IP/RS232 menu Display system to send and receive IP and or RS232 commands

Projects General Guidance
1

Hopefully someone can help me out on this.

What I am looking for is to make an LCD display IP / RS232 interface for an IP intercom. The display, itself, will not be handling any of the actual intercom features, it will simply be operating as a fancy menu, so to speak. Display should be 7" LCD /LED

Overview

Visitor walks up and when a camera detects motion, the camera will send out a TCP/Ip or RS232 string. The monitoring will respond by changing menu screens and prompting for the visitor to scroll through a list of tenants with 3 external buttons (Up down and select)

Once the visitor selects a tenant, the screen processor will send out either an RS232 or TCP/IP string to the camera, which will place a SIP call to the tenants indoor video intercom display (Already source am using Mobotix)

While the camera is dialing, I would like the display to be able to display a static image, or maybe even a selection of images which can be easily changed by the user. It would also be nice if it would be easy to change the names in the list.

Is this feasible, without using a Raspberry Pi or equivalent? I already have a Pi kit, but would prefer to stick to something more stable.

BTW, although I am somewhat computer literate and was exposed to Pascal when I was in highschool (Over 30 years ago) my programming tech savy ability is a little like a noob.

So if possible, what parts would I need and if you have sample code and maybe an idiots guide to implementing them would be appreciated. I do have the Arduino IDE installated on my Ubuntu box and I have a VERY basic understanding of how it works.

2

Why isn't a Raspberry Pi "stable"?

3

concerns over crashing. this is a mission critical device and I do not want to rely on the OS or SD card going hoopy. I guess I trust the Arduino more than something which runs o an OS, even if it is Linux. Then there is the risk of hacking.

4

thank you for posting a reply, btw. by the look of your posts, you seem quite knowledgeable and are very to the point, which is good. Would you know how to get this done and what parts to get? I already have a couple of 7" HDMI screens, but am willing to abandon them and the pi project for reliability. I found a few displays on amazon but they all are far too small for the application. Doh! there was a 7" but out of stock.

Stress is starting to kick in, as is insanity.

Thanks

Heinz

5

Trying to handle a 7 inch LCD is pretty ambitious, the Rpi is far better suited to a display of that size, using the native hdmi output and graphics processor.

IMO, the only way to drive a screen of that size with an Arduino would be to have a dedicated graphics processor on the LCD and send it commands over SPI or possibly serial if done at high enough baud rates. The only Arduino that comes close to the speed and memory required to do half-way decent update rate would be the M0 or the retired Due and that's really pushing them. Using an eight bit machine for this task is just plain silly. Unless you buy a commercial LCD with a tool set, you'll most likely end up writing your own code from scratch to drive the menuing system.