ePiCal

ePaper Pi Calendar - An ePaper calendar project using Raspberry Pi Zero W

Hardware

Item	USD
12.48 Inch ePaper Display	180.00
Pi Zero W *	6.00
Micro SD Card	10.00
5000 mAh Power Bank with LED indicator	29.00
Latching On/Off Push Button Switch	2.00
330 Ohm Resistor	1.00
4 Pin JST Connector	2.00
USB 3.0 Panel Mount Metal Connector	12.00
C8 Panel Mount AC Plug Adapter	9.00
C7 AC Power Cord	7.00
USB-C to USB Adapter with LED indicator	8.00
Micro USB Cables	5.00
11x14 Inch Shadow Box Frame	18.00

* Availability and pricing keeps changing

More images in gallery

• Pi Zero connects through the header pins available on the screen module.
• A push button switch is added to the + red wire of the USB cable between power bank and Pi Zero PWR usb port for manual daily refresh.
  • Wire the push button indicator LED to + red and - black USB cable wires, with a resistor on the + lead
  • A male female JST connector is used for quick disconnect of button wires
• The second Pi Zero USB port is connected to USB panel mount connector outside the frame
  • Use this USB connector port for always on power with an external USB cable
  • Also used to connect to Pi Zero for diagnostics if Wi-Fi is not available
• The power bank AC Power prongs are connected to a C8 AC plug adapter outside the frame
  • Quick charging of Power bank by connecting C7 AC power cord when needed
• Estimated battery usage % based on device uptime is displayed at the bottom right of the screen.
• The power bank battery indicator LEDs are positioned to shine through the white paper border of the frame.
• When device is off battery power LED turns off and the power can be turned off safely using the push button

Disconnected	Standby (Connector LED)
On (Battery LEDs)	On (Battery LEDs)

Software

Module	Details
epical	The calendar layout
grid	A simple grid layout engine
epd	The Waveshare display driver
web	Optional control server

Deploy

• Set up display driver
• Create a python venv and install required python packages using make

$ make deps

Configure

• Update options in epical/config.py
• Update events in epical/resources/events.json
• Add daily rotation photos in epical/resources/photos
• Add event day photos in epical/resources/event_photos

See more configuration file details and photo formatting and selection details

Run

Run using make

$ make run

Or run directly

$ mkdir -p ~/.epical
$ python3 -m venv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install -r requirements.txt
$ cd epical
$ python3 main.py

Or schedule the run using cron

• When connected to external power, update daily using cron - modify example run.sh
• When using a battery pack or power bank, update on boot and shutdown - modify example run_and_halt.sh and check_run_and_halt.sh

More details in power management and battery tracking

Run on Pi Zero device

hackorama@pizero:~/epical $ source venv/bin/activate
(venv) hackorama@pizero:~/epical $ cd epical
(venv) hackorama@pizero:~/epical/epical $ python main.py
INFO     2023-07-01 18:06:56,467 - ePiCal 0.1.0
INFO     2023-07-01 18:06:56,471 - Data fetch 1/3
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:03,159 - Displaying resources/photos/photo.jpeg
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:03,632 - Battery up days   8
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:03,635 - Device boot count 5
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:03,643 - Device up time    3:29
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:03,646 - Display up time   0:10
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:03,649 - Battery           85%
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:03,671 - Initializing screen ...
EPD init...
set wiringPi lib success !!!
INFO     2023-07-01 18:07:06,731 - Preparing mono images ...
INFO     2023-07-01 18:08:48,492 - Updating screen ...
471.712018404
use time: 95.652717
INFO     2023-07-01 18:10:55,430 - Powering down screen ...
module_exit
INFO     2023-07-01 18:10:55,570 - Finished screen
INFO     2023-07-01 18:10:55,665 - Uploaded epical.log
INFO     2023-07-01 18:10:55,779 - Uploaded epical.png

Run on local dev system

~/hackorama/epical $ source venv/bin/activate
~/hackorama/epical $ cd epcial
~/hackorama/epical/epcial $ python3 main.py
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:07,314 - ePiCal 0.1.0
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:07,314 - Data fetch 1/3
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:08,870 - Found override photo resources/photos/photo.jpeg
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:08,870 - Displaying resources/photos/photo.jpeg
WARNING  2023-07-01 18:25:09,078 - Please update battery charge time by running: date > ~/.epical/battery
WARNING  2023-07-01 18:25:09,079 - No 'uprecords' tool installed and no data file provided as ~/.epical/uprecords.txt
WARNING  2023-07-01 18:25:09,079 -   Please configure 'uptimed' and 'uprecords' following docs/battery.md
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:09,082 - Initializing screen ...
WARNING  2023-07-01 18:25:09,086 - EPD lib import failed: No module named 'RPi'
WARNING  2023-07-01 18:25:09,086 -   Please install EPD lib in ../epd/lib following epd/README.md
WARNING  2023-07-01 18:25:09,086 -   Will run using virtual display
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:09,086 - Using virtual display ...
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:09,086 - Preparing mono images ...
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:10,575 - open epical.png
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:10,575 - open epical_black.png
INFO     2023-07-01 18:25:10,576 - open epical_red.png

Documentation

See list of developer and user documents

Development

$ make help
help:            Show help
deps:            Install required python packages
dev_deps:        Install required dev python packages
check:           Run python code checks
tests:           Run tests
run:             Run display test

Pending Features

• Support iCal and import calendar events from web mail accounts
• Using a UPS add on board that supports scheduled wake and screen refresh
• Connecting a power status LED instead of using the power bank LED