The use case is quite simple: You have multiple calendars for private and business events, but you don’t want to check it all the time online. Of course the weather information and the news would also be nice to be shown.
In short: It’s perfect for staying organised and keeping track of important details without having to check them up online each time.
What you’ll need:
- Raspberry Pi Zero WH ~ 16,49 €
- microSD ~ 4,69 €
- Power supply ~ 5,95 €
- Picture frame ~ 3,50 €
- Waveshare 7.5 Inch E-Paper Display ~ 67,99
In total I payed 98,62 €
Set Up the Raspberry
I will set up my Raspberry Pi Zero WH with a Windows Computer
- Download a Raspbian with desktop Image
- Burn the image via Etcher
- Create a file called SSH in the boot directory of the SC card
- Add your wifi credentials also in the boot directory called wpa_supplicant.conf
country=DE
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid="NETWORK-NAME"
psk="NETWORK-PASSWORD"
}
5. Eject the SD card from your computer and put it into the Raspberry Pi.
6. Start your Raspberry by connecting the power supply
7. Log in to your Raspberry via Putty
raspberrypi.local with Port 22
Default username: pi and password: raspberry
8. Change the hostname and password
sudo raspi-config
E-Ink Calendar
There is a great GitHub project called Inky-Calendar
The installation is done in a few simple clicks:
Expanding the file system
sudo raspi-config --expand-rootfs
Enable the SPI bus
sudo sed -i s/#dtparam=spi=on/dtparam=spi=on/ /boot/config.txt
Set the local time
sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
reboot
sudo reboot now
Install the actual package
bash -c "$(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aceisace/Inky-Calendar/master/Installer.sh)"
Enter no “2” to install the software
Use your own calendar, location and news
Simply download the Settings Generator from the project and open it in your browser.
The generated settings.py needs to be transferred to this directory: /home/pi/Inky-Calendar/Calendar
scp C:\Users\<name>\Downloads\settings.py mypi@pi:/home/pi/Inky-Calendar/Calendar
Or you can transfer it via SFTP using FileZilla
Update the calendar script – 22 December 2019
Automatically start of the script at a reboot is now part of the installation routine.
The update is very easy. Simply log in to your Raspberry via Putty and follow this three steps.
- Rename the old folder
mv Inky-Calendar Inky-Calendar-old
2. Start the update script
bash -c "$(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aceisace/Inky-Calendar/master/Installer.sh)"
3. Check the settings.py
Test it and run it
python3 /home/pi/Inky-Calendar/modules/inkycal.py
Hi Eric Schuemann,
thank you for the awesome tutorial. The steps are clear and easy to follow. The housing of your calendar also looks good. Keep up the good work!
Hi Eric,
I’ve published a new release of the Inky-Calendar software. The URL for the installer is now:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aceisace/Inky-Calendar/master/Installer.sh
Just wanted to let you know so you can update it here 🙂
Hi,
Thank you for mentioning this. I had already seen it this morning and was happy. As soon as I have installed the update, I will also update the article.
Sure, you’re welcome 🙂
hello,
i´ve got a 7.8 inch e-ink display.
I have done all steps like in the discribtion – sadly calendar is not running =/.
Could the reason be that the e-ink display is to tall ?
Sorry, but Inkycal currently support the following E-Paper displays from waveshare:
* 7.5″ (all variants)
* 5.83″ (all variants)
* 4.2″ (all variants)
* 9.7″