Support for WaveShare displays

[nullfreizeit]

I have installed it without any problems, but cannot get it working.
My hardware: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WH + WaveShare 7.3inch ACeP 7-Color E-Paper E-Ink Display Module 800x480 with 7,3 epaper adapter
sudo systemctl status inkypi.service give me this message...

`○ inkypi.service - InkyPi App
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/inkypi.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Sat 2025-01-11 01:37:52 CET; 8h ago
Duration: 7.858s
Process: 503 ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/inkypi -d (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 503 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
CPU: 5.871s

Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: display_manager = DisplayManager(device_config)
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: File "/home/BilderAdm1n/InkyPi/src/display_manager.py", line 16, in init
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: self.inky_display = auto()
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: ^^^^^^
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: File "/usr/local/inkypi/venv_inkypi/lib/python3.11/site-packages/inky/auto.py", line 83, in auto
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: raise RuntimeError("No EEPROM detected! You must manually initialise your Inky board.")
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen inkypi[527]: RuntimeError: No EEPROM detected! You must manually initialise your Inky board.
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen systemd[1]: inkypi.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jan 11 01:37:52 bilderrahmen systemd[1]: inkypi.service: Consumed 5.871s CPU time.`

[fatihak]

Unfortunately the waveshare displays aren't currently supported. I'm using the inky python library to connect to and update the display which doesn't work with the waveshare displays.

[nullfreizeit]

Thank you anyway. I thought this is the problem.
I have managed to get the display working as per this instruction:
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/7.3inch_e-Paper_HAT_(F)_Manual#Working_With_Raspberry_Pi

Would it be difficult to implement it?
I don't think you have planned to work on it, or?

[fatihak]

I want to implement it in the future but not sure when I'll be able to get to it. I also need to get my hands on a waveshare display first.

[regevt]

I managed to make it work with my 5.65 7 color display

In the display manager, replace the

        self.inky_display = auto()
        self.inky_display.set_border(self.inky_display.BLACK)

with

        self.epd = epd5in65f.EPD()
        self.epd.init()

(or your display driver from waveshare epd folder).

and all instances of

self.inky_display.show()

with

self.epd.display(self.epd.getbuffer(image))

Of course, you will need to copy the epd to the project directory.

[fatihak]

@regevt Thank you for this! I figured it would be simple but I dont have a waveshare display so I haven't been able to test it out. Not sure how to handle all the different display drivers to make it easier during the install but will at least add documentation for this!

[albl2008]

Im trying to do it for my wavashare display, but i can not, gpiozero error but i dont know why, ive have alreday installed that library in the enviroment, i done the replacements but stucks on starting web server, when try to upload the first image InkyPI @regevt any idea how to solve this?

[regevt]

@albl2008 if you can share your code,I will try to run it on my display and see if I can find the issue.

[albl2008]

@regevt thanks, yesterday i made it, just after post the comment, the problem was the spi was occupied because i have multiple rows duplicates in the /boot/firmware/config.txt, i think it was because the multiple times that i run the command for install inkypi

and the problem around the libraries that waveshare use the solution was activate the venv for the inkypi project and install with pip the libraries gpiozero, lgpio and RPi.GPIO

today i will test the weather api and ai api. I made a project very similar by my own but this is way more better. So thanks @fatihak

[pflavio]

I managed to make it work with my 5.65 7 color display

Hi @regevt and maybe @albl2008 could you please elaborate a bit? I have the 7.3inch e-Paper HAT (E) from Waveshare and I'm struggling to get it to work.

I did a fresh installation of Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-BIT) on a Raspberry Pi 4. After updating it and installing git, I installed InkyPi according to the guide. After reboot, there was no image (as expected). I then installed python3-pip and libopenjp2-7. Then, I created a virtual environment within ~/InkyPi, activated it and installed spidev, RPi.GPIO, numpy, gpiozero and lgpio via pip3. I then git cloned https://github.com/waveshare/e-Paper.git to ~/InkyPi/src and installed Jetson.GPIO, Pillow and waveshare-epd via pip3 from ~/InkyPi/src/e-Paper/RaspberryPi_JetsonNano/python (using pip install . --use-pep517). Here I'm receiving

Successfully built waveshare-epd
Installing collected packages: waveshare-epd
Successfully installed waveshare-epd-0.0.0

(this is important for my issue later).

I proceeded to open ~/InkyPi/src/display_manager.py and change the values

self.inky_display = auto()
self.inky_display.set_border(self.inky_display.BLACK)

with

self.epd = epd7in3e.EPD()
self.epd.init()

and all instances (there was only one at the very bottom of the file) of self.inky_display.show() with self.epd.display(self.epd.getbuffer(image) as per your comment. I chose epd7in3e based on the Waveshare Wiki entry of my display model. I also added from waveshare_epd import epd7in3e to the imports at the top.

Now finally I'm running sudo systemctl restart inkypi.service and sudo systemctl status inkypi.service and I'm getting the error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'waveshare_epd'. pip list | grep waveshare_epd also returns nothing, despite the successful installation earlier. What am I missing? Your last comment

Of course, you will need to copy the epd to the project directory.
should be fine I think as waveshare_epd is in ~/InkyPi/src/e-Paper/RaspberryPi_JetsonNano/python/lib/

[albl2008]

@pflavio

Hi Pflavio, I recommend you first run an example from the Waveshare repository. That is, follow the guide in the Waveshare documentation, checking for SPI availability (https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/7.3inch_e-Paper_HAT_(E)_Manual#Overview in the Working With Raspberry Pi section). I also recommend reviewing the code to make sure the pins mentioned in the documentation are the same ones the code actually uses.

Once you run the example Waveshare provides, try restarting your Raspberry Pi and see if it boots Inky Pi. I also suggest, if you've installed Inky Pi multiple times, that you review the file mentioned in /boot/firmware/config.txt and make sure there are no duplicate lines.

Also, keep in mind that in the display.py file, you need epdconfig.py and the file corresponding to your display, which should be: https://github.com/waveshareteam/e-Paper/blob/master/RaspberryPi_JetsonNano/python/lib/waveshare_epd/epd7in3e.py

[regevt]

Also check that you use python env like in this tutorial https://python.land/virtual-environments/virtualenv
The lates versions of python block installing globally by default and recommend using python environment.

I would also recommend before running the project in a service try running it manually and see if the display works.
It is very difficult debugging issues when running from a service.

[pflavio]

follow the guide in the Waveshare documentation, checking for SPI availability (https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/7.3inch_e-Paper_HAT_(E)_Manual#Overview in the Working With Raspberry Pi section). I also recommend reviewing the code to make sure the pins mentioned in the documentation are the same ones the code actually uses.

I did with nano /boot/firmware/config.txt and it returns dtparam=spi=on. Also ls /dev/spi* returns /dev/spidev0.0. I went through both examples but only the C one actually draws something on the screen, the Python one does not (but also does not throw any errors). I'm currently checking what could be wrong.

Once you run the example Waveshare provides, try restarting your Raspberry Pi and see if it boots Inky Pi. I also suggest, if you've installed Inky Pi multiple times, that you review the file mentioned in /boot/firmware/config.txt and make sure there are no duplicate lines.

No issues here as far as I can tell.

Also, keep in mind that in the display.py file, you need epdconfig.py and the file corresponding to your display, which should be: https://github.com/waveshareteam/e-Paper/blob/master/RaspberryPi_JetsonNano/python/lib/waveshare_epd/epd7in3e.py

I just imported epd7in3e via from waveshare_epd import epd7in3e. Was that not sufficient (if it had been found)?

[pflavio]

Also check that you use python env like in this tutorial https://python.land/virtual-environments/virtualenv The lates versions of python block installing globally by default and recommend using python environment.

I would also recommend before running the project in a service try running it manually and see if the display works. It is very difficult debugging issues when running from a service.

So I tried reinstalling everything system-wide (without pip) and running just inkypi.py, but still I couldn't get it to work. I'll keep trying.