WSAL12824 – 3.5inch HDMI LCD/en

Documentation notice: This technical documentation was independently rewritten from an archived supplier source. Check technical details and commands against the product version and manufacturer documentation before use.

Summary

Overview: The Waveshare display is a 3.5-inch IPS LCD with 480×320 resolution, resistive touch and direct GPIO connection to Raspberry Pi. It supports Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu, Kali and RetroPie.

Related products at JW Tech

WSAL12824 – 3.5inch Resistive Touch Screen LCD, 480×320, HDMI, IPS, Various Devices & Systems Support

Technical overview

Resolution: 480×320 (hardware); up to 1920×1080 configurable in software
Interface: HDMI plus 26-pin GPIO connector; set the rear backlight switch to ON
Compatibility: Direct connection with all Raspberry Pi revisions; Pi Zero / Zero 2 W requires an additional HDMI cable
Operating systems: Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu, Kali, RetroPie
Touch: Resistive; calibrate via x_min/x_max/y_min/y_max parameters in config.txt (defaults e.g. 200–3900)
Rotation: Via Screen Configuration, wayfire.ini, xrandr or display_rotate in config.txt depending on system
Audio: HDMI audio output available; for music playback set hdmi_drive=2 and install mplayer
Power consumption: approx. 0.5 A at 5 V

Commands and examples – verify before use:

hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_cvt 800 480 60 6 0 0 0
hdmi_pixel_freq_limit=20000000
hdmi_cvt 480 320 60 6 0 0 0
hdmi_drive=1
dtoverlay=waveshare-ads7846,penirq=25,xmin=200,xmax=3900,ymin=200,ymax=3900,speed=50000
sudo apt-get install evtest
sudo evtest
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
dtoverlay=waveshare-ads7846,x_min=164,x_max=4010,y_min=154,y_max=3758
sudo reboot
sudo nano .config/wayfire.ini
[output:HDMI-A-1]
mode = 480x320@60
transform = 270
sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
xrandr -o 1
display_rotate=3
sudo cp /home/<your_user>/.config/monitors.xml /var/lib/gdm3/.config
sudo chown gdm:gdm /var/lib/gdm3/.config/monitors.xml
fbcon=rotate:0 video=HDMI-A-1:800x480M@60,rotate=0

Notes and version constraints

Calibration values are device-specific: exact x_min/x_max/y_min/y_max must be determined per device using evtest
Rotation parameters differ by operating system (Bookworm, Bullseye, Kali, Ubuntu) – select the appropriate variant before applying
An additional HDMI cable is required for Pi Zero / Zero 2 W
Touch only works in Raspberry Pi operation; as a plain computer monitor the touch panel is unavailable
Beware of knock-offs: source original products from authorized resellers only

Source and revision record

3.5inch HDMI LCD - Waveshare Wiki
Source revision: 110634
Captured: 2026-08-30T03:32:27+00:00
SHA-256: 831e0b60a9f53b753a6f35a1ada5c2a007a573880ec18828f2775ffe49ef8d5c