom line: Neat 3.5” touchscreen that works with the Raspberry Pi 3.

Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B00NANNJLQ

Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Pack from Adafruit

Until recently I didn't have a chance to try out a Pi, but that changed when I recently acquired a Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Pack by Adafruit.  I also looked at a Pi 3 kit from SparkFun which was very similar but I ended up picking the Adafruit option.  Although the kit itself was made by Adafruit, it was ordered for me by Hackster.io in exchange for reputation points.

Here is what the kit includes:

• Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B
• Adafruit Raspberry Pi B+ Case - Smoke Base / Clear Top
• Adafruit Assembled Pi Cobbler Plus
• Full Size Breadboard
• Premium Male/Male Jumper Wires
• USB to TTL Serial Cable
• 8GB SD card for Raspberry Pi preinstalled with Raspbian Jessi
• 5V 2.4A Switching Power Supply w/ 6' MicroUSB Cable
• Embroidered Raspberry Pi Badge
• Misc Parts ( Photo Cell, Resistors, LEDs, Switches )

The kit includes almost everything you need just add a HDMI display, USB keyboard and USB mouse.  Once everything was up and running, I started to play around with the Pi.  Here is a quick list of a few things I tried:

• I played around with a LED and switch following the code listed here ( https://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/physical-computing-with-python/ ) but I have played with Arduino for that sort of hardware/software interaction so I didn't really focus on that for now.
• Played with New Out of the Box Software (NOOBS)
• Tested various operating systems (Raspbian and Ubuntu Mate) that are more of a normal workstation / desktop replacement
• Tested two media center options Open Source Media Center (OSMC) and Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center (OpenELEC) 
• Used BerryBoot to load multiple operating systems on a single memory card
• Used BerryBoot to load an operating system on a USB thumb drive
• Tested RetroPie but didn't use it much since I didn't have a game controller handy
• Connected remotely via SSH and RDP (after installing xrdp)

Overall I was excited to see the number of options available for Raspberry Pi.  For now, I need to pick a project and spend a little more time on it.  I was thinking of setting up a network attached storage device, or I might just test the media center options a bit more since I don't have cable.

Bottom line - if you have been interested in trying out a Raspberry Pi and feel like you can get at least one project out of it, don't waste time and get one.  The kits are nice, but if you already have some of the components you need you can just get the board itself to start playing around.

Adafruit Product Page: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3058