🖥️ NotAMac

A tiny Spotify Now Playing display disguised as a vintage Macintosh

Because your music deserves a retro stage ✨

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🎵 What is NotAMac?

NotAMac is a palm-sized Spotify display that lives inside a 3D-printed classic Macintosh case. It shows your currently playing track with album art, song info, and a progress bar—all wrapped in a nostalgic System 7 aesthetic.

Built with the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C3 and a tiny ST7735 TFT display, it's the perfect desk companion for music lovers and retro computing enthusiasts alike.

┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🔴 🟡 🟢                     12:34 │
├────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ┌──────────┐   Song               │
│  │          │   Bohemian Rh..      │
│  │  ALBUM   │                      │
│  │   ART    │   Artist             │
│  │          │   Queen              │
│  └──────────┘   Album              │
│                 A Night at t..     │
│  ════════════════════════════════  │
│  1:23                        5:55  │
└────────────────────────────────────┘

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🎨 Retro Mac UI	Classic System 7 aesthetic with traffic light buttons and platinum gray palette
🖼️ Album Art	Displays 68×68 pixel album artwork for the current track
📡 Real-time Updates	Polls Spotify every 2 seconds for seamless track changes
🕐 NTP Clock	Shows current time synced via internet (configurable timezone)
📊 Progress Bar	Visual playback progress with elapsed/total time
💾 Memory Optimized	Carefully tuned for ESP32-C3's limited RAM (~200KB)
🔄 Auto-Recovery	Automatically reconnects WiFi and refreshes tokens
😴 Idle Screen	Beautiful "Play a song on Spotify" screen when nothing's playing

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🛠️ Hardware Required

Component	Specification	Notes
Microcontroller	Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C3	Tiny, WiFi-enabled, USB-C
Display	ST7735 1.8" TFT (160×128)	SPI interface, 65K colors
3D Printed Case	Classic Macintosh design	See Printing section
USB-C Cable	For power and programming	Data-capable cable required

💰 Total Cost: ~$15-20 USD

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📌 Wiring Diagram

Connect the ST7735 display to the XIAO ESP32-C3:

ST7735 Display          XIAO ESP32-C3
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
    VCC  ─────────────►  3.3V
    GND  ─────────────►  GND
    CS   ─────────────►  D3 (GPIO5)
    RST  ─────────────►  D1 (GPIO3)
    DC   ─────────────►  D2 (GPIO4)
    SDA  ─────────────►  D10 (GPIO10/MOSI)
    SCL  ─────────────►  D8 (GPIO8/SCK)
    BL   ─────────────►  3.3V (or PWM pin for brightness control)

📷 Wiring Photo

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🚀 Getting Started

1️⃣ Prerequisites

• Arduino IDE 2.x or 3.x or PlatformIO
• ESP32 Board Support Package installed
• A Spotify Premium account (required for API access)

2️⃣ Install Required Libraries

In Arduino IDE, go to Sketch → Include Library → Manage Libraries and install:

Library	Author	Version
Adafruit GFX Library	Adafruit	Latest
Adafruit ST7735 and ST7789 Library	Adafruit	Latest
ArduinoJson	Benoît Blanchon	6.x
TJpg_Decoder	Bodmer	Latest
NTPClient	Fabrice Weinberg	Latest

3️⃣ Set Up Spotify API Credentials

1. Go to the Spotify Developer Dashboard
2. Click Create App
3. Fill in the details:
   • App Name: NotAMac
   • Redirect URI: http://localhost:8888/callback
4. Note your Client ID and Client Secret
5. Get your Refresh Token using this guide or use a tool like Spotify Token Generator

4️⃣ Configure the Code

Open NotAMac_Final.ino and update these lines:

// WiFi Credentials
const char* WIFI_SSID = "Your_WiFi_Name";
const char* WIFI_PASSWORD = "Your_WiFi_Password";

// Spotify Credentials
const char* CLIENT_ID = "your_client_id_here";
const char* CLIENT_SECRET = "your_client_secret_here";
const char* REFRESH_TOKEN = "your_refresh_token_here";

5️⃣ Upload & Enjoy!

1. Select XIAO ESP32C3 from Tools → Board
2. Select the correct COM port
3. Click Upload
4. Play something on Spotify and watch the magic! 🎶

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🖨️ 3D Printing

The case is designed to look like a miniature classic Macintosh.

Recommended Print Settings

Setting	Value
Material	PLA or PETG
Layer Height	0.2mm
Infill	15-20%
Supports	Yes (for screen opening)
Color	"Platinum" gray for authenticity!

STL Files

📁 Download STL Files (or find similar designs on Thingiverse/Printables)

Popular compatible models:

• Search "Mini Macintosh" or "Tiny Mac" on Printables
• Thingiverse Mini Mac

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⚙️ Configuration Options

Timezone

The default timezone is GMT+8 (Singapore). To change it:

// Change 28800 to your UTC offset in seconds
// Examples: GMT-5 = -18000, GMT+0 = 0, GMT+9 = 32400
NTPClient timeClient(ntpUDP, "pool.ntp.org", 28800);

Polling Interval

Adjust how often the display checks Spotify:

// In loop(), change 2000 to your preferred interval (milliseconds)
if (now - lastSongUpdate >= 2000) {  // 2 seconds

Color Scheme

The retro Mac colors are defined at the top of the file:

#define MAC_PLATINUM      0xD69A   // Classic Mac gray
#define MAC_LIGHT_GRAY    0xC618   // Title bar
#define BTN_RED           0xF800   // Close button
#define BTN_YELLOW        0xFEA0   // Minimize button  
#define BTN_GREEN         0x07E0   // Maximize button

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🐛 Troubleshooting

HTTP Error -1 or -11

These are connection timeout errors. The code includes auto-recovery, but if persistent:

• Check your WiFi signal strength
• Ensure your router isn't blocking the ESP32
• Try increasing timeout values in the code

Album art not displaying

• Ensure you have enough free heap memory (check Serial Monitor)
• The code uses the smallest Spotify image (64×64) to save memory
• If issues persist, try restarting the device

Colors look wrong/inverted

Different ST7735 panels have different color configurations. Try changing:

TJpgDec.setSwapBytes(true);  // Toggle between true/false

Or try different initialization:

tft.initR(INITR_GREENTAB);   // Instead of INITR_BLACKTAB

Token expired / 401 errors

Your refresh token may have expired. Generate a new one from the Spotify Developer Dashboard. Refresh tokens can expire if:

• You haven't used the app in 6+ months
• You revoked app access in your Spotify settings

Display shows nothing

• Check your wiring connections
• Verify the display is receiving 3.3V power
• Try adjusting TFT_CS, TFT_DC, TFT_RST pin definitions

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🎨 Gallery

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🗺️ Roadmap

• Add physical buttons for play/pause/skip
• OLED display variant
• Web configuration portal (no code editing!)
• Multiple display layouts (switchable)
• Apple Music support
• Battery-powered version
• PCB design for cleaner internals

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

1. 🍴 Fork the repository
2. 🌿 Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. 💾 Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. 📤 Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. 🎉 Open a Pull Request

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• Seeed Studio for the amazing XIAO ESP32-C3
• Spotify for their Web API
• Adafruit for the GFX libraries
• Bodmer for TJpg_Decoder
• The retro computing community for inspiration
• Everyone who's ever wished their desk had more vintage Mac energy ✨

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Built with ❤️ and nostalgia

⭐ Star this repo if you found it helpful!

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_{NotAMac is not affiliated with Apple Inc. The Macintosh design is used for nostalgic/educational purposes.}