Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Update README.md
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
  • Loading branch information
@markyharris
markyharris authored Mar 25, 2022
1 parent 9cacb0a commit 5028afa
Showing 1 changed file with 79 additions and 56 deletions.
135 changes: 79 additions & 56 deletions README.md
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,26 +1,35 @@
# E-Paper METAR Display
This software will display various layouts of METAR data on a 7 by 5 inch 3-color E-Paper. Specifically the 7.5inch e-Paper HAT (B) by Waveshare. See https://www.waveshare.com/7.5inch-e-paper-hat-b.htm for more information and pricing from Waveshare.

This software is very specific to the size and 3-color nature of this display. However, the layouts are in a separate module and can be modified to fit other sizes of display if the desire was there.
<center><img src=https://github.com/markyharris/metar/raw/main/static/layout1.jpg width="400"></center>

This software is very specific to the size and 3-color nature of this display. However, the layouts are in a separate module and can be modified to fit other sizes of display if the desire is there. Theoretically a 2 color 7x5 could be used as well. See script 'metar_main.py' for comments on this.

For specific info on using e-paper display with RPi, see;<br>
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/Template:Raspberry_Pi_Guides_for_SPI_e-Paper<br>
For information on the specific display used for this project see;<br>
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/7.5inch_e-Paper_HAT_(B)<br><br>

<b><H2>Installation Steps</H2></b>

<b>DOWNLOAD NEEDED APPS:</b></br>
Download Balena Etcher - https://www.balena.io/etcher/</br>
Download Berrylan Unix Bullseye Image - https://berrylan.org/</br>
Download Berrylan App from either Apple App Store or Android Play Store to your phone</br>
<i>NOTE: The Berrylan image is not strictly required. It provides an easy way to setup the WiFi and enable SSH on a headless RPi system such as this. There are other ways to do this such as temporarily connecting a keyboard and monitor to the RPi to start. However, if you choose to give this to a friend then having the ability to change the WiFi network through the Berrylan phone app can be very handy. If Berrylan is not desired, visit; https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/ to download the latest image.</i></br>
Download Berrylan App from either Apple App Store or Android Play Store to your phone<br><br>
<i>NOTE: The Berrylan image is not strictly required. It provides an easy way to setup the WiFi and enable SSH on a headless RPi system such as this. There are other ways to do this such as temporarily connecting a keyboard and monitor to the RPi to start. However, if you choose to give this to a friend then having the ability to change the WiFi network through the Berrylan phone app can be very handy. If Berrylan is not desired, visit; https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/ to download the latest image. https://desertbot.io/blog/headless-raspberry-pi-4-ssh-wifi-setup provides steps to follow if Berrylan is not used.</i><br>

<b>WRITE IMAGE TO SD CARD:</b></br>
Using Balena Etcher, write Image to Micro SD Card</br>
Put SD card into RPi and boot-up completely</br>
Using Balena Etcher, write Image to Micro SD Card.<br>
Put SD card into RPi and boot-up completely. This will take a minute or two. Watch the access LED on RPi for feedback.<br>

<b>SETUP WIFI USING BERRYLAN:</b></br>
<b>SETUP WIFI USING BERRYLAN:</b><br>
Open Berrylan app on phone and select for 'BT WLAN setup' or 'BT WLAN' or 'raspberrypi' depending on what is displayed. The most common is 'BT WLAN'. If you see more than one, then pick the first one and go through the steps. If it ends up not being this particular RPi, then run it again and select the next one. You may have to give the app alittle time to find it however, so don't be too impatient.</br>
Select WiFi SSID to use</br>
Enter the WiFi password</br>
Write down the IP address that is displayed. You'll need this later. You can tap it and copy it to clipboard</br>

<ul>
<li>Select WiFi SSID to use</br>
<li>Enter the WiFi password</br>
<li>Write down the IP address that is displayed. You'll need this later. You can tap it and copy it to clipboard</br>
</ul>

<b>LOGIN USING SSH CLIENT:</b></br>
Open a SSH Client and enter the 'pi@IP address' to start the login process, i.e. '[email protected]'</br>
Login using username 'pi' and password 'raspberry'. If a normal image was used, then SSH must be enabled before these clients will work. Berrylan automatically enables SSH. Otherwise use raspi-config to do so.</br>
Expand All @@ -37,50 +46,56 @@ Login using username 'pi' and password 'raspberry'. If a normal image was used,
</ul> </i>

<b>SETUP SPI INTERFACE:</b></br>
At the cmd line prompt; 'pi@raspberrypi:~ $' enter the following;</br>
sudo raspi-config</br>
3 - Interface Options</br>
I4 SPI Enable this? Yes </br>
At the cmd line prompt; 'pi@raspberrypi:~ $' enter the following;
<pre><code>
sudo raspi-config
3 - Interface Options
I4 SPI Enable this? Yes </code></pre>
<i>Note: You can change the hostname and password if desired at this point, but its optional</i></br>
Answer 'Yes' when you exit raspi-config to Reboot the RPi </br>

<b>SETUP GITHUB ON RPI:</b></br>
After RPi boots up and you login through your SSH client, enter;</br>
sudo apt update</br>
sudo apt-get install git</br>
git --version </br>
<pre><code>
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install git
git --version </pre></code>
If you receive a git version number than you are good to go.</br>

<b>COPY FILES FROM GITHUB:</b></br>
Enter;</br>
sudo git clone https://github.com/markyharris/metar.git</br>
cd metar</br>
ls -la </br>
<b>COPY FILES FROM GITHUB:</b><br>
Enter;
<pre><code>
sudo git clone https://github.com/markyharris/metar.git
cd metar
ls -la </pre></code>
This should list the files copied from github to verify it worked properly</br>

<b>DEPENDENCIES:</b></br>
Install necessary dependencies needed for the software;</br>
sudo apt-get install python3-setuptools</br>
sudo apt install python3-pil</br>
sudo apt-get install python3-numpy</br>
sudo pip3 install Flask</br>
<pre><code>
sudo apt-get install python3-setuptools
sudo apt install python3-pil
sudo apt-get install python3-numpy
sudo pip3 install Flask</pre></code>

<b>FONTS:</b></br>
The code is written with 'NotoMono-Regular.ttf' and 'LiberationMono-Bold.ttf' in used, so at minimum these need to be installed. If not enter;</br>
cd /usr/share/fonts/truetype/</br>
sudo mkdir noto</br>
sudo mkdir liberation2</br>
cd noto</br>
sudo wget https://github.com/markyharris/metar/raw/f1858d85ad3b79864fb6e082cd083346828661ef/fonts/noto/NotoMono-Regular.ttf</br>
cd ..</br>
cd liberation2</br>
sudo wget https://github.com/markyharris/metar/raw/f1858d85ad3b79864fb6e082cd083346828661ef/fonts/liberation2/LiberationMono-Bold.ttf</br>
<pre><code>
cd /usr/share/fonts/truetype/
sudo mkdir noto
sudo mkdir liberation2
cd noto
sudo wget https://github.com/markyharris/metar/raw/f1858d85ad3b79864fb6e082cd083346828661ef/fonts/noto/NotoMono-Regular.ttf
cd ..
cd liberation2
sudo wget https://github.com/markyharris/metar/raw/f1858d85ad3b79864fb6e082cd083346828661ef/fonts/liberation2/LiberationMono-Bold.ttf</pre></code>

<b>TEST RUN METAR DISPLAY:</b></br>
Enter;</br>
cd ~</br>
cd metar</br>
sudo python3 metar_main.py</br>
Enter;
<pre><code>
cd ~
cd metar
sudo python3 metar_main.py</pre></code>
If all is well the cmd line will display debug data including a raw metar string. Watch your e-paper display to see if it starts to blink as it updates. The full refresh can take a number of seconds so be patient. After a bit a layout should be displayed showing the default airport from metar_settings.py</br>
If so, you are good to go!</br>

Expand All @@ -101,13 +116,15 @@ The script was written to except up to 4 cmd line arguments;</br>
4th argument - use remarks - 1 = display metar remarks key info, 0 = display airport information</br>
They must be in the order shown, but not all of them are required. For instance only the Airport ID can be used, and the others will be filled in using the default settings in metar_settings.py</br>
For example enter;</br>
sudo python3 metar_main.py kflg 7 60 0</br>
<pre><code>
sudo python3 metar_main.py kflg 7 60 0</pre></code>
The display will show the Flagstaff Airport using Layout 7 for 60 seconds before updating using airport info.</br>
Assuming this is works properly, then using the webapp.py and metar.html scripts below should work just fine.</br>

<b>TEST WEBAPP.PY:</b></br>
From the metar directory enter;</br>
sudo python3 webapp.py</br>
<pre><code>
sudo python3 webapp.py</pre></code>
This will run a Flask module that will start metar_main.py in last save configuration. Flask sets up a web server so we can also run an html file to control the display from any computer, tablet or phone that is on the same wifi network.</br>
If all is good your display should be showing a layout of information.</br>
Make note that when webapp.py starts, information will be displayed in your SSH client. You will need the URL that it provides. For instance; '* Running on http://192.168.86.71:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)'</br>
Expand All @@ -118,34 +135,40 @@ Using the URL from the previous step, open a web browser and enter it in the URL
<b>SETUP RC.LOCAL FOR STARTUP:</b></br>
This is optional, but if you would like the display to restart automatically after a shutdown, or accidental power outage then this is a good way to go. Also, the webapp.py must be running for the web interface to work properly. </br>
Enter;</br>
cd ~</br>
cd /etc</br>
sudo nano rc.local</br>
<pre><code>
cd ~
cd /etc
sudo nano rc.local</pre></code>
Before the 'Exit' statement add;</br>
sudo python3 /home/pi/metar/webapp.py &</br>
<pre><code>
sudo python3 /home/pi/metar/webapp.py &</pre></code>
Then to save and reboot;</br>
ctrl-x</br>
y</br>
sudo reboot now</br>
<pre><code>
ctrl-x
y
sudo reboot now</pre></code>
<i>Note: There may be times when you don't want webapp.py to startup automatically, so simply open up rc.local again and comment out the line that was added then resave and reboot.</i></br>

<b>SETUP POWEROFF.SERVICE FOR SHUTDOWN:</b></br>
This is optional as well, but its nice to blank the epaper display when the unit is shutdown. A power outage won't blank the screen, but once the power comes back on it will reset the display if you setup rc.local above.</br>

Power Off Service installation:</br>
Copy 'poweroff.service' into /lib/systemd/system; </br>
cd ~</br>
cd /lib/systemd/system </br>
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/markyharris/metar/main/poweroff.service</br>
<pre><code>
cd ~
cd /lib/systemd/system
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/markyharris/metar/main/poweroff.service</pre></code>

Enable the service by entering;</br>
sudo systemctl enable poweroff.service</br>
<pre><code>
sudo systemctl enable poweroff.service</pre></code>

Copy the python script 'metar_poweroff.py' into /opt/metar_poweroff;</br>
cd ~ </br>
cd /opt</br>
sudo mkdir metar_poweroff</br>
cd metar_poweroff</br>
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/markyharris/metar/main/metar_poweroff.py</br>
<pre><code>
cd ~
cd /opt
sudo mkdir metar_poweroff
cd metar_poweroff
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/markyharris/metar/main/metar_poweroff.py/<pre></code>


0 comments on commit 5028afa

Please sign in to comment.