[kfogel]

Thank you. My idea was more the opposite: do it with a normal laptop or desktop computer driving the display, rather than a tiny microcontroller. I guess I'm assuming that either the display's USB input supplies enough voltage to run the display, or that the display has a separate power supply -- i.e., that there's nothing magical about a Raspberry Pi that makes it supply special bits or special voltages to these displays that can't be supplied by, say, my desktop computer.

[joezydeco]

Edited my response above. The answer is more about the interface that these displays require.

[kfogel]

AHHHH, that's the key thing I didn't know (I have a Raspberry Pi sitting in a drawer and have played with it embarrassingly little -- I didn't realize how important having the SPI or other special interface is in this context). Thank you again.

[sethhochberg]

With that said, though, there are also tons of inexpensive ways to output SPI or various other serial protocols from just about any device with a USB port, like your full-sized computer: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264

The RPis and friends just optimize the workflow - theres nothing particularly magic about they way they implement SPI or GPIO, they just have it out of the box because its such a common way to extend hobby computer boards.

[kfogel]

Just ordered. Thank you :-).

[stavros]

The refresh rate of these displays is 0.03 fps.