Raspberry PI e-paper network display

Create a screenshot of a webpage on your server and send it over SCP to the Raspberry Pi to display on the screen or e-paper

Usage

The project has /server an /client part/folders.

Server should run on your home server, client part is run on the Raspberry Pi where your ePaper is connected.

Server

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/hubmartin/rpi-epaper.git
cd rpi-epaper

Use /server/display.py file to load a webpage with Selenium headless web browser, create a PNG image and send it to the device IP. The script is using data from czech webserver for Czech Republic. You'll probably need to completely rewrite this script or find other weaher service which fits all data nicely on single small screen.

You can set crontab to periodically every 15 minute update screen

crontab -e

Then add this line:

*/15 * * * * ~/rpi-epaper/server/display.py

Rpi Client install steps

Client part waits for client/image.png to change, then it reloads picture to the epaper.

You can run client/epaper.py which is the main script. Or use steps below to install it completely.

sudo raspi-config #enable SPI
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git python3-pip libopenjp2-7 libtiff5

pip3 install --upgrade setuptools
sudo pip3 install netifaces Pillow watchdog

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/hubmartin/rpi-epaper.git

# Systemd to start client service after boot
sudo cp rpi-epaper/client/epaper.service /etc/systemd/system
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start epaper.service
sudo systemctl enable epaper.service

Raspberry Pi Zero W issues with WaveShare Smart Reset

WaveShare driver assumes that Python is realtime, which is not. So slow Rpi Zero sometimes does longer reset pulse and that causes power disconnect. I did some hardware modifiations. Also it wires 5 V directly to 3.3V GPIO which this hardware modification also fixes.

you may be running fine, but time from time when the Python script is run as a background service (with probably lower priority) and wireless transfer the Rpi has no time to generate precise Python pulses.

https://www.martinhubacek.cz/blog/waveshare-epaper-hat-issues/