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https://github.com/mendhak/waveshare-epaper-display

At-a-glance dashboard for Raspberry Pi with a Waveshare ePaper 7.5 Inch HAT. Date/Time, Weather, Alerts, Google/Outlook Calendar
https://github.com/mendhak/waveshare-epaper-display

dashboard epaper raspberry-pi weather

Last synced: 11 days ago
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At-a-glance dashboard for Raspberry Pi with a Waveshare ePaper 7.5 Inch HAT. Date/Time, Weather, Alerts, Google/Outlook Calendar

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README 

        
Instructions on setting up a Raspberry Pi Zero WH with a Waveshare ePaper 7.5 Inch HAT.

The screen will display date, time, weather icon with high and low, and calendar entries.



![Default Layout](screenshots/display.png)![Private Mode](screenshots/pvt_literature_irl.png)  



- [Shopping list](#shopping-list)

- [Setup the PI](#setup-the-pi)

- [Using this application](#using-this-application)

- [Setup dependencies](#setup-dependencies)

- [Set your location](#set-your-location)

- [Pick a Weather provider](#pick-a-weather-provider)

  - [OpenWeatherMap](#openweathermap)

  - [Met Office (UK)](#met-office-uk)

  - [AccuWeather](#accuweather)

  - [Met.no](#metno)

  - [Met Éireann (Ireland)](#met-éireann-ireland)

  - [Weather.gov (US)](#weathergov-us)

  - [Climacell (tomorrow.io)](#climacell-tomorrowio)

  - [VisualCrossing](#visualcrossing)

  - [SMHI (Sweden)](#smhi-sweden)

- [Pick a severe weather warning provider](#pick-a-severe-weather-warning-provider)

  - [Met Office (UK)](#met-office-uk-1)

  - [Weather.gov (US)](#weathergov-us-1)

  - [Met Éireann (Ireland)](#met-éireann-ireland-1)

- [Pick a Calendar provider](#pick-a-calendar-provider)

  - [Google Calendar setup](#google-calendar-setup)

  - [Outlook Calendar](#outlook-calendar)

  - [ICS Calendar](#ics-calendar)

  - [CalDav Calendar](#caldav-calendar)

- [Pick a layout](#pick-a-layout)

- [Run it](#run-it)

  - [Automate it](#automate-it)

- [Adding custom data](#custom-data)

- [Choosing a different language](#how-to-use-a-different-display-language)

- [Choosing a different font](#how-to-use-a-different-font)

- [Privacy Mode](#privacy-mode)

- [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

- [Waveshare documentation and sample code](#waveshare-documentation-and-sample-code)

- [Debugging locally](#debugging-locally)



## Shopping list



[Waveshare 7.5 inch epaper display HAT 640x384](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075R4QY3L/)

[Raspberry Pi Zero WH (presoldered header)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07BHMRTTY/)

[microSDHC card](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B073K14CVB)



## Setup the PI



### Prepare the Pi



Use the [Raspberry Pi imager](https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/) and install Raspberry Pi OS (tested with Raspberry Pi OS Lite, October 2023 edition).   



Ensure that you have SSH access, or direct access, to the Raspberry Pi, and that it can connect to the Internet to download packages. In most cases you would do this via the imager's settings screen: set the username and password, enable SSH and set up WiFi access. 



### Connect the display



Turn the Pi off, then put the HAT on top of the Pi's GPIO pins.



Connect the ribbon from the epaper display to the extension.  To do this you will need to lift the black latch at the back of the connector, insert the ribbon slowly, then push the latch down.  



Now turn the Pi back on and SSH into it.  



## Using this application



### Clone it



git clone this repository in the `/home/pi` directory.



    cd ~

    sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

    sudo apt install git

    git clone --recursive https://github.com/mendhak/waveshare-epaper-display.git



This should create a `/home/pi/waveshare-epaper-display` directory.



### Setup dependencies



    cd waveshare-epaper-display

    sudo apt install gsfonts fonts-noto python3 python3-pip pigpio libopenjp2-7 python3-venv libjpeg-dev libxslt1-dev fontconfig libcairo2

    python3 -m venv --system-site-packages .venv

    .venv/bin/pip3 install -r requirements.txt

    sudo raspi-config nonint do_spi 0  #This enables SPI

    sudo reboot



### Waveshare version



Copy `env.sh.sample` (example environment variables) to `env.sh`



Modify the `env.sh` file and set the version of your Waveshare 7.5" e-Paper Module  (newer ones are version 2, red one is 2B)



    export WAVESHARE_EPD75_VERSION=2



## Set your location



Whichever weather provider you use, you'll need to provide the location and units to display in.



Modify the `env.sh` file and update with the latitude and longitude of your location.

As needed, change the temperature format (CELSIUS or FAHRENHEIT).



    export WEATHER_LATITUDE=51.3656

    export WEATHER_LONGITUDE=0.1963

    export WEATHER_FORMAT=CELSIUS



## Pick a Weather provider



You can pick between OpenWeatherMap, Met Office, AccuWeather, Met.no, Weeather.gov, VisualCrossing, and Climacell to provide temperature and weather forecasts.

You can switch between them too, by providing the keys and commenting out other ones, but remember to delete the `cache_weather.json` if you switch weather providers.



### OpenWeatherMap



Register on the [OpenWeathermap](https://openweathermap.org) website, and go to the [API Keys page](https://home.openweathermap.org/api_keys), that's the key you'll need.

Add it to the env.sh file.



    export OPENWEATHERMAP_APIKEY=xxxxxx



### Met Office (UK)



Create an account [on the Met Office Weather DataHub](https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk) site.

Next, [under subscriptions](https://datahub.metoffice.gov.uk/profile/subscriptions) - subscribe to the 'Site Specific' product 'Global Spot'. This will get you an API key. 



Add the API key to the env.sh file:



    export METOFFICEDATAHUB_API_KEY=eyJ.........



### AccuWeather



Register on the [AccuWeather](https://developer.accuweather.com/) site.

Next, [register a new application](https://developer.accuweather.com/user/me/apps).

I just named it Personal, marked it as Limited Trial, Internal App, Business to Consumer.

Once you do this you'll get an API Key, save it.



You'll also need an AccuWeather Location Key.

Do a normal [AccuWeather search](https://www.accuweather.com/) for your location.

The last number in the URL is the Location Key.  In the example of [London](https://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/london/ec4a-2/weather-forecast/328328), it's `328328`.



Add the API Key and Location Key to the `env.sh`.



    export ACCUWEATHER_APIKEY=xxxxxx

    export ACCUWEATHER_LOCATIONKEY=328328



### Met.no



Met.no's [Terms of Service](https://api.met.no/doc/TermsOfService) requires you to identify yourself.  The purpose is to ensure they can contact you in case you overload or abuse their servers.  For this reason, you just need to set your email address in `env.sh` like so:



    export [email protected]



Note that the Met.no API provides 6 hours of forecast, rather than a full day.



### Met Éireann (Ireland)



[Met Éireann](https://www.met.ie/) publish their forecast data under a [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).  All you need to do to use it is to uncomment this line in `env.sh`:



    export WEATHER_MET_EIREANN=1



Note that a condition of use of this data is that weather alerts be displayed, so ALERT_MET_EIREANN_FEED_URL should be uncommented, too.



### Weather.gov (US)



Weather.gov requires you to [identify your application](https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-api).  This can be any made up string, or an email address.

Set its value in the `env.sh` as shown:



    export [email protected]



Warning: YMMV. During my testing, I found the weather.gov API would start returning errors and then suddenly work again.



### Climacell (tomorrow.io)



Register on the [Climacell site](https://www.climacell.co/weather-api/), and when you do you should be given an API Key.

Modify the `env.sh` file and put your Climacell API key in there.



    export CLIMACELL_APIKEY=xxxxxx



### VisualCrossing



Register on [VisualCrossing](https://www.visualcrossing.com/). Under Account Details, you should be able to generate an API key. Once you have that, simply add it to `env.sh` as shown:



    export VISUALCROSSING_APIKEY=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



### SMHI (Sweden)



SMHI requires you to identify yourself.  Just set your own email,



    export [email protected]



## Pick a severe weather warning provider



This is an optional step.  By doing nothing you simply won't see severe weather warnings.



### Met Office (UK)



Go to the [Met Office RSS Feeds page](https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/guides/rss) and copy the URL of the RSS feed based on your region.

Set its value in the `env.sh` as shown below. For example, London would be:



    export ALERT_METOFFICE_FEED_URL=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/data/PWSCache/WarningsRSS/Region/se



### Weather.gov (US)



Weather.gov requires you to [identify your application](https://www.weather.gov/documentation/services-web-api).  This can be any made up string, or an email address.

Set its value in the `env.sh` as shown:



    export [email protected]



This provider will use the same latitude and longitude as specified for the weather provider.



Warning: YMMV. During my testing, I found the weather.gov API would start returning errors and then suddenly work again.



### Met Éireann (Ireland)



To use alerts from Met Éireann, visit  https://www.met.ie/Open_Data/json/ and choose the appropriate "warning_EIXX" JSON file for your region, using each county's FIPS code.  This code can be found in the table on http://www.statoids.com/uie.html,

in the pre-2014 section.  For example, this is the file for Dublin:



    export ALERT_MET_EIREANN_FEED_URL=https://www.met.ie/Open_Data/json/warning_EI07.json



## Pick a Calendar provider



You can use Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar to display events.



### Google Calendar setup



The script will by default get its info from your primary Google Calendar.  If you need to pick a specific calendar you will need its ID.  To get its ID, open up [Google Calendar](https://calendar.google.com) and go to the settings for your preferred calendar.  Under the 'Integrate Calendar' section you will see a Calendar ID which looks like `[email protected]`.  Set that value in `env.sh`



```bash

export [email protected]

```



#### Google Calendar token



The Oauth process needs to complete once manually in order to allow the Python code to then continuously query Google Calendar for information.



Go to the [Google Cloud Platform library page](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library), search for and enable the [Calendar API](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/api/calendar-json.googleapis.com/overview).



Next, head over to the [API Dashboard Credentials page](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials), and create new credentials of type "OAuth Client ID".  For application type, choose "Desktop app" and give it a name such as "Epaper Display".  When presented, download or copy the `credentials.json` file and add it to this directory.



You can now kick off the authentication process. On the Raspberry Pi, run:



    .venv/bin/python3 screen-calendar-get.py



The script will prompt you to visit a URL in your browser and then wait.  Copy the URL, open it in a browser and you will go through the login process.  When the OAuth workflow tries to redirect back (and fails), copy the URL it was trying to go to (eg: http://localhost:8080/...) and in another SSH session with the Raspberry Pi,



    curl "http://localhost:8080/..."



On the first screen you should see the auth flow complete, and a new `token.pickle` file appears.  The Python script should now be able to run in the future without prompting required.



I also have a [post here with screenshots](https://github.com/mendhak/waveshare-epaper-display/issues/19#issuecomment-780397819) walking through the process.



### Outlook Calendar



The setup is much simpler, just run this script which will give instructions on how to login:



    .venv/bin/python3 outlook_util.py



Login with the Microsoft account you want to get the calendar from, and accept the consent screen.

After a moment, the script will then display a set of Calendar IDs and some sample events from those Calendars.

Copy the ID of the calendar you want, and add it to env.sh like so:



    export OUTLOOK_CALENDAR_ID=AQMkAxyz...



Note that if you set an Outlook Calendar ID, the Google Calendar will be ignored.



### ICS Calendar



ICS is simple, get the ICS URL for a calendar, and place it in `env.sh`.



    export ICS_CALENDAR_URL=https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/xxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/basic.ics



There is no username/password support.



### CalDav Calendar



For CalDav you will need the CalDav URL, username, and password.



    export CALDAV_CALENDAR_URL=https://nextcloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/principals/users/123456/

    export CALDAV_USERNAME=username

    export CALDAV_PASSWORD=password



Some CalDav features may not work well as the protocol is heavily undocumented, proprietary, and many servers don't implement it the same way.



## Pick a layout



This is an optional step.  There are a few different layouts to choose from.



| `export SCREEN_LAYOUT=1` 
This is the default | `export SCREEN_LAYOUT=2` 
More calendar entries and less emphasis on weather and time |

| --- | --- |

| [![Layout 1](screenshots/001.png)](screenshots/001.png) | [![Layout 2](screenshots/002.png)](screenshots/002.png) |



| `export SCREEN_LAYOUT=3` 
Calendar entries on left, less emphasis on weather | `export SCREEN_LAYOUT=4` 
Shows hour instead of time. Meant for color screens. |

| --- | --- |

| [![Layout 3](screenshots/003.png)](screenshots/003.png) | [![Layout 4](screenshots/004.png)](screenshots/004.png) |



| `export SCREEN_LAYOUT=5` 
Calendar entries on left, with a month calendar for at-a-glance |  |

| --- | --- |

| [![Layout 5](screenshots/005.png)](screenshots/005.png) | |



## Run it



Run `./run.sh` which should query the weather provider and Google/Outlook Calendar.  It will then create a png, convert to a 1-bit black and white bmp, then display the bmp on screen.



Using a 1-bit, low grade BMP is what allows the screen to refresh relatively quickly. Calling the BCM code to do it takes about 6 seconds.

Rendering a high quality PNG or JPG and rendering to screen with Python takes about 35 seconds.



### Automate it



Once you've proven that the run works, and an image is sent to your epaper display, you can automate it by setting up a cronjob.



    crontab -e



Add this entry so it runs every minute:



    * * * * * cd /home/pi/waveshare-epaper-display && bash run.sh > run.log 2>&1



This will cause the script to run every minute, and write the output as well as errors to the run.log file.



## Custom Data



This is an optional step, to add your own custom data to the screen.  For example this could be API calls, data from Home Assistant, PiHole stats, or something external.



Rename `screen-custom-get.py.sample` to `screen-custom-get.py`. Do your custom code, and set the value of `custom_value_1` to the value you want to display. Run `./run.sh` and it'll appear on screen.



Next, modify `screen-custom.svg` and change the various x, y, font size values to adjust its appearance and position.

You can add more values by adding more SVG elements for custom_value_2, custom_value_3, and so on, and set its value in the `output_dict` in `screen-custom.get.py`.



## How to use a different display language



The default locale of the system will be used to generate the time and date formats, including month and day names.  On Raspberry Pi OS the default is usually `en_GB`.  



Use the following instructions to install and try out other locales, or even force en_GB. 



To see the current default locale, run `locale`.  

To see all the locales installed on the system, use `locale -a`.  



To install a new locale, go through the locale wizard:



    sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales



Select the locales you want to install, be sure to pick the ones that have `.UTF-8` in the name. 



Edit the `env.sh` file and at the top, set the language like so: 



    export LANG=ko_KR.UTF-8



The next time `run.sh` runs, the output should have the chosen language.



### Fonts for non-western languages



Some languages may not render well because the default Raspberry Pi system fonts don't have all the characters needed to display on screen. For such cases, you'll need to find and install a font that supports all the characters you want to display. 



Chinese/Japanese/Korean should already be taken care of by installing the `fonts-noto` package. But sometimes just installing that isn't enough, you'll also have to set it as the default font, see the [font instructions](#how-to-use-a-different-font). 



The reason this is necessary: the SVG renderer [does not support fallback fonts](https://github.com/Kozea/CairoSVG/issues/72#issuecomment-132500219) which means that if a font doesn't have a certain character, it won't ask the system for other fonts to help plug the gaps. You'll just see squares. 



## How to use a different font



The default font is set to `sans-serif` which on a Raspberry Pi defaults to DejaVu Sans. It's a decent font, wide, and visible, and works for most western languages.  



In this example I'll replace it with Noto Sans. 

First run this command, it will show the current font being used. 



```

$ fc-match sans-serif

DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"

```



Install Noto fonts.



```

sudo apt install fonts-noto

```



Now create a font config file if it doesn't already exist. 



```

mkdir -p ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d

nano ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d/00-fonts.conf

```



Set the contents of the 00-fonts.conf file:



```xml



  

    sans-serif

    

        Noto Sans

    

  



```



This tells the system to prefer 'Noto Sans' if the 'sans-serif' family is requested. You can test it by running:



```

$ fc-match sans-serif

NotoSans-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans" "Regular"

```



The next time `run.sh` runs, the output image should have the chosen font.



## Privacy Mode



This mode hides away everything and just displays an XKCD comic or a literary quote for the time.  In env.sh, set: 



| `export PRIVACY_MODE_XKCD=1` 
XKCD comic | `export PRIVACY_MODE_LITERATURE_CLOCK=1` 
Literature clock mode |

| --- | --- |

| [![XKCD](screenshots/pvt_xkcd.png)](screenshots/pvt_xkcd.png) | [![Literature](screenshots/pvt_literature.png)](screenshots/pvt_literature.png) |



## Troubleshooting



If the scripts don't work at all, try going through the Waveshare sample code linked below - if you can get those working, this script should work for you too.



You may want to further troubleshoot if you're seeing or not seeing something expected.

If you've set up the cron job as shown above, a `run.log` file will appear which contains some info and errors.

If there isn't enough information in there, you can set `export LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG` in the `env.sh` and the `run.log` will contain even more information.



The scripts cache the calendar and weather information, to avoid hitting weather API rate limits.

If you want to force a weather update, you can delete the `cache_weather.json`.

If you want to force a calendar update, you can delete the `cache_calendar.pickle` or `cache_outlookcalendar.pickle`.

If you want to force a re-login to Google or Outlook, delete the `token.pickle` or `outlooktoken.bin`.



## Waveshare documentation and sample code



Waveshare have a [user manual](https://www.waveshare.com/w/upload/7/74/7.5inch-e-paper-hat-user-manual-en.pdf) which you can get to from [their Wiki](https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/7.5inch_e-Paper_HAT)



The [Waveshare demo repo is here](https://github.com/waveshare/e-Paper).  Assuming all dependencies are installed, these demos should work.



    git clone https://github.com/waveshare/e-Paper

    cd e-Paper



This is the best place to start for troubleshooting - try to make sure the examples given in their repo works for you.



[Readme for the C demo](https://github.com/waveshare/e-Paper/blob/master/RaspberryPi_JetsonNano/c/readme_EN.txt)



[Readme for the Python demo](https://github.com/waveshare/e-Paper/blob/master/RaspberryPi_JetsonNano/python/readme_jetson_EN.txt)



## Debugging locally



It's possible to run and debug the application locally with virtual environments.  The last step fails, as it's trying to write to GPIO, but that's not an issue since the aim of local development is to generate and view the `screen-output.png`.



Do this before opening VSCode:



```bash

# Generate the virtual environment directory

python3 -m venv .venv

# Switch to it

source .venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

```



Then, open VSCode with the project, and it should automatically detect and switch to the virtual environment in the terminal.



To run the project, just run `./run.sh`.  It will pick up env.sh variables, and run the various Python scripts.



To debug the project, open a Python script file such as `screen-calendar-get.py` or `screen-weather-get.py`, and press F5.  It will generate a .env from env.sh, and run the script.  It can hit breakpoints, no problem.