Some laser-cut 3mm acrylic ( SVG, Sketch DXF).Some M2.5 standoffs (here's an example on Amazon).A Raspberry Pi 3 (but any big one with WiFi will work).A 5.83inch red/black e-paper display with Pi hat.Stick it on a Pi with headers, and load up the right software, and you're off.Īs such, the actual build here is not very complex, consisting of: The Waveshare e-paper has an option that comes with a Raspberry Pi-compatible hat, and this makes it very easy to get up and going with.
Raspberry pi live weather display update#
It only needs to update every 30 minutes or so, and there's plenty of scope for use of a highlight colour. Thankfully, I already had an idea - a passive, on-wall weather display.
I finally ordered some colour e-paper from Waveshare a couple of months ago, and after some expectedly slow delivery (it is, after all, coming all the way from China during a pandemic) it landed here a few weeks ago, and so I finally got a chance to make something with it.Į-paper isn't perfect for everything - the slow refresh times are considerably worse with this two-colour variant, so you need something that's relatively static. Full colour is still a way off, but we do, at last, live in the world of two-main-colour e-paper that's easily available for the common maker - your choice of either red/white/black or yellow/white/black! Not fast, sure, nor in great detail, but nothing comes close to that painted-on look it achieves.Ĭolour e-paper has long been a dream of mine, and sadly it's taken a long time for the manufacturers to get anywhere. In a time of high refresh rates and 4K displays, it sits there with its sunlight-readable, low-eye-strain qualities and just. E-paper (sometimes called E Ink) is a fascinating technology.